With a lifetime of professional theater experience and national tours as a Master Storyteller, Professor Megan Wells brings a unique and deeply informed perspective to performance arts education.

Drawing on a career that spans classical epics to contemporary drama, she challenges students to move beyond the celebrity-driven model of theater training and embrace a broader “theater mindset.”

Professor Wells explores essential questions at the heart of the craft: What is theater’s core impulse? How has it evolved across cultures and time? And how can theatrical skills enhance communication, empathy, and presence in any profession? Steeped in narratives from Sumeria to Homer, and Aeschylus to Wasserstein, his classes are interactive, creative, and designed for real-world application.

Whether on stage or in the classroom, Professor Wells is dedicated to cultivating artists who recognize the transformative power of storytelling.

Degrees

BFA, Theater - Illinois Wesleyan University; Bloomington, Illinois

MFA, Directing - Illinois State University; Normal, Illinois

Awards

  • Oracle Award, National Storytelling Network
    (Highest Honor for American Storytellers)
  • Jeff Award for Direction, 1987
  • Jeff Nomination for Solo Performance, 2020
  • Ed Press Distinguished Achievement Award, 2005
  • Parents' Choice Gold, 2004
  • Parents' Choice Best 25 in 25 years, 2015

Prior Positions

  • Artistic Director, Ray Bradbury Storytelling Festival
  • Co-Artistic Director, Absolute Theater
  • Touring National Storyteller 40 years
  • Theater Artist 

Areas of Research

  • Solo Performance
  • Playwriting
  • Scripts for schools

Publications

  • Storytelling Art and Technique, Janice Del Negro, Bloomsbury Press, contributing author

  • Grief's Journey, Hal L. Edwards, Lantern Press, storyline editor

  • Yellow Wallpaper adapted from the novella by Gilman, Megan Wells, One Act carried by Dramatists

  • Soul Moments by Phil Cousineau, Thriftbooks, contributing author

  • The Storytelling Classroom, Jane Stenson and Sheri Norfolk, Yellowmoon Press, contributing author

Notable Presentations

  • Regularly featured at the prestigious National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee

  • Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Once Upon a Symphony Program; six scripts and performances with Yo Yo Ma

  • Jeff Award for Direction of GOOD by CP Taylor at the Absolute Theater

  • Jeff nomination for Solo Performance of Turn Here Sweet Corn at the Edge Theater in Chicago