Two weeks prior to the fall semester, Casey Hibbert was hired as an emergency replacement for Theater Professor Bert Juhrend, who worked at Black Hills State University nearly 19 years before retiring last spring. Hibbert, who graduated from BHSU in 2009, was one of Juhrend’s first students to come through the theater program after he arrived on campus.

Hibbert, who is originally from Spearfish, worked in professional theater for 15 years as an actor, director, designer and juggler after completing his degree at BHSU. Instead of continuing on to an MFA program, Hibbert moved to Detroit to work in professional theater all over southeast Michigan, Indiana and Nebraska. He has done national commercials for Ford and Chevy, in addition to contributing to numerous productions in various media, including radio, tv, film, stage plays and musicals as an actor, director and designer.

Hibbert is also the performing arts coordinator at the Matthews Opera House in Spearfish. It was through working at the Matthews Opera House that Hibbert was made aware of the opening at BHSU.

“I made contact with Dr. Fuqua and now here I am,” Hibbert said.

This is his first full-time teaching job and he is prepared to make it fun for everyone. This fall Hibbert is teaching four classes: Intro to Theatre, Intro to Acting, Stagecraft, and Stage Make-up.

“The classes are fairly easy for me to teach cause it’s stuff that I love to do,” Hibbert said.
However, Hibbert never planned on teaching theater full-time.

“I told myself I was never gonna be a teacher because I am from a family full of teachers,” Hibbert said. “It was one of those ‘I’m not going to do it’ things.”

Hibbert’s immediate goal as a theater instructor is to create a welcoming environment for his students and encourage them to approach the craft without fear.

“I want to try to build this program back to what it was when I was in school,” Hibbert said. “It was a fantastic program and we had so many students involved.”

He hopes that he can get people excited again about theater both in and out of the classroom. Hibbert said some his potential ideas to get students involved in the theater again include improv nights, a theater society and evening workshops.

“I want to do things that get the university students excited again and I want to be able to include as many people as I can,” Hibbert said. “These classes are meant to get you on your feet and get your mind off of a lectured class.”

In the classes he offers, students will play theatre games and complete hands-on work.

“I would love people to come and get passionate again about these arts because these are super important and we have a fun time,” Hibbert said.