Theatre Department Faculty

Patricia Riggin began teaching at Boston College in 2001 after being an Artist in Residence at Emerson College for five years. While working in the theatre in New York City, she taught at Hunter College, Circle in the Square, and LaGuardia Community College. She is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher and trained extensively with the acting teacher, William Esper, an internationally recognized authority on the work of Sanford Meisner.

After receiving her A.B. from Cornell University (1974) and her MFA from Brandeis University (1978), she has continued her study of acting and voice throughout her career. Most recently, she trained to be an Intimacy Coordinator in 2021-22. In both her teaching and directing, Patricia enjoys plays that have multifaceted messages---social, political, environmental, and philosophical. She believes that theatre is a rich resource for individual discovery and exploring our shared humanity.

Patricia’s courses include Acting One: Fundamentals of Performance; Acting Two: Voice, Speech, Text; Acting Three: Meisner Technique; Advanced Acting; The Art of the Audition; and a Cornerstone First Year Topic Seminar. In the past, she has taught Your Brain on Theatre: Neuroscience and the Actor, and Acting Techniques: Presentations and Creativity.

In addition to her main focus, training students in the art of acting and voice, Patricia has directed numerous productions at Boston College: Blue Stockings (Jessica Swale), Oil (Ella Hickson), Sweat (Lynn Nottage), Invisible (Tena Stivovic), Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya, Waiting for Lefty (Clifford Odets), and Still Waiting (new plays by Melinda Lopez, Kate Snodgrass, & Sheri Wilner); Shakespeare’s The Tempest, These Shining Lives (Melanie Marnich), Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls, An Experiment With an Air Pump (Shelagh Stephenson), the New England Premiere of Credible Witness (Timberlake Wertenbaker), Necessary Targets (Eve Ensler), and Terrence McNally’s Hope.

On campus, Patricia has created workshops and presentations for various groups, including the Women’s Center, the Office of Student Affairs, the Perspectives program, the Women’s Collaborative, and the Center for Teaching Excellence. She has also directed plays for the Boston College Arts Festival and created and produced numerous campus events, including BC Stories (gathering and producing stories from BC workers), Bloomsday Boston, and Remember the Triangle Factory Fire. She is active in the Boston College Intersections and Cornerstone programs and with summer advising. In the past, she has also worked with the Halftime and Prison Arts Programs.

As a member of Actors’ Equity, she performed in New York City and in regional theaters, including Syracuse Stage, Portland Stage, and the Kennedy Center. Patricia has directed plays in New York City, at Boston Playwright’s Theatre (Boston Theatre Marathon), Bar Harbor Theatre, Maine Shakespeare Festival, Penobscot Theatre, Contemporary Theatre of Syracuse, Portland Stage, and as a guest artist at numerous colleges. In 2012 and 2013, she was the director of Commonwealth Shakespeare’s Apprentice Program. For 25 years, she has been active in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCTF).

Professor Riggin and her husband, David Lewis, are proud parents of Alexandra Riggin Lewis, BC Class of 2014.