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Scott Cox

Scott Cox

Adjunct Assistant Professor
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Dr. Scott Cox has been a stage actor in the Kansas City area for 30 years. His first professional acting job was Frank Higgins' The Life & Times of Jesse James in 1991.

He received initial training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before earning a BA in Theatre from Missouri State University, an MA in Playwriting/Dramaturgy from UMKC, and a PhD in Theatre from KU. His doctoral studies focused on Holocaust Theatre, Performance Theory, Theatre Historiography, Theatre of the Oppressed, indigenous ritual performance traditions, and Prison Theatre. His dissertation, Living Shakespeare at the Lansing Correctional Facility, Kansas: Rehabilitation and Re-creation in Action, was issued in 2016. 

He has worked as an actor, playwright, and director in the Kansas City region, Minnesota, and New York City, in addition to teaching for The Coterie Theatre, University of Central Missouri, University of Kansas, and he served as the Chair of Theatre & Dance at Benedictine College from 2012 to 2021. He also founded and facilitated seven seasons of Living Shakespeare, a prison theatre troupe at Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kansas. He has worked for the Coterie Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Starlight, the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre and many other KC companies over the decades. He is an original member of the Relevance Productions creative ensemble. With Relevance, he has collaborated on Waiting for Godot, Reckless, The Tempest, Hairy Ape, Thom Pain (based on nothing) [for which they won Best Play of 2010 from KC's The Pitch], original works like his own Buck Hoss, Play That Funky Music, White Boy, and And God Did Shake the Pear. Recent favorite productions include C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands at the Highland Summer Repertory Theatre in Mankato, Minnesota, Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency at the Warwick Theatre in KCMO, the Stage Manager in Baker University’s 2023 production of Our Town, and directing The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse at Allen Community College. He served as guest director for JCCC’s spring 2022 production of She Kills Monsters before coming on board as adjunct professor. He recently directed As You Like It and will be directing After Ever Happily and Cabaret in the upcoming season.

In addition to serving the department as a director and dramaturgical advisor, Dr. Cox teaches Directing, Playwriting, Script Analysis, Intro to Theatre, and more. Dr. Cox makes his home in Kansas City North with his wonderful wife, Amber, and their four furry friends.