Faculty Spotlight: 
John O’Hagan

JOHN OHAGAN FIRST JOINED THE PRINCIPIA COLLEGE COMMUNITY IN THE FALL OF 2013, and he has taught acting, directing, stage combat, and  directed productions for the Performing Arts department, as well as serving a term as Division Head for the former Creative Arts and Communication division.  For the past two years, John has been on a part-time contract with Principia College, teaching and directing on campus for half of the school year, and pursuing professional opportunities in Ireland and beyond during the rest of the year. 

During this time John has worked in Ireland, the UK, and Italy. He has acted in a number of small films and industrial videos, had a role in a feature film, developed, produced, and performed a unique and ongoing improvisational theatrical form (Happen/Chance: The Show), founded a new producing organization (Happen/Chance Productions) which, in collaboration with Bankside Arts Collective, produced Santa Fe: Tales from the Modern American West. The show was performed at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin, one of Ireland's oldest theatres dating back to 1662. It is the theatre that gave the world George Farquhar, Oliver Goldsmith, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.  

Additionally, John has provided guest lectures at Maynooth University and done extensive directing and devising work with Crooked House Theatre (CHT) - most notably helping to develop and then perform in Is Mise Éire Eile: I Am Another Ireland a verbatim theatre piece that explored the lived experiences of asylum seekers coming to Ireland. The production toured across Ireland in the summer of 2025. This latter work with CHT has also resulted in John bringing Artistic Director Peter Hussey to Principia for a series of workshops and discussions over the winter break of last year. Peter worked with students who attended Region III of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.  John and Peter then helped to co-coordinate the Devising Project for that year's festival at Madison College in Madison, WI. 

This production of To Kill a Mockingbird is the touring version of the 2018 Broadway production which broke box office records and also had an acclaimed run in London's West End.  When the offer to take this national tour arose, The Performing Arts department and I enthusiastically supported this leave of absence for John.  For us, it furthers two objectives that are very important to Principia College’s arts programs.  First, we consciously inform the education that our students receive through our own active professional practice in the arts. As part of this experience John will have worked with internationally acclaimed artists and come back with a much deeper lived experience of Broadway calibre working environments including: auditioning, ensemble building, preparation for performance, acting with inspiring colleagues (many of whom have worked across the spectrum of film, television, and stage including the RSC, The National Theatre, and numerous West End productions) as well as all the rigors of a year-long tour.  Second, we actively make connections in the professional world to open pathways for our students.  John has been doing this for years, but his recent activities have increased his world-wide contacts exponentially.