Anthony Guest

Associate Professor of Theatre
Acting, Directing

Contact: [email protected]
(248) 370-3023

Anthony Guest  (he/him) was hired at Oakland University in 2011. He holds an MFA in acting and directing from the University of Missouri - Kansas City (Professional Actor Training Company) and a BS in Biology from The University of Michigan-Flint with a minor in Theatre. Professor Guest earned tenure in 2015 and is the immediate past chair of the Department of Theatre, serving from 2018-2021. He is proud to call Oakland University his artistic home. Professor Guest’s teaching is focused on acting with a special interest in stage combat and comic technique. Anthony has directed or fight directed/choreographed over 30 productions at OU. Professor Guest earned Certificate of Merit awards (KC-ACTF Region III) for his fight direction of Macbeth (2018); and direction of Assassins (2016) and of Dead Man’s Cell Phone (2013). 

Anthony is a professional actor, director and fight choreographer. His last two projects were playing Leonato in Fenton Shakespeare Festival’s inaugural production of Much Ado About Nothing and the Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol at Michigan’s only LORT theatre, Meadow Brook Theatre.  He is currently working with regionally recognized stand-up comedian Ziggy Klett, developing his solo performance, 47 Chairs. His latest professional directing project was The Odd Couple at Thunder Bay Theatre. He called New York City home for two years where he directed Rumors at Fordham University and acted both on stage (Macduff in Expanded Arts production of Macbeth ) and on camera (Stanley Sheff in Guiding Light on CBS). Anthony has also performed in numerous regional commercials, voice-overs, and at theatres including the Missouri Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Unicorn Theatre (Drama Desk Award nomination for best supporting actor in The Judas Kiss), Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, and the Tony Award winning season at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Anthony has choreographed fights for his own productions as well as others including Meadow Brook Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre (Roanoke, VA), Shakespeare in Detroit, Community Circle Theatre (Grand Rapids, MI), and The University of Michigan-Flint. He received a Grand Award (best college production) for producing and fight directing Pirates of Penzance at Aquinas College/Cornerstone University. Anthony has also presented many workshops at high schools and college theatre festivals; most notably the Kennedy Center - American College Theatre Festival (ACTF: Region III). 

Anthony is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and The Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD).

Before arriving at OU, Professor Guest was a tenured faculty member in the School of Dance and Theatre at Radford University (Virginia). Before his time at RU, Anthony was the Director of Theatre at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI and before that he was an adjunct professor at his alma mater, The University of Michigan- Flint. He also founded The Union Theatre Company in the summer 2005 in Frankenmuth, MI. 

He shares his love and his life with his wife Beth and three children: Lucas, Ava and Juno.