Our Team

John Fleming earned his M.A. and Ph. D in Theatre History from the University of Texas at Austin, studying under Oscar Brockett. After teaching for three years at Auburn University, John joined the faculty at Texas State University in 1999.

From 1999-2005, John served as Director of Graduate Studies, teaching the undergraduate theatre history sequence as well as graduate seminars in Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Contemporary World Theatre, and the Backgrounds of Modern Drama course. While continuing to serve as a theatre historian, from 2005-2014, John served as chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. Since the summer of 2014, he has served as dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication.

As a scholar, John has published extensively on contemporary theatre. His book Stoppard’s Theatre: Finding Order amid Chaos (2001) was nominated for an MLA Best First Book award. Other books include Romulus Linney: Maverick of the American Theater (2008, Smith and Kraus) and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia (2009, Continuum Press), and Davies and Penhall’s Sunny Afternoon (2016, Routledge). In 2012-13, he became the lead author for Oscar Brockett’s textbook The Essential Theatre, now in its 11th edition. His articles have appeared in journals such as TDR, Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Text and Performance Quarterly, and Latin American Theatre Review. His book chapters have appeared in Text and Presentation 2004 and Text and Presentation 2006. In fall 2011, he wrote "Arcadia: Unlocking Its Form and Structure" for the book Lectures de Tom Stoppard: Arcadia (Presses Universitaires de Rennes) and was the keynote speaker for a Stoppard conference in Toulousse, France.  Other book chapters “Tom Stoppard: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” in “The Real Thing”: Essays on Tom Stoppard in Celebration of His 75th Birthday (2013), “Tom Stoppard.” Fifty Modern and Contemporary Dramatists (2015), the “Introduction” to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead/Rosencrantz et Guildenstern sont mort (2017), and “Art and Aesthetics” in Tom Stoppard in Context (2021).  A former editor of Theatre Insight, John served may years on the editorial boards of Texas Theatre Journal and Ecumenica (formerly the Baylor Journal of Theatre and Performance).

John is also a playwright, with his plays having been produced in Texas, Alabama, Kansas, and New York. His full-length plays include Transposing Shakespeare (DFW Fringe Best Play 2007), The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley (winner of the 2005 B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Original Script; subsequently produced off-off Broadway in 2008), The World Upside Down (an adaptation of Ludwig Tieck’s Die Verkehrte Welt), and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata: A Sports Adaptation. He has also written the one-act plays Lifeline and Three Point Perspective as well as the ten-minute plays To Dog Godot, Freudian Afternoon, and Foreign Exchange (or The Visitor). His screenplays include Where Time Stands Still (Gold Award, Houston International Film Festival) and Midnight Sky.

Shortly after moving back to Texas from Louisiana in 1993, Kevin was appointed to the position “Director of Dining Service” at the LBJ Student Center at Texas State University, a facility managed by Chartwells. 

In June of 1999 he was hired to be the Director of Special Projects for the First Family of Texas State University.  In this capacity Kevin designed, developed, and executed special events, and meetings for the University President and First Family.

In November of 2007 – Kevin changed positions and moved to the College of Fine Arts and Communications as Assistant to the Dean – Outreach and Development Officer.

Prior to moving to San Marcos, Kevin was the Director of Special Events for the Chancellor at Louisiana State University.  Additionally, he worked for entertainment and life-style guru, Martha Stewart, as well as many other well known nationally recognized chefs.  Kevin has over 25 years of hospitality experience as well as a degree in the hospitality industry. Additionally, Kevin is a certified classically trained chef.

Currently Kevin is active in the community. He has served for four terms as President of the San Marcos chapter of The American Cancer Society, (at that time the San Marcos chapter was the largest per capita fundraiser for ACS in the state of Texas).

Additionally Kevin served for two years as Vice-President and 1 year as President of the Heritage Association of San Marcos. Kevin Gilley also served as Chairman for the Merriman Cabin Project and its relocation and full restoration from Aquarena Spring to its current location of Verimendi Plaza. Part of that project included raising funds to accomplish the project.

A graduate of the Leadership San Marcos Program - class of 2003. Their class project was the largest fundraising project for any graduating class, raising well over $80,000. This funded the first phase of the Water Playscape at the San Marcos Pool. The leadership program has helped to broaden his contact with the community beyond the University community. Kevin is the President-Elect for 2009.

Kevin has lived in Wimberley for over 18 years and the proud father of five children, his youngest son is 11 months old, John Tillman.

* Written Fall 2010

Laurie Fluker is the Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication and an Associate Professor of the SJMC.  Her dissertation – earned in the Radio, Television, Film Department -- was titled: NBC Coverage of the Civil Rights Movement: 1955-1965. She annually serves as a national official for Honda All-Star Challenge University Competition and also serves on the State Board of the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education.  Fluker has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, such as the "Everett Sweeney Award for Excellence in Teaching" (2006) and the "Mariel M. Muir Excellence in Mentoring Award" (2006).

Laurie Fluker is the Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication and an Associate Professor of the SJMC.  Her dissertation – earned in the Radio, Television, Film Department -- was titled: NBC Coverage of the Civil Rights Movement: 1955-1965. She annually serves as a national official for Honda All-Star Challenge University Competition and also serves on the State Board of the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education.  Fluker has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, such as the "Everett Sweeney Award for Excellence in Teaching" (2006) and the "Mariel M. Muir Excellence in Mentoring Award" (2006).