Ellie Boykin is a visiting lecturer of Theatre and is no stranger to LaGrange College. She is an alumni of the Theatre Arts program. While at LC, Ellie performed the roles of Annette in God of Carnage, Millie in Scenes and Revelations and Karen in August: Osage County. During her senior year she received undergraduate research funds to study physical theatre at Double Edge Theatre in Ashfield, MA and produced a devised movement piece entitled "The Ellie Project," that combined movement techniques from her research with the methods she learned from Professor Kim Barber Knoll's training, In the Movement. After graduating from LC in 2019, she went onto receiving an MFA in Theatre Performance from The University of Southern Mississippi. While at USM she taught Acting and Beginning Movement courses for majors and nonmajors and performed in several mainstage productions. Her roles included Essie Miller in Ah! Wilderness (directed by the late Lou Rackoff), Marie Antionette in The Revolutionists, Elvira in Blithe Spirit, and the titular role Hedda Gabler in Hedda Gabler. In grad school she carried over her love for devising movement pieces and self-produced another movement piece titled "Disconnect," that explored the human experience of an artist in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ellie received two Irene Ryan nominations with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival from her performances at USM, and the research completed on her role as Hedda Gabler entitled A Woman on the Edge: Creating the Character Hedda Gabler earned her a spot in USM's Graduate Research Symposium.
After graduate school, Ellie started a drama program for middle school students at a Title I school in her hometown of Fort Walton Beach, FL. She developed an inclusive program that performed original works for students with special needs and allowed for sensory accommodations. She produced performances for the community with an emphasis on the inclusion of her English language learning students and their families. While teaching in public schools, Ellie directed her students in Alice in Wonderland, and guest directed The Radium Girls and Once Upon a Mattress. Ellie has led movement, acting, voice, and auditioning workshops and masterclasses for a number of groups, schools and theatres.
Ellie has a penchant for theatre education but uses professional theatre work to inform her teaching style. She has worked with Emerald Coast Theatre Company in Destin, FL as an actor and a teaching artist. Her professional credits at ECTC include, The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol (directed by Marcie Duncan), and Chick Boyle in Crimes of The Heart (directed by Sherry Landrum), and she has led educational shows and camps for ECTC's educational programs. Ellie has worked with FL-based theatre company Mosaic Theatre Company as a casting director. She also starred as Allison Turner, alongside comedian Killer Beez, in the film Follow Me to Mudcat Creek directed by Jon Miller.
Ellie is an alumni of Omicron Delta Kappa, Sigma Tau Delta, and Phi Mu Fraternity. She is a native of the south and currently resides in LaGrange, GA.
At LC, she teaches Acting, Musical Theatre History, and Drama Survey courses.
