It would be safe to say that Professor Phillip Church’s table is a mess.

On top of his desk lie several stacks of papers; teaching plans, assignments for class, advertisements for the Alternative Theater’s upcoming production of Reefer Madness. At the top lies a sign-up sheet for a new project called U-Life.

The multi-part television oriented series, according to Church, will follow the lives of an ensemble cast through their time at FIU and is still in its development stage.

“It’s coming in the Fall. It’s really an exciting project. We’ve already got directors lined up,” Church said.

Church, 60, is a veteran of the theater department. A professor for almost 30 years, he is the head of the performance track in FIU’s theater program, often directing multiple shows a year and educating thousands of students during his tenure.

“It’s not really about theater. There are plenty of teachers whose aims are to develop toward the creation of the professional actor. My work does that too. But I need to know whether the student is a potential professional actor or if they’re going off into science or business,” Church said.

Church is quick to discuss the nature of acting and what separates the professionals from those who “go off into science or business.”

“The problem with the acting thing is that everybody thinks it’s about feeling something. But the feeling is after the thought. It’s a reaction to something that’s said or something that’s done. And that triggers a thought that leads to a decision whether to feel this way or that way. The reason that there is so much fake acting is that people go straight to feeling,” Church said.

Church starts all of his acting classes with specific thoughts of the day which he’ll find in various books. One axiom he plans to present in his class that he is particularly fond of comes from Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values.

“Mountains are to be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. To live only to some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life. Here’s where things grow,” reads Church from a worn copy of the book.

Perhaps it is for his penchant for doling out such deep thoughts that has made Church popular among many faculty members and students within the department.

Marina Pareja, manager of the department’s costume shop, says Church is an inspiration to her.

“I’m a costume designer but I also direct. But my direction skills come from observing Mr. Church as he rehearses his shows. He’s kind of like my mentor,” said Pareja, who will be directing the musical Reefer Madness in July.

The company producing it, Alternative Theater, was established by Church several years ago. Their first production was an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, adapted to a modern setting and featured everything from video images projected on the stage to allusions to Hurricane Katrina. The goal of the Alternative Theater is to present dramatic material during the summer and give opportunities for more actors to perform on stage.

“I’ve worked with him for a long time. I’ve known him since I was a student here. He was my teacher. He’s so much of a free spirit. He has a very creative intuition,” Pareja said.

Church is also respected among many actors in the department, in part for his emphasis on character research.

“He’s very big into research. Even what [the character] ate for breakfast, if it helps you,” said Kat Moreno, one of the actors in the theater program.

Michael Mena, another actor in the program says that Church’s direction has pushed him to be a better actor.

“He looked at me in class and told me, ‘You’re doing good but you can do better.’ I realized that he was right and I wanted to prove to him that I could do better,” Mena said.

Church, who is from Britain, describes himself as a professional actor as well as a director, though he admits that he does not act much anymore.

However, he’s played many roles in theatre productions throughout Miami including Sidney Cochral, close friend to playwright George Bernard Shaw in Best of Friends and Lady Bracknel in a production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.

Today however, his lead role is teaching prospective actors and non-major students in the middle of the summer term.

His next directorial effort will be The Cherry Orchard, an adaptation of the Anton Checkov play about an aristocratic Russian family returning to their estate before it is foreclosed.

“I can’t talk about the play too much right now, but I just like the idea that it’s about ... this house and having to leave it. It’s so interesting that we’re doing it at this particular time,” Church said.

The Cherry Orchard is set for production in Spring of 2010.

While Church is excited about his role as teacher and director, he feels his ultimate responsibility as a professor is much deeper than that.

“It’s not about creating actors. It’s about creating human beings,” Church said.