Dr. Justin Poole is a Los Angeles-based actor, director, playwright/screenwriter, and visual artist.
Justin served at EMU from 2013-2025, attaining the rank of Full Professor and Theatre Program Director, before relocating to the West Coast to pursue professional opportunities in the entertainment industry. In 2026 he was appointed as the Theatre Director for the new state-of-the-art John Williams Performing Arts Center, named after the legendary film composer, in North Hollywood.
He has crafted many award-winning theatre productions and solo plays, including "U2 Romeo and Juliet: An Original Rock Musical," "Distant Witness: Social Media, the Arab Spring, and a Journalism Revolution," and the ground-breaking international touring solo play "Bonhoeffer: Cell 92." While at EMU he co-founded/co-directed the EMU Summer Musical Theatre Program and led three semester-long performance and visual art-themed study abroad programs to Europe and Morocco.
Traveling is the greatest source of inspiration for Justin's performance and visual art. He continues to hone his skills by engaging with performances and performers wherever he travels. He frequently observes and sketches the works of the masters at some of his favorite European art museums, especially Vienna, Austria's Kunsthistorisches Museum. His paintings have been featured in galleries throughout Virginia, Austria, and the Los Angeles area.
Justin holds a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, an MA in Theatre Arts from Villanova University, and a BA in Communications from Eastern University. He has received numerous Certificates of Merit from the American College Theatre Festival for his directing and theatre-making and has received a number of grants from organizations such as Austria's Ernst Mach Foundation, the Arts Council of the Valley, the Marpeck Foundation, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Justin is always seeking new collaborators and working on the next big project!
VISUAL ARTIST STATEMENT
Much of my visual art functions as a travelogue, highlighting interesting sites I visit. For each painting, I usually use a photo or a variety of photos and sketches as references, as I complete the paintings in my studio. I often omit certain objects and add or highlight others, while embellishing the colors and allowing my own romanticized notions of the locations to shine through. Some of the works are cityscapes of places in Europe and Morocco, which avid travelers might readily recognize. Yet others are of more intimate, or out of the way places. Oftentimes, the different tastes and smells of a location come to define it in my mind; therefore, my work also features stilllifes. Each of these pictures has a story. For those who have traveled to the places represented here, I hope that these images evoke happy memories. For those who have not traveled extensively, I hope that my paintings spark your interest and cause you to seek out adventures of your own. I am always looking for new challenges and happily accept commissions. If you would like me to paint a picture of one of your favorite locations, feel free to contact me.