title: Jean Scharfenberg
text: # Jean Scharfenberg
  
  Jean Scharfenberg (August 19, 1922 - August 2 1998) was a professor of theatre at Illinois State University. Her students included Jane Lynch, Rondi Reed, Laurie Metcalf, Tom Irwin, and John Malkovich.
  
  ## Early life and education
  
  Scharfenberg was born in Davenport, Iowa, and received her doctoral degree in theater from the University of Wisconsin.
  
  ## Career
  
  Scharfenberg joined the ISU faculty in 1966. She was known among students for her class, "Acting: Exploring Characterization Through Animal Exercises" in which students developed the persona of an animal and then enacted a violent death scene at the end of the semester. Under the direction of Scharfenberg and her colleagues Ralph Lane, John Kirk, and Cal Pritner ISU Theatre became a distinct department, instead of a sub-division of the speech department. She retired in 1993.
  
  