Eric has directed and acted professionally at theaters across the country and overseas. As an actor, he has worked professionally on stage, in film, television commercials and radio. Acting credits include work at the Minneapolis Centennial Showboat, Nebraska Repertory Theatre, West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre (NYC), Expanded Arts (NYC), Shakespeare in Detroit (2017), and the Shakespeare Festivals of Wisconsin, Nebraska, Virginia, Illinois and Richmond (2019). Directing credits have taken him to the Theatre Row Studios, The Theatre Studio, Inc., The Sanford Meisner Theatre, and The Synchronicity Space Theatre all in New York City, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana and again at The Heartland Theatre Company in Illinois (2020). For UIS Theatre, in addition to producing or acting in productions, he has directed 27 productions over the last 23 years, most recently Christopher Durang's VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (Spring, 2025).

Eric completed Patsy Rodenburg’s Shakespeare’s Heightened Language Levels I-III workshops (2015) at the Michael Howard Studios in New York City.

He then went on to complete Patsy Rodenburg's The Extended and Heightened Voice and Keeping a Safe Space workshops (2022) in Silves, Portugal.

Eric has served as an Associate Editor for The Player’s Journal in conjunction with the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), where he continues to work as an actor with the Playwrights and Creative Teams (PACT); and has presented papers and/or workshops at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) and the Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC). He is a past Co-Representative for the College/University Division of the Illinois Theatre Association (ITA), where he received ITA’s 2008 College/University Division “Award of Excellence.” His performance or book reviews have been published in The Baylor Journal of Theatre and Performance, Theatre Topics, and in Theatre History Studies (2020). He's received Excellence in Directing Certificates of Merit from the KCACTF--first in 2014, for his 2013 production of Clifford Odets’ AWAKE AND SING! Then again in 2024 for his 2023 production of Larissa FastHorse's THE THANKSGIVING PLAY. From 2017-2019, he served as Co-Chair of the Playwriting Symposium for the MATC. In 2018, he received the Kennedy Center’s/KCACTF’s Region III Faculty Service Award for Illinois. Here at UIS, he served 2 terms as Chair of the Art, Music, and Theatre Department (AMT) from 2018 through 2024. He continues as the Director of Theatre at UIS.

Eric is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and a proud Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).

Eric earned an M.F.A. in Acting from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from The University of Minnesota-Minneapolis.