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Janice Fronczak wrote her first full-length play in 2001 when she arrived at UNK to teach theater. Nine years later, “Corn Man” premiered at the Miriam Drake Theatre in the Fine Arts Building. 

The production won Fronczak several awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Attending the regional festival was the most impactful experience on her growth as a teacher and director. 

After 25 years at UNK, Fronczak will retire at the end of the semester. 

“This actually is perfect timing for me,” Fronczak said. “It’s not too soon, it’s not too late.”

Fronczak’s passion for theater began during her teenage years in Houston. While attending St. Agnes Academy, an all-girls Catholic school, her rebellious interaction with boys led her to leave for public school. She soon crawled back to the head nun, who said the only way she could return to the school was if she got involved in something.

Fronczak joined the theater. 

She entered college as an anthropology major, but while acting in her first collegiate production, she switched to studying theater and dance. She stepped away after obtaining her master’s degree in theater to start a family. Fronczak returned to graduate school at the age of 44 to earn a Master of Fine Arts. 

Fronczak fell in love with theater because it is a culmination of all art forms: visual, sound, music, dance, design and writing. 

“Theater is the one art that brings all the arts together,” Fronczak said. “That’s why it’s so magical.”

Fronczak has balanced being a professor, director and playwright at UNK. She has also written three collections of monologues and eleven short plays that have been published by Heuer Publishing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Darin Himmerich, theater program director, has worked alongside Fronczak since 2007 and has watched her continually prioritize and support the people around her.

“She’s always thinking about the students,” Himmerich said. 

Fronczak is leaving behind a legacy of laughter and discipline, which she says creates a space where the art of theatre can thrive. 

“What Janice does successfully with her acting classes is she makes you feel seen and supported,” said Isabelle Stroot, a junior majoring in education with a theater minor. “The environment that she creates is able to foster the learning of acting.”

In preparing for retirement, Fronczak has been compiling a box of teaching materials to give to students like Stroot who want to become drama and theater educators. 

“At the end of the semester, when she retires, I get to carry the torch and continue her legacy of encouraging young actors and technicians to continue to be involved in theater,” Stroot said.

In November 2023, UNK eliminated the theater program along with eight other degree pathways and 24.5 faculty lines in a plan to combat the $4.3 million budget deficit. 

No new students have been admitted into the major, but the department has preserved the theater minor and continued to put on productions with the remaining students and faculty. 

Himmerich said Fronczak has filled any gaps created by the cuts, stepping into new roles within the productions and teaching classes outside of her pedagogy. 

“She has been a team player since she first got here, so the impact of her leaving is quite significant,” Himmerich said. “Janice has stepped up every time.”

Fronczak is the properties manager for her final production at UNK. “An Old-Fashioned Family Murder” by Joe DiPietro opened last weekend and will run through April 26 at the Miriam Drake Theatre. 

 “I’m grateful for this life,” Fronczak said. “Within the confines of it closing, the lesson I can take away is there is still an abundance of life here in the theater, even as we’re in this chapter of transition to closing.” 

After retiring from teaching, Fronczak plans to devote more time to counseling and drama therapy as a licensed independent mental health practitioner at Counseling Toward Hope in Kearney. Fronczak will also maintain her antique store that she operates through Facebook Marketplace, and she will continue to support UNK theater.