After teaching in the theater arts department at SF State for the past 17 years, professor Rhonnie Washington still finds time to act while teaching his students about an art he loves.

Currently, Washington is performing in the play “The Little Foxes” at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. The play, which was written in 1939 by Lillian Hellman, opened Oct. 27 and will be running until Nov. 26. It tells the story of the Hubbards, an American family obsessed with greed, power and money.

Though the play has been running for nearly two weeks with eight performances per week, including two matinee shows, Washington still has time for his students. Currently, he is teaching a theatrical auditioning class and advising the Brown Bag Theatre Company on campus. He has also taught a directing class and various levels of acting courses.

“Now is a good time to do this play because greed is so rampant in our society,” Washington said. “It has become more and more clear that our society isn’t concerned with doing the right thing, but making sure they get ahead.”

The play takes place in post-Civil War Alabama where Regina Hubbard and her brothers, Ben and Oscar, conduct a scheme that will bring them power and wealth. The Hubbards will stop at nothing to secure the money, even kill for it.

Washington portrays the Hubbards’ reserved servant “Cal,” a man who is at the top of the food chain in the eyes of other African Americans because he works for an upper-middle class white family.

“I thought the play was great, and his part was pretty profound,” said senior Brian Vanderpol, 28, a theater arts major who has worked with Washington in the Brown Bag Theatre Company. “In the play, he is an important, crucial player. His problem is his and his alone.”

Washington began his career as a teacher while in graduate school at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he received his master’s degree in theater arts. While there, he also received his Ph.D. in directing with a minor in theater history and criticism. He has been teaching for 31 years.

Before Washington took a position at SF State in 1989, he taught at Washington University in St. Louis. After teaching acting classes to a bunch of doctors and engineers in Missouri, he knew he needed something else, he said.

For Washington, teaching gives him an opportunity to do many things he wouldn’t be able to do as a full-time professional actor, such as directing. The variety of work available at SF State appeals to him and has kept him here.

Alumna Claire Rice, who received her master of fine arts degree in playwriting in May, worked with Washington on the one act play “The Ruffian on the Stair” during the spring 2004 season of Brown Bag, and said he is very supportive when it comes to the student process.

Brown Bag allows student actors, directors and crews to put on one-hour lunchtime performances for other students and faculty, as well as the public.

“He enjoys working with students one-on-one and really pushing them further,” Rice said. “He doesn’t just focus on the needs and wants of the character, but also their personal struggle.”

Washington structures his class and directing style with 12 guideposts by the playwright and author Michael Shurtleff to help his students understand the process of acting. He said finding the motivation of each character is key.

“We decide that it’s not about you. Follow the character, become smaller so that the character can become larger,” he said. “If you’re not going to make sacrifices for the character, you may be in the wrong profession.”

According to Vanderpol, Washington is always enforcing these guideposts to students, trying to make them self-reliant “power-house” actors who are able to take a scene and understand every angle.

“He emphasizes a lot of back story and the importance of an actor’s individual prep time,” said senior Maura McGowan, 22, who worked as the stage manager for the play “Betrayal,” which Washington directed in the spring semester. “He wants the actor to be fully prepared in what they would do in any situation.”

In the summer of 2003 Washington performed at a Shakespeare festival in Santa Cruz, playing Aegeon in “The Comedy of Errors” as well as Polonius in “Hamlet.” He has also performed at the American Conservatory Theater in the play “A Christmas Carol.”

“I have this theory that anybody has the skill to be a good actor if they can tap into what they do naturally,” Washington said.

For Washington, getting students to recognize the problem in a scene is a difficult task. He said most students focus on the words and playing the emotions but can never define the problem.

“In life people know what to do. In a scene you’ve got to look at the situation and find out what the character’s problem is and what are you going to do to help them,” Washington said. “My task is to somehow get the actor to look at the words and see the problem, and that can be difficult.”

According to Washington, teaching and acting are in a way connected because they are two professions that he feels people are called to do.

“These jobs allow you to make a difference, touch someone’s life in a profound way,” Washington said. “I teach students that it is our job to change the world, it is what we are commissioned to do.”

“The Little Foxes” will be playing at the American Conservatory Theater until Nov. 26. Tickets cost from $16 to $80. Call the box office at (415) 749-2228 for performance times.