Philip Nacy received a B.S. in Industrial Education from Missouri State University, a M.A. in Directing and Ph.D. in Theatre History and Criticism, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He attended the 1979 Aspen Music Festival studying classical guitar performance and audio engineering. Dr. Nacy studied music production, engineering, and copyright law at Belmont College and was a studio intern at CBS Records in Nashville, Tenn. Before coming to Southeast, Dr. Nacy was an Instructor, Scenographer, and Technical Director at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and an Instructor, Technical Director, and Lighting/Sound Designer at Texas Womans University in Denton, Texas.

Dr. Nacy has performed with The Bishop's Corner Theatre (Nashville, TN) and The University of Missouri-Columbia Summer Repertory Theatre, among others, and has done extensive commercial radio voice-over work. His directing credits include The King and I, Godspell, A Final Evening with the Illuminati, On Golden Pond, The Dining Room, and others. He has designed scenery, lighting, and sound for 141 productions ranging from Guys and Dolls to On The Verge to The Amen Corner as well as dozens of dance, music, and opera productions.

Dr. Nacy is a member of The Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), and The International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS-AIS). Research areas include theatre semiotics, nineteenth-century American theatre, dramatugy, and commercial theatre.

Dr. Nacy is an avid classical guitarist, photographer, and cyclist and is an enthusiastic supporter of the St. Louis Bombers and the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Union football clubs.