Get your best joke ready, because Professor Fred Love wants to hear it.

Every morning, this professor of music, dance and theatre starts his lectures by having his students get up in front of the class and tell a joke.

“Everyone is required to tell a joke and it cannot be a knock-knock joke,” Love said. “It’s actually a lot of fun and it lightens up the class.”

Love is the musical director for many musicals put on at OU, though he didn’t start out in theater.

“I was going into the ministry, studying to be a minister of music,” Love said.

An Orlando, Fla., native, Love was working toward his bachelor’s degree in church music at Stetson University in Orlando when he was asked to be the understudy for the role of Figaro in “The Marriage of Figaro.”

“It changed my life,” Love said. “My voice matured, I grew into it and I thought this is what I should be doing.”

After earning his bachelor’s degree for church music with a double major in vocal performance from Stetson University, Love earned his master’s degree in music from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He started working toward his doctorate, and was then offered a position with the Florida Grand Opera.

Love soon began to travel all around the country after regional theaters began casting him in musicals.

After working with regional theatres, he landed his biggest role in the New York Broadway play, “Show Boat” where he performed for two and a half years.

He spent an additional two years on the road traveling with different productions and then decided to settle down after tiring of the travel and hearing about an open position at OU.

Love is still an active theater performer and is involved with concerts as well as other productions in the area.

This semester, Love’s courses include musical theater workshop and musicianship for the theater performer. Love is also in charge of the theater senior showcase at OU.