Downing Cless joined the Tufts Drama Department in 1979. He had received his Master of Arts in Dramatic Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1971, and then moved to Sociology for his doctorate at Brandeis University. His first professional appointment was as an instructor in Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts before he served for seven years as an assistant professor of theater at Antioch College. Downing plans to devote significant time to climate activism, to his continuing association with the Central Square Theatre and to travel with his wife, former dance professor Alice Trexler, to visit their children Elliott and Isabelle who currently reside in Chicago and Cleveland.