Education

B.A. Health and Society, University of Rochester, 1990;
Screenwriting Certificate, University of Washington, 1999;
B.A. English Literature and Creative Writing, University of Washington, 2001:
M.F.A. Theatre Arts – Dramaturgy, University of Iowa, 2004

This is why the clown exists. It is about somebody who takes on … the limitations, the tragedies, the contradictions, the conflicts, the stupidity, the innocence, the vulnerability, the pain, and the wounds. And consciously plays with them. So the use of clown is to process with humor the tragedy of life. - Giovanni Fusetti

Nancy Hoffman
Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater

Specializations:

• Irish Literature and Drama
• The Comic and Comedy; Women in Comedy
• Dramaturgy: New Play Development

Professor Hoffman believes a fundamental role of theatre is to build bridges between human beings. She feels stories are a basic human need, right alongside food, clothing and shelter. People need to be able to voice their stories as well as listen to others’. To hear and be heard are revolutionary events, especially during a collective experience such as theatre.

In the interest of building bridges, Professor Hoffman is especially interested in the comic. She views comedy as a font of forgiveness; we have an environment in which we can laugh at ourselves and find common ground between others and ourselves. Comedy can break through internal and social barriers, yield perspective on the human experience, and return us to our lives restored.

Toward these ends, Professor Hoffman holds that every being on this planet is fascinating.

An all-around theatre artist in acting, directing, playwriting and dramaturgy, Professor Hoffman will bring a multidisciplinary approach to her endeavors at Connecticut College.

Professor Hoffman’s full-length play, Midnight Mass, was the recipient of the 2007 RI State Council on the Arts Playwriting/Screenwriting Merit Award and was recently produced at Perishable Theatre in June, 2007. Her short play, House Sitting, was also recently produced at Perishable’s Fledgling Festival.

Favorite theatre projects include serving as dramaturg for the world premiere of Klub Ka: A Blues Legend at the University of Iowa, later seen at Café La MaMa E.T.C.; portraying Dabby Bryant in Our Country’s Good in Sommerville, MA; roles as an ice cream cone, dragon, giraffe, and more in the Manton Avenue Project (playmaking project for children at Providence’s D’Abate Elementary School); directing Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth, and directing premiere productions of It Fell from the Sky and Top Ten by playwright Peter Gil-Sheridan.

Courses
TH 104: Acting One: Preparation, Fall 2007, Spring 2008;
TH 241: Theater and Culture, Spring 2008
TH 308: Special Projects: Devised Theatre, Fall 2007
TH 323: Advanced Scene Study: Styles (Romantic (Shakespeare), Realism, Epic, Abstract/Absurd) Spring 2008

Personal
What she's reading now? Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang , Harold Pinter plays and criticism and Maria Irene Fornes plays and criticism.

Visit the theater department site.