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 Len Berkman is the Anne Hesseltine Hoyt Professor of Theatre at Smith College, where, having taught playwriting, theatre history, and the dramatic literature of various nations and cultures since 1969, he has received Distinguished Teacher and Charis Medal Honors, and where his former students number such diverse professional writers as Wendy Wasserstein, Kevin Heelan, Shelley Berc, Addie Walsh, Dare Clubb, Patricia Wettig, Rob Corddry, Liev Schreiber, and Erin Cressida Wilson. Among Len's plays are: Excuse Me For Even Daring To Open My Mouth, 'Til The Beatles Reunite, Adultery Without Touch, Voila! Rape In Technicolor, Missing Children, I Won't Go See A Play Called 'A Parent's Worst Nightmare', Quits, Quote/Unquote, and These Are Not My Breasts. His essays appear in such journals as Modern Drama, Massachusetts Review, and Parnassus; and in such books as Theatre in Crisis?, American Jewish Women Writers, Irene Fornes: Conducting A Life, and Upstaging Big Daddy.
Holding Yale Drama School M.F.A. and D.F.A. degrees, Len has been Hispanic Playwrights Project/Festival Dramaturg at South Coast Repertory, with Mark Taper Forum's Writer's Salon in Los Angeles, and for WordBRIDGE play development in Florida. For 11 years he worked on script development teams at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute in Utah. Since 1990, Len runs ragged but cheerful as dramaturg for New York Stage & Film Company's new play readings/workshops/summer productions. He has recurrently been called upon as external evaluator for the National Endowment of the Arts and university theatre and dance departments. Active professional consultant, he is on the Voice & Vision (NYC), New World Theatre (Amherst, MA), and Epic Theatre Ensemble (NYC) Advisory Boards. Len has also been script supervisor for CLIO inc., Lola van Wagenen's NYC- based documentary film/video making organization focused on women's history and women's issues.
The courses Len teaches at Smith are: Modern European Drama (1870-1930, first semester; 1930-present, second semester); Playwriting (every semester); Contemporary Canadian Drama; Latino/a Drama of the Americas, and Special Studies on British Socialist/Feminist playwrights, post-Brecht Germanic playwrights, Marguerite Duras, Joanna Murray-Smith, Wole Soyinka, S.I. Witkiewicz, Fernando Arrabal, and other dramatists from cultures in turmoil. Upcoming: his new seminar on Caryl Churchill. |
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