FACULTY & STAFF
Len Berkman
Anne Hesseltine Hoyt Professor of Theatre
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Office: Theatre 203 |  |
585–3206 |
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 playwriting students number such diverse professionals as Wendy Wasserstein, Kevin Heelan, Shelley Berc, Addie Walsh, Dare Clubb and Erin Cressida Wilson. Among Berkman'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 Blackwell's Companion to Contemporary Theatre, American Jewish Women Writers and Upstaging Big Daddy.
Holding Yale Drama School masters of fine arts and doctor of fine arts degrees, Berkman served three years as Hispanic Playwrights Project/Festival Dramaturg as South Coast Repertory and is currently with Mark Taper Forum's Playwright Mentor series in Los Angeles. Since 1985, he has worked on script development teams at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute in Utah. Berkman also runs ragged but cheerful as dramaturg for New York Stage & Film Company's new play readings/workshops and summer productions, and for Richard Rice's Wordbridge play development program in Florida. He has been frequently called upon as external evaluator for the National Endowment of the Arts and university departments of theatre and dance. An active professional consultant, he is on Voice & Vision's Women's Theatre Circle of Advisors (NYC) and Roberta Uno's New World Theatre (Amherst, MA) advisory boards. Berkman is also board member and script supervisor for CLIO inc., Lola van Wagenen's New York City–based arganization producing video documentaries 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.
