Holly L. Derr

  • About MeHolly Derr is a director and professor of theater specializing in the Viewpoints u0026amp; Composition, the performance of gender, and applied theater history. Originally from Dallas, TX, she holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University and a BA in Theater from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was the founding Artistic Director of SKT Inc., a small, New York based not-for-profit theater, and has directed new plays for Big Dance Theater and the PlayPenn New Play Development festival. Holly has served on the faculties of Marlboro College and Smith College, and has taught and directed at the American Repertory Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, The Brown University/Trinity Repertory Theater Consortium, and the California Institute of the Arts. Most recently, Holly presented her original script, American Medea, at Ensemble Studio Theater/LA and directed Twelfth Night at the University of Riverside. Favorite past projects include In the Penal Colony, Speak, The Time of Your Life (as a musical adaptation), The Front Page, and new plays by Gregory Moss, Ann Marie Healy, Timothy Braun, and Colin Denby Swanson.
  • Teaching
    • Research Statement
    • Teaching PhilosophyTEACHING PHILOSOPHY My journey has been characterized by confronting the unknown. I was born and raised in Dallas, TX, and have always been deeply interested in the culture of the South, especially as represented by my Louisianan grandmother and her small town worldview. After attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where one of my favorite classes was The Sociology of the South), I moved to New York City and lived consecutively in Hell’s Kitchen and Dominican Harlem. There I became fascinated by the difference between the politics of multiculturalism and actual life in diverse communities. I moved from there to rural Vermont, where I participated in old- American-style Town Meetings and other New England traditions. Seeking the kinds of adventure I read about in my favorite childhood books (Little House on the Prairie, A Wrinkle in Time), I found real-life adventure by living American culture in its many forms. As a teacher, I try to engage students in this ongoing adventure of discovery. I value the unique contributions of diverse students and help them to start from where they are by bringing their experience to the table, but I also encourage them to embrace the unfamiliar. Whether…
  • Production Photos
    • Sense & Sensibility
    • What Happened While Hero Was Dead
    • Sunrise Coven
    • The Wolves
    • The Story and the Teller
    • Hamlet: Fall of the Sparrow
    • Red Bike
    • SuperTrue
    • Macbeth
    • Comedy of Errors
    • American Medea
    • Harry and the Thief
    • Romeo and Juliet
    • The Metal Children
    • Rimers of Eldritch
    • As Long as Fear Can Turn to Wrath
    • Twelfth Night, or What You Will

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    • Ruins
    • Golden Girlsby Louise Page, photos by Jon Crispin

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  • Writing
  • April 16, 2023

    Shared Leadership

    Shared Leadership

    Theatres Find an Inclusive Model Spurs More Diversity and Innovation Published by Southern Theatre Magazine Winter 2023 Theatres across the country are rethinking their organizational structures in light of the forced changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for change from We See You White American Theatre (WSYWAT), and a recognition of the lack…

  • April 16, 2023

    Recognition and Reversal in the Plays of Lauren Gunderson

    A dialogue originally published by the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism Spring 2022 In this introduction to a dialogue with Lauren Gunderson, the author argues that the disparity between critical responses and audience responses to some of Gunderson’s plays can be understood as the product of a devaluation of her use of surprise to…

  • April 4, 2022

    Performing the Peace

    Performing the Peace

    Police and Former Prisoners Use Playback Theatre to Build Trust in their Community. Originally published by Southern Theatre Magazine Fall 2021. At a time when George Floyd has become a household name and police-community relations are strained across the country, a program in Memphis called Performing the Peace – which uses theatre to bridge the…

  • March 1, 2022

    Forget the Times: Stream This Feminist Playwright’s New Work Now

    Forget the Times: Stream This Feminist Playwright’s New Work Now

    Originally published by Ms. Magazine on March 22, 2021 Editor’s note: Lauren Gunderson’s new play The Catatrophist (now streaming) is a one-person show about her husband, a virologist. A major publication recently ran a scathing review of the play. The review was perceived to be sexist by many in the theater industry. While this piece intentionally does not link…

  • February 28, 2022

    Using Critical Fabulation in History-Based Playwriting

    Using Critical Fabulation in History-Based Playwriting

    Originally published by HowlRound on March 3, 2021 When the pandemic hit last March, the University of Memphis, as with most theatres and universities, went online for the rest of the semester, and our spring musical—one week into rehearsal—was canceled. Our chair, feeling deeply the loss to our students, wanted to provide them with a…

  • May 18, 2021

    The Story and the Teller Videos

  • May 17, 2020

    Dismantling Anti-Black Language

    Dismantling Anti-Black Language

    originally published by HowlRound on August 27, 2020 Calling all Shakespeare lovers! Have you seen this document: Dismantling Anti-Black Linguistic Racism in Shakespeare? Chicago-based director Lavina Jadhwani, an Asian American theatre artist and educator, created it for other non-Black theatre artists and educators to help us understand how anti-Black language can do harm to Black people.…

  • May 16, 2020

    The Art and Craft of Intimacy Direction

    Originally published on HowlRound on January 30, 2020. In case you haven’t noticed, we are experiencing a revolution in the way artists and entertainers rehearse and perform intimacy. The seeds were planted at least ten years ago, when a few highly trained movement specialists started noticing that they were often called upon to handle scenes…

  • May 15, 2020

    The Ms. Q&A: Why Holland Taylor Wanted to Act Like Ann Richards

    Originally published by Ms. Magazine on September 16, 2019.  I’ve always looked forward to being old enough to play Ann Richards in a one-woman show—so imagine what happened when I saw that Holland Taylor’s Ann was on Broadway HD and running at Arena Stage, with Jayne Atkinson in the starring role. I was eager to talk to…

  • May 14, 2020

    #MeToo and the Method

    Originally published by HowlRound on June 13, 2019. #MeToo has raised many questions about what kinds of intimacy are created in rehearsal rooms and classrooms, and to what end. As I’ve listened to the stories of survivors, I’ve been struck by the fact that the abusers in these cases, mostly men, weren’t doing anything that…

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