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.
  • TeachingTeaching 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…
    • 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 PhotosClick here to view a slideshow of Twelfth Night, or What You Will Click here to view a slideshow of Ruins Click here to view a slideshow of Golden Girls
    • 12N, Or What You Will
    • 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[slideshow]
    • Ruins
    • Golden Girlsby Louise Page, photos by Jon Crispin [slideshow]
  • Writing
  • August 19, 2011

    “Porgy and Bess:” Without the Racism and Sexism?

    Cross-posted at MsMagazine.com How should artists approach remounting the classics? Should they respect all of the author’s original intentions and stage a version of the show that reflects them perfectly? Or should they attempt to remove the historical residue often attached to pieces that, however conscious the authors may have been of trying to do…

  • August 12, 2011

    a visit with SITI

    Today I was privileged to sit in on rehearsals for SITI Company’s The Trojan Women at the Getty Villa. This company employs a specifically theatrical technique to make art that fully exploits the liveness of the space and time of performance. Composed of actors, designers, and a director who have been working together at a…

  • August 12, 2011

    the universal and the specific

    In January I will be directing a university production of Our Town. Those of you who know my theatrical tastes may well be surprised to hear that I love this play. I love the theatrical device of the narrator, the lack of set, the deliberate use of stereotypes, and the simple and touching story and…

  • August 12, 2011

    Unemployment: A Play

    An office. A fluorescently lit, cubicley structured, windowless, office. Scene one A: So, what qualifications for this job do you particularly view yourself as having? B: Well, if I could ask – the ad was a bit vague – what are the qualifications for this job – I mean, what are you hoping to –…

  • August 10, 2011

    rehearsal butterflies

    I’m getting ready for my first rehearsal for another incarnation of American Medea tonight, and my stomach is full of butterflies. One of my teachers, Anne Bogart, always says that being nervous is a good sign – it means that you’re invested and that the work is meaningful to you. I agree, and for the…

  • August 7, 2011

    american medea: coming soon to a black box nowhere near you

    This provocative re-imagining of the Medea myth plays out deep in the heart of Texas.  When a media circus descends on the rural cow town of Corinth, TX, to cover a gruesome filicide, a community and the country must confront its own expectations and prejudices about motherhood, identity, and gender roles in a post-modern world.…

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