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- Detailed Information
Tanya L. Pollard
Professor
English
Location: 3108 Boylan Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x3644
Fax: 718.951.4612
Email:
Tanya L. Pollard's Web site
Tanya Pollard writes on Shakespeare and early modern drama. Her books include Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages (2017), which was awarded the Roland H. Bainton Literature Book Prize; Drugs and Theater in Early Modern England (2005), Shakespeare's Theater (2004); and four co-edited essay collections. Her edition of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist will be published by Arden Early Modern Drama (2023). She is Chair of the Council of Scholars at Theatre for a New Audience, and works with other theater companies, including the Red Bull, the Public, and the Roundabout; she has appeared in live and televised conversations with actors including Ethan Hawke, Christopher Plummer, Phylicia Rashad, James Earl Jones, Sam Waterston, F. Murray Abraham, John Douglas Thompson, and Danai Gurira, and with directors including Trevor Nunn, Greg Doran, Simon Goodwin, and Arin Arbus. Awards include a Guggenheim, a Rhodes Scholarship, an NEH Fellowship, and a Whiting Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching.
Education:
Ph.D., Yale University - 1999 (Literature, Comparative)
M.A., Oxford University - 1992 (Classics and English)
B.A., Yale University - 1990 (English)
Areas of Expertise:
Tanya Pollard is a scholar of Shakespeare and early modern drama. She teaches and writes on the history of bodies, emotions, science, medicine, sexuality, gender, actors, performance, and responses to Greek theater. In addition to research, writing, and teaching, she works with theater companies on productions of early modern plays.
Books and Publications
Editor, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (London: Bloomsbury/ Arden Early Modern Drama, 2023) (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2023
Review, D. W. Dixon and J. S. Garrison, Performing Gods in Classical Antiquity and the Age of
2 Shakespeare (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2021), in Journal of Hellenic Studies (2023) (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2023
"Bonds of blood in The Merchant of Venice," Theater Program Essay for Merchant of Venice at Theater for a New Audience, Brooklyn, NY, February 2022. (Books and Publications: Other) 2022
"English Tragedy," co-authored with Garrett Sullivan, in Oxford Bibliographies in Renaissance and Reformation, ed. Margaret King (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2022
Review, Bryan Brazeau, ed., The Reception of Aristotle's Poetics in the Italian Renaissance and Beyond. New Directions in Criticism, in Classical Review (2022) 72.2 474-477. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2022
"Acting Like Greeks," in Thomas Heywood and the Classical Tradition, ed. Tania Demetriou and Janice Valls-Russell (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2021), 229-243.
(Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2021
"Other Epic Afterlives: Achilles' Female Genealogies," Modern Language Notes 135:5 (2020), 1052-1062. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2020
"Playhouses," in Shakespeare and Emotion, ed. Katharine Craik (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 109-121. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2020
"The Classical Tradition," in Shakespeare/Sense, ed. Simon Smith (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 62-81. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2020
"Translating and Transgendering Orestes in Early Modern England," Translation and Literature (2020), 101-116. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2020
"Knowing Kin and Kind in The Winter's Tale," in Blind Spots of Knowledge in Shakespeare and his World, ed. Subha Mukherji (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institutes Publications, 2019), 123-132. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2019
Reader in Tragedy: An Anthology of Classical Criticism to Contemporary Theory, ed. Marcus Nevitt and Tanya Pollard (London: Bloomsbury, 2019). (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2019
Review, Rebecca Lemon, Addiction and Devotion in Early Modern England, Renaissance Quarterly 72:3 (2019), pp. 1150-1151.
(Books and Publications: Book Review) 2019
"Encountering Homer through Greek Plays in Sixteenth-century Europe," in Epic Performances: from the Middle Ages into the Twenty-first Century, ed. Fiona Macintosh and Justine McConnell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 63-75. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
Book Review: Shakespeare and Greece, ed. Alison Findlay and Vassiliki Markidou, in Renaissance Quarterly 71:1 (2018), 424-426. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2018
"Genre: Comedy and Tragedy." The Routledge Research Companion to Shakespeare and Classical Literature. Eds. Sean Keilen and Nicholas Moschovakis. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2017
"Homer and Greek Tragedy in Early Modern England's Theatres: An Introduction," co-written with Tania
Demetriou, in Homer and Greek Tragedy in Early Modern England's Theatres, 9:1 (2017), 1-35.
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
"Staging Ford in New York, 2015: An Interview with Jesse Berger, Artistic Director of the Red Bull Theater," Early Modern Literary Studies Special Issue 26 (2017). (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
"Tragicomic Conceptions: The Winter's Tale as response to Amphitryo," co-written with Beatrice Bradley, English Literary Renaissance 47:2 (2017), 251-269. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
Greek Tragic Women on Shakespeare's Stages (Oxford University Press, 2017). (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2017
Homer and Greek Tragedy in Early Modern England's Theatres, co-edited with Tania Demetriou, special issue of Classical Receptions Journal 9:1 (2017). (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2017
Milton, Drama, and Greek Texts, co-edited with Tania Demetriou (Routledge, 2017); previously published as special journal issue, re-published as a book by Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2017
"Milton, Drama, and Greek texts: Preface," co-authored with Tania Demetriou, in Milton, Drama, and Greek Texts: Special Issue of The Seventeenth Century Journal (2016), 131-137. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
Milton, Drama, and Greek Texts, co-edited with Tania Demetriou. A Special Issue of The Seventeenth-Century Journal. 31:2, 2016. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2016
"'Slices from Homer's Banquets:' Encountering Homer through Greek plays in sixteenth-century Europe." Epic Performances: from the Middle Ages into the twenty-first century. Eds. Fiona Macintosh and Justine McConnell. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2015
"Hecuba." A Dictionary of Shakespeare's Classical Mythology. Ed. Yves Peyré. http://www.shakmyth.org/myth/107/hecuba. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"Tragicomedy." Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature. Eds. Patrick Cheney and Philip Hardie. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. 419-32. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2015
Review of Barbarous antiquity: reorienting the past in the poetry of early modern England, by Miriam Jacobson. Choice, March. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2015
Review of Losing Touch with Nature: Literature and the New Science in Sixteenth-Century England, by Mary Crane. Choice. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2015
Review of Occult Knowledge, Science, and Gender on the Shakespearean Stage, by Mary Floyd-Wilson. Shakespeare Quarterly. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2015
Review of Shakespeare Among the Courtesans: Prostitution, Literature, and Drama, 1500-1600, by Duncan Salkeld. Renaissance Quarterly. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2015
"Tamburlaine in His Element." Essay in Theatre for a New Audience's 360 Series, accompanying Michael Boyd's production of Marlowe's Tamburlaine. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2014
"Teaching Petrarch and Shakespeare." Approaches to Teaching Petrarch's Canzoniere and Petrarchism. Eds. Christopher Kleinhenz and Andrea Dini. New York: MLA. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2014
Review of Renaissance Hybrids: Culture and Genre in Early Modern England, by Gary A. Schmidt. Renaissance Quarterly. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2014
"Conceiving Tragedy." Shakespearean Sensations. Eds. Tanya Pollard and Katharine Craik. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 85-100. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2013
"Greek Playbooks and Dramatic Forms in Early Modern England." Formal Matters: Reading the Materials of English Renaissance Literature. Eds. Allison Deutermann and Andras Kisery. Manchester, United Kingdom: Manchester University Press. 99-123. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2013
"Intoxicating Plants and Narcotic Theater." Dialogues: A Midsummer Night's Dream, educational materials for Theatre for a New Audience (for Julie Taymor's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2013
Pollard, Tanya and Katharine Craik. "Introduction." Shakespearean Sensations. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 1-25. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2013
Pollard, Tanya and Katharine Craik. Shakespearean Sensations. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2013
"What's Hecuba to Shakespeare?" Renaissance Quarterly 65.4: 1060-93. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
"Audience Reception." The Oxford Handbook to Shakespeare. Ed. Arthur Kinney. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. 452-67. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
"Barnabe Barnes" biographical essay. Encyclopedia of English Renaissance Literature. Eds. Alan Stewart and Garrett Sullivan. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2011
"Drugs, Poisons, Remedies and the Theatre." Middleton in Context. Ed. Suzanne Gossett. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 287-94. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
"Stephen Gosson" biographical essay. Encyclopedia of English Renaissance Literature. Eds. Alan Stewart and Garrett Sullivan. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2011
"Enclosing the Body: Tudor Conceptions of Skin." A Companion to Tudor Literature and Culture, 1485-1603. Ed. Kent Cartwright. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell. 111-23. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2010
"Tragedy and Revenge." The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy. Eds. Emma Smith and Garrett Sullivan. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 58-72. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2010
"'A Thing Like Death': Poisons and Sleeping Potions in 'Romeo and Juliet' and A'ntony and Cleopatra.'" Reprinted (from Renaissance Drama (2003)) in Harold Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations, William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, New Edition. New York: Chelsea House. 29-54. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2009
"Romancing the Greeks: Cymbeline's Genres and Models." How to Do Things With Shakespeare. Ed. Laurie Maguire. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. 34-53. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2007
"Spelling the Body." Inhabiting the Body, Inhabiting the World. Eds. Garrett Sullivan and Mary Floyd-Wilson. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave. 171-86. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2007
"A Kind of Wild Medicine: Revenge as Remedy in Early Modern England." Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 50: 57-69. Invitational contribution to special journal issue on changing paradigms in literature and science. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2005
Drugs and Theater in Early Modern England. Oxford University Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2005
"'No Faith in Physic': Masquerades of Medicine Onstage and Off." Disease, Diagnosis and Cure on the Early Modern Stage: Praxis and Performance. Eds. Stephanie Moss and Kaara Peterson. Aldershot and Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2004
"The Pleasures and Perils of Smoking in Early Modern England." Smoke: A Global History of Smoking. Eds. Sander Gilman and Zhou Xun. London: Reaktion Press. 38-45. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2004
Pollard, Tanya and Lucy Munro. "Tobacco in English Renaissance Literature." Tobacco in History and Culture: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Jordan Goodman. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Charles Scribner's Sons. 223-26. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2004
"'A Thing Like Death': Poisons and Sleeping Potions in 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Antony and Cleopatra.'" Renaissance Drama 32: 95-121. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2003
Shakespeare's Theater: A Sourcebook. Blackwell Publishing. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2003
"Les dangers de la beauté: Maquillage et théâtre au dix-septième siècle en Angleterre." La Beauté et Ses Monstres. Eds. Line Cottegnies, Tony Gheeraert and Gisèle Venet. Paris: Presses de la Nouvelle Sorbonne. 231-41. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2002
"Beauty's Poisonous Properties." Shakespeare Studies 27: 187-210. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 1999
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Winner of the 2017 Roland H. Bainton Literature Book Prize, awarded by the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, for Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages (Awards and Honors) 2017
Whiting Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching. (Awards and Honors) 2010
NEH Research Fellowship, 2006-07. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Actors and the Remains of the Dead," Annual Classics and English Lecture, Oxford University, Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, April 25, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2d6gwP8TRM (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2022
"Burbage's bereavements and the performance of apocalypse." Invited lecture, Paris Early Modern Seminar, Paris, France, May 13, 2022. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2022
"Acting apocalyptically: Richard Burbage and the ends of theater," Invited Keynote Speaker at "Hells & Heavens of Early Modern England," 31st SEDERI International Conference, Canary Islands (remotely), May 12, 2021. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2021
"Casting Tragedy: Playing companies, gender, and transnational tragic roles," invited talk at "Traveling Tragedy," University of Konstanz, Germany, Oct 7, 2021. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2021
"Hamlet and the Epic Tradition." Invited talk for University of Chicago Greece and Rome Core course, February 5, 2021. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2021
"Imagining technologies to bring back the dead: strange medicines in plague-time plays," at "Theater Technologies Crossing Borders, Past to Present," Theater Without Borders annual conference, June 22, 2021. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2021
"Other Epic Afterlives: Genealogies of Achilles' Female Counterparts." Invited talk at Cambridge University Classical Reception Seminar, Nov 24, 2020. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2020
"Transforming Greek Tragic Heroines in Shakespeare's Comedies, or Iphigenia in Illyria" panel. Shakespeare Association of America's Annual Convention. Vancouver, British Columbia, April 4. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
"Greek Tragic Heroines in Shakespeare's Comedies." Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. CUNY Graduate Center. New York, Oct. 16. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"Madness and Mixed Genres: Orestes in Early Modern England." Renaissance Society of America. New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014
"Slices From Homer's Banquets: Encountering Homer Through Greek Plays in Sixteenth-century Europe." Archive for the Performance of Greek and Roman Drama. Oxford University. Oxford, United Kingdom, September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Other Professional Activities
Scholar & Dramaturgical Consultant for Off-Broadway production of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, Red Bull Theater, fall 2021 https://www.redbulltheater.com/the-alchemist 2021
Shakespeare consultant for Tony-nominated Broadway production of Kiss Me Kate, Roundabout Theater, spring 2019 https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/2018-2019-season/kiss-me-kate/ 2019
Appear in conversation with Christopher Plummer on stage history of King Lear in PBS documentary, Shakespeare Uncovered. See http://www.pbs.org/wnet/shakespeare-uncovered/uncategorized/christopher-plummer-different-versions-king-lear/ 2015
Pollard, Tanya and Lisa Hopkins, co-editors of new series, Arden Studies in Early Modern Drama, published by Arden/Bloomsbury. Currently accepting new book proposals and manuscripts. 2015
Audience talk-backs accompanying theatrical productions: King Lear (London Globe Theatre, at NYU, Oct. 5); The Alchemist (NJ Shakespeare, Aug. 23); Macbeth (Shakespeare Society Residency, at The Public Theatre, May 5); King Lear (Theatre for a New Audience, Apr. 5); Henry IV, Part Two (Shakespeare Society Residency, Pearl Theatre, Feb. 13); and Arden of Faversham (Red Bull Theater, Jan. 27). 2014
Interviewed by Ethan Hawke in "Shakespeare Uncovered: Ethan Hawke on Macbeth," BBC/PBS documentary, aired in the United Kingdom in June 2012 and in the United States in January 2013. See online at http://video.pbs.org/video/2328956371 2013
