Position @ the University of the Arts
Professor of English, Liberal Arts division
Alma Mater
Temple University
Upcoming Projects
Toby Zinman’s third book, Edward Albee, was published by University of Michigan Press in the Spring of 2008. Her newest book on Arthur Miller’s play, All My Sons, published by Methuen in London, should be out in June 2010.
Where have you traveled recently?
I traveled to South Africa to lecture on the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson at the conference of the International Federation of Theatre Research. I also covered the annual Grahamstown Arts Festival for the Philadelphia Inquirer. I spent my sabbatical giving a series of lectures on American drama at Sias University in Henan, China, and is off to raft the Amazon in Peru and then hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu over mid-semester break. I’ll be teaching on shipboard for University of Virginia’s Seminar at Sea on an early summer cruise through the Caribbean.
I also write travel stories, ranging from articles about dog sledding in the Yukon to the opening of the Saatchi Gallery in London, from hiking coast-to-coast across England to climbing Mt Sinai in the dark to see the sunrise.
You’re the Philadelphia Inquirer’s theater critic. What's that like?
I love it—especially since it dovetails so beautifully with the drama courses I teach. I review Philadelphia theatre, several times each week, and I enjoy writing annually about foreign theatre in London and the summer Canadian festivals. I covered the Hong Kong Performing Arts Festival for American Theatre magazine, I’m the regional reviewer for Variety, the international show business publication, and I currently review New York theatre for BroadStreetReview.com. An interesting bonus is that I often have the chance to interview high-profile actors and playwrights for articles I'm writing. And I had the opportunity to fly through the air when I did a story on a production of Peter Pan—that was hilarious.
You write, travel and teach. Is there time for anything else in your busy life?
I'm a mad knitter—not skilled, but obsessive. Lately I've been knitting for a project called Motherbear, making teddy bears for AIDS orphans in Africa. I have knitted for charity for years—I used to make hats for the newborns at Pennsylvania Hospital. I made about 200.
