BIOGRAPHY
Miriam Hahn Thomas is an educator, theatre historian, and dramaturg, working in arts education and programming in Kalamazoo, MI. She is a member of the Museum Education team at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, where she serves as Assistant Curator of Adult Programs. Before starting at the KIA, she served as Associate Programs Director for the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo.
Originally from Dearing, GA, Miriam earned her Ph.D. in Theatre and a Certificate in Performance Studies from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH. She received her M.A. in Theatre from the University of South Carolina, and her B.A. in Theatre and English, with a concentration in Creative Writing, from Wofford College. She has held teaching positions at multiple institutions, including Kennesaw State University, Ball State University, and Wofford College. Courses taught at the college level include Theatre History and Literature, Dramatic Theory, Contemporary Drama, Dramaturgy, Script Analysis, Acting, Directing, and introductory courses in theatre, film, communications, and the humanities.
Miriam’s current research centers on strategic performative appropriations of Indigenous American cultures, histories, and identities during the counterculture movement of the 1960s, a topic she explores in her dissertation, Playing Hippies and Indians: Acts of Cultural Colonization in the Theatre of the American Counterculture. In 2012, she was awarded the Charles M. Shanklin Award for Research Excellence for her paper “’As If There Were No Damages’: Representing Native American Spirituality in the Dramas of Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz” at Bowling Green State University. Miriam is a member of the National Art Education Association, the Mid-America Theatre Conference, the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association, and the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and her published work appears in Ecumenica: Journal of Performance and Theatre Symposium.
Production dramaturgy credits include Antigone, Into the Woods, Private Eyes, Sonia Flew, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, and Copenhagen. Miriam has served as director or assistant director for productions of As You Like It, No Roosters in the Desert, Antigone, Clown Bar, and Sonia Flew. She has also appeared onstage in roles such as Jean in Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Cel in The Most Massive Woman Wins, Claire Zachanassian in The Visit, and Gwendolyn Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest.
In addition to teaching and writing, Miriam enjoys time spent with friends and family, reading, road trips, the mountains, and her cat, Carmen.