Toby Zinman is a professor of English at the University of the Arts, where she was awarded the prize for distinguished teaching.  She has published widely and lectured internationally on contemporary American drama. She has also reviewed theater for the Philadelphia Inquirer since January 2006. She’s the Philadelpha reviewer for Variety and a frequent contributor to American Theatre magazine.

She was a Fulbright professor in theater at Tel Aviv University and has received five grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her third book, on Edward Albee’s plays, is set for 2008 publication by the University of Michigan Press. She lives in Haddonfield, N.J.

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Toby Zinman
Position @ UArts
Professor of English, UArts’ Liberal Arts Division

Alma Mater
Temple University

Forthcoming Projects
Zinman’s newest book, Edward Albee, appeared in February 2008. Then she’ll spend March and April in China, giving a series of lectures on America drama at Sias University in Henan, before beginning Seminar at Sea in May. She’ll be lecturing and also leading book group discussions during the voyage, which starts in Nassau and stops at seven ports, going to and from the Panama Canal.

Where have you traveled recently?
”2007 was a very exotic year. I was in India in January for three weeks. I traveled to South Africa this summer 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.”

You’re the Philadelphia Inquirer’s theater critic. What’s that like? 
"I review theater both locally and in New York, and I enjoy going to foreign festivals. In June, I traveled to Canada to cover the Stratford
Festival and the Shaw Festival, and in March I’m writing about the Hong Kong Performing Arts Festival for American Theatre magazine. 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 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."

 
More articles by Toby Zinman, newest first