Geoffrey Proehl

Professor, Theatre Arts
Humanities Program Committee Member

Geoff Proehl teaches, dramaturgs, and directs at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. Prior to Puget Sound, he taught dramaturgy at Villanova University, where he supervised the work of graduate student dramaturgs on university and professional productions. He is the author a study of American family drama: Coming Home Again: American Family Drama and the Figure of the Prodigal (Fairleigh Dickinson, 1997). He contributed to and co-edited, with Susan Jonas and Michael Lupu, Dramaturgy in American Theater: A Source Book (Harcourt Brace, 1997). His essays have appeared in The Encyclopedia of English Studies and the Language Arts, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theater Topics, and Canadian Theatre Review. Proehl was president of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas from 1998-2000. Professionally, he has worked with the Guthrie Theatre, Arena Stage, the People's Light and Theatre Company, Tacoma Actors Guild, the Museum of Glass, and the New Harmony Project. He has a BA from George Fox College, an MFA in directing from Wayne State University, and a PhD in directing and dramatic criticism from Stanford University. His most recent book is Toward a Dramaturgical Sensibility: Landscape and Journey with DD Kugler, Mark Lamos, and Michael Lupu (Fairleigh Dickinson, 2008; Outstanding Book Award, 2009, Association for Theatre in Higher Education).