Tamsen Wolff

Associate Professor

47 McCosh Hall

(609) 258-4094

twolff@princeton.edu

Office Hours:
Fridays 10:30am - 12:30pm - appointments recommended

Teaching and Research Interests:
Modernism
American Literature
Literature and Ethnicity
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Drama and Performance Studies
Contemporary Literature and Culture


Ph.D. in Theatre and English, Columbia University. Tamsen Wolff specializes in modern and contemporary drama and performance, gender studies, cultural studies, voice, directing, and dramaturgy. Her first book, Mendel’s Theatre: Heredity, Eugenics, and Early Twentieth-Century American Drama, reveals the complex role of heredity and hereditary theory in the emergence of modern American drama. Her novel, Juno's Swans, is forthcoming from Europa Editions in September 2018.
She is currently working on a book entitled Ev'ry Syllable She Utters: Parsing the Voice in Musical Theatre, which demonstrates how musical theatre tells specific narratives about bodies in and through expressive vocal practices, including fast-talking or hyper diction, call and response, ventriloquism, and ensemble singing. She is also at work on her second novel, This Is a New Country, historical fiction based on eleven emigrant love letters that offers a working-class account of America during Reconstruction. She has published essays—on theatre audiences, gender and dramaturgy, Eugene O’Neill, Susan Glaspell, law and performance, and documentary drama, among other subjects—in journals including Theatre Journal, Modern Drama, Performing Arts Journal, Theatre Topics, Theatre Forum, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Wolff has worked professionally and at universities as a director and a dramaturg. She is an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, and has taught courses and coached individuals in voice, text, and public speaking.