Faculty & Staff
Michelle K. Ephraim
Associate Professor
Office: Salisbury Laboratories, 237
Phone: +1-508-831-6129
Fax: +1-508-831-5932
ephraim@wpi.edu
Educational Background
- B.A., Tufts University, 1991
- M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993
- Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998
Research
Michelle Ephraim is the Shakespeare scholar at WPI. She is the author of Reading the Jewish Woman on the Elizabethan Stage (Ashgate, 2008) as well as numerous articles on sixteenth and seventeenth century literature.
Professor Ephraim also teaches creative and expository writing. Her essays have appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, Lilith, Tikkun, The Morning News, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Along with fellow Shakespearean Caroline Bicks (Associate Professor of English, Boston College) she writes a blog called Everyday Shakespeare. She is currently working on a book that combines Shakespeare scholarship and memoir.
Praise for Reading the Jewish Woman on the Elizabethan Stage:
“Anyone lucky enough to happen upon Michelle Ephraim’s 15 June 2008 article in the Washington Post, “Father’s Day with Shakespeare,” a touching piece about using Shakespeare to cope with her own father’s passing, will unavoidably think of her as a deeply engaged writer with a keen ability to cut straight to the heart of even the messiest matter. Ephraim’s new book is characteristic. . . . This book is a must-have for anyone concerned with Shakespeare or early modern English performance. It is a must-have for feminist critics of theater and for those who are interested in representations of Jews onstage. Its clarity makes it useful for upper-division undergraduates, but its depth and breadth make it appropriate for a graduate seminar. All readers will find this book engrossing, a versatile bridge uniting many discourses of theatrical history and criticism.” (Comparative Drama 43.3)
Michael M. Chemers
Carnegie Mellon University