Kathryn Moncrief

Kathryn M. Moncrief is Paris Fletcher Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Head of Humanities and Arts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, MA. She was previously Professor and Chair of English at Washington College, in Chestertown, MD where she taught courses in Shakespeare, Milton, and early modern literature and culture and received the Washington College Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Teaching. She serves as co-editor of the Shakespeare Life and Times section of the Internet Shakespeare Editions and has published widely on Shakespeare and performance. She is co-editor of Shakespeare Expressed: Page, Stage and Classroom in Early Modern Drama (with Kathryn McPherson and Sarah Enloe); Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction and Performance; and Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (both with Kathryn McPherson). She is the author of articles published in book collections and journals, including Literary Cultures and the Child, Shaping Shakespeare for Performance, Metaliterary in Practice, Gender and Early Modern Constructions of Childhood, and Renaissance Quarterly.

Research Interests

Shakespeare (Text and Performance)

Shakespeare and Adaptation

Dramaturgy

Acting

Directing

Intimacy Choreography

Dramatic Literature and Theatre History

Early Modern English Drama

16th and 17th Century British Literature and Culture

Milton

Early Printed Books and Manuscripts

Women in Early Modern English Culture

Scholarly Work

Professor Moncrief’s scholarly and creative work includes articles, book chapters, and editorial work, focused on performing, gender, and childhood, and race in Early Modern England; contributing to digital editions of Shakespeare’s works and related scholarship; as well as directing and acting.

Full list of Professor Moncrief’s scholarly work in Google Scholar

Featured works:

“Race, Religion, and Gender: Navigating Audience Responses at the Utah Shakespeare Festival 2018.” With Kathryn McPherson. Special issue of Shakespeare Bulletin (Shakespeare on the Contemporary Regional Stage). 2021

“Remembering Ophelia: Theatrical Properties and the Performance of Memory in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.” In Hamlet: The State of Play, edited by Lucy Munro and Sonia Massai. London: Arden Shakespeare. 2021

Moncrief, K.M. (2019). “The King shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not found”: Child Loss, Grief, and Recovery in Shakespeare’s Late Romances. In: Miller, N.J., Purkiss, D. (eds) Literary Cultures and Medieval and Early Modern Childhoods. Literary Cultures and Childhoods. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Moncrief, Kathryn M., and Kathryn R. McPherson, eds. Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England. Ashgate, 2011.

Moncrief, Kathryn M., and Kathryn R. McPherson. "“Shall I teach you to know?”: Intersections of Pedagogy, Performance, and Gender." Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England. Routledge, 2016. 1-18.

Directing: Every Brilliant Thing, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA.

Acting: Lady Montague, Romeo and Juliet, Hanover Rep, Worcester MA; Lady Britomart Undershaft, Major Barbara, Washington College, Chestertown MD; Gwen Harper, Rapture, Blister, Burn, Nextstage Theatre Company/ Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, Ketchum, ID.

Media Coverage

See More Media Coverage

Worcester Magazine

Kate Moncrief and Brendon Fox: A marriage of true minds, true love

Worcester Magazine featured Kathryn Moncrief, Paris Fletcher Distinguished Professor of Humanities and head of the Department of Humanities and Arts. The article highlights Moncrief’s work as an associate director and dramaturg; and the projects she's worked on in partnership with her husband Brendon Fox, a theater director.