Jo Holcomb, Editor/Dramaturg
About Jo
Since 1991, I have worked as a production dramaturg and editor for major theaters, playwrights, and authors in the areas of current affairs, theology and dramatic literature. Most of my work has been in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I am also a teacher in the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. in acting program, as well as the National Theater Institute of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. The dramatic arts and literature are my passions. In the play, Shadowlands, the character of C.S. Lewis says, “We read to know we are not alone.” This idea is also true for me in terms of why I do theater. Theater, in its many forms guarantees community. We share ideas, we agree and disagree and above all, we tell a story, finding our very root again in a tale shared and savored.
Background and Experience
EDUCATION
B.A. English and French
M.S. Arts and Humanities Research, University of Kentucky
Educator Certification and M.A., Theology, Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
EARLY EMPLOYMENT
1972 - 1987 The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
1972 – 1976 Library Assistant/Specialist
1976 – 1980 Director, Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress
1980 – 1987 Director of Personnel and Human Resources
1987 – 1996 Director of Education for Adults, Children and Youth, Knox Presbyterian Church,
Cincinnati, Ohio
1996- 2000 Director of Education for Adults, Children and Youth, The Congregational Church of Excelsior, Minnesota
2000-2016 Director of Education and Programming for Children and Youth, Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis
RELEVANT EMPLOYMENT
1996 – 2019 The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis
1996-1996 Librarian and Literary Specialist
1996-2015 Dramaturg and Librarian
2015 – 2019 Senior Dramaturg and Librarian
(from 1996 – 2019, served as Production Dramaturg for more than 75 plays and as Development Dramaturg for Guthrie Commissions, including Main Street (Barbara Field); Boys Will Be Boys (Jeremy Cohen); Refugia, (The Moving Company); Dis-Placed (KJ Sanchez); Floyd’s (Lynn Nottage))
2004 – present Adjunct Instructor, University of Minnesota/ Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program, selected course work including Script Analysis, Senior Chekhov Production Dramaturg; Production Dramaturg for selected Senior plays, including Boudica and Caucasian Chalk Circle
2018 – present Freelance Production Dramaturg for productions and readings at the Playwrights Center, Ten Thousand Things Theater Company, the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, Arrow Theater Company, Prime Productions
2018 – present Artistic Council, National Playwrights Conference, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Waterford, Connecticut
2018 – present Development Dramaturg – Vashti (Barbara Field); Miss Julie (Grant Sorenson)
2019 – present Guest Artist/Faculty, National Theater Institute, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center:
Summer 2019 TheaterMakers Program – Script Analysis
Fall, 2019 National Theater Institute, Advanced Directors, Advanced Playwrights, Actors; National Musical Theater Institute – Script Analysis, Dramaturgy
Winter/Spring 2020 National Theater Institute, Advanced Playwrights, Advanced Directors, General NTI – Script Analysis, Dramaturgy
A PEDAGOGY
Ring the bells that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering.
There's a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen, Anthem
As a Dramaturg and Teacher
Plays (Favorites Only!)
For the Guthrie Theater
Racing Demon, by David Hare
directed by Mark Brokaw
Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
directed by David Esbjornson
To Fool the Eye, by Jean Anouilh's Leocadia (adapt. by Jeffrey Hatcher)
directed by John Miller-Stephany
In the Blood, by Suzan-Lori Parks
directed by Timothy Douglas
Da by Hugh Leonard
directed by Doug Hughes
The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco
directed by Daniel Aukin
Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare, directed by Ethan McSweeny
The Night of the Iguana, by Tennessee Williams, directed by John Miller-Stephany
Boston Marriage, by David Mamet
directed by Doug Mercer
Lady with a Lapdog, by Anton Chekhov (trans. by Julia Smeliansky and Ryan McKittrick), directed by Kama Ginkas
Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw
directed by Casey Stangl
She Loves Me, by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock
Directed by John Miller-Stephany
Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage
directed by Timothy Bond
The People's Temple, by Leigh Fondakowski with Greg Pierotti, Stephen Wangh and Margo Hall
directed by Leigh Fondakowski
Edgardo Mine, by Alfred Uhry
based on the book The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David I. Kertzer
directed by Mark Lamos
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, directed by Joe Dowling
1776, music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards, book by Peter Stone
directed by John Miller-Stephany
Private Lives, by Noël Coward
directed by Peter Rothstein
Third, by Wendy Wasserstein
directed by Casey Stangl
The Government Inspector
adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
from the original by Nikolai Gogol
directed by Joe Dowling
Little House on the Prairie
book by Rachel Sheinkin
music by Rachel Portman
lyrics by Donna di Novelli
based on the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
directed by Francesca Zambello
Shadowlands, by William Nicholson
directed by Joe Dowling
Happy Days, by Samuel Beckett
directed by Rob Melrose
Caroline, or Change, book and lyrics by Tony Kushner, music by Jeanine Tesori
director Marcela Lorca
The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, by Tony Kushner
director Michael Greif
Faith Healer, by Brian Friel
directed by Joe Dowling
associate director Benjamin McGovern
M. Butterfly, by David Henry Hwang
directed by Peter Rothstein
Circle Mirror Transformation, by Annie Baker, directed by Benjamin McGovern
The Master Butchers Singing Club
by Marsha Norman, based upon the novel by Louise Erdrich
developed and directed by Francesca Zambello
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
adapted by Crispin Whittell
directed by Joe Dowling
God of Carnage, by Yasmina Reza
translated by Christopher Hampton
directed by John Miller-Stephany
Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore
directed by Joe Dowling
The Burial at Thebes, by Seamus Heaney, based upon, Sophocles' Antigone
directed by Marcela Lorca
Time Stands Still, by Donald Margulies
directed by Joe Dowling
Roman Holiday, music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Paul Blake
directed by John Miller-Stephany
Tales from Hollywood, by Christopher Hampton, directed by Ethan McSweeny
Other Desert Cities, by Jon Robin Baitz
directed by Peter Rothstein
Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov
in a version by Brian Friel
directed by Joe Dowling
Freud’s Last Session, by Mark St. Germain, directed by Rob Melrose
Crimes of the Heart, by Beth Henley
directed by Marcela Lorca
My Fair Lady, book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe
based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Joe Dowling
The Heidi Chronicles, by Wendy Wasserstein, directed by Leigh Silverman
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller
directed by Joe Dowling
Juno and the Paycock, by Sean O’Casey, directed by Joe Dowling
Choir Boy, by Tarell Alvin McCraney
directed by Peter Rothstein
Trouble in Mind, Alice Childress
directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
South Pacific, music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan,directed by Joseph Haj
We Are Proud to Present
a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915, by Jackie Sibblies Drury
directed by Taibi Magar
Toni Morrison’s
The Bluest Eye, adapted by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Refugia, an original idea developed by
The Moving Company
directed by Dominique Serrand
Native Gardens, by Karen Zacarías
directed by Blake Robison
Watch on the Rhine, by Lillian Hellman
directed by Lisa Peterson
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
adapted by Crispin Whittell
With additional material by Jo Holcomb
directed by Lauren Keating
Indecent, by Paula Vogel
directed by Wendy C. Goldberg
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
by Todd Kreidler, based on the screenplay Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner by William Rose
directed by Timothy Bond
The Legend of Georgia McBride
by Matthew Lopez, directed by Jeffrey Meanza
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
adapted by Crispin Whittell, With additional material by Jo Holcomb
directed by Lauren Keating
The Great Leap, by Lauren Yee
directed by Desdemona Chiang
Metamorphoses, based on the myths of Ovid, written and directed by Mary Zimmerman
Floyd’s, by Lynn Nottage
directed by Kate Whoriskey
Additional Dramaturgical Work:
Ten Thousand Things Theater T" Into the Woods; The Winter's Tale; Thunder Knocking on the Door.
The Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company
Shul; O My God
The Playwright's Center
A Play About David Mamet Writing a Play About Harvey Weinstein; The Book of Vashti
Developmental Work:
Development Dramaturg for Guthrie Commissions, including Main Street (Barbara Field); Boys Will Be Boys (Jeremy Cohen); Refugia, (The Moving Company); Dis-Placed (KJ Sanchez); Floyd’s (Lynn Nottage)
2018 – present Freelance Production Dramaturg for productions and readings at the Playwrights Center, Ten Thousand Things Theater Company, the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, Arrow Theater Company, Prime Productions
