Donovan Sherman

Donovan Sherman, Ph.D., is a Professor and Chair of the Department of English at Seton Hall University. He specializes in early modern drama with a focus on Shakespeare, exploring how performance embodies philosophical and spiritual concepts. His research integrates Stoicism, theatricality, and Renaissance literature. Sherman holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine (2011).

His major publications include The Philosopher’s Toothache: Embodied Stoicism in Early Modern English Drama (2021) and Second Death: Theatricalities of the Soul in Shakespeare’s Drama (2016). He co-edits Shakespeare and Virtue: A Handbook (2022) and Early Modern Liveness (2023). Sherman has contributed to leading journals like Shakespeare Quarterly and English Literary Renaissance.

He serves as Book Review Editor for Theatre Survey since 2020 and co-authored the textbook Theatre (13th ed., 2023). Active in professional organizations, he organizes working groups for the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) and Shakespeare Association of America (SAA).

His research bridges performance studies, Renaissance literature, and philosophical inquiry, emphasizing embodied practices and theatrical representation of abstract concepts like soul and virtue.