Shona Tucker

Shona Tucker is Professor of Drama on the Mary Riepma Ross '32 Chair at Vassar College, serving as Chair of the Drama Department since joining the faculty in 2008. She maintains dual affiliations with the Drama Department and Africana Studies program, while sustaining professional relationships with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Half Moon Theatre Company, and New York Theater Workshop as a Usual Suspect.

Her educational background:

• BS in Speech, Northwestern University
• MFA in Acting, New York University Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Acting Program

Professor Tucker's creative scholarship centers on theatrical adaptation of global literature, with specialized focus on African American narratives and Yoruba oral traditions. Her work explores identity through adaptations of Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, and Truman Capote, alongside original plays examining Black women's experiences across historical and contemporary contexts. She integrates performance practice with cultural studies to bridge academic and professional theater.

Her distinguished honors include:

• Schomburg Fellow
• Fulbright Scholar (University of Ife, Nigeria)
• AUDELCO award winner
• Obie Award for "IMPERCEPTIBLE MUTABILITIES..." (1990)
• Obie Award for "A LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE" (1991)

As department chair, she oversees curriculum development including courses like DRAM 200 (The Experimental Theater) and DRAM 306 (The Art of Acting: Comedy), while maintaining active professional performance and directing work that informs her pedagogy. Her leadership connects Vassar's academic mission with Broadway and regional theater through productions like "To Kill a Mockingbird" and original works developed at New York Theatre Workshop.