female silhouette of head and shoulders

Nancy G. Selleck, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

College
College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Department
English
Phone
978-934-4185
Office
O'Leary Library - 449
Email
nancy_selleck@uml.edu

Expertise

Shakespeare, early modern literature & culture, performance theory, theatre history, theatre arts.

Research Interests

Shakespeare, early modern literature & culture, performance theory, theatre history, and theatre arts.

Education

  • Ph D: English Renaissance Literature and Drama, (1997), Princeton University - Princeton, NJ
    Dissertation/Thesis Title: Coining the Self: Language, Gender, and Exchange in Early Modern English Literature
  • MA: English and Comparative Literature, (1991), Columbia University - New York, NY
  • BA, (1990), Columbia University - New York, NY

Biosketch

Nancy Selleck is the author of a book on Shakespeare and the language of identity in the Renaissance, The Interpersonal Idiom in Shakespeare, Donne, and Early Modern Culture (Palgrave, 2008), as well as essays and articles appearing in Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, Modern Drama, Ballet Review, and the forthcoming John Donne in Context. Her teaching and scholarship tend to blend her interests in theatrical texts, history, and performance. In addition to her scholarship on early modern literature and culture, she has worked as a theatre director and dramaturg at Harvard and Boston Directors' Lab as well as at UMass Lowell, and she was the founding Director of the University's Theatre Arts Program. Recent directing credits include Shakespeare's As You Like It, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Twelfth Night as well as Webster's Duchess of Malfi, Behn's The Rover, Brecht’s Galileo, and Stoppard’s Arcadia. Her current book project, Actor and Audience: Shakespeare's Theatre of Recognition, explores early modern performance practices and the relationship between stage and audience in the Renaissance theatre.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Faculty Advisor of the Year Award (2008), Service, University - University of Massachusetts Lowell Student Government Association
  • Teaching Excellence Award (2004), Teaching - University of Massachusetts Lowell English Department
  • Visiting Fellow (2001) - Princeton University Department of English
  • Folger Institute grant-in-aid (1994)
  • Mellon Fellow (1994) - Princeton University Center for Human Values
  • Robert H. Taylor Research Award (1993), Scholarship/Research - Princeton University
  • Princeton University fellowship (1991)

Selected Publications

  • Heines, J.M., Greher, G.R., Jeffers, J., Kuhn, S., Martin, F., Roehr, K., Ruthmann, S.A., Selleck, N.G. (2009). Interdisciplinary Computer Science Courses: Lessons Learned.
  • Martin, F., Greher, G., Heines, J., Jeffers, J., Kim, H., Kuhn, S., Roehr, K., Selleck, N.G., Silka, L., Yanco, H. (2009). Joining Computing and the Arts at a Mid-Size University. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 24(no.6) 87-94.
  • Sternlieb, L., Selleck, N.G. (2003). 'What is carnal embrace?' - Learning to converse in Stoppard's 'Arcadia'. Modern Drama, 46(3).
  • Selleck, N.G. (2001). Donne's Body. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 41(1) 149-174.
  • Selleck, N.G. (1997). Coining the Self: Language, Gender, and Exchange in Early Modern English Literature.

Selected Presentations

  • 'In-Your-Face Shakespeare': Conceptions of Character in Contemporary Performance - Contemporary Actors as Evidence seminar, Shakespeare Association of America annual convention, March 2013 - Toronto, Ontario
  • Hailing the Audience: the Ins and Outs of Character on the Shakespearean Stage - The Columbia Shakespeare Seminar, February 2013 - Columbia University, New York, NY
  • Making Shift with Boys: Revisiting the Work of the Boy-Heroine - Transforming Early Modern Identities international conference, CUNY, October 2012 - Graduate Center, New York, NY
  • Rhetorical Comedy: Actor, Audience, and the Play of Recognition - Shakespeare Association of America annual convention, April 2012 - Boston, MA
  • A Fool's Method: Clown-Work and Female Roles on the Renaissance Stage - Renaissance Society of America annual conference, March 2012 - Washington, D.C.
  • Playing the Boy's Part: Shakespeare's Female Clowns - Shakespeare Association of America annual convention, April 2011 - Bellevue, WA
  • Stoppard and the Canon: Joining the Arcadian Waltz - Davidson College, April 2010 - Davidson College, Davidson, NC
  • Intimacy and Exteriority: Twelfth Night and the Self as Object - Shakespeare Association of America annual convention, April 2009 - Washington, D.C.
  • Rethinking Objectification: Shakespeare, Feminist Theory, and the Objects of Play - The Society for the Study of Women in the Renaissance, CUNY, February 2009 - New York, NY
  • Interview with playwright Bob Clyman - Common Text Program, 2007 - University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Lowell, MA
  • Interview with playwright Lynn Nottage - Common Text Program, 2006 - University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Lowell, MA
  • Material Others: Subjects, Objects, and Identity in Shakespeare's Sonnets - Renaissance Society of America annual convention, April 2004 - New York, NY
  • Coining the Self: Words and Things in Early Modern English - Renaissance Society of America annual convention, April 2002 - Phoenix, AZ
  • English Renaissance Usage and Interiority - Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies annual convention, November 2001 - Philadelphia, PA
  • Secret Agency: Renaissance Theatre and Feminism - Faculty Salon colloquium, December 2000 - University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Lowell, MA
  • - Stoppard's Arcadia, October 2000 - Harvard University
  • Donne and the Act of Consent - Modern Language Association annual convention, December 1998 - San Francisco, CA
  • 'Into a Wilderness': Power and the female voice in Webster's Duchess of Malfi - Ithaca College, January 1998 - Ithaca College
  • Shakespeare's Mirrors and Other Perspectives - Bates College, March 1997 - Bates College
  • A 'Humorous' Subject: Donne and Digestion - Renaissance and Early Modern Colloquium, February 1997 - Princeton University
  • The Subjective Object of Shakespeare's Sonnets - Peripheral Visions Conference, October 1996 - Tufts University
  • Early Modern Mirrors and Other Perspectives: Shakespeare and the tradition of visual epistemology - Department of English Faculty and Graduate Work-in-Progress Series, May 1996 - Princeton University
  • Coining the Self: Words and things, 1580-1690 - Center for Human Values, February 1995 - Princeton University
  • The Humoral Body in Donne's Devotions - Folger Institute Seminar, April 1994 - Washington, DC.

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

  • CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (CPATH): "Performamatics: Connecting Computer Science to the Performing, Fine, and Design Arts." (2007), Grant - National Science Foundation
  • Performamatics: Connecting Computer Science to the Performing, Fine, and Design Arts (2007), Grant -
    Heines, J.M. (Principal), Greher, G.R. (Co-Principal), Jeffers, J. (Co-Principal), Kuhn, S. (Co-Principal), Martin, F. (Co-Principal), Roehr, K.E. (Co-Principal), Selleck, N.G. (Co-Principal)
  • Creating an Urban Village Arts Scene: Enhancing Offerings, Cultivating Audiences, Involving Students. (2007), Grant - University of Massachusetts President's Office
  • Healey and Public Service Grant (2005), Grant - University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Visiting Fellow (2001), Fellowship - Princeton University Department of English
  • Healey Grant (1999), Grant - University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Mellon Fellow (1994), Fellowship - Princeton University Center for Human Values