2018 Oscar Brockett Lecture: Joseph Haj

The Brockett Center for Theatre History and Criticism welcomes Joseph Haj, artistic director of the Guthrie Theater, for a discussion of his career and issues of equality, diversity and inclusion in the American Theatre. 

Thursday, April 19, 2018 
5:00 p.m. 
Oscar G. Brockett Theatre 

This event is free and open to the public. No reservation required. 

Joseph Haj is the eighth artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prior to his appointment at the Guthrie, Haj was the producing artistic director at PlayMakers Repertory Company where he presented the world premiere of Surviving Twin by Loudon Wainwright III, Mike Daisey’s The Story of the Gun, UNIVERSES’ Spring Training and produced the premiere of The Parchman Hour by award-winning film and theatre director Mike Wiley. Under his leadership, PlayMakers hosted artist residencies and performances by David Edgar, Nilaja Sun, Taylor Mac, Lisa Kron, Rinde Eckert, SITI Company, Pig Iron, The TEAM and the Rude Mechs, among others. Haj has directed and performed in theaters throughout the United States including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the New York Public Theater, the Alley, the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Folger and many others. 

Haj received a M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina before beginning a career in acting, performing with Garland Wright, JoAnne Akalaitis, Anne Bogart (as an original member of SITI Company), Peter Sellars, Sir Peter Hall and Robert Woodruff, among others.

He was the 2014 recipient of The Zelda Fichandler Award, was named by American Theatre magazine as one of the 25 theatre artists who will have a significant impact on the field over the next quarter century and was the recipient of the respected NEA/White House Council Millennium Grants, awarded to 50 of America’s finest artists.