P. Carl
P. Carl is the director and co-founder of HowlRound, a free and open platform for theater-makers worldwide that amplifies progressive ideas about the art form and facilitates connection between diverse practitioners. He is also the co-artistic director of ArtsEmerson at Emerson College where he develops, dramaturgs, and presents a provocative array of contemporary theater from diverse artists around the globe. His most recent projects include commissioning and dramaturgy for the February 2018 world premiere of Claudia Rankine’s new play, The White Card, and dramaturgy for Melinda Lopez’s Mala (2017 Elliot Norton Award winner for Outstanding New Script), Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s How to Be a Rock Critic, and Deborah Stein and Suli Holum’s The Wholehearted.
Operating from the core belief that theater is for everyone, Carl seeks to use the power of live performance in concert with opportunities for international dialogue and activism to foster personal and political transformation through the shared experience of art. He is a distinguished artist-in-residence on the Emerson faculty and a frequent writer and speaker on the evolution of theater practice and theory. Carl was named Theater Person of the Year in 2015 (National Theater Conference) as well as Alumni of Notable Distinction (University of Minnesota). He is the former producing artistic director of the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, the former director of artistic development at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and holds a PhD in comparative studies in discourse and society from the University of Minnesota. Carl was born in Elkhart, Indiana, and now lives in Boston.
