Assistant Professor of Arabic Literature & Culture,
and Theatre
359 Saint Augustine Center
Villanova University
Villanova, PA 19085
Phone: 610-519-8890
dina.amin@villanova.edu
At Villanova University, I have a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Arab Cultural and Literary Studies, and Theater Arts. Before VU, I was Assistant Professor of Arabic Literature and Language at University of Delaware and Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University in Culture and Society. I am also a professional theater director, directing in the US and Egypt.
I have a Ph.D. in Arabic literature with a specialization in dramatic
literature from University of
Pennsylvania. I also have an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University,
and did my undergraduate and graduate work in English and Comparative Literature
at The American University in Cairo. I was singled out nationwide to receive an
ITT Scholarship from Fulbright Commission in Cairo to study Directing at CMU. At
the same institute, I was awarded the West Coast Drama Clan Award (in
honor of William Ball) for best Director. Concurrent with that, I received an
additional scholarship from The Women’s Association of Washington DC toward the
completion of my MFA degree. At Penn, I was awarded a teaching fellowship
throughout my Ph.D. program.
I have a number of papers published in leading academic journals and have delivered numerous papers at conferences and invited talks. I am currently working on a number of projects concerning Egyptian theater, Arab-American Drama, Narratology, elegy, biography and the use of space in pre-modern Arab performances.
I was the Associate Director of the Arabic Theater Project founded at the Eugene ONeill Center (97-99). In Cairo, I wrote a weekly theater review in one of Egypt’s leading art magazine Sabah al-Khayr. I have translated a number of Arabic plays into English and received a translation award from the Association of American Teachers of Arabic for my translation of al-Shakhs (The Person) by Egyptian playwright Alfred Farag. My translations of Al-Meshwar al-Akhir (The Last Walk) and al-Shakhs appear in Contemporary Theatre in Egypt (2000) edited by Marvin Carlson and Short Arabic Plays (2003) edited by Salma Jayyusi respectively.
I have taught at a number of colleges and universities in the States. I taught dramatic literature and acting at Barnard College; women studies and post-colonial literature at Drexel University; and at Georgetown I was a core faculty in the Culture and Society concentration at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, teaching “Women and Gender in the Arab World” and “Topics in Arab Culture: Modern Arabic Drama” and “Arab Fiction and Filmmaking,” among other courses.
As a stage director, I direct in both Egypt and USA. Some of the plays I’ve directed in the States are City of Angels, Lady from the Sea, Uncle Vanya, Savage in Limbo, The Stronger. I also toured with my production of The Last Walk, and staged it in both English and Arabic at the City University of New York and University of Pennsylvania as well as in Jordan. In Egypt, I directed Exit the King, Hansel & Gretel, Masks of Anxiety, and recently, in old Cairo, at the historical Mamluk site of Wikalet al-Ghuri, I staged a production entitled The Circle of Illusion. I participated in a number of theater festivals in the Arab world and my one-woman show Al-Meshwar al-Akhir (Last Walk) received an award for excellence at the Amman Festival for Free Theater. In May 2003 I directed a staged reading of an Egyptian play, Karima’s City, at the People’s Light and Theater Company. And in 2005 I directed the first ever Arabic play IN the Arabic language at Georgetown University using an almost all-American cast. The production was a great success and experiment
DINA AMIN
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. Dissertation “Metadrama, the Poetics of Disguise in Alfred Farag’s
Drama of the 70s.”
MFA Thesis “Ibsen, Eliot, and Modernism” Thesis advisor: Professor Brian Johnston
Publications -“Egyptian Theater: Reclaiming Lost Spaces,” forthcoming
-“Sleep in Peace: Salah `Abdul Sabur’s Gentle Elegy to a Friend” forthcoming
in memory of Magda al-Nowaihi, edited volume Transforming Loss into Beauty
-“Tawfiq al-Hakim,” Norton Anthology of World Literature in progress
-“The Box Chest: A Symbol of Male Domination in A Thousand
And One Nights under submission
-“Tawfiq al-Hakim” and “Ya`qub Sanu`” in Dictionary of Literary eminent
Biographies
-“Between Tradition and Modernity: Theater in the Middle East,” 2004
Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa.
Second edition. USA: Macmillan Reference
-“Miramar: Naguib Mahfouz,” Literature of Our Time Series 2004
-“Challenging the Master: Resisting Male-Virtues of the Goddess 2002
Isis”, African Theater: Women, Indiana University Press, 2001
-“Arab Women in Theatre; Finding a Voice”, The World 1999
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre. Vol. 4, by Routledge
-“Temporal & Spatial Re-construction through Memory: 1998
A Postmodern Perspective in al-Shakhs” in the Journal of Arabic
Literature. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
Book -Poetics, Politics and Protest in Arab Theatre: The Bitter Cup and the forthcoming
Reviews Holy Rain, by Mas`ud Hamdan
-An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking, by Hamid Naficy, 2004
in the Journal of Arabic Literature, Indiana University Press
-“In the Tavern of Life,” edited by William Maynard Hutchinson, 2000
in The Middle East Studies Association, Vol. 34, no. 2, winter
Translations -“The Person,” (a play by Alfred Farag, al-Shakhs) in 2003
Short Arabic Plays, ed. Salma Jayyusi, New York: Interlink Books
-“The Last Walk” (al-Meshwar al-Akhir), by Alfred Farag 2000
in Contemporary Theatre in Egypt. Editor Marvin Carlson, The Graduate
School and University Center of the City University of New York,
Courses -Arab Women Narratives – Georgetown University - Spring 2005
Developed -Arab Fiction and Filmmaking: Images of Colonialism, Gender, Space, and Class 2005
Georgetown U - Spring
-Modern and Contemporary Arab Drama – Georgetown U- Fall 2004
-Arab Feminism: Between Nationalism, Activism and Citizenship-Georgetown U 2004/05
-Post-colonial Literature I – Drexel University – Fall 2003
- Women in a Global Society: The Middle East-Drexel U- Spring 2003
-Modern Drama of the Middle East – Barnard College - Fall 2001
-Theater & Society: Tennessee Williams in Film-Barnard College-Fall 2001
-New York Theater-Barnard College-Spring 2001
-Acting the Avant-Garde-Barnard College-Spring 2001
-Gender & Sexuality in the Middle East- Drexel University - Spring 2001
-Survey of Arabic Literature- Rutgers University 2000
Conference -“Al-Nawm fi-al-`Asal: The Anxiety of Emasculation,” MESA, forthcoming
Participation -“Sleep in Peace: `Abd el-Sabur’s Gentle Elegy to a Friend,” MESA,
& Organizer and presenter of panel in memory of Magda al-Nowaihi, Nov 2005
Invited -“Ibsen/Nora: The use of “Realism” to Subvert Dramatic Conventions,”
Talks presented at Georgetown panel entitled “Unpacking The Doll’s House,”
hosted by Theater Dept. Georgetown U, 2004
-“Theater and Society: The Poetics of War,” panel organizer and presenter
MESA- San Francisco – November, 2004
-“Theater of Resistance: Adapting Shakespeare to Subvert the Empire
in Egypt,” Conference on Global Shakespeare, Dickinson University, Madison, NJ, Oct, 2002
-“Re-imagining Ourselves: Multicultural Inclusion in Academe; The Case of
Arab Drama.” (Also organized the panel), ATHE, San Diego, August 2002
-“Finding a Voice: Contributions of Egyptian Women in Theater,” Association of
Theater in Higher Education (conference) - Washington DC, August 2000
-“Season of Migration to the North: Crossing Impossible
Borders,” Global Citizen 2000 Conference, Rutgers University, Sept.1999
-“Egyptian Theatre: Three Perspectives,” Playwrights’ Conference
Eugene O’Neill Theatre Centre, Connecticut, July 1999
-“Temporal & Spatial Re-construction through Memory;
A Postmodern Perspective,” Third National Symposium on Theater
in Academe, Washington & Lee University, West Virginia, October 1997
-“Censorship and the Literary Crisis,” (in Arabic) Dept. of Near Eastern
Studies. Princeton University. New Jersey, April 1997
-“Ancient Egyptian Theatre,” Playwrights Conference, at
the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Centre, Connecticut, July 1997
-“Alfred Farag and the Post-Modern Predicament,” American Council
for the Study of Islamic Societies, Villanova University, Pennsylvania, May 1997
-“A Portrait of Anti-Heroic Hero,” Middle East Studies
Association of North America annual conference. Providence,
Rhode Island, November 1996
-“Role Playing in Sulayman al-Halabi,” Middle East Studies
Association of North America annual conference. Washington, DC, December 1995
- “The Tree Climber; A Case of the ‘Absurd’ in Egyptian Drama,” (in Arabic)
Dept. of Near Eastern Studies. Princeton University, New Jersey, April 1994
Academic Translation Award, American Assoc. for Teachers of Arabic
Awards Graduate Teaching Assistantship, University of Pennsylvania
& (Full scholarship toward completion of PhD)
Scholarships The West Coast Drama Clan Award, in honor of William Ball
For Outstanding Achievements in Directing at Carnegie Mellon University
ITT International Fellowship, ( Singled out nationwide for a
full scholarship and travel, toward MFA in Directing)
Women’s Association of Washington DC Scholarship,
(Concurrent with the above, toward completion of MFA)
Graduate Fellowship, the American University in Cairo (Full
scholarship toward MA in Eng. & Comp. Literature)
Other Invited to Georgetown Armenia/Egyptian actress Nora Armaci to perform and
Activities give workshop on Acting/Living in the Diaspora and on issues of identity
Organized lecture for Egyptian playwright Nora Amin at University of Pennsylvania
Organized performance and lecture by Moroccan actress Fatma Chechoub at
Drexel University
Co-organized Evening on Egyptian Culture at University of Pennsylvania;
invited Prof. Abdel Aziz Hamuda and writer/playwright Mohammad Salmawi
Organized Evening on Egyptian Theater at University of Pennsylvania;
invited Alfred Farag
Co-organized, conference on Egyptian Theater at City University of New
York
Associate Director of Arab Theater Project, invited Egyptian directors and
dramatist to perform at the Eugene O’Neill Center in Connecticut
MFA in Stage Directing
from Carnegie Mellon University
MFA Thesis “Ibsen, Eliot and Modernism.”
MFA Project Lady from The Sea, by Ibsen. Kresege Theater, Carnegie Mellon University, 1992
Awards Award of Excellence, `Amman Festival for Independent Theater for
directing The Last Walk by Alfred Farag in 1999
West Coast Drama Clan Award in honor of William Ball
for Outstanding Achievements in Directing at Carnegie Mellon University in 1992
Theatre The Donkey Market al-Hakim Georgetown University, DC
Directing Karima’s City Salwa Bakr People’s Light and Theater, PA
Song of Death al-Hakim Barnard College-NYC
The Last Walk Farag City University of New York &
University of Pennsylvania
Circle of Illusion Farag Wikalet al-Ghuri, Cairo
City of Angels Musical Annenberg Centre, Philadelphia
Lady From The Sea Ibsen Carnegie Mellon University
Uncle Vanya Chekhov Carnegie Mellon University
Savage in Limbo Shanley Carnegie Mellon University
The Stronger Strindberg Carnegie Mellon University
The Welcoming W.Premier Carnegie Mellon University
Masks of Anxiety Farag American University in Cairo
Hansel & Gretel Grimms Bros. American University in Cairo
Exit The King Ionesco American University in Cairo
Assistant Into the Woods Carnegie Mellon University
Director A Flea in Her Ear American University in Cairo
The Penal Colony French Cultural Centre in Cairo
The Trojan Women American University in Cairo
Tiger at the Gates American University in Cairo
Theatre Amman International Festival for Independent Theater
Festivals The Last Walk
Participation Cairo Annual International Experimental Theater Festival-Fringe
The Circle of Illusion
Theatre Associate Director of Arabic Theatre Project, founded with the support of
Work Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Waterford, Connecticut-1997-99
Experience Company Manager, New York Stage and Film Co. New York in 1990
Assistant Director, to (the late) Dr. Walter Eysselinck, Head of
Theatre, Dance and Film Department, at the American University in Cairo.