Mitchell Polin is Professor of Theater and Dance at Trinity College, where he has taught since 2001. He earned his B.A. in Theater and Dance from Trinity College in 1996 and his M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University in 1998. He is a playwright, director, dramaturg, and performance maker whose creative and scholarly work moves between experimental theater, performance studies, and new media.

Polin’s work explores remembering as a performative act and the relationship of memory and disappearance to environment, archive, and narrative. Drawing upon historical and archival research as a generative part of the creative process, he approaches performance as a collage-based assemblage in which disparate materials and histories are brought into unexpected relationships. His work has been shaped by early collaborations and exchanges with artists associated with Happenings and Fluxus, as well as by the broader twentieth-century European and American avant-gardes. His recent research extends this trajectory through an investigation of memory, disappearance, and the archive as forms of performance.

At Trinity, Polin teaches across theater history and theory, directing and devising, playwriting, and media studies. His teaching brings historical and theoretical inquiry into direct conversation with artistic practice, encouraging students to approach the histories and ideas they encounter not simply as objects of study but as materials for creative experimentation. Across his courses and research activities, he emphasizes the relationship between intellectual inquiry and creative practice, inviting students from across the liberal arts to experiment with form, make unexpected connections, and develop ways of thinking that can generate new application and innovation within and beyond the arts.

Director, Ordinary Theater:

• Polin, Mitchell A. Joys of Fantasy (writer/director/set design), Twelve21, New York, NY, Summer 2009.
• Polin, Mitchell A. Our Town Revisited (writer/director), Academy of Music, Northampton, MA, Spring 2009.
• Polin, Mitchell A. May Flowers (writer/director/set design), Artifacts 20th Century, Florence, MA, Spring 2008.
• Polin, Mitchell A. Mustard (writer/director/set design), La Mama e.t.c., New York, NY
  Original performance based on Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Spring 2006.
• Polin, Mitchell A. The Return of Odysseus (original work), El Bohio, New York, NY
  Workshop of performance based on play by Stanislaw Wyspianski.  Imaginary interviews with various historical/mythological figures such as Virginia Woolf and Prometheus, Summer 2001.
• Polin, Mitchell A. The Meeting (original work), Bank Street Theater, New York, NY
  Eight existential figures meet in an ‘alien’ space, Summer-Fall 1999. 
• Polin, Mitchell A. The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice, Stella Adler Conservatory, New York, NY An early 20th century play about the conflict between human beings and technology during the industrial revolution, Winter 1998.

Director, Solo Performance:

• Polin, Mitchell A. Pussy Trouble (Michael Burke, actor and writer), Dixon Place, New York, NY
  Director/Sound Design, Summer/Fall 2005.
• Polin, Mitchell A. Cucumber Dreams (Michael Burke, actor and writer), National Tour
  Director/Sound Design, Summer/Fall 2005, Spring 2006.
• Polin, Mitchell A. Exile, (Lesley Farow, actor and writer)  Ko Festival of Performance, Amherst, MA
  Director/Sound Design, Summer 2004.

Director, Happenings:

• Polin, Mitchell A. A Happening for Nine People, Washington Square Park, New York, NY.
  Various events performed during a nine-hour period in Washington Square Park designed to highlight everyday events, Summer 1998.

Guest Lectures:

• Polin, Mitchell A., and Lesley Farlow. On performance of Exile given at Ko Festival of Performance. TCCTR Faculty Lecture Series, Trinity College, Fall 2004.
• Polin, Mitchell A. “Black Mountain College and the American Artistic Explosion.” Invited lecture, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, Spring 1999. 

Guest Residencies:

• Moscow Art Theater/Moscow Art Theatre School, Moscow, Russia
  Invited by director and actors of Moscow Art Theater to lead series of workshops on post-modern theater aesthetics based on Faust!!! presented at the Moscow Art Theatre, Summer 2005