Polly Carl is the director and editor of HowlRound: A Center for the Theater Commons at Emerson College. Her work at HowlRound is focused on promoting practices for 21st Century theater making based on the core principle that theater is for everyone.

She is also part of the ArtsEmerson programming team at Emerson College and is developing new works for the stage in that context. Over fifteen years in professional theater she has focused on developing and producing new plays, working with dozens of playwrights and theater companies from around the country. She spent two years as Director of Artistic Development at Steppenwolf Theatre and served eleven years at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis seven as Producing Artistic Director.

She regularly teaches, consults, and mentors. In addition to continuing to make theater, she now devotes significant energy to researching innovative practices for the theater and writing and publishing essays. Her PhD in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society is from the University of Minnesota.