MA, PlayWright —  Texas Tech University

Having completed his M.F.A. at Brandeis University, Hershell has acted professionally in PBS programs, ad campaigns in several television commercials, and in an MGM film. He has also worked in summer stock companies in the New England area including Cape Cod, New Hampshire and Maine. In addition to working as a professional actor, he has spent a number of years teaching English, dramatic literature, acting, directing, and playwriting to secondary high school, community college, and university students.

Hershell has written several full-length plays. These include The Tragedy of Leah and Go Dance through the Veil. He has also written a historically based play about jazz singer and legend, Billie Holiday. The play is entitled: "Lady Day, Live at Mama's Jam."

Hershell's interest in both the art of theatre and in theatre research led him to pursue the rare Ph.D. in Fine Arts offered at Texas Tech University. His work focuses on how Western-American and African-American theatrical and cultural history intertwine. His dissertation topic is, "The Development of a Cultural Aesthetic Theory for African American Theatre."

- Terry Converse, Theatre Arts Mentor