Dr. H. Jack Heller

Assistant Professor of English  

Dr. Jack Heller received his Ph.D. in English from Louisiana State University in August 1997. His primary research interests include Renaissance drama, Shakespeare, other 16th and 17th century literature, religious studies, and African American literature. He has presented conference papers on these subjects at various regional and national conferences.

Dr. Heller is a regular academic consultant for Shakespeare Behind Bars, a pioneering arts organization guiding prison inmates and juvenile offenders through the study, rehearsal, and performance of Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare Behind Bars was the subject of a 2005 documentary, and Heller has been a consultant for them since 2007. He has represented the organization at two national conferences, on a radio program, and in colleges, high schools, and churches.

In 2000, his book on the 17th century dramatist Thomas Middleton was published by the University of Delaware Press (Penitent Brothellers: Grace, Sexuality, and Genre in Thomas Middleton’s City Comedies). More recently, he has published “Your Statue Spouting Blood: Julius Caesar, the Sacraments, and the Fountain of Life” (in Word and Rite: The Bible and Ceremony in Selected Shakespearean Works, 2010). He has also written articles for a Bible dictionary and book reviews for various journals.

Dr. Heller’s other interests include attending movies and live theater, traveling, baking bread, reading (that never gets old), and the music of Bob Dylan.

E-mail jheller@huntington.edu.

View Dr. Heller's vita.