James V. Hatch, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of English and Theatre, City University of New York. He has published eleven books, the most recent, A History of African American Theatre with Errol G. Hill, 2003 for which they received the Theatre Library Association’s George Freedley Award for the best book published in theatre that year. Hatch is recipient of two Barnard Hewitt Awards from American Society of Theatre Research.

Given two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, Hatch has lectured and directed plays for the U.S. Information Agency in the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. He has held three Fulbright teaching/lectureships—Egypt, Germany, and Taiwan. In the creative arts he is recognized with two Obies for Off-Broadway productions. He shares with Camille Billops the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for Finding Christa.