Thomas Hummel

About

Thomas Hummel (any/all pronouns) is a poet, playwright, and educational advocate. He is the author of Letters & Buildings (Subito Press) as well as numerous chapbooks, and his poems and reviews have appeared in Oversound, The Paris Review, The Believer, Boston Review, A Public Space, and elsewhere. His most recent work for performance, Then there is no need to speak—an interrogation of the manipulative pathos that continues to drive discourses on institutionalization—premiered in the surgical amphitheater of the oldest surviving pathological facility in the US: the Old Pathology Building of the former Central State Hospital in Indianapolis. As a performing artist, he has appeared in festivals and theaters across the US and Europe, and was a cast-member of Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s OBIE-winning production No Dice at Soho Repertory Theatre. Beyond his creative work, whether in the form of child and adolescent case management, special education instruction, or educational advocacy, he has dedicated himself to defending children’s rights and to dismantling juvenile carceral networks. He teaches across the entire Honors First-Year Sequence and serves as an Academic Advisor for the Honors College.