Dr. Janna L. Goodwin is a writer/playwright, director, and performer of original, devised and community-based works that have been produced throughout New England, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and in Denver. She was a faculty member in the Department of Communication from 2004-2024, and also mentored playwriting students for the Mile High MFA program. A graduate of Hampshire College, her doctoral degree is from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where her dissertation explored theatre in prisons and shifts in inmate identity narratives. Her scholarship concerns the functions and consequences of everyday performances of self and society, and the transformative potentials of comedy, storytelling and dialogue. She was a co-founder of Ko Theatre Works and the Ko Festival of Performance. At Regis, in 2010, she launched the interdisciplinary faculty-student collaborative blog, The Regis Performance Alliance, which provides a multi-vocal reflection upon the ways in which the intentional practice of theatre can be powerfully transformative (and how involvement in theatrical performances has impacted Regis students). She created, developed, and for years mentored the student sketch-and-improvisational comedy ensemble, OutRegis!, whose mission was to use comedy and dialogue to spark meaningful exchanges around complex social issues. This approach repeatedly tripled attendance and participation in campus diversity dialogues. Her book, The End of the World Notwithstanding is a comedic take on contemporary anxieties, and a reflection on finding solace, a sense of belonging, and meaning in curiosity, relationships and the natural world.
