Michael Rohd is founding artistic director of Sojourn Theatre, an ensemble-based company in Portland, Oregon that explores the intersection of theater with democracy. Sojourn has made 24 major works around the nation over the last 12 years, many with non-arts sector partners such as regional planning commissions, a Subaru dealership, a state Department of Education, a city council, a long-term care facility and mayor's offices. Just some of Rohd's projects include adapting the Sojourn process for four counties in rural Southwestern Virginia to use as a public engagement tool for community planning; a new Sojourn work created with New York City's The TEAM opening at Kansas City Rep in winter 2013; preparing Sojourn Theatre to be artists-in-residence at the 2012 Catholic Charities USA National Poverty Reduction Summit; and leading the newly formed Center for Performance and Civic Practice. Rohd is on the faculty at Northwestern University's School of Communication. His widely translated book, Theatre for Community, Conflict & Dialogue (Heinemann, 1998), is in its 15th printing. Rohd posts a regular column called "Translations" at Howlround.com.
Rohd participated in a 2010 panel at the Center, "Creating Site-Specific Theater," along with Melanie Joseph of the Foundry Theatre in New York City, and Anne Hamburger, co-founder of Big Heart Theatrical. He also participated in the Center's Push Me, Pull You project on (co-)authorship in cultural production.
