Helen Sheehy

Helen Sheehy is the author of three biographies and a textbook, All About Theatre (1981). Her biography of theatre pioneer Margo Jones, Margo: The Life and Theatre of Margo Jones, (SMU Press 1989) was released in paperback with a new introduction by Emily Mann in 2005. The New York Times Book Review selected Sheehy's biography Eva Le Gallienne (Knopf 1996), about another pioneer of 20th century theatre, as one of its notable books of 1996. Sheehy's biography of the first modern actor, Eleonora Duse: A Biography (Knopf 2003), was also selected by the New York Times Book Review as a notable book. In 2005, Mondadori published an Italian translation of the biography, Eleonora Duse: La Donna, Le Passioni, La Leggenda.

During the early 1980s, Sheehy worked with Mark Lamos at the Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, Connecticut, serving as dramaturg on a number of classics, new plays and adaptations. From 1992 to 2004, Sheehy co-authored (with Leslie Stainton) the annual desk diary, On Writers and Writing, a collection of biographical essays. From 1985 to 2007, Sheehy was Adjunct Professor of Theatre at Southern Connecticut State University. Sheehy has contributed articles and essays to American Theatre, Connecticut Magazine, Opera News, American National Biography, Notable American Women, and other publications. She's taught acting in a university and in a maximum security prison. She's a member of PEN and the Authors Guild. Her short story "That Summer" was selected for BEST SMALL FICTIONS 2024, an anthology celebrating the best internationally published short fiction. Sheehy is a member of PEN and the Author's Guild. Her novel, Just Willa, is forthcoming from Cave Hollow Press on April 13, 2025.