"The Space of the Ecstatic"

Eric Ruffin Director & Educator

Eric Ruffin is a professor of theatre arts at Howard University, focusing on acting and directing. A Howard alum himself, he has helmed productions at Mosaic Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, 1st Stage, African Continuum Theatre Company, Imagination Stage, the Kennedy Center, and more. His 2015 production of Langston Hughes' Black Nativity with Theater Alliance won three Helen Hayes Awards. A gregarious and charming interlocutor, Eric discusses the importance of Howard to the American entertainment industry, how love and transcendence should be central to the theatrical experience, and the kind of work we need to make today.

Learn more about Eric’s work through this YouTube retrospective, follow him on Instagram at @earuffin, and check out Howard’s Department of Theatre Arts.