Hershel Zohn was born in Russia in 1909. His family emigrated to the United States in 1922, when Zohn was fourteen years old. In Manhattan he discovered the theatre and worked as a play reader, senior researcher, and translator in the New York Public Library Theatre Collection. He acted with the Yiddish Art Theatre and the Federal Theatre in the 1930s. In 1940, Zohn directed his first play, an original, in Greenwich Village. He had more acting offers, but in 1941 was drafted and served four years as supply sergeant in the U.S. Army.
Following World War II, Zohn earned Bachelor of Arts (1948) and Masters of Arts (1949) degrees at the University of Denver. He also studied at New York, Northwestern, and Cornell universities. After working at Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Zohn joined the faculty at New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (later New Mexico State University) in 1950.
During his tenure at NMSU, he toured the Far East with the Playmakers in 1963, saw a new campus theatre built (1963), chaired the Southwest Theatre Conference (1967), and guest directed plays in Mexico City for several summers. He appeared with the Playmakers as Prince Bolkonski in War and Peace (1969) and as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof (1971). He toured in Europe and wrote articles based on his travels, judged theatre contests, and had a radio program called "Drama Through the Ages." After directing more than 100 plays from Shakespeare to modern American theatre, Zohn retired from NMSU in 1975.
From the guide to the Hershel Zohn Papers, 1932-1975, (Archives and Special Collections, New Mexico State University Library)
