Sands Hall (born April 17, 1952) is an American writer, theatre director, actor, and musician.

Biography

The daughter of novelist Oakley Hall, she was born in La Jolla, California, and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from the University of California, Irvine. She earned two Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Iowa, one in Theatre Arts and the second in Fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She also studied at the American Conservatory Theater's Advanced Training Program. Hall's writing work includes the play Fair Use, which explores the long debated plagiarism in Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose, and the novel Catching Heaven, a Random House Reader's Circle selection and a 2001 Willa Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction. She has taught writing for the University of California at Davis Extension Programs, and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. She is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and on the staff of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, California. Her work in the theatre includes seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, the Old Globe Theatre, Lexington Conservatory Theatre and internationally at the Maxim Gorky Theatre in Vladivostok, Russia. She is currently an Affiliate Artist with the Foothill Theatre Company in Nevada City, California.

Music

Sands plays guitar, mandolin, and has studied the fiddle. She performs on a 000-18 Martin, her first guitar, purchased for $150 by her father when she was 14 years old. She refers to her influences as the "three j's": Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and Joni Mitchell. When not performing her own songs, she chooses murder ballads and story songs, like "Long Black Veil", "Red Red Rose", and "Pretty Polly". She regularly performs with Louis B. Jones, Luke Wilson, and Mark Childress and at the annual Community of Writers at Squaw Valley workshop. Hall has written and performed a number of songs, including:

Books

Plays

Short fiction

Essays