Carleton Convo with Gin Hammond ’93 | February 16, 2024

Actress and author Gin Hammond ’93 delivered convocation at Carleton's Skinner Chapel on Friday, February 16. Hammond’s address, “Returning the Bones,” covered her award-winning play turned novel by the same name. In its theatrical format, Returning the Bones is a one-woman show, with the protagonist inspired by the extraordinary life of Hammond’s aunt, Carolyn Beatrice Hammond Montier, whom she affectionately refers to as Bebe. In the play, Hammond portrays the ups and downs of Bebe’s life as a pioneering Black doctor in the mid-twentieth century, facing racism and prejudice to pursue her passion for helping others. In an interview with The Seattle Times, Hammond revealed that it took her a decade to interview her aunt and collect the “jaw-dropping” information about her life that inspired the play. Returning the Bones has received significant praise from critics as well as nominations for the Gregory Awards, including Outstanding Play, Outstanding Performance, Outstanding Director, and Outstanding Sound Design. Hammond’s book adaptation of the play was published in 2023 and will be available for purchase before the start of her convocation address. Beyond her work on Returning the Bones, Hammond is an award-winning actress who has performed at venues including The Guthrie, Arena Stage, The Longwharf Theatre, The Pasadena Playhouse, the ART, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, and The Studio Theatre in Washington D.C., where she won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her performance of The Syringa Tree. Hammond has also received a Kathleen Cornell award and Washington state grants from Allied Arts, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Artist Trust, and 4 Culture, as well as from the NEA, and has recently been nominated for a Washington State Governor’s Arts & Heritage Award. She has also performed internationally in Russia, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, and Belgium. Hammond has taught voice, voice-over, public speaking, dialect coaching, and has appeared on commercials, in audiobooks and radio plays, and in video games including BattleTech, Dota 2, State of Decay and its sequel, and Halo 3: ODST. She was also the director and dialect coach for the video game Post Human W.A.R. and has begun working in the field of motion capture. After earning her BA at Carleton, Hammond went on to earn her MFA at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theater. She is also a certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework™. Hammond currently lives in the Seattle area, where she is deeply involved in the city’s theater scene, including with ACT Theater, Seattle Children’s Theater, Book-It Repertory Theater, Washington Ensemble Theater, 5thAve. Theater, Seattle Rep, Taproot, Village Theater, and various Sandbox Artists Collective productions as well as various film projects. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations.