A native of Chicago, Dr. Hagerman is currently a member of the Performing Arts Department at St. Louis’s John Burroughs School and performs widely as a freelance bassist in the St. Louis region. She first joined Burroughs as an English teacher in 2013 and now serves as Director of Orchestras and assistant to the Director of Bands, coordinates spoken word programs, and is the faculty mentor to the Ping Pong club. Before joining the Burroughs faculty, Dr. Hagerman taught in the English and Performing Arts departments at Washington University in St. Louis, Webster University, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
As a freelance bassist, Dr Hagerman has recently worked with the Bach Society of St. Louis, the Fabulous Fox Theatre, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Early Music Missouri, the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis, the St. Louis Chamber Soloists, the St. Louis Philharmonic, the Gateway Festival Orchestra, the Kingsbury Ensemble, and more. She has appeared with or recorded for The WHO, The Eagles, The Beach Boys, Faith Hill, Brian Owens, the Two Cellos, the 442s, and others.
Dr. Hagerman holds a PhD in English Literature and Linguistics from Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in medieval and early modern studies. Dr. Hagerman also attended Ball State University, Missouri State, and the University of Chicago, graduating with degrees in History, Classics, and Music Performance. Dr. Hagerman’s primary research focus was the cultural politics of Shakespeare’s history plays in performance, leading to work as a dramaturg and in production roles for a variety of theatre productions. In addition to Shakespeare studies, she has published interdisciplinary work on baroque theatricality in the visual and performing arts, Tudor and Stuart women authors, the Stuart court masque, and early modern literature and culture.
Dr. Hagerman is a commissioner for St. Louis’s Regional Arts Commission and St. Louis County’s Historic Buildings Commission. She lives with her husband and three children in St. Louis.