Toph Marshall is a professor in the Department of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies. His research focuses on Greek and Latin poetry, and theatre in particular, and the reception of ancient literature in modern genres such as comics and television. When looking at ancient drama, he asks about how the practical elements of stagecraft, such as masks, role sharing, props, blocking, and special effects, contribute to the meaning of the play, and what this tells us about what the audience saw on stage, and what an ancient actor had to do when performing. He has also examined the presentation of women, particularly enslaved women, within the male literary imagination. His work on modern reception has included studies of Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk, as well as classical themes in independent comics. He has also written on classical monsters in Dungeons and Dragons. Ancient poetry was meant to be performed publicly, and in that spirit Toph has also translated and directed a number of ancient plays for the modern stage, most recently Plautus Amphitruo in 2021