Teaching is the heart of my work, and teaching theatre history has been the backbone of my teaching career. I have taught theatre history I and II, fall and then spring semester, pretty much every year since 2002.

Discussion with my students never fails to fascinate me, and I love watching them dive into archival research, dramaturgical analysis, and collaborative performance experiments with historical and contemporary styles.

For remote teaching and learning during the Covid 19 pandemic, I recorded a set of video conversations for my Theatre History students. Colleagues from various departments and fields had conversation with me about where their work intersects with what we study in theatre history. Theatre is a natural space for conversation and creation across disciplines!

 I am currently a Professor of Theatre at the University of Puget Sound. Previously I taught at the University of Oregon, Illinois Wesleyan University, and Columbia College in Chicago. I hold an MA and PhD in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My historical scholarship concerns alternative British theatre and contemporary playwrights, and I maintain an active creative practice as a director and dramaturg.

Graduate Dissertations and Theses, University of Oregon

Chair/Advisor

Doctoral Dissertations in Theatre Arts:

• “(In)Famous Angel: The Cherub Company and the Problem of Definition” by Brian Cook. Degree June 2012.
• Keith Johnstone’s Search for an Ideal Classroom: A Critical Biography” by Theresa Robbins Dudeck. Degree December 2011. Published as Keith Johnstone: A Critical Biography by Bloomsbury in 2014.
• “Bryony Lavery: Playwright as Feminist Adaptor” by Jennifer Kuchenbecker Thomas. Degree June 2010.

Master’s Theses in Theatre Arts:           

• “Equals in the Revolution: The Legacy of Teatro de las Chicanas” by Jacqueline Bruchman. Degree June 2009.

Committee Member:

Doctoral Dissertations in Theatre Arts:     

• “Mind’s Eye: Toward Theatrical Editing Shakespeare” by Jan Powell. Degree June 2011.
• “A History of Neo-Futurism” by Erica Milkovich. Degree June 2010.
• “Pleasurable Disturbances: Theorizing a Grotesque Performative” by James Engberg. Degree June 2010.
• “Laughing Lesbians: Camp, Spectatorship, and Citizenship” by Rachel Kinsman Steck. Degree June 2010.

Master’s of Fine Arts Final Projects

• “William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labors Lost Set Design” by Jarvis Jahner. Degree June 2011.
• “Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera Costume Design” by Annelie Thurin. Degree June 2008. 

Master’s Theses:

• “Child Actor Ethics: Children in Plays with Adult Themes” by Meredith C. Ott. Degree June 2009.

Undergraduate Thesis and Research Advising

University of Puget Sound

• Coolidge Otis Chapman Honors Thesis Projects: “April Anarchy — Non-realist Dramaturgy for Christopher Fry’s The Lady’s Not for Burning” by Molly McLean (2019); “Beirut, With Love” by Andrew E. Lutfala (2015); “Collaboration on Senior Theatre Festival: Macbeth” by Loring Brock (2015).
• Gender Studies Thesis Projects: “Violence that Matters: Gender in the Theatre of Sarah Kane” by Zoe Levine-Sporer (2015).
• Senior Thesis Research in Theatre Arts: “Shifting Perception in Tragedy: September 2001 to September 2002 in Theatre” by Bob Pore (2012).
• Summer Research Projects: “A New Translation of an Old Thing: Gender in The Force of Habit” by Hannah Ferguson (2015); “Instances of Fruitful Criticism/Instances of Art: the LMDA Archive at the University of Puget Sound” by Madeleine Faigel (2014); “The Idea of Thespis: Revisiting the Origins of Greek Theatre” by Loring Brock (2014); “The Sea is a Living Room: Dualities in the Plays of Sarah Ruhl as Seen Through the Lens of Ancient Greek Theatre” by Hannah Fattor (2012).

University of Oregon

• Undergraduate Research: Clark Honors College Thesis Projects “Balance” by Katy Pelissier (2011) and “That Thing, That Feminist Thing: A Devised Performance and Research Project” by Rachael Davies (2008).

Illinois Wesleyan University

• Advisor to research honors projects “Transforming Menace: Naomi Wallace and the Legacy of Harold Pinter” by Charles Haugland (2007), “Heiner Mueller’s Quartet: History, Theory, Performance” by Elizabeth Hope Williams (2006), “Arabian Nights: The Framing of Scherazade” by Alison Daigle (2005), and “The Business Models of Emerging Theatre Companies” by Danielle Langer (2003).
• Committee member for research honors project on: “Religion in Hamlet” (2006) and “Beyond Good and Evil: Entertainment and Philosophy” (2004).