DOCTORAL PROJECTS IN PROGRESS / 281

Doctoral Projects in Progress

in Theatre Arts, 2018
Troy Matthew Lescher, Editor/Researcher
Amy Beltrán, Editor
Sammi Stowe, Editor

This is the sixty-sixth annual report of dissertations in progress in theatre arts in the
United States. The entries contained in this report were gathered from those institutions
offering a doctoral degree in theatre or related fields. The accuracy of the report depends
largely on the cooperation of those faculty members who submitted complete and timely
information. By compiling this data, we seek to inform the greater theatre community of
the diverse research projects currently underway across various universities and disciplines.
This report lists (in order) the doctoral student’s name, dissertation title, institution,
academic department, faculty supervisor, and projected year of completion. Dissertation
topics are arranged in two parts: in part 1, topics are listed first geographically, and sec-
ondarily by time periods; and part 2 provides additional divisions for those projects that
are not easily classified within geographic or historical parameters, but conform to other
emerging areas of contemporary research.
A request for submissions for the 2019 edition will be mailed in October 2018. Please
contact the 2018–19 editor, Troy Matthew Lescher (troy.lescher@humboldt.edu), if your insti-
tution is not already receiving the annual call for submissions.
My fellow associate editors and I are grateful for the effort of all those who have con-
tributed to this annual report. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the
Humboldt State University Department of Theatre, Film & Dance and its chair, Ann Alter,
for sponsoring this endeavor.

Troy Matthew Lescher (troy.lescher@humboldt.edu) is an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre, Film
& Dance at Humboldt State University. His research interests include actor training and clown pedagogy.

Amy Beltrán (akb456@humboldt.edu) is a performance-emphasis student in the Department of Theatre, Film

& Dance at Humboldt State University.

Sammi Stowe (sns375@humboldt.edu) is a design and technology–emphasis student in the Department of

Theatre, Film & Dance at Humboldt State University.

Theatre Journal 70 (2018) 281–284 © 2018 by Johns Hopkins University Press

282 / Andrew Gibb et al.
PART I
ASIA
Mantillake, Sudesh. Colonial Choreography: The
British Colonial Construction of Sri Lankan
Dance. University of Maryland. Theatre, Dance,
and Performance Studies. Esther Kim Lee. 2018.
Pitchford, Bart. Hela L’Wein: Imagining Citizenship
through Performance in Displaced Syrian Com-
munities. University of Texas at Austin. Theatre
and Dance. Charlotte Canning. 2018.
CHINA
Huang, Yizhou. Staging Colonial Modernity:
Performances for English-speaking Audiences
in Shanghai between Two World Wars. Tufts
University. Theatre and Performance Studies.
Noe Montez. 2019.
Kang, Bindi. Post-collective and Community in
Contemporary Chinese Performance. The Gradu-
ate Center/CUNY. Theatre. Peter Eckersall. 2021.
Zhang, Wei. Estranging a Post-Socialist China:
Adaptations of Brecht in Chinese Theatre since
the Cultural Revolution. University of Hawai‘i
at Mānoa. Theatre and Dance. Markus Wessen-
dorf. 2018.
ENGLAND
Medieval/Renaissance
Nakawaki, Bryan. “You played once i’ th’ university,
you say?”: Shakespeare’s Drama on the University
Stage. Purdue University. English. Charlie Ross
and Paul White. 2018.
Wicks, Heather. Love Her after: Desire, Death, and
Tragic Subjectivity on the Early Modern Stage.
Purdue University. English. Charlie Ross and
Paul White. 2018.
Restoration and Eighteenth Century
Gallagher, Megan. Accidentally Substantive: Edito-
rial Influence in Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio. Cla-
remont Graduate University. English. Lori Anne
Ferrell. 2018.
Lutz, Michael. Performative Humanism in Early
Modern Drama. Indiana University. English.
Linda Charnes. 2019.
Zoch, Amanda. Pregnancy and Erasure in Early
Modern Drama and Women’s Writing. Indiana
University. English. Ellen MacKay. 2018.
Nineteenth Century
Grinder, Brittany Proudfoot. Bitches in Britches:
A History of Female Travesty Actresses of the
English Stage. University of Maryland. Theatre,
Dance, and Performance Studies. Esther Kim
Lee. 2018.
Twentieth Century
Pierson, Kate. “When All the Town’s a Stage”:
Ann Jellicoe’s Community Play Process. Florida
State University. Theatre. Mary Karen Dahl and
Elizabeth Osborne. 2018.
GERMANY
Piggott, Jessi. Staging Commitment: The Social
Aesthetics of Weimar Agitprop. Stanford Univer-
sity. Theater and Performance Studies. Matthew
Smith. 2019.
IRELAND
Van Winkle, Kathryn Rebecca. “They shall be speak-
ing forever”: Performances of Rising, Riot, and the
Nation in Ireland 2016. University of Texas at Aus-
tin. Theatre and Dance. Charlotte Canning. 2018.
SOUTH AMERICA
Thompson, Jennifer. Dramaturgies of Democracy:
Performance, Cultural Policy, and Citizenship in
Chile, 1979–Present. The Graduate Center/CUNY.
Theatre. Jean Graham-Jones. 2021.
Villada, Diego. Visiting the Living Museum: Brazil-
ian Roots Tourism and the Emancipatory Pos-
sible. University of Pittsburgh. Theatre Arts. Lisa
Jackson-Schebetta. 2018.
USA
General
Ormiston, Rebecca. Acts of Recovery: Eugene
O’Neill and Addiction Treatment in Post-WWII
America. Stanford University. Theater and Per-
formance Studies. Jennifer Brody. 2018.
Nineteenth Century
Hughes, Bethany. Playing Indian on Stage, 1829–
1924. Northwestern University. Theatre. Harvey
Young. 2018.
Twentieth Century
Brooks, John. The Racial Unfamiliar: Contemporary
African American Culture and Performance.
Indiana University. English. Shane Vogel. 2020.
Drum, Steve. The Angeleno Stage: Liveness and
Urban Semiotics in the Local Performance Culture
of Los Angeles. Tufts University. Theatre and
Performance Studies. Heather Nathans. 2019.
Herron, Jennifer. Fun with Dyke and Jane: Lesbian
Performance as Politics in 1970s America. Tufts
University. Theatre and Performance Studies.
Laurence Senelick. 2019.
Hoskins, Vicki. How Playbill Changed the Nar-
rative: Gender Dialogues in Musical Theatre.
University of Pittsburgh. Theatre Arts. Michelle
Granshaw. 2018.
 DOCTORAL PROJECTS IN PROGRESS / 283

Rumsey, Phoebe. Embodied Nostalgia: Early PART II

Twentieth-Century Social Dance and U.S. Musical
Theatre. The Graduate Center/CUNY. Theatre. CRITICISM AND AUDIENCES
David Savran. 2021.
Goldberg, Andrew. Technology, Visuality, and
Walls, Alison. Reframing the Family Portrait:
Subjectivity: A Discontinuous History of The-
The Surrogate Mother in U.S. Popular Culture,
atrical Spectatorship from Ibsen to the Present.
1940–1960. The Graduate Center/CUNY. Theatre.
The Graduate Center/CUNY. Theatre. Peter
David Savran. 2021.
Eckersall. 2021.
Watkins, Tara Brooke. Deconstructing the Per-
Hunter, E. B. Enactive Spectatorship in Contempo-
formance of History in North Tulsa: An Auto-
rary Productions of Shakespeare. Northwestern
ethnography of Black Wall Street and the 1921
University. Theatre. Harvey Young. 2018.
Greenwood Massacre. Tufts University. Theatre
Lucie, Sarah. Objects on Stage: Transforming Spec-
and Performance Studies. Kareem Khubchan-
tatorship and Subjectivity. The Graduate Center/
dani. 2019.
CUNY. Theatre. Peter Eckersall. 2021.
Twentieth/Twenty-first Centuries
EDUCATIONAL THEATRE
Fesette, Nick. Cagecraft: Prison, Performance, and
the Making of Carceral Subjects. Cornell Universi- Santucci, Anna. Artful Pedagogy: Performance and
ty. Performing and Media Arts. Sara Warner. 2018. the Teaching of Foreign Language and Culture.
Figueroa, Brianna. Ballet Hispánico: Constructing Brown University. Italian Studies and Theatre Arts
Latinx Identity through Concert Dance. Uni- and Performance Studies. Patricia Ybarra. 2019.
versity of Texas at Austin. Theatre and Dance.
Rebecca Rossen. 2018. GENDER STUDIES
Gibbes, Allison B. The Star-Spangled Brain: Anthems
Akinci, Fidan. A Girl is a Thing: Dramaturgy of Ob-
of Americanness and the Performative Potential of
jects in Contemporary Choreography. The Gradu-
Musical Theatre. Florida State University. Theatre.
ate Center/CUNY. Theatre. Peter Eckersall. 2021.
Elizabeth Osborne. 2018.
Bauer, Rachel. The Influence of Gender on the
Jo, Kyungjin. Journeys through Asia: Travel Narra-
Careers of Women Theatre Faculty in Higher
tives and Cosmopolitan Imaginations on the US
Education: A Qualitative Investigation. University
Stage, 1953–2001. The Graduate Center/CUNY.
of Missouri. Theatre. Cheryl Black. 2018.
Theatre. Peter Eckersall. 2020.
Valderrama, Mara. Constructions of Gender in Con-
Johnson, Ryan. The Devil We Know: The Evolving
temporary Spanish Theatre and Performance. The
Depictions of the Devil in American Theatre, Film,
Graduate Center/CUNY. Theatre. Jean Graham-
and Television, 1980–2017. Texas Tech University.
Jones. 2021.
Theatre and Dance. Mark Charney. 2017.
INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
Twenty-first Century
Bartley, Sean. The Performance of Site: Contempo- Frazer, Bianca C. Diabetic Aesthetic: Performing
rary American Ambulatory Theatre and Audience Stigma and The Lived Experience of Diabetes on
Agency. Florida State University. Theatre. Mary Stage. University of Colorado Boulder. Theatre
Karen Dahl. 2018. and Dance. Oliver Gerland. 2019.
Jeffries, Devair. Melodramatic Melanin: A Critical Leiser, Justine R. The Theatre of Deviance: Performa-
Analysis of the Mammy, Mulatta, and Mistress tivity in BDSM and Kink. University of Colorado
in Black Female Representation. Florida State Boulder. Theatre and Dance. Bud Coleman. 2018.
University. Theatre. Elizabeth Osborne. 2018.
Kaplan, Erin. Explicit Body Performance in the MULTINATIONAL
Twenty-first Century and the Staging of Criti-
Boselli, Stefano. The Argentines of Paris: Theatre
cal Feminist Pedagogy. University of Colorado
Networks and Assemblages. The Graduate Cen-
Boulder. Theatre and Dance. Beth Osnes. 2018.
ter/CUNY. Theatre. Jean Graham-Jones. 2021.
Ren Seel, Irem Seçil. Homing a Turkish Diaspora:
Miller, Stefanie Ellen. States of Insurrection: Protest
Turkish-American Women’s Creative Labor. Tufts
Choreography in the Now of Performance. Brown
University. Theatre and Performance Studies.
University. Theatre Arts and Performance Studies.
Kareem Khubchandani. 2019.
Rebecca Schneider. 2018.
Wighs, Robert. Alaska Native Theatre: Cultural
Resurgence and Reception in Post-Statehood
Alaska. University of Washington. Drama. Scott
Magelssen. 2018.
284 / Andrew Gibb et al.

MUSIC Senff, Sarah. The Performance of Healing: An Au-

Holley, Rebecca. Harmonizing with the Cosmos:
Cosmic Symbolism in Musical Theatre. University
of Missouri. Theatre. Cheryl Black. 2018.
PERFORMANCE STUDIES
Cortés Viharo, Monica. The Translocal Legibility of
Trauma and Utopia in Contemporary Feminist
Performance. University of Washington. Drama.
Michelle Habel-Pallán and Scott Magelssen. 2018.
Lewis, William W. Performing Posthuman Specta-
torship: Contemporary Technogenesis and Expe-
riential Architectures of Exchange. University of
Colorado Boulder. Theatre and Dance. Marcos
Steuernagel. 2018.
Mengesha, Lilian. Hard to See: Disappearance,
Indigeneity, and Performance. Brown University.
Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. Patricia
Ybarra. 2018.
Yale
THE YALE DRAMA SERIES
SEEKS SUBMISSIONS FOR
toethnography of Dis/ease and Care in Activist
Performance. University of Missouri. Theatre. M.
Heather Carver. 2018.
Tulk, Niki. The Healing Encounter: Performance
Practice from inside the Mind/Body of Trauma.
University of Colorado Boulder. Theatre and
Dance. Marcos Steuernagel. 2019.
SEXUALITY
Nguyen, Thao P. Queer Moves: Queer Migration,
Sexual Violence, and Performance. Stanford
University. Theater and Performance Studies.
Jisha Menon. 2019.
Werther, Janet. No Place Like Home: Affective
Longings for Family and Community in Queer
Performance, 1980–Present. The Graduate Cen-
ter/CUNY. Theatre. David Savran. 2021

Yale ITS 2019 COMPETITION

J U D G E D B Y AY A D A K H TA R
DR A M A The winner will be awarded:
SERIES • The David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000
• Publication of his/her manuscript by
Yale University Press
• Award ceremony and reading at Lincoln
Center Theater
Submissions for the 2019 competition accepted between
2006 - 2019 June 1 – August 15, 2018.
For more information and complete
rules governing the competition, visit:
yalebooks.com/drama
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