TDPS Welcomes New Faculty

Three artist-scholars join the TDPS faculty in Fall 2023.

The School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies welcomes three new faculty members this fall: Visiting Associate Professor Carla Della Gatta, Associate Professor Kate Keeney and Artist-in-Residence Mariama "Ama" Law.

Carla Della Gatta is a theater historian and performance theorist whose research focuses on ethnicity, aurality and gender and sexuality. She joins the faculty as a visiting associate professor teaching theater history and theory.

She was previously assistant professor of English at Florida State University.​ She is the author of “Latinx Shakespeares: Staging U.S. Intracultural Theater” (2023) and co-editor of “Shakespeare and Latinidad” (2021). She has worked as a scholar for The Public Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Victory Gardens Theater and more. She received a Woodrow Wilson (now Citizens and Scholars) fellowship, two Folger Shakespeare Library fellowships and an NYPL fellowship. Della Gatta served on the Governing Council for ATHE from 2019 to 2021. She is on the Steering Committee for the Latinx Theatre Commons and on the editorial and advisory boards of the Shakespeare Survey and the Arden series on Shakespeare and Social Justice.

Della Gatta received a Ph.D. and M.A. in theatre and drama from Northwestern University, with a certificate in gender and sexuality studies; an M.A. in literature in English from San Francisco State University; and a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Kate Keeney joins TDPS as an associate professor of arts management. Her research interests bridge arts management and nonprofit management scholarship with a specific focus on cultural policy, leadership and organizations. She will be the lead faculty member for ARHU’s arts leadership minor and other curricular initiatives.

Keeney previously served as associate professor and program director of arts management at the College of Charleston. She is an active contributor to the arts management scholarly field. She serves as a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) research grant reviewer, is a consulting editor for the Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society and is a board member for Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts. Keeney especially enjoys collaborating with others in interdisciplinary work. Current collaborative research projects include place-based arts branding, program design in the arts, entrepreneurial arts leadership and arts access afforded by the nonprofit status. 

Keeney holds a doctorate in public administration and a certificate in nonprofit management from Virginia Tech, an M.A. in arts administration from American University, and a B.A. in music from James Madison University.

Mariama “Ama” Law received an M.F.A. in dance from UMD in 2019 and returns as the current dance artist-in-residence, conducting movement research and developing a collaborative teaching relationship with UMD students, staff and local community members.

Law was born into African dance culture through the Kankouran West African Dance Company, as both parents are founding members. While at UMD, Law enjoyed choreographing, directing and dancing with DyNaMiC hip-hop dance team. They graduated with a B.S. in biology and a certificate in women’s studies from UMD in 2008. After undergrad, Law studied in New York, completing a professional semester at Broadway Dance Center under the likes of Luam Keflezgy, Hollywood and Sheila Barker. 

As an alum of local DMV hip-hop groups Culture Shock D.C. and KickRocks, Law enjoys staying grounded and connected with the community. They dedicate their career to the creative possibilities of fusing dance traditions to facilitate important conversations about social change.