Research

Ph.D. student Lindsey Barr was elected president of the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) Graduate Student Caucus. Her term starts in November 2020.

PhD candidate Kelley Holley has been awarded a Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship for Summer 2020 to work on her dissertation about dramaturgy and site-specific performance. Summer Research Fellowships provide support to doctoral students in the period shortly before or after advancement to candidacy. The fellowship enables doctoral students to devote a summer of focused work to prepare for or complete a benchmark in their program.

Ph.D. candidates Q-Mars Haeri and Allison Hedges were awarded Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowships for the semester of their choice in the next academic year, 2020-21. These fellowships will support the completion of their dissertations.

Assistant professor Jared Mezzocchi was nominated for a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for his projection design work on Qui Nguyen’s Poor Yella Rednecks. The Off-Broadway production was postponed due to COVID-19; stay tuned for new dates.

Drew Barker (MA '13; and our performing arts librarian) recently published an article, "Human Histories Onstage: A Conversation on Collaboration with Naomi Wallace & Marcus Rediker," in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism with co-authors Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker.

Abstract

In this essay, which precedes an interview with the playwright Naomi Wallace and the historian Marcus Rediker, an examination of the ideological and aesthetic motivations shared between the two writers reveals how Marxist humanism guides a new co-writing project titled The Return of Benjamin Lay. After describing Benjamin's life and abolitionist activism, an explanation of the two writers' continued collaboration and shared dramaturgy describes how both writers find Benjamin a worthy subject to adapt for the stage.

PhD candidate Christen Mandracchia published her article, "‘Don’t feed the plants!’: Monstrous normativity and disidentification in Little Shop of Horrors," in Studies in Musical Theatre. Christen was the dramaturg for TDPS' 2018 production of Little Shop of Horrors.

Abstract

The 1982 camp horror musical Little Shop of Horrors tells the story of a meek little flower shop attendant named Seymour, who comes across a novelty carnivorous plant that eats human blood. The talking plant preys on Seymour’s infatuation with his beautiful co-worker Audrey to radicalize him into feeding the plant ‘fresh’ bodies. Building on the work of theatre scholar Michael Chemers, who asserts that stage monsters represent larger social and political anxieties of their time, this article identifies Seymour, the normal, white, heterosexual everyman, as the real ‘monster’ of the musical. Thus, the musical’s creators, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, exposed the monstrousness of normativity at the poignant moment in American culture, during the early years of the conservative Reagan administration. This article uses José Muñoz’s theory of ‘disidentification’, a strategy employed by marginalized people working ‘on and against dominant ideology’ to analyse the creators’ didactic and subversive strategy.

MFA dance candidate Rose Xinran Qi competed in the Advanced Contemporary category at Starpower Dance Competition, a dance competition in Towson, MD that is part of the StarDance Alliance. Rose competed against 37 advanced dance performers, winning first place in the contemporary dance category, as well as the overall Advanced High Score Award.

PhD student Jared Strange published his article, “The World Cup’s Double-Headed Eagle: Gestures and Scenarios in the Football Arena,” in Theatre Research International.

Abstract:

During the 2018 World Cup in Russia, two Kosovo-born Swiss players stirred controversy when they flashed a double-headed eagle gesture during a contentious win over Serbia. The gesture was an assertion of ethnic Albanian pre-eminence in Kosovo and a rhetorical strike against the Serbians, who still claim ownership over Kosovo even ten years after its declaration of independence. The gesture sparked worldwide media coverage and prompted punishments by FIFA (the World Cup's governing body), which legislates against overt political expression during matches. In this article, I will examine the double-headed eagle gesture as an example of the body's unique capacity to perform multiple political interventions at once. Not only did it transmit a contentious history, it also undermined the anti-political boundaries erected around the scenarios of transnational combat engendered by FIFA, highlighted anti-immigrant sentiments still festering across Europe, and illustrated the communicative powers that elite players can access through their goal celebrations. Considering these valences supports my reading of this case as symbolic of the sort of ruptures produced by competing impulses operating in Europe today, one working for the affirmation of the union, the other for its dissolution.

Professor Scot Reese was recognized at the University of Maryland's Maryland Research Excellence Celebration on February 26. The honor acknowledges faculty who have demonstrably elevated the visibility and reputation of the University of Maryland Research Enterprise. Scot was nominated by Dean Bonnie Thornton Dill of the College of Arts & Humanities.

Ph.D. candidate Jenna Gerdsen was selected for the UMD Graduate School’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for 2019-20. The award conveys the honor of being named among the top 2% of graduate assistants in the academic year.