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General Interests
"I am particularly interested in historic representations of homosexuality on stage. My research examines how playwrights at the Caffe Cino - a small New York coffeehouse that pioneered the 1960s Off-Off-Broadway movement - presented homosexual characters in their plays. This research interweaves social and cultural history with themes of sexual identity to expose how topics of gender expression, social oppression, communication codes, camp perception, and characteristics of affirmation coalesce around textual bodies of performance that facilitated explicit homosexual visibility on stage in the 1960s."
Years at Knox: 2009 to present
Education
Ph.D., Theatre History, Theory, and Literature, 2008, Indiana University.
M.S., Education, Curriculum and Instruction, 2004, Indiana University.
B.A., Theatre Arts, 1997, Brigham Young University.
Teaching Interests
Theatre history, historical Off-Off-Broadway, Gay and Lesbian Theatre, American alternative theatre, directing, rise of the modern director, musical theatre history, drag narratives and the performed body, British In-Yer-Face Theatre
Honors/Grants
Hubert C. Heffner Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Theatre, Indiana University, 2006.
Theatre and Drama Teaching Assistantship, Indiana University, 2004-2008.
School of Education Teaching Assistantship, Indiana University, 2002-2004.
1st Place Director of Region III Drama Championship Team, Salt Lake City, 2001 & 2002.
2nd Place Director of State Drama Championship Team, Salt Lake City, 2001.
Outstanding Directing Award (Best Play), UHSAA, Salt Lake City, 2000 & 2001.
Publications
"Coming Out at the Caffe Cino: Emancipation from the Dramatic Closet." In Public Theatre and Theatre Publics, edited by Robert Shimko and Sara Freeman, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing (forthcoming).
Review: Tender Fires: The Spiritual Promise of Sexuality, by Fran Ferder and John Heagle, Ecumenica, A Journal of Theatre and Performance 2.2 (2009): 109-110.
Review of: Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947, by Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker, Modern Drama 49.4 (2006): 541-543.
Presentations
"Caffe Cino: A Landmark of American Gay Theatre." Mid-America Theatre Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 2011.
"Coming Out at the Caffe Cino: Staging Lanford Wilson's The Madness of Lady Bright." Mid-America Theatre Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, March 2010.
"'I don't really know the procedures': Sexual Codes and the Elimination of Class in 1960s Gay Bathhouses." Mid-America Theatre Conference, Chicago, Illinois, March 2009.
"Freeing the Animal Within: Dismantling ‘The Day of Resurrection' in Ibsen's When We Dead Awaken." Southwest/Texas Popular and American Culture Associations Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 2009.
Productions
Director, The Serpent by Jean-Claude van Itallie, Knox College, 2010.
Director, Euripides' Medea translated by Robin Robertson, Knox College, 2010.
Professional Service
Co-Chair, Emerging Scholars Symposium, Mid-America Theatre Conference, 2011-present.
Panel Chair, "Radical Company: Challenges and Methodologies of Alternative Performance Collectives," Mid-America Theatre Conference, 2011.
Peer Reviewer, Journal of Homosexuality, 2010.
Panelist, Gay and Lesbian Religion and Culture forum, Indiana University, 2003 & 2004.
Campus & Community Involvement
Member, Academic Standing Committee, 2011-present.
Member, Assessment Advisory Group, 2011-present.
Volunteer, Art in the Park, Galesburg Civic Arts Center, Galesburg, 2011.
Advisor, Academic Student Advising, 2010-present.
Panelist, New Faculty Ford Seminar, 2010.
Co-organizer, "Beating the Pavement: Theatre and Dance, from College to Career," Fall Institute, 2009.
Volunteer, Writing on the Wall (WOW) project, Bloomington, 2004.
