Doctoral Projects in Progress in Theatre Arts, 2019

This is the sixty-seventh 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 secondarily 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 2020 edition will be mailed in October 2019. Please contact the 2019–20 editor Troy Matthew Lescher (troy.lescher@humboldt.edu), if your institution is not already receiving the annual call for submissions.

My fellow editors and I are grateful for the effort of those who have contributed 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.

PART I

AFRICA

Swanson, Amy. (Il)legible Bodies: Gender, Sexuality, and Contemporary Dance in Senegal. Northwestern University. Theatre. Susan Manning. 2019.

GERMANY

Straus, Matthew. "Beggars begging. Thieves thieving. Whores whoring." A Geneaology of Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theater. University of Washington. Drama. Odai Johnson. 2019.

GREECE

Hofgren, Alice. The Social and Rhetorical Functions of Athenian Old Comedy. University of Washing-ton. Drama. Odai Johnson. 2019.

IRELAND

White, Bryan. Violence Responding: Modern and Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance. University of California, San Diego. Theatre and Dance. Marianne McDonald. 2019.

JAPAN

Reimer, Jon. Queer Spirit: Radiating Artistic and Spiritual Potentiality of Queer Energy in Yukio Mishima and Beyond. University of California, San Diego. Theatre and Dance. Emily Roxworthy. 2019.

MEXICO

Truett, Joshua. Muxes, Velas, and Zapotec Styles: Festival Performance and Indigenous Counterpublics. Ohio State University. Theatre. Ana Puga. 2019.

MIDDLE EAST

Hellman, Jacob. Soldier, State, and Stage: Performances of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) on the Israeli Stage. University of Wisconsin–Madison. Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies. Aparna Dharwadker. 2019.

SOUTH AMERICA

Wilson, Geoffrey. Confronting Violence: Citizenship, Performance, and the Streets of Bogotá, 1985–2015. Ohio State University. Theatre. Ana Puga. 2019.

USA

Twentieth Century

Dembin, Russell M. "I've been better entertained": Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in the United States. University of Texas at Austin. Theatre and Dance. Charlotte M. Canning. 2019.

Silvis, Steffen. The American Noh: The Adaptation of Noh in Twentieth-Century American Drama, Theatre, and Dance, from Pound to Wilson. University of Wisconsin–Madison. Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies. Michael Vanden Heuvel. 2021.

Tourniaire, Guillaume. Stepping Out of the Wings: Musical Theatre as a Catalyst for Evolving American Identity. University of Washington. Drama. Odai Johnson. 2019.

Twentieth/Twenty-first Centuries

Hammonds, Rebecca Katherine. Bookish Women: Examining the Textual and Embodied Construction of Scholarly and Literary Women in Broad-way Musicals. Bowling Green State University. Theatre and Film. Michael Ellison. 2019.

Kim, Dong-uk. Serious Laughs; Tricksters on the Stage of Wilson, Nottage, and Parks. University of Wisconsin–Madison. Theatre and Drama. Mary Trotter. 2020.

Kochman, Deborah Ann. Violence, Trauma, Ageing: Dramatic Women Escaping the Presumption of Decline. Florida State University. Theatre. Mary Karen Dahl. 2019.

McGregor, Alesa. Transgressive Figures: The Female as Monster in Performance. Bowling Green State University. Theatre and Film. Lesa Lockford. 2019.

Nottingham, Coralyn Foults. Women, War and Home in Contemporary American Drama. University of Tennessee. English. Stanton B. Garner Jr. 2019.

O'Malley, Kristin. Performances of Faith: Post–Vatican II American Catholicism on the Professional Secular Stage. University of Pittsburgh. Theatre Arts. Michelle Granshaw. 2019.

Overbeke, Grace Kessler. The Forgotten Pioneer: Jean Carroll and the Origins of Jewish Female Stand-Up Comedy. Northwestern University. Theatre. Susan Manning. 2019.

Twenty...