*PhD, The University of Texas at Austin, December 2008, Performance as Public Practice Program

*MA, Washington University in St. Louis, May 2003.

*BA, Magna cum Laude with Highest Honors in Theatre and High Honors in Philosophy from Butler University, May 2001.

I studied abroad from 1999-2000 at the University of Bristol.

My larger research interests concern immersive theatre, race, gender, and non-human performance in popular entertainments and tourist attractions in the United States. These days I am doing a lot of work within Disney Studies

CURRENT PROJECTS

Books

Zombie Thoughts and Ballet for Aliens, with Oliver Kokai-Means and Gerard Hernandez, under contract with Vanderbilt University Press, planned release August 2024.

Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience: The Actor as Tourist, 2nd Edition, co-edited with Tom Robson, under contract with Palgrave.

Articles

Meow Wolf and Generic Conventions of Theatre as a Spectrum in Immersive Spaces

“That’s the beauty of art, right?” The Vegas Golden Knights and Narrative Lore as Hockey Element”

Essays

“Finding Nemo: When a Disney Musical is a Theme Park Attraction” co-written with Tom Robson in The Oxford Handbook of the Disney Musical edited by Colleen Montgomery and Dominic McHugh in press with the University of Oxford Press.

“Why Be a Bad Guy?  Immersive Performance and Transgression at the Disney Theme Park “ co-written with Tom Robson in Enveloping Worlds edited by Elizabeth Hunter and Scott Magelssen in press with University of Michigan Press.

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Disney Parks and the Construction of American Identity: Tourism, Performance, Collaboration co-written monograph with Tom Robson, Lexington Books 2024. 

Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience: The Actor as Tourist, Co-Edited with Tom Robson (New York: Palgrave, 2019).

Swim Pretty: Aquatic Spectacles and the Performance of Race, Gender, and Nature (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2017)

Essays in Anthologies

“Agent P vs the Drunks: Competing Interiorities in the Disney Theme Park Space” Co-Written with Tom Robson in Virtual Interiorities edited by Dave Gottwald, Gregory Turner-Rahman, and Vahid Vahdat. Carnegie Mellon ETC Press, 2023

Cowritten with Mary Beth Willard “Holy Forking Shirtballs: An Interdisciplinary Examination of What It Means to Be Good”, in Removing the Educational Silos: Models of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Education edited by Wiline Pangle, Keeley Stanley-Bohn, Ann Dasen, Heather Trommer-Beardslee, Jay Batzner. Intellect Press, 2022.

“Do Goats Have a Right to Cigarettes? A Cross-Disciplinary Investigation of the Ethics of Non-Human Animal Performances” Cowritten with Lauren Kokai  for Identity, Culture, and the Science Performance: From the Lab to the Streets: Vol 1 edited by Meredith Conti and Vivian Appler Methuen Drama, 2022.

“From Mickey Waffles to Vegan Samosas: Evolving Disney Food Fandoms” in Disney Fandoms edited by Sabrina Mittermeier. Intellect Press, 2022.

“Shamu the (Killer) Whale and an Ecology of Commodity” in Showing Off, Showing Up: Studies of Hype, Heightened Performance, and Cultural Power edited by Laurie Frederik, Kim Marra, and Catherine Schuler. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017, 81-106.

Peer Reviewed Articles:

“Thebes in Utah: Translating Protest in Ali Salim’s Egyptian The Comedy of Oedipus.” Review (Vol. 25, Is. 1), 34-41.

“A Kind of Magic: Theatre and Moral Persuasion” co-authored with Mary Beth Willard. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism (Vol. 28, No. 2), 7-27.

“Weeki Wachee Girls and Buccaneer Boys: The Evolution of Mermaids, Gender, and ‘Man versus Nature’ Tourism.” Theatre History Studies. (Vol 31): 51-66.

“Molding a Heroine: Patience Wright and Transatlantic Notions of American Female Patriotism.” The Journal of American Drama and Theatre. (Vol. 29, No. 2 Spring 2009): 49-66.

Solicited Articles:

“Academic Conferences as Nostalgia Tourism: A Regretful Polemic.” Theatre Topics 32, no. 1 (2022): 33-39.

“Disney during COVID-19: The tourist and the actor’s nightmare,” co-written with Tom Robson Journal of Themed Experience and Attractions Studies: 2022, Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 5.

 Book Reviews:

“Affect, Animals, and Autists: Feeling Around the Edges. By Marla Carlson (review)” The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 35, no 2 (2021): 216-218.

“World Theatre: The Basics by E. J. Westlake (review).” Theatre Topics 28, no. 3 (2018): 245-246. https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed April 17, 2019).

“Cultivating National Identity Through Performance: American Pleasure Gardens and Entertainment By Naomi J. Stubbs.” Theatre Journal, (Vol. 66, No. 3 October 2014): 482-483.

“Sisters in Sin by Katie N. Johnson.” Ecumenica. (Vol. 2, No. 2 Fall 2009): 99-100.