Spring 2026 Theatre & Performance Research Colloquia

Theatre & Performance Research Colloquia Spring 2026

Co-sponsored by American Studies, Africana Studies, The Boswell Fund, Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, The Department of History, and Sumner Rand

The colloquia series will offer a space for emerging research in theatre, dance and performance studies, through presentations by faculty, students and prominent guest scholars and practitioners, including Dean E. Patrick Johnson, Petra Kuppers and Bethany Hughes.

The colloquia is intended to strengthen students' interests in graduate scholarly paths by introducing them to important developments in the field, and nurture a space for sharing research among faculty and students, with possibilities for promoting faculty and student research collaborations, and building community. It will also work in tandem with courses such as World Theatre History, Performance Studies, and Applied Theatre Practice. The series will include scholarly lectures, play readings, roundtables, performance in progress showcases and occasional workshops, and/or other innovative showings of creative/scholarly research. 

“From Field to Stage to Screen: Aesthetic Methodologies in the Making of Sweet Tea”

Weds Feb 4, 7pm (Glenn Close Theatre, PBK)
Keynote Speaker
Dr E. Patrick Johnson is (Northwestern University)

In this lecture Dr. Johnson will discuss adapting oral history interviews he conducted for his book Sweet Tea for the stage and the screen, accounting for the methodological, intellectual and ethical questions that arise when transforming oral histories to different mediums.

Dr E. Patrick Johnson is Dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor at Northwestern University. A member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Johnson’s work has greatly impacted African American Studies, Performance Studies, and Gender, and Sexuality Studies. He is the author of several books, including Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity (2003); Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South—An Oral History (2008); Black. Queer. Southern. Women.—An Oral History (2018); Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women (2019), in addition to a number of edited and co-edited collections, essays, and plays.

“Redface: Native American Representation in Theatre”

Weds Feb 18, 3:30-4:50pm (Zoom)
Dr Bethany Hughes (University of Michigan)

“Extractive Nostalgia: Performing Postindustrial Memory at Gold Reef City and The Big Hole in South Africa”

Weds March 4, 12-1pm (Lab Theatre, PBK)
Dr Bryan Schmidt (William & Mary)

“Performance, Disability, Technology: Planting Disabled Futures”

Tues March 31, 12-1 pm (Lab Theatre, PBK)
Dr Petra Kuppers (University of Michigan)

Student New Research Panel

Tues April 14, 12-1pm (Lab Theatre, PBK)

Individual students (or student teams) are invited to submit 2-3 sentences outlining their topic, and explaining the status of this research (eg. has the project completed, or is it in progress) by February 13, 2026.

Selected students will participate in a roundtable on April 14, offering a presentation which includes a 10 minute outline of their work and discussion.

Send proposals and queries to Dr. Claire Pamment ([[clpamment]]) and Dr. Sarah Hart ([[sahart]]).

“The Inner Work of Social Justice: Untangling the Patterns of Injustice Woven into our Minds and Bodies”

Tues April 28, 12-1pm (Lab Theatre, PBK)
Joan Gavaler (William & Mary)

For more information, contact convenors, Dr. Sarah Hart ([[sahart]]) and Dr. Claire Pamment ([[clpamment]])