Bryan Schmidt

Areas of Specialization

Theatre History, Literature, Dramatic Theory, Arts Management, and Direction

Courses Taught

Intro to Theatre, Direction, Performance for Social Change, Race and the Supernatural in Film, Music, and Theatre

Background

Bryan (pronouns: he/him) is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at William & Mary. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota’s Theatre Historiography program, and previously taught at St. Olaf College. He also holds an MA in Theatre Studies from Florida State University. 

His scholarship works at the intersection of aesthetics, race, and cultural policy, with an emphasis on festivals and immersive theatrical events. He is currently co-editing a volume entitled Staging Visitation: Theatre and Tourism (University of Michigan Press). His monograph project tracks the history of outdoor festival culture in the United States, and how it participated in racial formation and settler colonialism. His scholarship and reviews can be seen in Theatre Journal, TDR, Performance Research, Cultural Studies, Weekend Societies: Electronic Dance Music Festivals and Event-Cultures (Bloomsbury), Theatre Research International, and the Black Theatre Review. 

He is also a performance practitioner with an emphasis on devised, site-specific work. His recent projects include Big Plastic / Something Lunar, Parables on the Edge of Time, and The Rocky Horror Show (St. Olaf College).