May 22, 2025
The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance is thrilled to announce Dr. Rachel Merrill Moss will join the department in fall 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Theatre History in the Performance as Public Practice area.
Moss brings with her an extensive background in international research, dramaturgy and the study of performance in historical and cultural contexts. Her award-winning research focuses on performances of Jewishness in Poland across the past century, in close relation to changing political and identity narratives and memory work. She is co-editor with Debra Caplan of The Dybbuk Century: The Jewish Play that Possessed the World (University of Michigan Press, 2023), and her article "Skrzypek as Synecdoche: Polish-Jewishness in Fiddler on the Roof" was published in the June 2023 issue of Theatre Journal.
“I'm absolutely delighted to be joining the Department of Theatre and Dance at UT Austin and its vibrant community of students and scholars thinking critically and dynamically through performance in exciting, interdisciplinary and broadly conceived ways,” shares Moss. “I've been so impressed by the breadth of research interests, the collegiality and curiosity of students, faculty and staff, and the enthusiasm for cross-departmental collaboration; I cannot wait to begin my work there.”
Moss was a 2018-19 Fulbright Student Research Fellow in Poland and the 2022 recipient of the International Federation for Theatre Research New Scholars' Prize. In Warsaw, Poland from 2018-2021, she performed and co-devised three performances with Strefa WolnoSłowa, a theatre company focusing on Polish-migrant dynamics. In 2020, she co-created with the Polish Theatre Institute, Dybuk na stulecie, a festival of performance and scholarship honoring the centenary of the most famous Jewish play of all time, S. Anski's The Dybbuk; Between Two Worlds. Her most recent dramaturgy credits include Tadeusz Słobodzianek's Our Class (New York City premiere; Wall Street Journal "Best Theatre of 2024," 2025 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Revival) and a world-premiere new adaptation of Dybbuk, immersively set in Boston's historically-landmarked Vilna Shul (as co-adaptor and dramaturg, summer 2024).
“Moss was chosen through a rigorous national search process, and her selection for this position is a testament to her strength as a scholar and educator,” shares department chair Dr. Peter Carpenter. “I see her research interests aligning dynamically with our current faculty in the Performance as Public Practice area to advance the department’s national standing in research and publication. I am eager to welcome Moss to campus in the fall and look forward to her contributions to our community.”
Moss has taught at universities both nationally and internationally, most recently serving as the Murray W. and Mildred K Finard Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater at Colgate University. She is a long-time co-convener of the Central East Europe and Eurasia focused Working Session at the American Society for Theatre Research and regularly presents work at the Association for Jewish Studies and the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies conferences.