Assistant Professor, Performance as Public Practice
Rachel Merrill Moss (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is a theatre historian and scholar of performance, a dramaturg and performer. She 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 2020, Moss co-created with the Polish Theatre Institute (Poland), “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. As a practitioner, Moss works in both production and developmental dramaturgy. Most recently, she served as the production dramaturg for the New York City premiere of Tadeusz Słobodzianek’s Our Class (Wall Street Journal “Best Theatre of 2024,” 2025 Lucille Lortel Awardee for Best Off-Broadway Revival) and co-adapted and dramaturged a new version of The Dybbuk, staged in Boston’s historically landmarked Vilna Shul (2025 Elliot Norton Awardee for Outstanding Play). From 2019-2021, she collaborated with Strefa WolnoSłowa in Warsaw, Poland, as a co-devisor and performer.
Yiddish Theatre History, Polish Theatre History, Jewishness in Performance, Performance Studies, Historiography, Jewish Studies, Jewish/Non-Jewish Relations, Production and Developmental Dramaturgy
Performance as Public Practice, Theatre History
- In review: Precarious Identities: Theatre and Performance of Refuge and Risk in East Central Europe. Co-edited with Alisa Ballard Lin and Dennis C. Beck. Advanced contract with Iowa University Press (forthcoming).
- In review: “Staging a Tempest on the Brink: Klara Segałowicz’s Remarkable Theatrical Leadership During Uncertain Times,” in Women’s Innovations in Theatre, Dance, and Performance, Volume 4: Leaders. Eva Aymami-Rene, Anita Gonzalez, and Kimberly Jew, volume editors. Bloomsbury Press (forthcoming).
- 2023: The Dybbuk Century: The Jewish Play that Possessed the World, University of Michigan Press (October 2023). Co-edited with Debra Caplan.
- 2023: “Skrzypek as Synecdoche: Polish-Jewishness in Fiddler on the Roof,” Theatre Journal, Vol. 75, Number 2 (June 2023), pp. 143-166.
- 2018: “Pageants and Patriots: Jewish Spectacles as Performances of Belonging,” Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Volume 31, Number 1 (Fall 2018). Co-written with Gary Alan Fine.
- 2025: Developmental Dramaturg for untitled Lynn Rosen new play workshop (Rachel Dickstein, director), The Center for New Jewish Culture, New York City
- 2024: Co-Adaptor and Production Dramaturg for The Dybbuk, Arlekin Players (Igor Golyak, director; 2025 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Play), Vilna Shul, Boston
- 2024: Production Dramaturg for Our Class, Arlekin Players (Igor Golyak, director; 2025 Lucille Lortel Award Winner for Best Revival), Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)/Under the Radar Festival & Classic Stage Co., New York City
- 2020: Performer and co-devisor for Języki Troski, Strefa WolnoSłowa at Teatr Powszechny, Warsaw, Poland
- 2020: Performer and co-devisor for Zaczyna się od pszczół/ It started with Bees, Strefa WolnoSłowa at Teatr Powszechny, Warsaw, Poland
- 2019 Performer and co-devisor for Włącz bojler. Niech czeka na mnie chociaż ciepła woda, Strefa WolnoSłowa at Teatr Powszechny, Warsaw, Poland