Alumni in the Field

Theatre and Dance graduates work in a variety of institutions, fields and disciplines. The following is a sampling of alumni of the Performance as Public Practice program.


Abimbola Adelakun, Ph.D. 2017, Assistant Professor, Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, The University of Texas at Austin

Angela Ahlgren, Ph.D. 2011, Associate Professor, Theatre History, Department of Theatre and Film, Bowling Green State University

Oluwabukola Aluko-Kpotie, Ph.D. 2011, Executive Director, Lagos Museum and Research Centre; Director, Designs for Life Social Enterprises

Dotun Ayobade, Ph.D. 2016, Assistant Professor, Performance Studies and African American Studies, Northwestern University

Heather Barfield, Ph.D. 2012, Director of Finance and Operations, Austin Creative Alliance; Associate Artistic Director, VORTEX Repertory Theatre; Adjunct Professor, Drama, Austin Community College

Jane Barnette, Ph.D. 2003, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Theatre, University of Kansas

Scott Blackshire, Ph.D. 2018, Curator of the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts, The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio

Chase Bringardner, Ph.D. 2008, Chair and Professor, Department of Theatre and Dance, Auburn University; President of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)

Margaret Brooker, M.F.A. 2009, Associate Professor, Dance Department, Middle Tennessee University

Claire Canavan, M.F.A. 2010, Lecturer, Creative Drama, Department of Theatre and Dance, Texas State University

Zoë Crabtree, M.A. 2017, AmeriCorps VISTA member, Project Coach, Smith College (Campus Compact for Southern New England)

Clare Croft, Ph.D. 2010, Associate Professor and Director of M.F.A. Program, Department of Dance, University of Michigan

Jessica Del Vecchio, M.A. 2010, Assistant Professor fo Theatre, James Madison University

Christina Gutierrez Dennehy, Ph.D. 2013, Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre, Northern Arizona University

Zachary Dorsey, Ph.D. 2007, Assistant Professor of Theatre and Theatre Arts Coordinator, School of Theatre and Dance, James Madison University

Michelle Dvoskin, Ph.D. 2010, Associate Professor and Theatre Program Coordinator, Department of Theatre and Dance, Western Kentucky University

Christin Essin, Ph.D. 2006, Associate Professor, Theatre History, Department of Theatre, Vanderbilt University

Brianna Figueroa, Ph.D. 2018, Assistant Professor, Department of Dance, University of New Mexico Albuquerque

Denise Forbes-Erickson, Ph.D. 2013, Assistant Professor, African American Theatre and Dramatic Literature, Department of Theatre and Dance, Sacramento State University

Natalie Goodnow, M.F.A. 2015, Associate Program Director, Creative Action, Austin

Thomas Graves, M.F.A. 2008, Co-Producing Artistic Director, Rude Mechs, Austin

Nicole Gurgel-Seefeldt, M.F.A. 2012, Performer; Communications Manager and Editor, Alternate Roots Journal

Rebecca Hewett, Ph.D. 2010, Executive Director of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation

Lindsay Hockaday, M.A. 2010, Associate Producer, Elevator Repair Service, New York

Kelly Howe, Ph.D. 2010, Associate Professor of Theatre, Loyola University Chicago; Former President of Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed, Inc. (PTO)

Jill Inderstrodt, M.A. 2009, Associate Professor, Ivy Tech Community College

Kristen Jackson, M.A. 2014, Connectivity Director, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Je Hye Kim, Ph.D. 2007, Assistant Professor, Ewha Womans University Center for General Education, Seoul, South Korea

Jennifer Kokai, Ph.D. 2008, Associate Professor and Theatre Program Coodinator, Weber State University

Kristin Leahey, Ph.D. 2012, Resident Dramaturg, Northlight Theater, Skokie, IL

Erica Lies, M.A. 2008, Oral Historian, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin

Natasha Lindsay, Ph.D. 2017, Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre, Central Washington University

Michael Love, M.F.A. 2020, named a Princeton University Arts Fellow by the Lewis Center for the Arts

Shelly Manis, Ph.D. 2010, Lecturer IV, Sweetland Center for Writing, University of Michigan

Lindsey Mantoan, M.A. 2010, Assistant Professor of Theatre, Linfield College

Nicole Martin, Ph.D. 2015, Assistant Professor, Women's and Gender Studies and Director of Inclusive Excellence and Diversity Education, University of Kentucky

Nikiko Masumoto, M.A. 2010, Organic peach farmer and author, Masumoto Family Farm

James McMaster, M.A. 2014, Assistant Professor, Gender and Women's Studies and Asian American Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Marcus McQuirter, Ph.D. 2012, Chair and Professor of Drama, Department of Drama, Austin Community College

Sarah Meyers, M.F.A. 2009, Associate Professor and Chair of Theater Arts, Department of Theater, Augsburg College

Erica Nagel, M.F.A. 2011, Deputy Director, New Jersey Theatre Alliance

Chuyun Oh, Ph.D. 2015, Assistant Professor of Dance History, Dance Program, School of Music and Dance, San Diego State University (Former Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian Studies, Hamilton College)

Agatha Oliveira, Ph.D. 2019, Assistant Professor in the Department of Corporeal Art at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Jesse O’Rear, Ph.D. 2020,  Visiting Assistant Professor, ACES Fellow in Performance Studies, Texas A&M University

Eleanor Owicki, Ph.D. 2013, Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance, Indiana University

Jaclyn Pryor, Ph.D. 2011, Assistant Professor of Integrative Arts and Head of the Theatre Program, Penn State Abington; Regional Faculty Fellow, Wolf Humanities Center, University of Pennsylvania; author of Time Slips: Queer Temporalities, Contemporary Performance, and the Hole of History.

Rudy Ramirez, M.A. 2017, Associate Artistic Director, The VORTEX Theatre, Austin; founder of Avante Theatre Project

Ramón Rivera-Servera, Ph.D. 2003, Dean of the College of Fine Arts, The University of Texas at Austin

Mason Rosenthal, M.F.A. 2020, Post-M.F.A. Fellow in Applied Performance at Virginia Tech

Roén Salinas, Ph.D. 2016, Artistic Director, Aztlan Dance Company, Austin

Margaret Savilonis, Ph.D. 2004, Associate Professor, English and Theatre Arts, University of New Haven

Susanne Shawyer, Ph.D. 2008, Associate Professor of Theater, Elon University

Fadi Skeiker, Ph.D. 2009, Associate Professor, Directing and Playwriting, University of the Arts, Philadelphia

Tamara Smith, Ph.D. 2011, Competition Administrator, Nova Scotia Public Service Commission

Amy Steiger, Ph.D. 2006, Assistant Professor of Theater, St. Mary's College of Maryland

Mary Katherine Stickel, M.A. 2009, Drama Teacher, Linz International School, Austria

Meg Sullivan, M.F.A. 2007, Executive Artistic Director, The Manton Avenue Project, Providence

Susan Gayle Todd, Ph.D. 2009, Producing Artistic Director, Austin Scottish Rite Theatre

Beliza Torres-Narvaez, Ph.D. 2015, Associate Professor, Department of Theater, Augsburg University

Katelyn Wood, Ph.D. 2014, Assistant Professor of Theatre History, Department of Drama, University of Virginia

This list constitutes a sampling of alumni for prospective students, and is not complete. We welcome updates from Performance as Public Practice (PPP), as well as alumni from our earlier Ph.D. program in Theatre History. You may send updates to r-rossen@austin.utexas.edu.