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Graduate Students

Sarah Campbell

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Sarah Campbell is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance at Indiana University. She received her B.A. in theatre from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky and her M.A. in theatre with an emphasis in directing from the University of Nebraska Omaha. Her research interests include Contemporary Yucatec Maya language theatre, the intersections of theatre and folklore, touristic performance, and the theatricality of space and place. Her dissertation is titled Identity in Performance in Contemporary Yucatec Maya Theatre. She served as President and conference co-chair for Indiana University's Association for Research in Theatre (ART@IU) from 2015-2016 and was Secretary of the Graduate Student Caucus, the graduate student organization of the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) from 2014-2015. Sarah is from Louisville, Kentucky.

Joseph D'Ambrosi

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Joseph D'Ambrosi is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance. He received his B.A. in theatre from Messiah College and his M.A. in theatre studies from the University of Central Florida. An aspiring theatre scholar, artist, and teacher, Joe's research interests include the intersections between Christianity, spirituality, and theatre arts and the spectrum between "sacred" and "secular." Joe is an Irene Ryan-nominated actor, a dramaturg, director, and singer. His scholarship has been published in theatre journals and presented at conferences around the nation including the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the American Society for Theatre Research, the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and the Midwest Popular Culture Association. He is the recipient of ASTR's Thomas Marshall Award and SETC's Robert Porterfield Graduate Student Award. Joe is originally from Long Island, New York.

Kyle Davis

Ph.D. Candidate

Kyle Davis received his B.A. in Theatre from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. His research insterests include discourse analysis at the intersections of folklore, theatre history, and performance studies. He is writing his dissertation on the role of the theatre in Spain in re-negotiating and re-constructing the polity during the radical social and cultural transformations of the 1808-1844 period.

Whit Emerson

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Whit Emerson received his B.A. in Theatre Arts from Appalachian State University and his M.A. in Theatre Studies from the University of Central Florida. Whit lived in China for three years teaching English and learning Chinese. His research interests include staging identity, modern theatre in Hong Kong, stage violence, and the historical European avant-garde. Whit has worked in the theatre as an actor, director, producer, fight choreographer, dialect coach, playwright, sound designer, and dramaturg. He has presented papers and held workshops at academic conferences on contemporary Chinese theatre, Tai Chi, translation, and Cultural Revolution Dramas. Whit is from Orlando, Florida.

Carle Gaier

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Carle received his B.F.A. in Theatre from Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, and his M.A. in Theatre HIstory, Theory, and Literature from Indiana University. He has also studied Chinese language at the Dalian University of Foreign Languages. His research interests include contermporary Chinese theatre and playwrights. Before coming to IU, Carle worked in production and stage management, having held positions at the Carousel Dinner Theatre, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, and the Cleveland Play House.

Christopher Hatch

Ph.D. Candidate

Chris received his B.A. in Theatre Arts from Penn State University and his M.F.A. in Acting and Directing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. His research interests include Balinese Theatre, Shakespeare Studies, and Theatre and Absinthe. He recently presented the paper "Green with Madness: Absinthe-Induced Madness and its Use in the Theatre of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries" as part of his dissertation research. A member of the Actors' Equity Association, Chris has been a professional actor for more than a decade and has studied Commedia dell'Arte with Italy's renowned Antonio Fava. Since 2010, Chris has served asAssistant Professor of Theatre at Hobart and William Smith Collegesin Geneva, New York.

Eric C. Heaps

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Eric C Heaps received his B.A. in Theatre Arts Studies and Portuguese from Brigham Young University and his M.A. in Theatre History, Theory, and Literature from Indiana University. His research interests include translation and Luso-Brazilian theatre. Recent conference presentations cover distributed cognition in contemporary Shakespeare at ASTR and translation as cannibalism at ATHE. In 2012 and 2014, he directed premieres of his translations of the works of Brazillian playwright Lucienne Guedes Fahrer (Refusing the FlowerandI Didn't Expect Such Humanity). Eric has his own short play published in Out of the Mount: 19 from New Play Project and is currently working on translating the works of several other Portuguese-language playwrights for English publication. In addition to his research, Eric served three years as president and conference co-chair for IU's Association for Research in Theatre (ART@IU).

Huihui Huang

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Huihui received her B.A. in English Education from Huaiyin Normal University and her M.A. in English Language and Literature from Nanjing Normal University, China. Huihui has worked as a lecturer at a university in China for years, teaching history of English and American literature, and British and American Drama. Her research interests include the works of playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, modern and contemporary American theatre, American musical theatre, and Chinese and American theatre. She got a second in the First Provincial Universities Micro- Teaching Competition in Jiangsu Province, China. Her paper on Suzan-Lori Parks Plays was awarded the second prize in the Eighth Philosophy and Social Science Academic Conference in Jiangsu Province. Huihui is from Xuzhou, China.

Weiyu Li

M.A. Graduate Student

Weiyu received her B.A. in drama literature from Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Before coming to IU, she worked as a lecturer in China, teaching high school students theatre history, theory and playwriting. Her research interests include political theatre, Asian-American theatre, and modern Chinese drama. Weiyu is from Beijing, China.

Andres Lopez

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Andrs received his B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan and his A.L.M in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Dramatic Arts from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His research interests include the theatre of the psychic, the works of playwright Nilo Cruz, and the cultural hybridity of American and Latino cultures. Andrs is from Detroit, Michigan.

Jihay Park

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Jihay received both her B.A. in English language and lLiterature and her M.A in Modern English literature from Korea University, Seoul, South Korea. Her research interests include theatre history, modern British and American theatre, gender studies and performance studies. Jihay is from Seoul, South Korea.

Miriam Poole

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Miriam received her B.A. in Theatre and German from Hillsdale College, in Hillsdale, Michigan, and her M.A. in Theatre History, Theory, and Literature from Indiana University. She is also pursuing a Ph.D. minor in Medieval Studies. In addition to medieval theatre (particularly the intersection between popular theology and its presentation in performance), her research interests include German Romanticism and the Irish Literary Revival. She has twice presented papers at Vagantes, the largest graduate student conference for medieval studies in North America, and now serves on its board of directors. Miriam is originally from West Chicago, Illinois.

Justin Rincker

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Justin received both his B.A. in Anthropology and English Literature and his M.A. in Drama from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. His research interests include the combined work of Tadashi Suzuki and Anne Bogart and the history of movement on the stage, especially in comic performance. Justin's directing and performance credits include productions with Metro Theatre Company, New Jewish Theatre, OnSite Theatre Company, Dramatic License Productions, and HotCity Theatre, all in St. Louis.

Joshua Robinson

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Joshua Robinson received his B.A. in history from Kean University and his M.A. in American Studies from Columbia University. He is pursuing a dual PhD in Theatre and American Studies. His research interests include interactions between American Popular Culture and queer theory, American Horror Film, and American Musical Theatre as a site of queer political expression. He is the Producing Artistic Director of Outcast Theatre, a company committed to producing and developing theatrical works that promote dialogue regarding so-called social "outcasts." His playValentine, based on the 2008 murder of transgender middle school student Lawrence King, was awarded the inaugural New Horizons award for contributions to the LGBTQQIA community. His is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Bridget Sundin

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Bridget Sundin is a third year Ph.D student who received her B.F.A in Theatre Performance from Illinois Wesleyan University, her M.A. in Teaching from National-Louis University, and her M.A. in Theatre from San Diego State University. Her background is in acting, directing, and theatre education. Bridget completed a Ph.D. minor in Gender Studies and currently serves as President of Indiana Universitys Association for Research in Theatre (ART@IU). She has shared her scholarly writing at conferences hosted by the American Society for Theatre Research, Comparative Drama Association, Midwest Modern Language Association, and Midwest Popular Culture association. Her research interests include the extraordinary body in performance, feminist theory, queer performance, and theatrical representations of women avenging their honor in masculine dress during the Golden Age of Spain. Bridget is from Chicago, Illinois.

Sara Taylor

Ph.D. Graduate Student

Sara received her B.A. in Theatre Studies and French from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and her M.A. in Theatre History, Theory, and Literature from Indiana University. Her research interests include the theatre of war and the role of agit-prop theatre in the creation of collective memory, and her dissertation will focus on resistance groups in post-Soviet Eastern Europe and their successful restaging of state spaces as sites of public resistance. She recently finished a multi-article project for Cengage Learning's award-winning reference collection titled,Literature of War(2012) and contributed an article on theatre as a tool of the socialist revolution for Gales multi-volume collection,Literature of Propaganda(2013). In 2011, Sara co-chaired IU's first interdisciplinary conference on theatre and performance studies, War Making Bodies, and served as chair for the 2013 conference, "(corpo)realities."

Graduate Students

Sarah Campbell

Joseph D'Ambrosi

Kyle Davis

Whit Emerson

Carle Gaier

Christopher Hatch

Eric C. Heaps

Huihui Huang

Weiyu Li

Andres Lopez

Jihay Park

Miriam Poole

Justin Rincker

Joshua Robinson

Bridget Sundin

Sara Taylor

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