Performance Studies Alumni

Ph.D. Recipients

Listed below are the names, dissertation titles, and job titles (if available) of individuals who have completed the Ph.D. program since its inception in 1998.

Aldape Muñoz, Juan Manuel 

Choreotopias: Performance, State Violence, and the Near Past (Spring 2020)

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Society for the Humanities, Cornell Univeristy (2020)

Anderson, Patrick

So Much Wasted: Violence Performed In Anorexia Nervosa, Staged Fasts, and Hunger Striking (Spring 2005)

UC San Diego, Professor, Communications and Ethnic Studies, Director of Critical Gender Studies

Guggenheim Fellow (2023)

Baker, Miyuki

Embodied Study for Collective Liberation: Everyday Performances of Solidarity (Spring 2022)

Bayraktar, Nilgun

Moving Images Against the Current: The Aesthetics and Geopolitics of (Im)mobility in Contemporary Europe (Fall 2011)

UC Berkeley, R&C Lecturer (2011)

Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, Instructor, Humanities (2012)

California College of the Arts, Assistant Professor, Visual Studies (2015)

Belmar, Sima

Easier Said Than Done: Talking Identity in Late Twentieth-Century American Concert Dance (Spring 2015)

UC Berkeley, Continuing Lecturer, Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (2015–Present)

Boucai, Marc

Narrating Normal: Arabs, Queers, Neoliberal Spectatorship (Fall 2013)

Theatre Director at AS220, Providence, RI (2014)

Boyle, Michael Shane

The Ambivalence of Resistance: West German Antiauthoritarian Performance after the Age of Affluence (Fall 2012)

Harvard University, Lecturer, College Writing Program (2013)

Stanford University, Postdoctoral Lecturer in the Immersion in the Arts: Living in Culture Program (2013)

Queen Mary, University of London, School of English and Drama, Lecturer in Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies, Director of M.A. in Theatre and Performance (2014)

Bragin, Naomi

Black Power of Hip Hop Dance: On Kinesthetic Politics (Spring 2015)

UC Riverside, UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (2015–2016)

University of Washington, Bothell, Assistant Professor, Performance Studies (2015–Present)

Burriss, Catherine

Performing Theory: Gendered and Erotic Complications in Cinquecento Italian Comedies, and some English Reverberations (Fall 2006)

CSU Channel Islands, Associate Professor, Performing Arts

Cappelli, Renu

Inadmissible Presence: Objecthood, Spectacle, and the Theatricality of Race (Fall 2007)

Stanford University, Postdoctoral Scholar, Introduction to the Humanities (2008–2011)

UC San Diego, Lecturer, Critical Gender Studies (2013)

San Francisco State University, Lecturer, Women and Gender Studies

California College of the Arts, Senior Lecturer, Critical Studies

Case, Gretchen

Medical Scarring and the Performance of Memory (Fall 2005)

Duke University, University Writing Program Fellow

Northwestern University, Adjunct Lecturer, Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program

University of Utah School of Medicine, Assistant Professor, Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities (2011)

Casey, Carrie Gaiser

Ballet’s Feminisms: Genealogy and Gender in Twentieth-Century American Ballet History (Fall 2009)

St. Mary’s College of California, Adjunct Professor, Liberal Education for Arts Professionals program

Conley, Miyoko

Transnational Bodies: Audience Performance in Anime and K-pop Media and Theatre Ecologies (Summer 2021)

Crow, Heather

(Heather Warren-Crow)

POSSESSIONS: Animated Bodies in Mediated Performance (Fall 2006)

Texas Tech University, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts, Director of Fine Arts Doctoral Program

Daley, Lashon

Black Girl Lit: The Coming of (R)age Performances in Contemporary U.S. Black Girlhood Narratives, 1989-2019 (Summer 2021)

San Diego State University, Assistant Professor, Department of English & Comparative Literature (2021)

Davis, Reid

Died June 2019

Sissy Warriors: Perversity, Performance, and the Unruly Child (Fall 2006)

St. Mary’s College, Adjunct Professor, Ethnic Studies and Performing Arts

The Artory Foundation, Artistic Director

Marin Theatre Company, Director of Education

Dorrance, Jess

The Deathly Sociality of Whiteness (Fall 2023)

Duong, Natalia

Chemical Diasporas: Legal, Cultural, and Aesthetic Performances of Agent Orange (Summer 2020)

Pomona College, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies (2020)

Duffly, Catherine

From Farm to Table to Stage: Performing Food Politics (Fall 2011)

UC Berkeley, R&C Lecturer and California College of the Arts, Lecturer (2011)

Reed College, Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre (2012)

Evans, Randi

Social Dance after Social Practice: Between the Stage and the Museum (2022)

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, Manager of Public Practice and Community Partnerships (2022)

Ferro-Murray, Ashley

Choreography in the Digital Era: Dancing the Cultural Differences of Technology (Spring 2016)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Curator of Theater and Dance at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (2016–2023)

Doris Duke Foundation, NY (2023)

Fisek, Emine

Incorporating Immigrants: Theatrical Aid Work and the Politics of Witnessing in France (Spring 2010)

Johns Hopkins University, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities, Krieger School of Arts and Science, German and Romance Languages and Literatures

Bogazici University, Turkey, Assistant Professor, Department of Western Languages and Literature (2012)

Fisher, Margaret

Recovery of Ezra Pound’s Third Opera Collis O Heliconii: The Transmission of History Through Song (Spring 2003)

Second Evening Arts Publishing

Gold, Thea

Is the Musical Disabled? (Spring 2019)

Gough, Kathleen

Bleeding Regions: Performance and Politics in the ‘Backwaters’ of the Atlantic (Fall 2005)

University of Glasgow, Lecturer, Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies and Advisor of Studies, Arts College Academic and Student Administration

University of Vermont, Assistant Professor and Resident Dramaturge,Theatre Department (2014)

Hagstrom-Stahl, Kristina

Melancholy Traces: Performing the Work of Mourning (Fall 2006)

Lund University, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities

University of Gothenburg, Professor of Performative Arts at the Academy of Music and Drama

Havard, Julia

Queer Burlesque's Histories, Fantasies, and Futures (Spring 2021)

Dartmouth College, Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow (2021)

Smithsonian Institution, Postdoctoral Fellow (2021)

Herrera-Lasso Gonzalez, Martha

Reginalizing NAFTA: Theaters of Translation in Mexico City and Quebec (Summer 2019)

Hoetger, Megan

Rude and Playful Shadows: Collective Performances of Cinema in Cold War Europe (Spring 2019)

Centre for Cinema and Media Studies at Ghent University, Visiting Scholar

Research Fellowship, Dresden, Germany (2019)

Hoffmann, Beth

Acting without Guarantees: The Politics of Form in Contemporary British Performance (Fall 2008)

George Mason University, Assistant Professor, English Department

Johung, Jennifer

Replacements: From the Primordial Hut to the Digital Network (Spring 2008)

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Associate Professor, Department of Art History

Johnson, Paige

Waria Genres: Identity, Embodiment, and the Performance of Gendered Belonging in Contemporary Indonesia (Fall 2019)

Barnard College, Department of Theatre, Assistant Professor of Performance & Race (2018–Present)

Kokontis, Kate

Performative Returns and the Rememory of History: Genealogy and Performativity in the American Racial State (Fall 2011)

New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Academic Studio: Founding Faculty, Chair, Integrated Humanities (2011)

Levin, Laura

Performing World (Spring 2005)

York University, Associate Professor, Theatre Studies and Director, Graduate Program in Theatre & Performance Studies

Lu, Joyce

Dreaming in Other Languages: On the Performance of Autobiographical Narrative as Decolonizing Pedagogy (Spring 2007)

Pomona College, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow

Pomona College, Assistant Professor, Theatre and Dance (2008)

Luna, Caleb

Undisciplined Bodies: Race, Size and Sexuality in U.S. Media and Culture (Spring 2022)

UC Santa Barbara, UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2022)

UC Santa Barbara, Assistant Professor, Department of Feminist Studies (2023-Present)

Marshall, Caitlin

"Power in the Tongue": Staging American Voice (Spring 2016)

University of Maryland, Postdoctoral position in Theater and Performance Studies (2016–2017)

University of Maryland, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre History & Performance Studies (2017–Present)

Martin-Baron, Michelle

Queering US Public Mourning Rituals: Funerals, Performance, and the Construction of Normativity (Summer 2011)

Oberlin College, Visiting Assistant Professor (2011)

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Assistant Professor, Women’s Studies (2012)

Mattingly, Kate

Set in Motion: Dance Criticism and the Choreographic Apparatus (Spring 2017)

University of Utah, School of Dance, Assistant Professor (2017)

McGonigal, Jane

This Might be a Game: Ubiquitous Play Performance at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century (Fall 2006)

Institute for the Future, Palo Alto, CA, Director of Games Research and Development

McIvor, Charlotte

The New Interculturalism: Race, Gender and Immigration in Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland (Spring 2011)

National University of Ireland, Galway, Lecturer Above The Bar, Drama & Theatre Studies

Nambiar, Aparna

Reassembling Traditional Dance: Choreographic Reassembly and Cultural Mutation in a Multicultural Diaspora (Spring 2022)

The Asian Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2022)

Nguyen, Khai Thu 

Sensing Vietnam: Melodramas of Nation from Colonialism to Market Reform (Spring 2010)

UC Berkeley, James R. Gray R&C Lecturer, College of Letters and Science

UC Berkeley, UC Extension, Special Assistant to the Dean

UC Berkeley, Associate Director, Consortium for Interdisciplinary Research (2016–Present)

Palacios, Joy Crosby

Preaching for the Eyes: Priests, Actors, and Ceremonial Splendor in Early Modern France (Summer 2012)

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, Assistant Professor of Literature, Department of French (2014)

University of Calgary, Assistant Professor, Department of Classics and Religion (2017)

Prieur, Nina Billone

In the System: Art, Prison, and the Performance of Social Welfare (Fall 2010)

Duke University, Assistant Professor, Theatre Studies (2010)

Georgetown University, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Performing Arts

Rafferty, Kelly Ann

Performing ARTs: Technologies of Participation and Reproduction from Body Art to Bio Art (Spring 2010)

Arizona State University, Assistant Professor of Performance Studies

Independent Artist, Educator, and Facilitator in Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles (2013)

Ramos, Ivan

Sonic Negations: Sound, Affect, and Unbelonging Between Mexico and the United States (Spring 2015)

UC Riverside, UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow (2015)

University of Maryland, Assistant Professor, Women’s Studies (2017)

Rastovac, Heather

Performing (Trans)National Iranianness: The Choreographic Cartographies of Diasporic Iranian Dancers and Performance Artists (Summer 2016)

Stanford University, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Dance (2016–2018)

UC Davis, Department of Asian American Studies, UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow (2018)

Ricks, Omar

On Jubilee: The Performance of Black Leadership in the Afterlife of Slavery (Spring 2014)

Richards, Kimberly

Crude Stages of the Capitalocene: Performance and Petro-Imperialism (Summer 2019)

University of the Fraser Valley, Department of English, Instructor (Fall 2019)

University of Alberta, Postdoc, Transition in Energy, Culture, and Society Network (2021)

University of British Columbia, School of Journalism, Writing, and Media (2022)

Rivera, Takeo

Minority Models: Masochism, Masculinity, and the Machine in Asian American Cultural Politics (Spring 2017)

Boston University, Department of English, Assistant Professor (2017)

Scott, Ariel Osterweis

Body Impossible: Dynamics of Race, Sexuality, and Virtuosity in the Dance of Desmond Richardson (Fall 2011)

Wayne State University Michigan, Assistant Professor of Dance

Skidmore College, Dance Department, Visiting Scholar/Artist (2014)

California Institute of the Arts, Assistant Professor, School of Dance (2016)

Seetoo, Chia-Yi

The Political Kinesthetics of Contemporary Dance: Taiwan in Transnational Perspective (Spring 2013)

Shanghai Theatre Academy, Postdoctoral Fellow

Shanghai Theatre Academy, Lecturer (2019–Present)

Shalson, Lara

Endurance: Arts, Politics, and Performance (Fall 2008)

King’s College London, Lecturer, Theatre and Performance Studies

Shankar, Karin

Molecular Aesthetics: Contemporary Art and Performance in Delhi (Spring 2016)

Andrew W. Mellon Global Postdoctoral Fellow at Creative Time in NYC (2016)

Pratt Institute, Department of Humanities and Media, Assistant Professor of Performance Studies (2017)

Sherman, Stephanie

(Dis)Plazas and (Dis)Placed Danzas: Space, Trauma, and Moving Bodies in Mexico City (Fall 2016)

Universidad de las Américas, Visiting Professor, Arts Department (2017)

Universidad Nacional Autónoma Mexicana and Teatro Ciego, Fulbright COMEXUS Garcia Robles Postdoctoral Scholar (2018)

Mills College, Adjunct Lecturer, Dance (2021)

Sizemore-Barber, April

Prismatic Performances: Queer South African Identity and the Deconstruction of the Rainbow Nation (Fall 2013)

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Visiting Assistant Professor, Women’s Studies (2014)

Royal Holloway, University of London, Postdoctoral Scholar (2015)

Georgetown University, Assistant Professor of the Practice, Women’s and Gender Studies Program (2015)

Stufft, Monica

Chorus Girl Collective: Early 20th Century American Performance Communities and Urban Networking (Spring 2008)

University of San Diego, Assistant Professor, Theatre

Taylor, Joanne Stoddard 

21st Century Zombies: New Media, Cinema, and Performance (Fall 2011)

Berkeley City College, Adjunct Faculty, Humanities

Diablo Valley College, Adjunct Faculty, Humanities

San Francisco State University, Adjunct Professor, Business

Wallin, Scott

Madness in the Making: Psychosocial Disability and Theater (Spring 2014)

UC Berkeley, Lecturer, Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (2014–2015)

Stanford University, Postdoctoral Lecturer in the Immersion in the Arts: Living in Culture Program (2015)

UC Berkeley, Lecturer, Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (2016)

UC Berkeley, Lecturer, College Writing Programs (2017–Present)

Williams, Joshua

Don’t Show A Hyena How Well You Can Bite: Performance, Race and the Animal Subaltern in Eastern Africa (Spring 2017)

Harvard University, Preceptor of Expository Writing, Harvard College Writing Program (2016)

NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Assistant Professor Faculty Fellow, Drama Department (2018)

Woolf, Brandon

Paradigmatic Stages: Performing Arts Policy in Post-Wall Berlin (Summer 2014)

New York University, Visiting Assistant Professor, English Department (2016)

New York University, Clinical Associate Professor and Director, Program in Dramatic Literature (2018–Present)

Yapp, Hentyle

Minor China: Affect, Performance, & Contemporary China in the Global (Spring 2014)

Pomona College, Postdoctoral Appointment (2014)

Pomona College, Assistant Professor (2015)

New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Assistant Professor, Art and Public Policy (2016)


M.A. Recipients

Espinoza, Laila

La Casa Verde: Resistance and Renewal from the House to the Streets on the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands (Summer 2020)

McKeithan, Sean

Consuming Nostalgia: Heritage Masculinity and Material Culture (Summer 2015)

Sealy-Thompson, Tonika

Conjuration and Procession: Performing Feminist Politics in the Black Diaspora (Fall 2018)

Barbados’ Ambassador to Brazil (2019)