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The CU Department of Theatre & Dance had a super strong showing at the American Society for Theatre Research in San Diego from October 21-24th.
Several recent alumni attended, including Jashodhara Sen (currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Florida) and Amanda Rose Villarreal (Assistant Professor at California State University, Fullerton). Current graduate students presenting at the conference included Sarah Fahmy, Sam Collier, and Heather Kelley. One of the organizers of the conference, Michelle Liu Carriger (Assistant Professor at UCLA), is a graduate alum of the MA program. All of these CU Theatre & Performance Studies Graduate Program affiliates, including Assistant Professor Marcos Steuernagal and Professor Beth Osnes, were a part of various working groups spanning a wide array of research topics. Sarah, Sam, and Heather were all awarded conference grants funded by The Rev. & Mrs. Francis Wolle Fund to attend.

After nearly two years of online conference, it was wonderful to be in person with our larger community and sharing conversations and a giant red-tailed hawk puppet processions through downtown San Diego. All of the CU students and alumni also joined Beth for an art science workshop she led with PhD students from the Scripps Oceanography Institute that is part of the University of San Diego on taking an art science approach to issues related to the climate crisis. This workshop was held directly on the beach where the institute resides and included PhD students from both the performing arts and the sciences in an open and creative exploration of how to find our wholeness as researchers focused on narrow subjects but also concerned with the larger yearnings for civic action, survival, and equity.

Sam Collier commented: “I really enjoyed my trip to ASTR—it was so inspiring to meet grad students at other institutions and learn about their research. There's a lot of exciting work being done in this field, and I look forward to attending future conferences and seeing how these projects continue to develop!”