ELISE ROBINSON
EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, 2016-present
Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies, expected spring 2020
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, 1993-95
M.A. in Theater, 1995.
Master’s Thesis: “Bertolt und die Frauen: The Necessity of Brechtian Theater for Third-Wave Feminists.” Director: Stratos Constantinidis
COLLEGE OF ST. BENEDICT, 1989-1993
B.A. cum laude in Theater with departmental distinction, Philosophy minor.
Honor’s Thesis: “The Cauldron of the Deep: An Evening of Feminist Theater.” Director: Kaarin S. Johnston
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA, 1995-1998
Graduate studies
Specializations in Feminist theory, Political Theater, and 19th and 20th century European Drama. General emphasis in theory, history and literature of Western Theater.
CURRENT AND RECENT APPOINTMENTS
DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND FILM STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, 2016-present
Graduate Assistant
Performing a variety of departmental duties, including course grading and facilities management.
MCNALLY SMITH COLLEGE OF MUSIC, 2008-2016
Adjunct Instructor
Courses include introductory seminar on Performance and Presentation for non-actors and online Contemporary Drama course; advising students as necessary; occasional presentations for Faculty Development.
THEATRE LIMINA, 2001-2014
Board Member (2001-2014) Artistic Director (2002-2014)
Chair Artistic Committee and oversee choice of season; responsible for overseeing all productions and retaining artistic staff; developing budgets in coordination with the Executive Director; coordinating post-production evaluations; coordinating or co-chairing publicity events for the company; fundraising via hosted events and letter campaigns; direct minimum of one production per year. Developed Summer Shorts original scripts festival (annual event) and alternative Christmas show.
CAPELLA UNIVERSITY, 2002-2006
Communication Specialist, Office of Assessment and Institutional Research (2004-present)
Compiled and analyzed institutional data on enrollment, student retention and persistence, and demographics; administered university-wide surveys, created and maintained departmental databases; assisted with reports to the Higher Learning Commission and the Department of Education.
Faculty Associate, School of Education (2002-2004)
Evaluated candidates for admission to the MS and PhD programs; developed new process for mentoring; managed course scheduling and texts; helped to create updated Faculty Development courses; served on the Academic Progress committee; represented the school at off-site residential colloquia.
THEATER DEPARTMENT, COLLEGE OF ST. BENEDICT, 1998-2002
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Courses taught include Theater History I & II, Modern Drama, Creative Drama, Theater Audience, and Symposium. Additional responsibilities included supervision of numerous independent/honors projects, directing one production each semester, and advising 32 first-year students.
JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 1999-2002
Guest Artist-in-Residence
Resident Artist in Drama for the Jefferson Elementary Fine Arts Program, a year-long program for involving 6th-graders in the fine arts. Responsible for instructing eight to ten students in dramatic art, technique and terminology, culminating in the production of a series of original creative works.
DEPARTMENT OF DRAMATIC ART AND DANCE, UC SANTA BARBARA, 1996-98
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Acting
Sole instructor of introductory level acting class, open to majors and non-majors; emphasis on basic physical and vocal training, as well as beginning text work.
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Theater
Assistant to large lecture class, responsible for supervision and grading of three discussion sections per week (75 students total); survey of western theater history and literature in text and performance.
LAWRENCE AND LEE THEATER RESEARCH INSTITUTE, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, 1993-95
Research Associate
Organized and catalogued special theater collections, prepared and archived newly acquired materials (including the Twyla Tharp collection), produced instructional video for Ohio State University libraries, supervised and trained undergraduate workers, assisted patrons, answered information requests.
THEATER 390, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. Guest Lecture and discussion on Pirandello’s Right You Are (If You Think You Are), April 1995.
THEATER 380, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. Guest Lecture on American feminist theater history and theory, March 1994.
HONORS THEATER 100, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. Guest Lecture on Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest, April 1994.
PUBLICATIONS
Review of Ellen Margolis and Lissa Tyler-Renaud, The Politics of American Actor Training, in A World of Voice: Voice and Speech across Culture and Other Contemporary Issues in Professional Voice & Speech Training, ed. Dudley Knight, University Readers, 2012
“Fluid Families: The Role of Children in Custody Arrangements,” (with James Lindemann Nelson and Hilde Lindemann Nelson) in Feminism and Families, ed. Hilde Lindemann Nelson, New York: Routledge, 1997.
Review of Ann C. Hall, A Kind of Alaska: Women in the Plays of O’Neill, Pinter and Shepard, in Theatre Studies 40 (1995):67-69.
PRESENTATIONS
“St. Joan the Suffragette,” Women and Theater Program, Association for Theater in Higher Education, August 14, 1998.
“Dialectic, Interrogative, Kathartic: Feminist Representations of the Split Subject,” Graduate Research Symposium, Department of Dramatic Art, UCSB, January 24, 1998.
“Where is the Author? Navigating the Texts of Brecht & Churchill,” American Theater and Drama Society, Association for Theater in Higher Education, August 6, 1997.
“‘The Empire of the Fair Sex’: Femininity as Anxiety in Enlightenment and Romantic Theater,” Women and Theater Program, Association for Theater in Higher Education, August 9, 1997.
“Children Teaching Children? Questions of Pedagogy for Town and Gown,” Theater as a Liberal Art, Association for Theater in Higher Education, August 10, 1996.
“Playing Solomon: Children’s Roles in Custody Agreements,” Society for Philosophy and Public Affairs, American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division), December 29, 1995 (with James Lindemann Nelson and Hilde Lindemann Nelson).
“Verfremdungseffekt in Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9,” Proseminar, OSU, April 14, 1994.
“Millennium Indeed Approaches: Millennialism and Kushner’s Angels in America,” Midwest Graduate Theater Colloquium, October 31, 1994.
“Goddess Worship in the Mediterranean,” Classics Club, St. John’s University, February 1992.
DIRECTING
Machinal by Sophie Treadwell (assistant director) – UGA Studio Theatre, March 2016
All in the Timing by David Ives – Theatre Limina at the Bryant Lake Bowl, November 2012
I Make No Promises by Annie Scott & The Ten Minute Miracle by Michael Schaeffer – Theatre Limina Summer Shorts Festival, June 2007
How To Draw Mystical Creatures by Ellen Margolis (premiere) – Theatre Limina, March 2007
Eleemosynary by Lee Blessing – Theatre Limina, October 2005
Santaland Diaries, by David Sedaris – Theatre Limina, December 2004
Lysistrata, or No Sex in the Cities, adapted by Cory Busse (premiere) – Theatre Limina, October 2004
Santaland Diaries, by David Sedaris – Theatre Limina, December 2003
Starkweather, by Alex Evenson (premiere) – Theatre Limina, July 2003
How I Learned to Drive, by Paula Vogel – Theatre Limina, November 2002
All in the Timing, by David Ives – College of St. Benedict, February 2002
The Elves and the Shoemaker – Central Minnesota Children’s Theater, January 2002
A Servant of Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni – College of St. Benedict, November 2001
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare – College of St. Benedict, April 2001
Rapunzel – Central Minnesota Children’s Theater, January 2001
Picasso at the Lapin Agile, by Steve Martin – College of St. Benedict, December 2000
The Blue Room, by David Hare – College of St. Benedict, March 2000
The Frog Prince – Central Minnesota Children’s Theater, January 2000
Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard – College of St. Benedict, April 1999
Eleemosynary, by Lee Blessing – College of St. Benedict, November 1998
Lifeblood, by Christy Varonfakis (premiere) – UC Santa Barbara, May 1998
A Purim Spiel, anonymous – Hillel Center, Santa Barbara, March 1998
The Way to Dusty Death, by Emily See (original script; staged reading) – Center Stage Theatre, Santa Barbara, April 1997
The Bard of Avon, compiled by Elise Robinson (staged reading) – Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Santa Barbara, April 1997
Healers, by Katie Miller (original script; staged reading) – UC Santa Barbara, April 1997
Catastrophe, by Samuel Beckett – UC Santa Barbara, March 1997
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, by Jane Wagner – New Venture Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, October 1995
Mad Forest (Assistant Director), by Caryl Churchill – Ohio State University, May 1994
Mock Rape Trial (NCA Drug & Alcohol Awareness Week) – St. John’s University, April 1993
Calm Down Mother and Other Feminist Texts, Megan Terry and other authors – College of St. Benedict, December 1992
Seventy Scenes of Halloween (Co-director), by Jeffrey Jones – College of St. Benedict, May 1992
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION & COMPETENCE
PERFORMANCE/ACTING AND DIRECTING
• Experienced in Linklater and Rodenburg vocal training; Feldenkrais Movement, Boal and Spolin performance training.
• Familiarity with Hatha Yoga, T’ai Chi, Meisner Technique.
• Vocal Workshop with Patsy Rodenburg, OSU, April 1995.
• Movement/Mime Workshop with Marcel Marceau, OSU, February 1995.
LITERATURE, HISTORY & CRITICISM
• Specialization in 19th and 20th century theater history and literature, Brechtian theater, Feminist and Post-Colonial criticism, and Gender studies.
• Competence in Greek, Roman and Medieval Theater, Theater of the Oppressed, and Performance Studies.
LANGUAGES: Proficient in German; reading and basic speaking skills in French.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND SERVICE
• Member of the Human/Animal Relationships Research Focus Group, a division of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UCSB, 1996-1998.
• Student representative to the UC Shakespeare Forum, October 1997
• Graduate Student Representative to the UC Performance Research Group meeting, May 1998.
• Elected Ph.D. Representative to Departmental Faculty, UCSB 1996-97.
• Founder and Treasurer for The Syndicate, a forum for graduate students in Theater, Ohio State University, 1994-95.
• Elected M.A. Representative to the Departmental Student Advisory Committee, Ohio State University, 1994-95.
CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS
• Nationalism and theater in 19th century Europe and its connection to emergent feminist politics.
• The use of vocal and physical techniques as a means of empowering student learning.
• Political theater as a site for scholarly activism or activist scholarship.
• The use of Boal’s performance theories as a pedagogical tool.