Tracy C. Davis
Department of Theatre
Barber Professor of Performing Arts
tcdavis@northwestern.edu
Theatre and Interpretation Center
1949 Campus Drive
Evanston , IL 60208-2430
847-491-3138
Graduate Programs: Theatre & Drama, English, Performance Studies
Tracy C. Davis is a specialist in performance theory, theatre historiography, and research methodology. She edits the book series Cambridge Studies in Theatre and Performance Theory. She is currently Director of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama at Northwestern University and President of the American Society for Theatre Research.
Education
| PhD | Theatre Studies, University of Warwick |
| BFA | Drama, University of Calgary |
Recent Publications
Davis' most recent books are The Cambridge Companion to Performance Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2008), Stages of Emergency: Cold War Nuclear Civil Defense (Duke), The Performing Society: Nineteenth-Century Theatre's History (co-edited with Peter Holland, Palgrave), and Considering Calamity: Methods for Performance Research (co-edited with Linda Ben-Zvi, Assaph) all in 2007. She has also authored Actresses as Working Women: Their Society Identity in Victorian Culture (1991), George Bernard Shaw and the Socialist Theatre (1994), The Economics of the British Stage (2000), and co-edited Women and Playwrighting in Nineteenth-Century Britain (with Ellen Donkin, 1999), and Theatricality (with Thomas Postlewait, 2004). Forthcoming Book: The Broadview Anthology of Nineteenth-Century British Performance (Broadview Press, 2011).
Recent Awards and Honors
| 1990-91 | Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellowship, Harvard University |
| 1994-95 | Kathleen Barker Research Award, Society for Theatre Research |
| 1994-95 | American Philosophical Society Research Grant |
| 1995 | National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship |
| 1997 | Folger Library Short-Term Fellowship |
| 2001 | George Freedley Memorial Award (Theatre Library Association) |
| 2003 | Eisenhower Presidential Foundation Travel Grant |
| 2004 | Clarence Ver Steeg Graduate Faculty Award (Northwestern University) |
| 2004 | White House Historical Foundation Grant |
| 2005 | Distinguished Scholar’s Prize (American Society for Theatre Research) |
| 2007 | Lane Humanities Institute Teaching Professor |
| 2008 | Stanley J. Kahrl Fellowship in Theatre History, Houghton Library (Harvard) |
| 2009 | Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow, Huntington Library |
Recent Grants
2008-09 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow, Huntington Library
2008-09 Stanley J. Kahrl Fellowship in Theatre History, Houghton Library
Courses
Recent graduate courses:
- Nineteenth-Century Repertoire
- Theatre Research Methodology
- Not Present at the Occasion
- The Drama of Victorian Society
- Feminist Performance Historiography
- History of Western Theatrical Practice (1660-1900)
- Theories of Theatricality
Recent undergraduate courses:
- Nineteenth-Century Repertoire
- Women Characters and Characterizations in Contemporary Drama
- Fairy Music from Purcell to Norton (co-taught in English and Music)
- Nineteenth-Century British Women Playwrights
Curriculum Vitae [pdf]
