All TAs and AIs teaching classes in the Department of Theatre &
Dance are listed here. Some are department MFA students (Dramatic
Arts), while others are Ph.D. students in Performance
Studies (an interdisciplinary Graduate Group). Visit
the Performance
Studies website for more information.
they/them/elleMFA Shakespeare & Performance, Mary Baldwin University (2017)MA Theater Arts, San Jose State University (2013)BA Theater Arts, University of California, Santa Cruz (2008)
Melinda is an autistic teacher, historian, and theater
professional who started the PhD program in 2022. Their interests
bisect adaptation, performance, and disability studies. Their PAR
seeks to explore autonarrativity and embodiment within the work/s
of neurodiverse theatermakers.
They/them/she/hersMFA in Ceramics from the University of Colorado Boulder
em irvin (they/them) is a performer who asks clay questions to
consider kinds of encounters with clay, centering material agency
to explore the liberatory possibilities of clay through its
materiality. They think about porosity as a way to access and
dismantle exclusionary boundaries, working to create inclusive
disciplines, studios, and practices. They observe the
clay-artist-body in-action and in-dialogue with clay material,
which drives their research on the liberatory potential of clay.
B.F.A., Choreography and Modern Dance, University of North Carolina School of the ArtsM.A., Scenic Design and Scenography, Technische Universität Berlin
Karola Lüttringhaus was born and grew up in Berlin, Germany,
where they founded ALBAN ELVED DANCE COMPANY in 1997 to form an
outlet for their diverse artistic pursuits in dance, visual art,
film, scenic design and sound design. Karola has worked as a
freelance artist, choreographer, and educator at theatres and
universities across Europe and the US. In 2007, they incubated
the SARUS FESTIVAL for Site-specific & Experimental Art in 2007
in Wilmington, NC.
she / her / hersUniversidad Pedagogica Nacional, B.A., 2014
Regina María Gutiérrez Bermúdez is a doctoral student in
Performance Studies at the University of California, Davis. She
holds an MFA in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Directing and MA in
Performance Studies, degrees obtained at the same university.
Graduated in Dramatic Arts from the Universidad Pedagógica
Nacional (Colombia), she has a trajectory of more than 20 years
as an actress, performer, theater and dance educator, and is an
expert in movement, somatic, and energy work.
B.A. Theatre and Dance, James Madison UniversityM.A. Performance Studies
Isa Leal (they/isa) is a
Puerto Rican somatic researcher, performing artist and PhD
candidate in Performance Studies with a designated emphasis in
Practice as Research. Their dissertation project explores
their performance research practice: Dialoguing the Unconscious
and the site of their white-passing body as a transmedia activist
tool for co-ontological agency.
