Trio of Theatre Faculty Co-author Chapter on Decolonizing Shakespeare
Three professors in the Department of Theatre have jointly written a chapter for The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Contemporary Performance, a new book published this month by Bloomsbury. Andrew Hartley, Kaja Dunn, and Christopher Berry contributed the essay “Pedagogy: Decolonizing Shakespeare on Stage,” which addresses issues of race in the performance of Shakespeare’s works using the Department of Theatre’s Fall 2018 production of Twelfth Night as a case study (pictured). Hartley directed the production; Berry was the voice and speech coach. During the production, Dunn taught the history of Black Shakespeare performance.
Chris Berry is Assistant Professor of Acting and Stage Voice in the theatre department and serves as vice president of the Black Theatre Network and the program director of the Black Arts Institute. As vice president of the Black Theatre Network, he has planned two national conferences, Black Theatre: Unapologetically Black (Winston-Salem, 2019) and Black Theatre: Radical Longevity (originally scheduled for 2020, postponed until 2022).
Assistant Professor of Acting Kaja Dunn is an affiliate faculty for Theatrical Intimacy Education. Her research centers on decolonization and pedagogy for theatre students of color. She is a frequent presenter on issues of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in theatre pedagogy and the profession and recently co-authored the article, “Training theatre students of colour in the United States,” for the journal Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. She serves on the board of the Black Theatre Network.
Dr. Andrew Hartley is the Robinson Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare Studies. His academic books include The Shakespearean Dramaturg (Palgrave 2006), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare in Performance series, Manchester UP 2013), Shakespeare and Political Theatre (Palgrave 2013), Shakespeare on the University Stage (Cambridge UP 2014), Julius Caesar: A Critical Reader (Arden, 2016), and Shakespeare and Millennial Fiction (Cambridge, 2017).