Bryan Schmidt

Areas of Specialization

Theatre History, Dramatic Literature and Theory, Arts Management, Direction and Performance

Courses Taught

Intro to Theatre, Direction, Historical Storytelling, Theatre History 500 BCE to 1750 CE, Race and the Supernatural in Performance

Background

Bryan (pronouns: he/him) is a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Theatre and Performance. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota’s Theatre Historiography program, and previously taught at St. Olaf College. He also holds an MA in Theatre Studies from Florida State University.

His scholarship works at the intersection of aesthetics, race, and cultural policy, with an emphasis on festivals and immersive theatrical events. Bryan currently serves as the Book Review Editor for the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism. He is co-editing a volume entitled "Staging Visitation: Tourism as Performance" (University of Michigan Press). His monograph project tracks the history of outdoor festival culture in the United States, and how it participated in racial formation and settler colonialism. His scholarship and reviews can be seen in Theatre Journal, TDR, Performance Research, Cultural Studies, Weekend Societies: Electronic Dance Music Festivals and Event-Cultures (Bloomsbury), Theatre Research International, Ecumenica, and the Black Theatre Review.

He is also a performance practitioner with an emphasis on devised, site-specific work. His recent projects include Big Plastic / Something Lunar, Parables on the Edge of Time, and The Rocky Horror Show (St. Olaf College). He will be directing an original work titled "A New and Well-Planned City" at William & Mary in Spring, 2025.