8:30 am - 4:45 pm
Registration Desk
PA UPPER FOYER
Your first stop at MATC! Check-in to get your credentials. Then, throughout the conference, feel free to come back with questions, to share your experiences in a quick survey, or for lightning discussions between sessions.
8:30 am - 9:00 pm
Quiet Space
SCRANTON
Feel free to use this private space for individuals needing a private moment while at the conference. If the door is locked, please see the registration desk.
PHILADELPHIA/PITTSBURGH
Join fellow conference attendees for a breakfast buffet and morning coffee! Connect with colleagues, old and new.
Trust the Process | Pedagogy: Erie (8:45 to 9:45 am)
Workshop
Chair: David Melendez, California State University Bakersfield
“How does sensorial play release actors into expanded presence, invite inclusivity (of all bodies and histories), and create potent theatrical image?”
Eliza Ladd Schwarz, Case Western Reserve University / Cleveland Playhouse MFA
MONONGAHELA
Moderated by Kristi Good, Carnegie Mellon University
Join us for a conversation with local Pittsburgh theatre artists to learn more about professional, educational, and community theatre in the Steel City. Click here to learn more about our panelists!
Panelists:
Clare Drobot, City Theatre
Alex Manalo, Independent Artist
Becki Toth, University of Pittsburgh
Ricardo Vila-Roger, University of Pittsburgh
Emerging Scholars #1 | History 9: Erie
Paper Panel
Chair: Greer Gerni, University of Missouri - Kansas City
“Queer Performance Perspectives: An Exploration of Kiki and Ballroom Culture”
Ifeyinwa Onyekownu, University of Washington
“Performing America: Diasporic Identity and the Remaking of Americana in Chimamanda”
Lawrence Quashigah, Illinois State University
"Re-Imaging Embodied Americana: Bob Fosse's Jazz Dance and Chicago's
Transpacific Self-Fashioning"
Jennifer Nan Dong, City University of New York
Alternative Performance: Lights, Sound, Aesthetics | History 10: Allegheny
Paper Panel
Chair: Ames Palson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Killing Me (Soft)ly With His Song: The Rise of Jazz Music in Nightclubs of Postcolonial Calcutta”
Aryama Bej, Florida State University
“A Comedy of Laws: Class & Culture in the Federal Theatre Project’s ‘There’s a Law Against It’”
Beth Osborne, Florida State University
“Color, Light, and Stone: The Stone Mountain Lasershow Spectacular Revised”
David Bisaha, Binghamton University, SUNY
“Unfinished Americana: Alex Tatarsky’s Americana Psychobabble (2016) and Nothing Doing (2025)”
Ryan Adelsheim, University of Iowa
Moving Forward, Looking Back: Musical Theatre and Americana | Practice/Production 6: Monongahela
Paper Panel
Chair: Shadow Zimmerman, Arizona Western College
“Nobody Parties Like Us: The Great Gatsby as Americana Musical”
John Berst, University of Miami
“Redeeming Borachio: A Production Postmortem of Marietta College’s Much Ado About Nothing: 80’s Mixtape Edition (2023)”
Andy Felt, Marietta College Theatre Department
“Overcoming Hegemony in Oklahoma!”
Natalie Guess, Baylor University
“Dramaturging the U.S. Premiere of ‘Murder on the Titanic’: Americana and Palimpsestuous Pastiche in a Danish Opera”
Daniel Smith, Michigan State University
Best Laid Plans | Pedagogy 7: Keystone
Roundtable
Chair: Karie Miller, Grinnell College
“Making and Remaking Your Season Selection Reading List”
Christie Maturo, Central Connecticut State University
Paul Hurley, Kent State University
Contact Lenses | Pedagogy 8: Ohio
Pedagogical Knots
Chair: David Melendez, California State University Bakersfield
“Why Not AI?”
Kirsten Pullen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Alan Sikes, Louisiana State University
“Proving the Efficacy of Interactive Theatre”
Karen M. Dabney, University of Virginia
Dramatist Play Lab | Playwriting 5: Philadelphia
Chair: Lucas Skjaret, University of North Alabama
The Plagiarized Words of God Almighty
Playwright: Nino Greene, Miami Dade College/Independent Artist
Director: Nathan Bowman, Benedictine College
Dramaturg: Stacey Schiller, Baylor University
Acting Company
Kathy Privatt, Lawrence University
Aaron Scully, University of Central Missouri
Lysistrata Upstairs
Playwright: Jen Plants, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Director: Julia Moriarty, Missouri State University
Dramaturg: T’Keyah Crystal Keymah, Texas Tech University
Acting Company
Lana Sugarman, University at Buffalo
Nikki Ferry, Missouri State University
Peanut Butter Androgyny
Playwright: Johann Choi, Arizona State University
Director: Meghan Nelson, Florida State University
Dramaturg: Tiffany Antone, Iowa State University
Acting Company
Jose Perez IV, Independent Artist
Lana Sugarman, University at Buffalo
IDEALS Committee | Allegheny
Join us to learn more about the work the IDEALS Committee does for MATC, what their goals are for the future, and how you can get involved!
Theatre/Practice Advisory Committee | Keystone
Join us to learn to more about Theatre/Practice, editorial opportunities, and how we can better support the three "P" symposia of MATC.
Conference Planning Committee | Monongahela
Join the Conference Planning Committee for a mid-conference feedback session! Snacks will be provided.
The Babel Project Reading | Scranton
Please join us for an informal reading of The Babel Project, an experimental collaboration between playwright Greg Romero and electronic music composer Mike Vernusky. All conference participants are welcome to take their lunch hour to read, listen, and eat pizza (provided!) with us. You may or may not be asked to build a tower.
Women in U.S. History | History 11: Ohio
Paper Panel
Chair: Shannon Walsh, Louisiana State University
“Ida Murdoch: An Unseen Helpmeet in the Emerging American Theatre”
Richard Sautter, McDaniel College
“Maude Adams: Intersecting Sapphic identity and ‘True Womanhood’ in Joan of Arc”
Rebecca Schmitt, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Stranger than Fiction: The Life of Annie Hindle Through Time and Ink”
Sydney Curran, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Othered Bodies | History 12: Allegheny
Chair: Zach Dailey, University of Houston-Downtown
“Folk Stages: Woody Guthrie' Lost Plays”
Macy Jones, University of the Ozarks
“Chocolate! Rots Your Teeth and Makes You Fat!”: Food Noise in Matilda the Musical and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”
Jordan Mattson, Florida State University
“To Question Nostalgia and Think of Mourning as a Joyful Thing": Staging Queer Temporality in Bathhouse.pptx”
Payne Banister, University of Pittsburgh
Community Care in Dramaturgical Acts | Practice/Production 7: Monongahela
Paper Panel
Chair: Alivia Cross, Penn State University
“Trying to Lift up Life a Trifle: Charlotte’s Web in the Wake Campus Gun Violence”
Ann Folino White, Michigan State University
“Notes from the Lobby: Staging American Identity Through Lobby Displays”
Megan Lederman, Indiana University
“Empathy as Americana: Grace and Radical Care in 'A Case for the Existence of God'”
Robin Witt, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Trust the Process | Pedagogy 9: Keystone
Workshop
Chair: Rebecca Johnson, Texas Tech University
“How Do Michael Chekhov’s Tools Transfer Between Stage and Screen?”
“Chekhov on Camera: Harnessing the Actor’s Inner Radiance”
Paul Hurley, Kent State University
“The Psychology of the Stage and Screen: Small Adjustments for Maximum Effect”
Christie Maturo, Connecticut State University
Invitations and Excursions | Pedagogy 10: Erie
Workshop & Paper Presentation
Chair: Karie Miller, Grinnell College
“Staging Folktales: Embodied Pedagogy for Non-Drama Students”
Oscar Quirós, University of Costa Rica
“Hope for a Harvest: (Re)making Americana with Sophie Treadwell”
David Melendez, California State University - Bakersfield
Dramatist Play Lab | Playwriting 6: Philadelphia
Chair: Stacey Schiller, Baylor University
Clicks
Playwright: Aaron Scully, University of Central Missouri
Director: Quest Sky Zeidler, University at Buffalo, SUNY
Dramaturg: Lucas Skjaret, University of North Alabama
Acting Company
Kiley Towne, Baylor University
Andre Garner, University of Michigan
Anne Thibault Green, Eastern Illinois University
Fear the Violinist
Playwright: Annie Schoonover, Carnegie Mellon University
Director: Kiley Towne, Baylor University
Dramaturg: Tiffany Antone, Iowa State University
Acting Company
Emily K. Harrison, Hamilton College
Anne Thibault Green, Eastern Illinois University
Please Hold for Zombie Invasion
Playwright: Lizzy Santana, Independent Artist
Director: Vanessa Marie Campagna, Monmouth College
Dramaturg: TBD
Acting Company
Von Nishan Markarian, Carnegie Mellon University
Emily K. Harrison, Hamilton College
French/Canadian Theatre | History 13: Ohio
Paper Panel
Chair: Jesse Njus, Virginia Commonwealth
“A Blueprint for Revolution: Art as Rebellion in The Marriage of Figaro”
Merritt Denman-Popp, Baylor University
“Playing with the Space of Americana: Celine Song's Endlings and who gets to look where”
Dave Peterson, Niagara University
“A Huguenot on Native Land: How Religion Formulated French and British Allyship through Mascarene’s Misanthrope”
Emily Goodell, Ball State University
Reflecting, Reworking, and Reimagining Toward a Theatrical Future | Practice/Production 8: Monongahela
Paper Panel
Chair: Cate Heiner
“The American Play: Making and Remaking the Origins of the ‘American’ Theatre”
Cason Murphy, Iowa State University
“Beyond Power Plays: Reimagining Human Behavior in American Theatre”
Erica Terpening-Romeo, Williams College
“Money, Money Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink: Ecological and Economic Disidentifications as Anti-Capitalist Theatre Practice in The Thirst is Real”
Jam McCray, Florida State University
Rob Yoho, Florida State University
Aisha Saunderz, Florida State University
Jennifer Lackey, Florida State University
Education and Intervention: Theatre-Making at the University and Beyond | Practice/Production 9: Keystone
Paper Panel
Chair: Bella Poynton, SUNY Oswego
“The University as a Public Square? Reflecting on an Art-Making Intervention as an Occupation-Based Performance”
Stephanie Kaczynski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Michael Baird, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Curricular Production: Expanding Access through Integrated Pedagogy”
Graham Kindred, Pace University
“Toward a New Mode of University Theatre Production: San Francisco State University Abandons the LORT Model”
Vicki Hoskins, San Francisco State University
Michael Schweikardt, San Francisco State University
“Ephemeral Stages, Lasting Traces: Exploring Temporality and Memory in Theatre for Education”
Alivia Cross, Penn State University
Trust the Process | Pedagogy 11: Erie
Workshop
Chair: Karie Miller, Grinnell College
“Making and Remaking the Michael Chekhov Technique: Gesturing towards new (American?) Aesthetics”
Nikki Ferry, Missouri State University
Hansel Tan, Villanova University
Risk and Reward | Pedagogy 12: Allegheny
Workshop
“Cultivating Collaboration as an Essential Tool for Beginning Playwrights”
Jen Plants, University of Wisconsin-Madison
First Acts Showcase | Playwriting 7: Philadelphia
Chair: Tiffany Antone, Iowa State University
The First Acts Showcase will feature staged readings of new, production-ready plays we believe to be excellent fits for college campuses. Each of the three selected plays were submitted by dramaturgs who will introduce the plays to attendees. Actors will then read only the the first act of that play. Information on where to find full scripts will be shared at each reading. This program is co-sponsored by the Collegiate New Play Development Conference.
Eat Your Young
Playwright: JC Pankrantz, Independent Artist
Director: Lucas Skjaret, University of North Alabama
Dramaturg: Ryan Adelsheim, University of Iowa
Acting Company
Natalie Guess, Baylor University
Jo Welch, Independent Artist
Kristy Thomas, Missouri State University
Nathan Bowman, Benedictine College
B Kleymeyer, Independent Artist
Football Performance Histories | History 14: Ohio
Paper Panel
Chair: Mike Franz, University of Mississippi
“Football's MAGA Turn: The Erosion of Activism Between the Lines”
Noe Montez, Emory University
“Performance Art Football: Matthew Barney’s Secondary”
Eero Laine, The University at Buffalo
“Sporting Structures, Alternative Americana: The Tailgate”
Shannon Walsh, Louisiana State University
American Nostalgia | History 15: Allegheny
Paper Panel
Chair: Erin Bone Steele, University of Maryland
“Identifying and Challenging Historical “Americana” Markers through Hamilton, Parade, Suffs, and Floyd Collins”
Yuko Kurahashi, Kent State University
“‘That Was the Promised Land’: The Construction of New Mythologies of the American West in David Belasco’s Girl of the Golden West”
Ruby Dudasik, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“The Program Girl as National Fantasy: Playbill’s Pictorial Ideal of Early Twentieth Century Womanhood”
Vicki Hoskins, San Francisco State University
American Girlhood | Practice/Production 10: Monongahela
Roundtable
Chair: Nikki Ferry
Participants
Kuhle Mbawu, University at Buffalo
Lana Sugarman, University at Buffalo
Contact Lenses | Pedagogy 13: Erie
Roundtable
Chair: Sam Collier, University of Colorado Boulder
“Backwards, Forwards, or Both: Theatre History in the American Classroom”
Jackie Goldfinger, Author, Routledge
Nathan Bowman, Benedictine College
First Acts Showcase | Playwriting 8: Philadelphia
Chair: Stacey Schiller, Baylor University
The First Acts Showcase will feature staged readings of new, production-ready plays we believe to be excellent fits for college campuses. Each of the three selected plays were submitted by dramaturgs who will introduce the plays to attendees. Actors will then read only the the first act of that play. Information on where to find full scripts will be shared at each reading. This program is co-sponsored by the Collegiate New Play Development Conference.
A Better Man
Playwright: Stan Deman and Eduardo Velez, Baylor University
Director: Cason Murphy, Iowa State University
Dramaturg: Merritt Popp, Baylor University
Acting Company
Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, University of Illinois Springfield
Vanessa Marie Campagna, Monmouth College
Ailka Samora, Point Park University
Von Nishan Markarian, Carnegie Mellon University
Andres Mauricio Laguna Bonilla, Florida State University
Natalie Guess, Baylor University
Alicia K. Garcia, Miami Dade College
PHILADELPHIA
All graduate student conference attendees are invited to join us for the Graduate Student Social to network and reflect on the conference-going experience. Refreshments provided! If you plan on attending, please fill out this form to be included in the head count.
For questions, please reach out to Graduate Student Liaisons at grad_rep@matc.us.
ERIE
Join scholars and archival experts for a special invited talk exploring the enduring legacy and future impact of August Wilson on American theatre. Featuring Isaiah Wooden (Swarthmore College), Khalid Y. Long (Howard University), and Bill Daw (University of Pittsburgh), in collaboration with the August Wilson Archive at the University of Pittsburgh, this conversation will highlight Wilson’s profound influence on theatrical practice, scholarship, and cultural memory. Drawing from archival materials and recent scholarship, the speakers will reflect on Wilson’s artistic vision, his deep ties to Pittsburgh, and the continued relevance of his work in shaping contemporary performance and Black theatrical traditions.