Curriculum Vitae
Michelle Cowin Gibbs, Ph.D., M.F.A.
Office: (309) 556-3715
Fax: (309) 556-3558
Email: mgibbs@iwu.edu
I. ACADEMIC DEGREES
Ph.D., Theatre.
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 2019.
Dissertation Title: Detroit Brand Blackness: Race, Gender, Class, and Performances of Black Identities in Post-Recession Detroit.
Performance Studies Graduate Certificate, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 2019.
M.F.A., Drama.
University of California - Irvine, Irvine, CA, 2005.
Thesis Title: SUV Nation (Film, 2005).
B.A., Theatre Performance.
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 2001.
II. ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Assistant Professor. School of Theatre Arts, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL, August 2020.
Assistant Professor. Theater Department, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, August 2016.
III.TEACHING EXPERIENCE
A. Courses Taught
Illinois Wesleyan University:
THEA 141: Introduction to Theatre Studies – Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2023
THEA 271: Staging Faith: Religion and Spiritualism in Early 20th Century American Theatre, Summer 2022, Summer 2023, Spring 2024
THEA 371: Theatre History I – Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023
THEA 372: Theatre History II – Spring 2021, Spring 2022
THEA 441: Issues in Contemporary Theatre – Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
THEA 382: Advanced Scene Study – Spring 2021
THEA 482: Playworkshop – Spring 2024
St. Olaf College:
TH-110: Introduction to Theater – Spring 2019, Spring 2020
TH-115B: Acting for Non-Majors – Fall 2016, Fall 2019
TH-115AB: Acting for Non-Majors – Fall 2017, Spring 2018
TH-130: Introduction to Acting – Fall 2019
TH-180: Text and Performance – Fall 2016, Interim 2017, Fall 2017,
Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Interim 2020
TH-230: Intermediate Acting – Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2020
TH-233: Theater Prac: Act/Direct – Spring 2017, Spring 2018,
Interim 2019, Fall 2019
TH-379: Special Topics: Religion and Spiritualism in
Early 20th Century American Theatre – Spring 2017
B. Independent Study, Faculty Instructor/Supervisor
THEA 497: Ind. Study: Theatre Hist./Drama, Fall 2022
TH-398A: IR/Horror on the Stage, Spring 2020
TH-298A: IS/Developing Comedy for the Stage, Spring 2020
TH-398C: IR/Theater's Impact on a Community, Spring 2019
TH-298E: IS/Origin of Western & Ethnic Theatre, Spring 2019
TH-298C: MFA Graduate School Preparation, Fall 2018
TH-398B: IR/Performing Shakespeare's Women, Fall 2018
TH-398A: Finding Zora: Performance and Identity in Contemporary Black Feminist Theatre– Interim 2018
IV. ARTISTIC AND SCHOLARLY WORKS
A. Peer-Reviewed
“Preparing Soul Food: Investigating Performativity vis-á-vis Cultural Memory” The Black Theatre Review, Vol. 1, Summer 2022.
“Toward a Black Feminist Dramaturgy: Honoring the Theatrical Legacy of Zora Neale Hurston” The Journal of American Drama and Theatre. Spring 2021.
“An Act of Terrorism: Performative (His)trosities and the Eradication of the Black Body.” Cultural Studies – Critical Methodologies. (2015). 1-5. April 24, 2015.
B. Book Chapters
“The Other Side of Plexiglass Wall: Fear, Terror, and Defining Audience Expectations in A Solo Autoethnographic Performance Tragedy” Enveloping Worlds. Ed. Scott Maggelsen and Elizabeth Bradley Hunter, Enveloping Worlds: Toward a Discourse of Immersivity and Participatory Performance, (book chapter in progress, edited collection forthcoming).
“Them’s My Sentiments and I Am Sticking By Them”: The Elevation of Black Identity in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Characteristics of Negro Expression.” Zora Neale Hurston in Context. Ed. Christopher Varlack, Cambridge U.P. (book chapter in progress, edited collection forthcoming).
“The Stoney Silence: Negotiating Empathy and Audience Expectations in Solo Autoethnographic Performance in Audience Research” Impacting Theatre Audiences: Methods for Studying Change. Eds. Matt Omasta and Dani Snyder-Young, Routledge, 2022.
“Bad Bitches and the Disruption of Black Masculine Supremacy at the Ultimate White Party 2014 Midwest Edition.” Ideas and Their Influences. 4th ed., Ed. Aprilfaye T. Manalang and Andrew T. Arroyo, Kendall Hunt, 2017.
C. Reviews
"Democracy Moving: Bill T. Jones, Contemporary American Performance, and the Racial Past" by Ariel Nereson. Theatre Annual.
“Celebrating Black Feminist Divinity in Leslie Parker Dance Project’s crystal, smoke n’ spirit(s)...” Fourth Wall Online Magazine. Walker Art Center. Web. 5 Aug. 2019.
“From Bourgeois to Boojie: Black Middle-Class Performances” edited by Vershawn Ashanti Young with Bridget Tsemo. Callaloo. Vol.38 No.1. 219.
“Staging Faith: Religion and African American Theater from the Harlem Renaissance to World War II” by Craig R. Prentiss. Theatre Survey. Vol. 56. No. 2.
D. Papers Presented
Hurstonian Theatricality: Exploring Linguistic and Vernacular Lyricism in the Theatrical Works of Zora Neale Hurston, Mid-America Theatre Conference. March 2023
Building Theatre Audiences & Increasing Digital Engagement in the Theatrical Works of Zora Neale Hurston, History on Black Writing Project, Black Book Interactive Project Scholars, October 2022.
Memorializing the Folk: Uncovering Black Folk Oral Traditions in Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Story Crossroads Annual Summit. May 2022.
The Essence of Doing Monologue Workshop, Southeastern Theatre Conference, March 2022. (session accepted).
Tellin’ Like It Is: A Black Feminist Reading of Religiosity and the Public Performance of Black Christian Rhetoric in Zora Neale Hurston’s De Turkey and De Law (1930) (paper accepted), American Society for Theatre Research. November 2019.
Histories Ignored: How to Make Space for People of Color in College Theatre History Courses, American Society for Theatre Research. November 2017.
A Thing Held in Full View: The Politics of Performance Ethnography as Performance as a Social Practice, American Society for Theatre Research. November 2016.
Performing Blackness in Post-Racial America, The State of the State: Equity, Opportunity & Diversity in Ohio 18th Annual Conference. March 2014.
Detroit Brand-Blackness in Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ’67, Mid-American Theatre Conference – Theatre History Symposium. March 2014.
An Act Of Terrorism: Performative (His)Trosities, Phenomenal Blackness, and the Eradication of The Black Body, The Charles E. Shanklin Research Colloquium (Winner, Best Paper Presentation). March 2013.
Interrogating The Dark Body, National Conference on Restorative Justice. May 2013.
“Thems My Sentiments and I am Sticking By Them”: The Elevation of Black Identity in Zora Neale Hurston’s Characteristics of Negro Expression,” Mid-Western Graduate Research Symposium, University of Toledo April 2012.
E. Conference Panels
Session Coordinator and Moderator. Building Anti-Racist Tools and Moving to Spiritual Empowerment: Applications of Diasporic and Intersectional Dance/Movement Practices, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, August 2023.
Session Coordinator and Moderator. The Ananse Enclave: An Intervention for Black Women Theatre Faculty, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, August 2023.
Session Coordinator and Moderator. The Real Negro Art Theatre: Developing Anti-Racist Approaches to the Study of Zora Neale Hurston’s Theatrical and Performance-Based Works, Annual Zora Neale Hurston Conference, February 2023.
Session Coordinator and Moderator. “A Diasporic Re-invention”: Re-pairing and Re-storing the In-betweenity of Anti-racist pedagogies and African Diasporic Spirits in Dance and Movement Performance, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, July 2022.
Panelist. Activating Identities and Discovering Healing: The Essence of Doing in the College Acting Classroom. Association for Theatre in Higher Education, July 2022.
Panelist. Accountability: Understanding the Impacts of Performances with Critical Audience Research, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, July 2022.
Session Coordinator. The Essence of Doing Monologue Workshop, Southeastern Theatre Conference, March 2022. (session accepted).
Moderator and Presenter. Tellin' It Like It Is: Black Feminist Dramaturgy in Theatre and Performance, Association for Theatre in Higher Education. August 2021.
Panelist. Survival Guide for Small Theatre Departments, Association for Theatre in Higher Education. August 2019.
Moderator. ASTR Field Conversation: Teaching Extra-Ordinary Students, American Society for Theatre Research Conference. November 2017.
Co-Moderator. Transitions: All-Conference Wrap-Up Session, curated in association with Spatula & Barcode. American Society for Theatre Research Conference. November 2016.
Panelist. Don't Call Me Black!: The Politics of Identity in Black America, BGSU Black Issues Conference. February 2015.
Panelist. Recipe for Success: Black Women of Color’s Journey to Graduate School, BGSU Black Issues Conference. February 2014.
Moderator. What is a Black Playwriting?, Black Theatre Network Conference. August 2014.
F. Solo Autoethnographic Performance
They Don’t Really Care About Us: PO-lice, PoPos, Sandra, and Me (in progress)
Dancing with my/Self: The Selfie Monologues, video installation, UPRISING: Narrating Black Expression on the Hill, St. Olaf College, May 2018.
Dancing with my/Self: The Selfie Monologues, Social Media. March 2018.
A Thing Held in Full View, American Society for Theatre Research. November 2016.
Blunt-Forced Trauma: A Mother’s Performance in Empathy, American Society for Theatre Research. October 2013.
G. Directing
The Duchess of Malfi, Illinois Wesleyan University, November 2023
Men on Boats, Illinois Wesleyan University. November 2022
Airline Highway. Illinois Wesleyan University. April 2022
The Maids. St. Olaf College. January 2020
A Staged Reading of Angelina Weld Grimké’s Rachel. St. Olaf College. Fall 2019
She Kills Monsters. St. Olaf College. Fall 2019
You Never Can Tell. St. Olaf College. Interim 2019
A Streetcar Named Desire. St. Olaf College. Spring 2018
August: Osage County. St. Olaf College. Spring 2017
Detroit ’67. Bowling Green State University. Spring 2014
Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. Bowling Green State University. Spring 2012
V. GRANTS AND AWARDS
A. Research
Project Title: “Digital Tools in Excavating the Theatrical Works of Zora Neale Hurston”, History on Black Writing Project, Black Book Interactive Program - Black Digital Publishing Scholars Program, University of Kansas and AFRO-PWW at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, March 2023 - March 2024.
Project Title: “Digital Tools in Excavating the Theatrical Works of Zora Neale Hurston”, Artistic and Scholarly Development Program. Illinois Wesleyan University, October 2022.
Project Title: “Zora Neale Hurston Digital Humanities Website Project”, Gardner Faculty Scholars Award, Illinois Wesleyan University, May 2022.
Project Title: “Zora Neale Hurston Digital Humanities Website Project”, History on Black Writing Project, Black Digital Humanities. University of Kansas, February 2022.
Project Title: “Exploring Zora Neale Hurston’s Theater”, National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute: Hurston on the Horizon, Sponsored by University of Kansas, July 2021.
B. Teaching Grants
Project Title: “Digital Humanities Scaffold Project in the Theatre History Classroom” Presidential Innovation Fund, Illinois Wesleyan University, March 2022.
Project Title: “Teaching Cultural Diversity and Celebrating Ethnicity in Evelina Fernandez’ A Mexican Trilogy: A Digital Humanities Assignment”, International and Global Studies Teaching Grant, Illinois Wesleyan University, October 2021.
C. Institutional Grants
“MLK Day Undoing Racism Through Creative Practice for Racial Healing” Healing Illinois Grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services in partnership with The Chicago Community Trust, December 2020.
D. Honors
Recipient. Alumni Spotlight Honors, Western Michigan University, April 2022.
VI. PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC)
American Association for Theatre Education
American Society for Theatre Research
Black Theatre Association (a focus group of ATHE)
Black Theatre Network
Zeta Phi Beta Society, Incorporated
The Honors Society of Phi Beta Phi
VII. OFFICES HELD IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
2023, Managing Editor, the Black Theatre Review (tBTR)
2022, Editorial Team, the Black Theatre Review (tBTR)
2021-2022, Reviewer, Partake: The Journal of Performance Research
2021-2022, Conference Planner, Association with American Association for Theatre Education (ATHE)
2020-2022, Secretary, Black Theater Association in Association with American Association for Theatre Education (ATHE)
2019-2020, Member at Large, Black Theater Association in Association with American Association for Theatre Education (ATHE)
VIII. COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY
A. College Service
Program Head, B.A. Theatre Arts, School of Theatre Arts
Committee Member, Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning (CETAL)
Committee Member, Revisioning May and Summer Term at IWU (Taskforce)
Committee Member, IWU Intercultural Fluency Committee
Moderator, Virtual SPACE BIPOC Community, Shringara Multicultural Theatre Company
Faculty Advisor, Shringara Multicultural Theatre Company
Co-Coordinator, Celebrating Blackness Art & Performance Show, School of Art and School of Theatre Arts, Spring 2022
Rising Titan Faculty Instructor, First-year seminar, Office of Admissions at Illinois Wesleyan University, Summer 2021, Fall 2023
Reviewer, Fraternity/Sorority Chapter Thrive Presentations, Fall 2021
B. Community Service
Special Guest, Cohort Sista Podcast, September 2023
Grant Reviewer, Creative Capital, New York, NY, May 2022
Special Guest Speaker, Plymouth State University, New Hampshire, Fall 2021, Spring 2022
External Program Reviewer, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Spring 2021.