Tracy C. Davis
Barber Professor of Performing Arts
Professor of English & Theatre
Theatre Interpretation Centre 215B
Telephone: (847) 491-3138
Fax: (847) 467-1545
E-mail: tcdavis@northwestern.edu
Tracy C. Davis is a specialist in performance theory, theatre historiography, and research methodology. She edits the book series Cambridge Studies in Theatre and Performance Theory. She is Director of the Graduate School's Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring initiative and Chair of Northwestern University Press's Editorial Board. She is Immediate Past-President of the American Society for Theatre Research and a member of the Board of Directors for Performance Studies International.
Teaching and Research posts held at:
Harvard University, University of Glasgow, Bristol University, Queen's University (Kingston), University of Calgary, Queen Mary University London, and Northwestern University (since 1991)
Mentoring Philosophy (pdf)
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Selected Academic Awards, Honors, and Research Grants:
1990-91 |
Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellowship, Harvard University |
1994-95 |
American Philosophical Society Research Grant |
1995 |
National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship |
2000 |
George Freedley Memorial Award (Theatre Library Association) representing excellence in writing on live theatre |
2004 |
Clarence Ver Steeg Graduate Faculty Award (Northwestern University) |
2005 |
Distinguished Scholar's Prize (American Society for Theatre Research) |
2007 |
Lane Humanities Institute Teaching Professor |
2007-08 |
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow, Huntington Library |
2008-09 |
Stanley J. Kahrl Fellowship in Theatre History, Houghton Library |
2009-10 |
Distinguished Visiting Professorship, Queen Mary University of London |
Publications by Tracy C. Davis
Actresses as Working Women: Their Social Identity in Victorian Culture (Routledge, 1991)
George Bernard Shaw and the Socialist Theatre(Praeger/Greenwood, 1994)
Playwriting and Nineteenth-Century British Women, edited with Ellen Donkin (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
The Economics of the British Stage, 1800-1914 (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
Theatricality, edited with Thomas Postlewait (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
Stages of Emergency: Cold War Nuclear Civil Defense (Duke University Press, 2007)
Considering Calamity: Methods for Performance Research, co-edited with Linda Ben-Zvi, Assaph (Tel Aviv: Assaph Books, 2007)
The Performing Century: Nineteenth-Century Theatres History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
The Cambridge Companion to Performance Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2008)
Forthcoming Books:
The Broadview Anthology of Nineteenth-Century British Performance (Broadview Press, 2011)
Books in Development:
Spectacles of the Covert -- Through detailed examination of several case studies, this book explores how theatre permeates the social imaginary in more than merely metaphoric relationships. In these cases, theatre’s essence— as a facilitated lie — is inherent to social and representational practices. Each case is grounded in a particular historical situation ranging from the early nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century, and in each case theatre as a practice is inherent to understanding the situation.
Britain in the 1850s -- How does performance (in church or theatre, of oratory, plays, or music) act upon audiences as susceptible receptacles?
Series Editor:
Theatre and Performance Theory, General Editor, Cambridge University Press.
Editorial Boards:
Contributing Editor, TDR: The Drama Review
Honorary Advisory Editor, New Theatre Quarterly
Advisory Board, Assaph
Editorial Board, Nineteenth Century Studies
Editorial Board, Performance Studies book series, Museum Tusculanum Press
Series Editor (monographs), Global Theatre Histories (in development)
-
The English Major in Writing Celebrates 30 Years on campus
-
Jo Ann Beard, Frank Bidart, and George Saunders were Writers in Residence for the English Major in Writing’s 3rd Annual Spring Writers’ Festival
-
Creative Writing students congregate at the 3rd Annual Spring Writer’s Festival
-
English Department faculty attend one of the talks organized as part of the annual One Book, One Northwestern program
-
Writing students Cathy Gao (left) and Alleliah Nuguid (right) meet writer Elizabeth Benedict (center) at the Skidmore Summer Writers’ Institute.
Photo provided by Cathy Gao.
-
Northwestern writing students Matt Pacult, Cathy Gao, and Alleliah Nuguid meet poet Frank Bidart at the Skidmore Summer Writers’ Institute.
Photo provided by Cathy Gao.
-
Professors Mary Kinzie and John Keene celebrate 30 Years of creative writing at Northwestern
-
Professors Wendy Wall (Avalon Foundation Professor, left) and Reginald Gibbons (Frances Hooper Chair in the Arts and Humanities, right) at their inauguration, with Professor Christopher Herbert
