Assistant Professor of Theatre Susanne Shawyer's articles focused on protest as theatre.
Susanne Shawyer, assistant professor of theatre, whose scholarship encompasses dramaturgy, theatre history and Theatre of the Oppressed, was recently published in Theatre Topics, a scholarly journal focused on theatre theory and pedagogy. Her article titled “Rural Theatrical Protest: A Note from Muskrat Falls” explores the theatricality of environmental protests by indigenous Canadians (Volume 28, Issue 2, July 2018).
In addition, Shawyer also published a piece titled “Protest Occupations and Thinking Tactically as Democratic Practice,” in Theatre Journal, one of the foremost journals for theatre history and criticism (Volume 70, Issue 4, December 2018). She was invited by the Theatre Journal editor to submit this work as part of a special debate section in the journal that includes short provocations by multiple scholars about the intersections of theatre and democracy.
Shawyer, whose work as dramaturg has been seen on Elon’s mainstage productions of "Moment," "Trojan Barbie" and "Servant of Two Masters," researches dramaturgies of protest and the historical relevance of political activism in theatre.
Shawyer earned her doctorate in theatre history and criticism, with an emphasis in performance as public practice, from the University of Texas at Austin. At Elon, she continues to encourage students in their own scholarly research and regularly mentors Elon College Fellows and Lumen recipients, as well as leading student dramaturgs on production work.