The ATHE Nominations Committee is pleased to share the 2026 Governing Council election results. The following ATHE members have been elected for two year terms, serving through August 2028. 

New Governing Council Members:
Secretary: Laura Rikard
Treasurer: Matt Omasta
VP for Research and Publications: William Lewis
VP Elect for Conference 2028: Detra Payne
Member-at-Large: Jeremy Gillett

Thank you to all the current ATHE members for exercising their right to vote!

In partnership with ATHE and the Mellon Foundation, The Data Theatre Collaborative at Northeastern University is offering five $5,000 pilot grants to support new data theatre work across diverse disciplinary and community contexts.

We are looking for artists, faculty, community-based researchers, and civic practitioners ready to explore how embodied, rehumanized data can inform teaching, learning, and civic life — and we want to help you do it.

In data theatre, community members work with theatre artists to interpret, respond to, and generate new knowledge about data that matters to their lives. The practice can take many forms — a series of deliberative workshops, a devised performance, a community event, or some combination — but at its core it is always about rehumanizing data: situating numbers in lived experience and opening them up to collective interpretation.

Data Theatre Pilot Grants may support projects such as:

• Participatory data theatre workshops integrated into community-partnered courses or research projects.
• Devised data theatre performances or public events developed in partnership with community organizations or other collaborators.
• Planning grants to seed a new community partnership and develop future data theatre work.
  
  

Applications open July 1 and close October 1, 2026.

FULL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND APPLICATION 

Data Theatre Workshop at ATHE 2026 in Baltimore — July 25, 4:15pm

REGISTER NOW

Samer Al-Saber A Movement's Promise: The Making of Contemporary Palestinian Theater, Stanford University Press		Katie Arfara Curating the Commons: Socially Engaged Public Art, University of Michigan Press
Mark Broomfield Black Queer Dance: Gay Men and the Politics of Passing for Almost Straight, Routledge		Matthieu Chapman Shakespeare and Antiblack World-Making, Palgrave Macmillan
Diane Conrad Youth, Power, Performance: Applied Theatre with Systemically Marginalized Youth, Intellect		Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker Cosmo-Modernism and Theater in India: Writing and Staging Multilingual Modernisms,   Columbia University Press
Chris A. Eng Extravagant Camp: The Queer Abjection of Asian America, NYU Press		Susan Leigh Foster Knowing as Moving: Perception, Memory, and Place, Duke University Press
Kimberly Jannarone  Mass Performance: Systems and Citizens, University of Michigan Press		Areum Jeong Beyond the Sewol: Activist Theatre and Performance in South Korea and the Diaspora,  University of Hawai'i Press
Jieun Lee Unsettling Acts: Performing Transnational Adoption, The Ohio State University Press		James McMaster Racial Care: On Asian American Suffering and Survival, Duke University Press
Jennifer Joan Thompson Performing Citizenship in Postdictatorship Chile: Cultural Policy and the Making of Political Dramaturgies, Northwestern University Press		Isaiah Matthew Wooden Reclaiming Time: Race, Temporality, and Black Expressive Culture, Northwestern University Press

Edited Works Award Finalists

Dhanveer Singh Brar, Nicholas Ridout, and Rebecca Schneider TDR, "Performance, Possession, and Automation" (Brown University TDR Consortium issue), Vol. 69, no. 3		Pil Hansen and Jessica Watkin Performance Matters, "Dramaturgies of Accessibility," Vol. 11, nos. 1–2 (double issue)
Brian Eugenio Herrera and Anne García-Romero María Irene Fornés in Context, Cambridge University Press		E. B. Hunter and Scott Magelssen Enveloping Worlds: Toward a Discourse of Immersive Performance, University of Michigan Press
Dassia Posner, Claudia Orenstein, and Alissa Mello Making Meaning in Puppetry: Materials, Practice, Perception, Routledge		Samuel Yates, Lindsey R. Barr, and Caitlin Marshall Studies in Musical Theatre, “Disability in Musical Theatre,” Vol. 19, no. 2

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While we haven’t convened yet this year, we already need awesome people like you to help us create next year’s ATHE! VP for Conference 2027 Denise Hart is looking for conference committee members – from all regions of the country and from all types of institutions. Please reach out to Denise to share your expertise.

I'M INTERESTED

The New Play Development Workshop is seeking Dramaturgs, Scenographers, and Actors for creative teams at the ATHE 2026 Conference in Baltimore. This year we are inviting two university-affiliated playwrights who are looking for time, space, and creative collaboration to develop their full-length plays. Each playwright will work their team to build and refine their work in a development process. Playwrights will engage in two virtual meetings before the conference and two in-person development sessions during the 2026 ATHE Conference, culminating in a final sharing session to showcase work-in-progress on Saturday, July 25.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

ATHE's awards honor members' contributions to teaching, scholarship, playwriting, and artistic practice in educational and professional theatre. To celebrate our members' publications, we are compiling a list of books published by ATHE members; this will be shared on our website and made available at our Celebration of Authors at ATHE 2026. Books must have a copyright date of 2025.

We welcome all eligible titles authored or edited by ATHE members.  

SHARE YOUR SUCCESS

ATHE's Nominating Committee is pleased to present the following candidates for elected positions on the ATHE Governing Council, the elected governing body of ATHE (in nonprofit terms, the “board of directors”). ATHE’s board consists of 16 voting members, and elected officers serve for two-year terms.

ATHE strives to maintain a board that is unanimously dedicated to the core mission and success of the organization. Elected members of a nonprofit board:

• Govern and steward the organization to ensure long-term fiscal health;
• Serve as ambassadors and advocates for the organization by broadly communicating a strong understanding of our mission
• Provide key skills and experience that will advance our growth and development by serving on committees and/or task forces.

Voting concludes June 30, 2026.

This year, ATHE members will elect individuals to fill the following Governing Council positions:

Secretary
Treasurer
Vice President for Research and Publications
Vice President-Elect for Conference 2028
Vice President for Professional Development
Member-at-Large

Members should have receive an email from SurveyMonkey on June 9 to vote in this year's election.

Thank you for your ATHE membership and participation!

READ MORE

Read the full press release.

Never presented at ATHE? 

Our Focus Groups invite you to consider submitting to a debut or "emerging scholar" session at the 2026 Conference! Just for individuals who have never presented before, debut sessions are a great way to ease your way into being a part of ATHE. Debut sessions are curated specifically by focus groups and provide additional support for new presenters. Please contact Focus Group Conference Planners with any questions. Do check each call, as focus groups have different deadlines for submissions this spring.

VIEW THE DEBUT SESSIONS

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At this time, we are particularly interested in work that critically interrogates theatre practices and performances through reflexive auto-ethnographic analysis, including approaches informed by affect theory, ritual theory, play, and vulnerability. We also welcome submissions that engage with professional development, especially those emerging from pedagogical exercises, assessment strategies, or classroom-based inquiry.

In addition, we are eager to broaden the scope of what this online platform can showcase. Theatre Topics Online is a space uniquely suited to innovative digital formats, and encourages contributors to explore the possibilities listed below.

Submission Details

Online Articles

• 1,000–4,000 words

• May connect to a special issue or stand alone, particularly if supported by audiovisual material

• Must offer a clear argument supported by evidence and referenced using MLA style

• Reviewed by editorial staff rather than through double-blind peer review

• Multimedia (video, images, etc.) may be included with proper copyright permissions secured by the author

• Innovative digital formats include:

  • Blog or vlog posts

  • Video essays

  • Video interviews or conversations

  • Video playlists or short documentaries

  • Teaching resource videos

  • Interactive or augmented video content

  • Photo essays

  • Podcasts

  • Other multimedia-based explorations of practice or pedagogy

Additional Formats

• Notes from the Field (3,000–4,000 words):
  First-person accounts of teaching, rehearsal processes, production work, or other aspects of theatre-making.

• Big Interviews (2,000–3,000 words):
  Conversations with notable practitioners, accompanied by images and/or video.

• My 10 Top Tips (≤1,500 words):
  Short, practical contributions offering advice on any relevant facet of theatre practice or instruction.

Theatre Topics Online is a space uniquely suited to innovative digital formats! Questions? Contact Online Editor Heather Barfield.

• Strengthen clarity and visibility across digital and printed platforms
• Support unified messaging across the organization
• Reflect the creativity, resilience, and dedication of our members

Over the coming weeks, you’ll see our new identity across communications, social media, programs, and materials. While the design is new, our mission, values, and dedication remain the same. We hope you will embrace the updated look and help us be a part of the new chapter of ATHE.

Q: Why a new logo?
A: As departments and programs face even more challenges than before, it’s more important than ever for our association to communicate with clarity, unity, and professionalism while also prioritizing legibility, usability, and consistency across platforms. The new logo strengthens how we represent our members in advocacy, digital communications, and outreach.

Q: How was the redesign chosen?
A: The committee carefully reviewed options and selected a design that balances mission-driven purpose, functionality, and visual impact, with attention to using our financial resources responsibly.

Q: Does this change the mission or values?
A: No. The mission, values, and work of the association remain the same. The new logo is a tool to better communicate and represent our ongoing work, supporting our broader efforts to strengthen advocacy, member communication, visibility, and long-term organizational stability.

Q: Do members need to do anything differently?
A: No. You’ll begin seeing the new logo across communications and materials. Everything else continues as usual.

SUBMIT NOW

Our annual awards rely on volunteers to review and adjudicate books, articles, and award applications. We love new members for their insight and input to each award process. Interested in becoming more involved? Email Brian Valencia, ATHE’s new VP for Awards.

READ THE FIRST ISSUE 

The ATHE Nominations Committee is pleased to share the 2025 Governing Council elections results. The following ATHE members have been elected for two year terms, serving through August 2027.

• PRESIDENT ELECT:Dani Snyder-Young
• VP CONFERENCE 2027:Denise Hart
• VP for AWARDS:Brian Valencia
• VP for PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:Omiyẹmi (Artisia) Green (continuing)
• MEMBERS AT LARGE:Sharon Green; Bryan Moore; Daphnie Sicre; Samuel Yates

• IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT:Chase Bringardner
• VP CONFERENCE 2025:Kirsten Pullen
• VP for AWARDS:Karl O'Brian Williams
  
• MEMBERS AT LARGE:Kelly Aliano and Amanda Dawson

Thank you to our continuing board members as well!

• INCOMING PRESIDENT:Martine Green-Rogers
• TREASURER: Charlotte McIvor
• SECRETARY: Courtney Elkin Mohler
• VP for PUBLICATIONS: Kristen Leahey
• VP CONFERENCE 2026:DeRon S. Williams
• VP for MEMBERSHIP:Bess Rowen
  
• MEMBERS AT LARGE: Jeremy Gillett
• IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: CarlosAlexis Cruz