Education
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures: Italian
Fields: Twentieth and twenty-first century Italian theater, literature, history; performance studies; cinema
Dissertation: “Stages of History: Performing 1970s Italy with Narrative Theater”
Certificate, Screen Arts & Cultures
Resident, Center for World Performance Studies
Connecticut College
B.A. in Italian, magna cum laude with Honors & Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa
Minor in Theater
Honors Thesis: “The Success of Italian Cinema in the United States”
Certificate with honors, Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts
Study Abroad: Umbra Institute and Università per stranieri (Perugia, Italy), Spring 2001; Moscow Art Theater (Moscow, Russia), Fall 2000; British American Drama Academy (Oxford, England), Summer 1999
Professional Employment
2022-present Michigan State University, Associate Professor, jointly appointed in the Department of English and the Department of Romance and Classical Studies
2015–2022 Michigan State University, Assistant Professor, jointly appointed in the Department of English and the Department of Romance and Classical Studies (2015 FMLA leave and delay of tenure clock; 2019 FMLA leave)
2013–2015 Michigan State University, Visiting Assistant Professor
Publications
Book
The Theater of Narration: From the Peripheries of History to the Main Stages of Italy. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2021.
Honorable mention, Modern Language Association, Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies, 2021
Recipient of 2020-21 TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem) Award, MSU
Forthcoming translation in Italian with Accademia University Press: Turin, Italy, 2022
Reviewed in Italian Studies; Modern Drama
Refereed Journal Articles
“The Lasting Influence of Dario Fo and Franca Rame.” Theatre History Studies. University of Alabama Press, Vol. 36 (2018): 257-277.
Essay republished in Remembering the Consummate Playwright/Performer: Essays on Dario Fo. Scuderi, Antonio, ed. Leicester, UK: Troubador, 2018: 101-21.
Frau, Ombretta and Juliet Guzzetta. “’Il blog è mio e lo gestisco io:’ Dominio di genere nel web italiano” (My Body, My Blog: Gender Domination on the Web in Italy). gender/sexuality/italy Vol. 2 (2015): 75-90, http://www.gendersexualityitaly.com/il-blog-e-mio-e-lo-gestisco-io-dominio-di-genere-nel-web-italiano/.
“At Work, at Home: Women, Labor, and Laura Curino’s Olivetti Plays.” Annali d’Italianistica. Special Issue “From Otium and Occupatio to Work and Labor in Italian Culture.” Vol. 32 (2014): 291-306.
“Oratory and the Public Sphere: Hearing Italy through Narrative Theater.” Spazio filosofico 2 (Summer 2011): http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/en/numero_02/1139/oratory-and-the-public-sphere/.
“A Presentation of Herself: Laura Curino’s Passions in Everyday Life.” Spunti e ricerche. Special Issue on Studies in Modern Italian Theatre. Vol. 25 (2010): 116-130.
Refereed Book Chapters
“Dominique Morisseau’s Blood at the Root: Intersectionality and the Jena Six” in Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Plays by Women: The Early Twenty-First Century. Eds. Penelope Farfan and Lesley Ferris. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021: 211-219.
“Ethical Considerations in Ascanio Celestini’s Radio clandestina” in La riflessione etica nel teatro italiano contemporaneo, (The Ethical Reflection in Contemporary Italian Theater). Cristina Perissinotto and Patrizia Piredda, eds. Napoli: Guida Editori, 2018: 233-257.
“A Voice of Her Own: Feminism and Subjectivities for a Modern Santa Bàrbera.” A Window on the Italian Female Modernist Subjectivity: From Neera to Laura Curino. Ed. Riccobono, Rossella M. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars, 2013: 187-201.
Book Reviews, Anthology and Encyclopedia Entries
Gaborik, Patricia. Mussolini’s Theatre: Fascist Experiments in Art and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2021. Modern Drama. Vol. 65.2 (June 2022): 254-256.
Morelli, Maria. Queering Gender in Italian Women’s Writing. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2021. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 2022. DOI: 10.1080/1354571X.2022.2043670.
Donatella Fischer, editor. The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre. London: Legenda, 2013. Reviewed in Theatre Annual: A Journal of Performance Studies. Vol. 67 (Fall 2014): 80-82.
“Italy: 2000-2020.” The Encyclopedia of Modern Theatre. Colin Chambers, ed. New York: Bloomsbury Methuen. Exp April 2023.
“The Women of Laboratorio Teatro Settimo and the Divina project (1989-1998)” in Routledge Anthology of Women’s Theatre Theory & Dramatic Criticism. Eds. Catherine Burroughs and J. Ellen Gainor. Forthcoming.
In Progress
Italian Feminist Thought Today and Tomorrow. Co-edited with Graziella Parati. A collection of essays from Italian feminists regarding the state of feminist thought in Italy and how we see it unfolding over the coming decades. [Abstracts accepted; full articles due 15 Oct, 2022. Goal publication date: Spring 2024.]
Franca Rame and the Labor of Female Creativity. Monographic study of Franca Rame as a public intellectual, activist, and politician in addition to her creative work, with an examination of the complex labor frequently involved for women in intellectual and artistic production. [Preliminary research underway.]
Olivetti. Translation with critical introduction of Laura Curino’s Camillo Olivetti: Alle radici di un sogno. Milan: Baldini & Castoldi, 1998 and Adriano Olivetti: Il sogno possibile. Milan: IPOC, 2010. Translation of Camillo Olivetti used in performance at the Italian Cultural Institute, New York, NY: 26 Sept 2013. [Planning stages.]
Awards and Honors
2021 Honorable mention, Modern Language Association, Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies
2021 Humanities and Arts Research Program Production Grant, MSU
2020 2020-21 TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem) Award, MSU
2016 Summer Faculty Fellowship, College of Arts and Letters, MSU
2013 Harvard University, Mellon Summer School for Theater and Performance Research
2012 Romance Languages & Literatures Dissertation Completion Award, UM
2012, ’09, ‘08 Romance Languages & Literatures Summer Award, UM
2011 Romance Languages & Literatures Humanities Research Award, UM
2010 Fellow of the Istituto Nazionale per la Storia del Movimento di Liberazione in Italia (Turin)
2010, ‘08 Rackham Graduate Student Research Award, UM
2010 Center for European Studies Research Award, UM
2010 Selected by Italian Fulbright Commission to represent cohort in Berlin gathering of European Fulbright countries
2009-2010 Fulbright Research Grant to Italy
2009-2010 International Institute Research Award, UM
2009 Hopwood Award in graduate nonfiction, UM
2009 Public Humanities Institute, UM
2008, ’07 Center for World Performance Studies Summer Research Award, UM
2002 Phi Beta Kappa, Connecticut College
2002 Italian Department Prize, Connecticut College
Invited Talks and Guest Lectures
“Teatro di narrazione” Guest lecture at the Università di Torino for Prof.ssa Federica Mazzocchi’s seminar modern theater class. 20 March, 2018.
“Pirandello’s Enrico IV: In Life, Theater, and on Screen.” La settimana della lingua italiana 2017. The Detroit Institute of the Arts. Sponsored by the Consulate of Italy in Detroit, Wayne State University, and the University of Michigan. October 22, 2017.
“Italian Stages: From Ancient Rome to Digital Proscenia.” La settimana della lingua italiana 2015. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. October 14, 2015.
“Santa Bàrbera and Violence against Women: Contemporary Lessons from Laura Curino’s Play about the Fourth Century Saint.” Invited speaker to Prof.ssa Ombretta Frau’s class The Power of Sex: “Violence, Politics, Erotics” Mount Holyoke University. Nov 19, 2014.
“The Theater of Narration: Italy, History, Performance.” Process-Practice-Pedagogy: The State of Theatre and Performance Scholarship in the Region. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. March 29, 2014.
“The Intersection of Performance and Social History: An Introduction to Italian Narrative Theater.” Workshop. Fall Speakers Series. Drama Interest Group. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. December 7, 2011.
Conference Papers
“Epistemologie incarnate: La drammaturgia femminista di Giuliana Musso in Mio eroe.” Associazione Internazionale Professori di Italiano. Palermo. October 26-29, 2022. Upcoming
Organized three sessions with Anna Marra for the Women’s Studies Caucus and two sessions with Graziella Parati for the American Association of Italian Studies. Virtual and in Bologna. May and June 2022.
“Franca Rame: Supporting Character or Leading Role?” American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. May 30-June 1, 2022.
“Franca Rame and the Performance of Subversion.” New England Modern Language Association. Baltimore, MD. March 10-13, 2022.
Co-organized and co-chaired round table with Prof. Graziella Parati “Italian Feminist Thought in 2021” for the American Association of Italian Studies. May 28-June 6, 2021. Virtual meeting.
“Embodied Epistemologies: The Feminist Dramaturgy of Giuliana Musso in Mio eroe (My Hero).” Modern Language Association. Toronto, Jan 7-10, 2021. Virtual meeting.
“Franca Rame’s Revolution on Stage and in Life.” American Society for Theatre Research. New Orleans, LA. Nov 2020. (Conference cancelled and substituted with an online “pre-conference” virtual meeting.)
“Equality Towards a New Practice of Societal Structures: The Evolution of Elena Ferrante’s Protagonists.” Gender, Women’s Suffrage, and Political Power: Past, Present, and Future. Lansing, MI. Nov 2020.
“Corporeal Intelligence: The Somatic Dramaturgy of Giuliana Musso in Mio eroe (My Hero)” American Society for Theatre Research. Washington DC. Nov 7-10, 2019.
“Women Writers and the ‘Erotics’ of Dramatic Theory and Criticism” working group (the collaborative Divina project: 1991-1993) at the American Society for Theatre Research. San Diego, CA. Nov 15-18, 2018.
“Laboratorio Teatro Settimo: Collective Theater Practices as a Form of Impegno.” American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, Sant’Anna Institute, Sorrento, Italy. June 14-17, 2018.
“Twenty-First Century Women Playwrights” working group (Dominique Morrisseau’s Blood at the Root) at the American Society for Theatre Research. Atlanta, GA. Nov 17-19, 2017.
Organized panel In Celebration of Dario Fo (1926-2016). Presented paper “Starring Dario Fo, Franca Rame, and the Entire Audience.” American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. April 20-22, 2017.
“Michigan Italian Alliance: Inaugural Meeting.” Michigan World Language Association. Lansing, MI. November 10-11, 2016. Panelist and organizer.
“Performing Microhistory through the Italian Theater of Narration.” The Narrative Turn in Contemporary Theatre. International Centre for Performance Studies, Tangier, Morocco. September 15-18, 2016.
Presented position paper for round table “Gender and Language / Genere e linguaggio.” American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. April 21-23, 2016.
“Microhistory, Oral History, and the Theater of Narration.” Teatro di Narrazione and Contemporary Italy. Modern Language Association, Austin, TX. January 7-10, 2016.
Organized panel Women in Theater. Presented paper “Laura Curino, Olivetti, and Labor Aristocracy Today.” Presented a position paper for roundtable “Language and Sexism.” American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, University of Colorado at Boulder. March 26-29, 2015.
“Translating Plays: A Case Study of Olivetti.” Creative Writing Faculty Brown Bag Series. Michigan State University. Nov 14, 2014.
“From the Local to the National: The Theater of Narration, Dialect and Davide Enia.” “Blurring Boundaries without Burning Bridges:” Italian Contemporary Performance, the Theatre of Emma Dante and Beyond. The Ohio State University. September 4-5, 2014.
Co-organized panel “Linguaggi femminili: Scritti, mediatici, corporei” (Feminine Languages: Written, Mediated, Corporeal) with Ombretta Frau. Co-presented paper “Misoginia elettronica: la legge di Lewis” (Electronic Misogyny: The Lewis Law). American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, University of Zurich (Switzerland). May 23-25, 2014.
“Translating the 1960s for Contemporary Italian Stages.” Working group at the American Society for Theatre Research. Dallas. Nov 7-10, 2013.
“Humanitarian Capitalism? A Model Factory in Laura Curino’s Gli Olivetti.” American Association for Italian Studies, University of Oregon (Eugene). April 11-14, 2013.
“The Theatricality of Italian Feminism in the Third Wave.” Postfeminism? The Culture and Politics of Gender in the Age of Berlusconi. Culture and Politics of Gender Research Group. Bologna, Italy. June 7-9, 2012.
“Reconceiving Subaltern and National Memory in Italian Narrative Theater.” Technology, Memory, Experience. Performance Studies International Conference #17, Utrecht University (Holland). May 25-29, 2011.
“Revolutionary Stages: Narrative Theater and Social Change.” Northeast Modern Language Association, Rutgers University (New Jersey). April 7-10, 2011.
“The ‘Eye’ in Identity: Following Laura Curino in Gli Olivetti.” Borders and Boundaries: Italian Women Writers of the 19th, 20th, and 21st Century. St Andrews University (Scotland). March 21-22, 2011.
“Restaging History with Italian Narrative Theater.” Italy and Its Pasts. The Association of Modern Italy. Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London. November 19-20, 2010.
“Laura Curino: Exploring National Issues through Personal Experience.” American Association for Italian Studies, St. John’s University (New York). May 7-10, 2009.
“Marco Paolini: How Comedy Unites Film and Theater.” Italian Film Comedy: Ieri, oggi, domani, Italian Cinema for the New Millennium, Yale University. April 24-27, 2008.
“Meryl, Act like a Star! Meryl Streep, Acting Theory, Constructions of Stardom.” Drama, Theatre, and Performance: Works in Progress from Faculty and Graduate Students, The Drama Interest Group, University of Michigan. March 23, 2007.
Teaching
Michigan State University
Italian 350: La solitudine: Letteratura per una pandemia
Italian 330: La storia italiana del XX secolo tramite il teatro di narrazione
Italian 320: Migrations in Literature and Film with Advanced Grammar and Composition
Italian 201-202: Intermediate and advanced intermediate Italian
Romance Languages 355: Postwar Art Cinemas and Auteurs in France, Italy, and Spain
Integrative Arts and Humanities 241D: Italian Performance Traditions: From the Stage to the Screen and in Everyday Life
English 826: Performing Solo and Performance Theory Graduate Seminar
English 355: Readings in Women Writers: She Plays with Creativity
English 326: Readings in Drama: Modern Drama and the Performance of Everyday Life
English 227: Introduction to Playwriting
English 280: Foundations in Literary Study II: Theory and Methods
English 210: Foundations in Literary Study I: Critical Thinking
Film 450: Italian and Italian-American Cinema and Critical Race Theory
Film 350: National and Transnational Cinemas: Italian and Italian-American Cinema
PhD Advisory Committees
Jennifer Mojica Santana, English Reading List Defense, 2022
Katherine Knowles, English Comprehensive exams, 2022
Yeoniee Cho, English PhD defense, 2016
Undergraduate Honors Thesis or Independent Studies
Italian Studies, Fall 2021
English, playwriting, Fall 2019 and 2021, Spring 2020
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Graduate Student Instructor, Primary Instructor)
Italian 271: Language in Action: Performing Italy with Theater
Italian 231-232: Intermediate and advanced intermediate Italian
Italian 101-102: Beginning and advanced beginning Italian
Professional Activities and Service
2021-2022 President of Women’s Studies Caucus, American Association of Italian Studies (term: 2021-2025); Faculty Senate (+ ad hoc meetings re: DEI and RVSM); University Council; Dept Salary Committee (Eng); Italian Section Committee (RCS); Ad Hoc University Care Givers Task Force
2020-2021 President of Women’s Studies Caucus, American Association of Italian Studies (term: 2021-2025); Faculty Senate (+ ad hoc meetings re: DEI and RVSM); University Council; Dept Advisory Council (RCS); Italian Section Committee; reviewed submission for The Italianist; reviewed submission for Gender/Sexuality/Italy
2019-2020 Faculty Senate (+ ad hoc meetings re: DEI and RVSM); University Council; Dept Advisory Council (RCS); Italian Section Committee; Organized visits with Prof. Alessia Ricciardi (RCS); Prof. Jennifer Scappettone (RCS & English); Served on award committee for GenCen; Hiring committee chair search (RCS)
2018-2019 Faculty Senate (+ ad hoc meetings re: DEI and RVSM); University Council; Undergraduate Committee (English); Italian Section Committee; Organized visit with Mitzi Montague-Bauer (English)
2017-2018 Policy Committee (English advisory council); Ad hoc committee for graduate certificate in film studies; Ad hoc committee for new bylaws (English); Italian Section Committee
2016-2017 Graduate Committee; Hiring Committee for TS line (English); Co-organizer and co-founder of Michigan Italian Alliance (a symposium across MSU, UM, and Wayne State U); Organizer for Consciousness-Raising Event with the Center for Gender in Global Context
2015-2016 English Department Speakers Committee; Italian Section Committee
Fall 2015 Mentoring Committee, Ad hoc. MSU
2014–pres. Core Member, Center for Gender in Global Context
2014–2015 Performance Studies Faculty Writing Group, organized group for monthly meetings to workshop articles-in-progress, discuss recent work in performance studies, and foster a performance studies community at MSU
2006–2013 University of Michigan as a graduate student: Graduate Writing Group Leader at the Sweetland Writing Center, selected; Graduate Student Coordinator for the Drama Interest Group (Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop) for which I organized numerous conferences, workshops and lectures by scholars and practitioners including Stacy Wolf, Philip Auslander, Enoch Brater, and Lynne McMahon; Department steward for Graduate Employees’ Organization; Organizing member for several initiatives and committees in Romance Languages & Literatures including the Fraker conference, and the Executive Committee
Professional Societies
American Association of Italian Studies (President of Women’s Studies Caucus, 2021-2025), American Society for Theatre Research, Modern Language Association
Foreign Languages
Near-native fluency Italian; proficiency French; basic Russian
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