Bio

I am a scholar, theatre artist, and activist, working at the intersections of critical race studies and the Middle East. I am an Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at The Theatre School at DePaul University, where I lead the BFA directing concentration in addition to teaching classes in theatre history, performance studies, and theatre/performance of minoritarian communities. Currently, my writing focuses on contemporary Iran and the creative work of its directors and playwrights from 1997 to the present. I have taught a range of undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Pittsburgh, Tufts University and Emerson College, and I am committed to using my research, pedagogy, and art as forms of activism in this increasingly precarious world.

My writing and reviews have been featured in Theatre Journal, Theatre Topics, Theatre Survey, the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Puppetry International, and Language Log. My article, “And of Clay We Are Created: Zahra Sabri’s Count to One and the Material Ephemerality of War” was recently published in TDR, and my essay, “Erasing the Middle East: White Gatekeeping and the Painful Path of Progress,” can be found on HowlRound. I am the VP of Membership and Marketing for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, for which I was also among the founders and former Chair of the Middle Eastern Theatre focus group. I’m a director, dramaturg, and musical director in the Chicago area, where I am an artistic associate with the Medina Theatre Collective. I also have a side hustle as a commissioned musical arranger for choirs and a cappella groups! Alongside Dr. Nahid Ahmadian, I am co-editing and translating an anthology of Iranian drama, under contract with Seagull Books, titled The Dance of Mares and Other Plays from Post-Revolutionary Iran. I received my B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, my M.A. in Drama from Tufts, and my Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies from Tufts.