Laura Edmondson (she/hers/any) teaches courses on postcolonial African drama, feminist and queer performance, transnational theater history, and human rights and performance. She has published widely on eastern and central African theater and performance, including two books:Performance and Politics in Tanzania: The Nation on Stage and Performing Trauma in Central Africa: Shadows of Empire, both of which were published through the African Expressive Cultures series at Indiana University Press. Her articles have appeared in GLQ, Theatre Journal, JALA, Theatre Research International, TDR, Theatre Topics, and the anthologies African Performance Arts (Routledge) and Violence Performed (Palgrave Macmillan). She received the 2021 Oscar Brockett Best Essay Prize from the American Society of Theatre Research for her article, "Faustin Linyekula and the Violence of Plague," which appeared in Theatre Journal. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the American Association of University Women, and the Fulbright Program. At Dartmouth, she has served as the department chair of Theater as well as program chair of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; she has twice received the Dean of the Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentoring and Advising. She is currently the editor of Theatre Journal and also serves on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Theatre Research. For 2024-2025, she is a grateful recipient of an NEH fellowship for her book project, Performing Contagion and Care in Central Africa.
Theater
"Labial Politics in Uganda: The Poetry and Activism of Stella Nyanzi." Forthcoming in Meridians: race, feminism, transnationalism (2025).
"The Theatre of Tejumola Olaniyan: African Performance and the Possibilities of Strangeness." Journal of the African Literature Association, 18.2 (2024), 244–256.
"Faustin Linyekula and the Violence of Plague." Theatre Journal (December 2020): 405-423.
"The Fabulous Pan-Africanism of Binyavanga Wainaina." GLQ 26.3 (June 2020): 529-560.
Performing Contagion and Care in Central Africa
