AV俱乐部

Research Topics:
Theatre History, Performance Studies, Early Modern and Modern Drama, Opera in Performance, Canadian Theatre and Performance, Realism, Medical Humanities, Gender in Performance

Research and Creative Activity:听
Roberta鈥檚 research interests centre on the relationship between theatrical performance and the social construction of identity. Her work has explored such topics as the representation of gender and class in early modern tragedy, the lives and repertoires of early modern boy actresses, and the theatrical performance of illness and health. She is the author of鈥痶wo books, Symptoms of the Self: Tuberculosis and the Making of the Modern Stage (U of Iowa Press, 2022) and Early Modern Tragedy, Gender and Performance, 1984-2000: The Destined Livery鈥�(Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); the co-editor with Kim Solga of鈥疦ew Canadian Realisms: Eight Plays鈥痑nd鈥疦ew Canadian Realisms: Essays鈥�(Playwrights Canada Press, 2012); and the editor of numerous early modern plays, including Thomas Middleton鈥檚 Women Beware Women for The Routledge Anthology of Early Modern Drama (Routledge, 2020), as well as General Editor of the series鈥疦ew Essays in Canadian Theatre鈥痑t Playwrights Canada Press. Her credits as a stage director include鈥疌os矛 Fan Tutte, Aunt Helen, Luisa Miller,鈥疶he Rake鈥檚 Progress, and鈥疧rfeo ed Euridice鈥痜or Opera Nova Scotia;鈥疕enry IV, Part One鈥痜or Windsor Theatre, Mount Allison University; The Cunning Little Vixen for Dal Opera; and鈥疶he Dog in the Manger, Drums and Organs, She Herself is a Haunted House, The Mill on the Floss,鈥疶he Witch of Edmonton,鈥疐uente Ovejuna, and鈥疶roilus and Cressida鈥痜or Dal Theatre. She was the librettist for an opera by composer Tawnie Olson, Sanctuary and Storm, which won the Dominick Argento Prize for Best Chamber Opera from the National Opera Association of America and had its professional premiere in Vancouver in November 2023.

Teaching:鈥�舛寞舛寞舛寞舛寞

• Play Analysis for Directing (THEA 2902)

• Canadian Theatre Since 1968 (CANA / ENGL / THEA 4501):

Selected Publications:

• Symptoms of the Self: Tuberculosis and the Making of the Modern Stage (University of Iowa Press, 2023)

• 鈥淏irth of a Tragedy Queen: Richard Robinson and the Repertory of the King鈥檚 Men, 1610-11.鈥� Early Theatre 25.2 (Winter 2022): 145-56.

• Edition of Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton (c.1613-21), in The Routledge Anthology of Early Modern Drama, general editor Jeremy Lopez (Routledge, 2020)听

• 鈥淚maginary Invalids: Medicine and the Stage from Moli猫re to the Romantics.鈥� Literature and Medicine: The Eighteenth Century, eds. Clark Lawlor and Andrew Mangham (Cambridge University Press, 2021), 70-88.

• 鈥淏odies: Gender, Race, Ability, and the Shakespearean Stage.鈥� The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Contemporary Performance, eds. Peter Kirwan and Kathryn Prince (Bloomsbury, 2021), 211-227.

• 鈥淎lexandre Dumas et la construction du h茅ros th茅芒tral 鈥榓llemand鈥�.鈥濃�疞e Th茅芒tre de Dumas P猫re,鈥疎ntre H茅ritage et Renouvellement. Ed. Anne-Marie Callet-Bianco鈥痚t Sylvain Ledda. Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2018. 159-170.鈥淐onsumption and the Stage: A Late-Blooming Fashion.鈥濃�疛ournal of Eighteenth-Century Studies鈥�40.4鈥�(Fall 2017): 621-35.

• 鈥淭he 鈥楶lay-Boy,鈥� The Female Performer, and the Art of Portraying a Lady.鈥濃�疭hakespeare Bulletin鈥�33.1 (Spring 2015): 83-97.

• 鈥淭he Gallant Invalid: The Stage Consumptive and the Making of a Canadian Myth.鈥濃�疶heatre Research in Canada鈥�35.1 (Spring 2014): 69-88.

• "Affective Capital and Social Struggle in Dumas P猫re鈥檚鈥疉ng猫le.鈥濃�疦ineteenth-Century French Studies 41.3/4 (Spring and Summer 2013): 204-19.

• Roberta Barker and Kim Solga, eds.鈥疦ew Canadian Realisms: Eight Plays鈥痑nd鈥疦ew Canadian Realisms: Essays. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2012.

• Early Modern Tragedy, Gender and Performance, 1984-2000: The Destined Livery. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Selected Awards and Honours:

• Ann Saddlemyer Award for Best Book on Theatre in English or French published in 2022-23, for Symptoms of the Self: Tuberculosis and the Making of the Modern Stage, 2023

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Connections Grant for the 鈥淧erforming Shores / The Shores of Performance鈥� Conference, 2022

• Richard Plant Award for Best English-language Article on a Canadian theatre topic, for 鈥淭he Gallant Invalid: The Stage Consumptive and the Making of a Canadian Myth,鈥� 2015

• Elected member, inaugural cohort,鈥疌ollege of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, Royal Society of Canada,鈥�2014

• Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching, AV俱乐部, 2014

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,鈥疘nsight Development Grant, 2013-15: 鈥淪ymptoms of the Self: The Consumptive Hero on the Nineteenth-Century Stage鈥�

• Patrick O鈥橬eill Award for Best Edited Anthology, Canadian Association for Theatre Research, 2013 (for鈥疦ew Canadian Realisms: Eight Plays, edited with Kim Solga)

• Award for Excellence in Teaching,鈥疐aculty of Arts and Social Sciences, AV俱乐部, 2011

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,鈥疉id to Workshops Grant, 2010-11: 鈥淣ew Canadian Realisms鈥�

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,鈥疭tandard Research Grant,鈥�2005-8: 鈥淩ealizing the Classics鈥�

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