Julia Listengarten

Julia Listengarten, Ph.D.

Biography

A theatre artist and scholar, Julia Listengarten has worked professionally in New York City with various experimental theatre companies and is currently Professor of Theatre, Artistic Director, and Coordinator of Graduate Studies at the University of Central Florida. Her research interests include avant-garde theatre, contemporary scenographic practice, and performances of national identity. Her translation of Christmas at the Ivanovs' (with Karin Coonrod) premiered off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company and was included in Theater of the Avant-Garde, 1890-1950. Among her directing credits are Bernarda Alba, Seminar, Cloud 9, Marisol, EurydiceThe Burial at Thebes, Gem of the OceanVinegar Tom, and The Baltimore Waltz, and she is the recipient of many meritorious achievement awards in directing from the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. 

Her books include Russian Tragifarce: Its Cultural and Political Roots (Susquehanna UP, 2000), Theater of the Avant-Garde, 1950-2000 (with Knopf; Yale UP, 2011), Playing with Theory in Theatre Practice (with Alrutz and Wood; Palgrave, 2012),  Modern American Drama: Playwriting 2000-2009, Voices, Documents, New Interpretations ( with Rosenthal; Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018), Cambridge Companion to American Theatre Since 1945 (with Di Benedetto; Cambridge UP, 2021), and Performing Arousal: Precarious Bodies and Frames of Representation (with Meeerzon; Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022). She has contributed to many edited theatre collections and her articles have been published in Recherches Semiotiques/Semiotic Inquiry, SCENE, Translation Perspectives, Ecumenica Journal of Theatre and Performance, and Slavic and East European Performance, among others.  She has recently co-edited the 8 volume series Decades of Modern American Drama: Playwriting from the 1930s to 2009 and served as journal editor of Stanislavski Studies: Practice, Legacy and Contemporary Theater .

Dr. Listengarten is the recipient of many University of Central Florida awards including the prestigious Luminary Award 2022, The Pegasus Professor Award 2020, 2022-2023 and 2018-2019 Pabst Steinmetz Innovation Awards in Arts & Wellness, the 2019 University Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award and the 2019 Women of Distinction Award in Creative Entrepreneurship.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Theatre Studies from University of Michigan (1996)

Research Interests

contemporary and avant-garde theatre practices, performance and identity politics, performance as social practice. 


Selected Publications

Books

  • Visual and Performing Arts Collaborations in Higher Education: Transdisciplinary Practices (with Keri Watson), Palgrave Macmillan.
  • (with Cindy Rosenthal) Decades of Modern American Playwriting: the 2000s; Voices, Documents, New Interpretations. Methuen Drama.

Edited Collections

  • Performing Arousal: Precarious Bodies and Frames of Representation (with Yana Meerzon). Bloomsbury Methuen Publishing

  • The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre Since 1945. (with Stephen Di Benedetto). Cambridge University Press, 2021.
  • Decades of Modern American Playwriting: 1930-2009. 8 volume series. Co-edited with Brenda Murphy. Methuen Drama/Bloomsbury

Articles/Essays

  • "Il teatro statunitense nel Duemila: temi, prospettive, tendenze." Ácoma: Rivista internazionale di Studi Nordamericani N. 20 Nuova Serie, Primavera-Estate 2021 - Anno XXVII.

  • “In Search of New Authenticity in Staging Brecht’s Good Woman of Setzuan”

    (with Vandy Wood, and Megan Alrutz). Theatre Arts Journal: Studies in Scenography and Performance, Vol. 5, 1 (2020): 76-86.

  • “Building Affective Solidarity and Creating Healthier Communities through the Arts:Interactions, Elaborations, and Interventions in Multiple Contexts” (with Keri Watson andKate Kilpatrick). The International Journal of Arts Education, Volume 14: 4 (2019), https://artsinsociety.com.
  • “Staging representations: Reflections on performing activism in a visual art and theatre collaboration” (with Keri Watson). SCENE6.1 (2019): 41-62.
  • (with Lyubov Zabolotskaya Weidner), "Vasiliev Methodology: Situational and Ludo Structures.” In Stanislavski Studies: Practice, Legacy and Contemporary Theater. 5.1: 13-20.   

Book Sections/Chapters

  • “When actors become birds: Re-envisioning pedagogical frameworks in the rehearsal space” (with Christopher Niess), in Stanislavsky and Pedagogy. Ed. Stefan Aquilina, Bloomsbury Publishing

  • Forthcoming

    Anton Chekhov and Modern Theatre: Resonances and Intersections,” in Chekhov

    in Context. Ed. Yuri Currigan. Cambridge University Press, 2022, 205-212.

  • “Pussy Riot’s Radical Acts: Transgressive Bodies in Performance and the

    Ghosting of the Russian Avant-Garde,” in Performing Arousal: Precarious Bodies and

    Frames of Representation. Eds. Julia Listengarten and Yana Meerzon. Drama Bloomsbury

    Publishing, 2022, 131-145

  •  “Introduction to Becky Shaw.” Gina Gionfriddo, Becky Shaw, Methuen Drama, 2020, v-xvi.
  • “Affecting the Lives of ‘Others’: The Journey of Albee’s Plays in the Soviet Union.” Edward Albee as Theatricla and Dramatic Innovator. Ed. David Crespy and Linloln Klonkle. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2019, 147-166.
  • "Russian Stage Design and Theatrical Avant-Garde.” Scenography. Ed. Arnold Aronson. Routledge,  385-401. 

Creative Publications

  • “Puppets, Kites, and the Swirling Waters: Convergent Boundaries in a Site-Specific  Performance.” SCENE 5:2. 

Awards

 

Pabst Steinmetz Innovation Arts & Wellness Award (2023)

Research Incentive Award (RIA) (2023), University of Central Florida

Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) (2023), University of Central Florida

Luminary Award (2022), University of Central Florida

Pegasus Professor (2020), University of Central Florida

NEA Big Read (2023)

NEA Big Read (2020)

NEA Big Read (2019)

NEA Big Read (2018)

NEA Big Read (2017)

Women of Distinction Award (2019), University of Central Florida

Excellence in Graduate Teaching (2019), University of Central Florida

Pabst Steinmetz Innovation Arts & Wellness Award (2018)

Research Incentive Award (RIA) (2018), University of Central Florida

Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) (2018), University of Central Florida

Scroll & Quill Society (2017), University of Central Florida

Excellence in Directing (2022), Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival

Excellence in Directing (2019), Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival

Excellence in Directing (2018), Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival

Excellence in Directing (2017), Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival

Excellence in Directing (2016), Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival

Excellence in Directing (2014), Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival

Information Fluency Award (2013), University of Central Florida

Excellence in Graduate Teaching (2012), University of Central Florida



Courses

No courses found for Spring 2026.

No courses found for Fall 2025.

No courses found for Summer 2025.

Course Number Course Title Mode Date and Time Syllabus
19619 THE5307 Contemporary Theatre Practice In Person (P) Tu,Th 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM Unavailable
No Description Available
18687 THE5945 Theatre Practicum Ⅰ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
18688 THE5946 Theatre Practicum Ⅱ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
18689 THE6947 Theatre Practicum Ⅲ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
19935 TPA3523 New Play Festival In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
Course Number Course Title Mode Date and Time Syllabus
93454 THE4253 Hon Dram Comedy Through Ages In Person (P) Tu,Th 03:00 PM - 04:15 PM Unavailable
No Description Available
91019 THE6507 Dramatic Theory and Criticism In Person (P) Tu,Th 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
93646 TPA3513 Season Selection In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
93645 TPA3523 New Play Festival In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
Course Number Course Title Mode Session Date and Time Syllabus
60811 TPA3195 Sum Thea Studio Tech Design Ⅰ In Person (P) A 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
60815 TPP3952 Summer Studio Performance In Person (P) A 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
60115 TPP4940 Theatre Internship Web-Based (W) C 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
Course Number Course Title Mode Date and Time Syllabus
19444 THE5205 American Theatre In Person (P) Tu,Th 10:00 AM - 11:15 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
11008 THE5945 Theatre Practicum Ⅰ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
11009 THE5946 Theatre Practicum Ⅱ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
11010 THE6947 Theatre Practicum Ⅲ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
Course Number Course Title Mode Date and Time Syllabus
80303 THE5910 Research Methods in Theatre In Person (P) Tu,Th 12:00 PM - 01:20 PM Available
No Description Available
80275 THE5945 Theatre Practicum Ⅰ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Available
No Description Available
80276 THE5946 Theatre Practicum Ⅱ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
80277 THE6947 Theatre Practicum Ⅲ In Person (P) 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Available
No Description Available
Course Number Course Title Mode Session Date and Time Syllabus
61457 TPP3197 Summer Theatre/performance In Person (P) A 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available
50741 TPP3952 Summer Studio Performance In Person (P) A 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Unavailable
No Description Available

Updated: Jan 11, 2024