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Visiting Scholar: Dr. Kim Marra

Dr. Kim Marra, chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Iowa, visited U.Va. and the Department of Drama as a guest scholar on Thursday, February 19, 2009.  Dr. Marra spoke in LaVahn Hoh’s American Circus class and John Frick’s American Popular Entertainment class on the subject of equestrian drama.  Marra has been researching equestrian drama for the past year, and she treated our classes to her latest findings. 

On the afternoon of February 19, Dr. Marra gave a lecture, "Queer Identity and Actress Training in New York Circa 1900,” in Auditorium of the Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Library.  The lecture was co-sponsored by The U.Va. Drama and American Studies Departments; The Mary and David Harrison Institute of American History, Literature and Culture; and the American Theatre and Drama Society and was based upon her award winning book, Strange Duets: Impresarios and Actresses in the American Theatre, 1865-1914 (University of Iowa Press, 2006). 

Dr. Marra’s visit to U.Va. was part of theAmerican Theatre and Drama Society’sScholar Exchange Program.  The American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS) is an incorporated organization dedicated to the study of United States theatre and drama, its varied histories, traditions, literatures, and performances within its cultural contexts. U.Va. Drama professor John Frick is the current ATDS president. As part of the Scholar Exchange Program, Frick met with graduate classes last spring at the University of Iowa to discuss his book, Theatre, Culture and Temperance Reform in Nineteenth-century America (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and gave a lecture on his current research on Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the American stage.

Dr. Kim Marra, professor of American Studies and Theatre Arts, is a member of the advisory committee of the Sexuality Studies Program at the University of Iowa. Her book Strange Duets: Impresarios and Actresses in the American Theatre, 1865-1914 (The University of Iowa Press Studies in Theatre History and Culture Series, 2006) won the 2008 Joe A. Callaway Prize for Best Book on Drama or Theatre conferred biennially by NYU’s Department of English. She co-edited Passing Performances: Queer Readings of Leading Players in American Theater History (1998) and Staging Desire: Queer Readings of American Theater History (2002), The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy: A Biographical Dictionary of Major Figures of the American Stage in the Pre-Stonewall Era (2005), all for the University of Michigan Press. Her new book project is entitled “Fashioning the Thoroughbred Ideal: Show Women and Show Horses on American Stages, 1865-1930.” She serves on the editorial boards of The University of Iowa Press, the Theatre in the Americas Series of Southern Illinois University Press, and Theatre History Studies, as well as on the Publications Committee of the American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS). She is a former Secretary of the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) and a former member of both the Executive Committee of ASTR and the Executive Board of the ATDS. She has been Book Review Editor as well as an Editorial Board member of Theatre Survey.

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