Campus Directory

Pronouns he/him/his

Division Arts Division

Department/College/Unit Department of Performance, Play & Design (PPD)

Title Professor of Dramatic Literature

Affiliation Faculty

Faculty Type Research Professor

Areas of Expertise American Studies
Artificial Intelligence
Classical Studies
Cultural Studies
Critical Theory
Digital Arts
Dramaturgy
Middle Ages
New Media

Web Site

Primary Office Location Theater Arts J Offices
19

Additional Location(s) J-103

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours Fridays 12-2 and by Appointment

Mail Stop Theater Arts Center

Biography, Education and Training

Michael Chemers researches the “dramaturgy of empathy,” a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary inquiry that seeks to understand how performance culture fosters compassion and kindness (and conversely, fear and hatred). Michael is the creator of the 'Ghost Light' model of dramaturgy: a muscular, creatively engaged, artistically vibrant approach to dramaturgy that requires thorough historical understanding, theoretical training broad and deep, and a passionate dedication to creating powerful, relevant performances of all types. Through his writings, which have been translated into several languages, this model has become popular across the world.

Research Interests

Dramaturgy, Theater History, Monster Studies,Theory & Critical Studies and Dramatic Literature.

Teaching Interests

Dramaturgy, Theater History, Monster Studies,Theory & Critical Studies and Dramatic Literature.

Awards, Honors and Grants

• 2013  Excellence in Teaching Award, UCSC. 
• 2010  Ghost Light: An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy listed in "Significant University Press Titles for Undergraduates, 2009-2010." Choice, V.47, no. 09, May 2010.

Selected Exhibitions

https://www.santacruzmah.org/exhibitions/lost-worlds (Curator)

Selected Publications

 Books:

• The Monster in Theatre History: This Thing of Darkness. Oxford UK: Routledge, 2017.
• Towards a Theory of Mime, by Alexander Iliev (English edition, edited by Michael Chemers). Oxford UK: Routledge, 2014
• Ghost Light: An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy. Theatre in the Americas Series. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010. (translations in Korean and Farsí)
• Staging Stigma: A Critical Examination of the American Freak Show. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008. Winner: ATHE Outstanding Book Award of 2009 (Hon. Ment.)

Adaptations of Classic Plays:

• Lysistrata. with J.A. Ball. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2008.
• The Inspector General. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2011.

Book Chapters:

• "THE GAME OF GAME OF THRONES: Social Network Analysis and Fractal Dramaturgy," co-authored with Andrew Beveridge, PhD, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, Macalester College, for Narrative Ecosystems, Paolo Brembilla
• "Unfinished Business: How Shakespeare's Ghost(s) came to Haunt the Eighteenth Century." Ashgate Research Companion to Shakespeare and Classical Literature. Nick Cosgrove and Sean Keilen, eds. London: Ashgate, 2015 
• “Defixio; The Speakable Legacy of John Belluso” for Theatre and Human Rights after 1945: Things Unspeakable; Mary Luckhust and Emilie Moran, eds. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. 6,000 words.
• "Phronesis for Robots: (Re)Covering Dramaturgy as an Inter-discipline." The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy. Magda Romanska, ed. Oxford, Routledge, 2014
• "Like Unto A Lively Thing: Social Robots and Theater History." Performance and Technology. Kara Reilly, ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
• "I'm Not Special? Timmy, Jimmy, and the Double-Move of Disability Parody in South Park." with Hioni Karamanos. Deconstructing South Park: Critical Examinations of Animated Transgressions. Brian Cogan, ed. New York: Lexington, 2011
• "Wild and Untamed Thing: The Exotic, Erotic, and Neurotic Rocky Horror Performance Cult." Rocky Horror and Popular Culture. Jeffrey Weinstock, ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008

Courses THEA 80C Monsters
THEA 160 Dramatic Theories
THEA 61A Ancient and Medieval Theatre
THEA 290A Research Methods in the Arts
THEA 290B Practice of Theory