Faculty Bios

Jon D. Rossini

Performance Studies

Jon D. Rossini joined the faculty of UC Davis in 2003 as a scholar of theatre and performance studies. He received his B.A. in 1993 from the University of Cincinnati and his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1999. Before coming to UC Davis he taught in the Drama Program at Duke University and in the English Department at Texas Tech University. His courses include Modern Aesthetic Movements in Performance, Representing Race in Performance, Contemporary and Experimental Theatre and Drama, and Introduction to Performance Theory. His primary research is in the intersections of ethnicity and performance, especially in contemporary Chicana/o and Latina/o Theatre. He is also interested in the epistemology of theatre as well as theories of neoliberalism, space, and identity.

Dr. Rossini has published articles in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Text and Presentation, Gestos, American Drama, Journal of American Drama and Theater and in collections such as Codifying the Nation and Mediating Chicana/o Culture. His first book, Contemporary Latina/o Theater: Wrighting Ethnicity (2008), is part of the Theater in the Americas series from Southern Illinois University Press. His dramaturgical experience includes Somewhere in the Pacific (Manbites Dog Theater), Electricidad (Sacramento Theatre Company) and A Dream Inside Another (Sideshow Physical Theatre).

Dr. Rossini has presented work at national and international conferences including ASTR, ATHE, Comparative Drama Conference, IFTR, LASA, LATT, MELUS and NACCS. He serves on the Board of the Comparative Drama Conference, the editorial board of Text and Presentation and is conference planner for the ATHE Latina/o Focus Group. His current research includes a book manuscript, The Political Geography of Latina/o Theater, which has been supported by a UC MEXUS grant and a Davis Humanities Institute Fellowship.