Dr. Leslie Durham joined the faculty of the Department of Theatre Arts at Boise State University in 2001 where she now teaches the majority of the theatre history and dramaturgy courses. Her Ph.D. in Theatre is from the University of Kansas. The goal of her textbook 'Theatre Lives', authored with her graduate school colleague Sally Shedd, is to present theatre as a vibrant, living art form, populated throughout its history by engaging and engaged artists. The book examines the creative processes, training, unique perspectives and influence of actors, directors, writers and other artists past and present. Dr. Durham's research interests include the analyzation of the work of important female playwrights. In addition to teaching and writing, she has extensive experience both as a dramaturg and director for productions including those at Boise State, Boise Contemporary Theatre, and the University of Kansas.
Articles
Found Images and Networked Americas in the Builders Association’s Alladeen, Theatre Journal (2009)
This essay analyzes and documents Alladeen, staged during 2002–05 by the Builders Association in collaboration...
Performing Gertrude Stein: Faith Ringgold’s Signification on Primitivism in The French Collection, Florida Atlantic Comparative Studies (2005)
No two performances of a play will ever be exactly the same. New directors, actors,...
A Pop Parade of American Fantasy: Staging National Identity in The Mother of Us All, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism (2002)
In her seminal study of the dramatic works of Gertrude Stein, They Watch Me As...
Books
Women's Voices on American Stages in the Early Twenty-First Century: Sarah Ruhl and Her Contemporaries, Faculty Authored Books (2013)
Women have claimed a spot at the center of American theatre, and the characters they...
Staging Gertrude Stein: Absence, Culture, and the Landscape of American Alternative Theatre, Faculty Authored Books (2005)
Gertrude Stein's dramatic texts rely on the absence of many landmarks of traditional theater, but...
Contributions to Books
Lisa Kron: Facing and Placing Lesbian Identity on New York Stages, We Will Be Citizens: New Essays on Gay and Lesbian Theatre (2008)
Ideas about non-places and un-spaces have dominated the fields of cultural studies and performance theory...
Presentations
Opening Language and Gesture: A Selection of Sarah Ruhl’s Stage Directions, American Society for Theatre Research (2010)