LISA L. BIGGS Michigan State University Residential College in the Arts and Humanities 362 Bogue Street, Snyder C210, East Lansing, MI 48825 (517) 884-6002 (office) [email protected] EDUCATION Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 2013 Ph.D., Performance Studies Dissertation: “Acting Right: The Role of Performance in Black Women’s Community Organizing From Behind Bars.” Graduate Certificates in Gender Studies and African American and Diaspora Studies Committee: E. Patrick Johnson (Chair), D. Soyini Madison, Ramon Rivera-Servera New York University, Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York, NY 2007 M.A., Playwriting & Performance Studies Thesis: “The Changing Construction of Black Womanhood on the American Stage.” Amherst College, Amherst, MA 1993 B.A., Theatre & Dance Magna Cum Laude Thesis: “Hey Baby! Have You Seen Her?: The Process of Building My Original Work.” AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION Theatre for Social Change. African American Theatre and Performance History. Cultural Criminology. Legal Studies. Playwriting. Devising Original Performance. PROFESSIONAL HISTORY Assistant Professor, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH), 2013-Present Michigan State University Teaching Assistant (Sole Instructor), Department of Performance Studies, 2012 Northwestern University Teaching Assistant (Sole Instructor), Department of Performance Studies, 2008-2009 Northwestern University Adjunct Faculty, Graham School of Continuing Education, University of Chicago 2008 Dance Department Administrator, Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus 2006-2007 Graduate Assistant, Interdisciplinary Arts Program, New York University 2004-2006 Freelance Teaching Artist 2001-2006 Artist Educator, Living Stage Theatre Company/Arena Stage 1999-2001 Performing Artist and Playwright 1993-Present Biggs, Vita 2 PUBLICATIONS Book Chapters “Between Living and Dying: Rhodessa Jones’s Big-Butt Girls, Hard-Headed Women.” Solo/Black/ Woman: Scripts, Interviews, and Essays. Eds. E. Patrick Johnson and Ramon Rivera-Servera. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2013. In 2014, the collection received an Honorable Mention for the Errol Hill Book Award from the American Society of Theatre Research for its outstanding research in African American Theatre and Performance Studies. Accepted and Forthcoming “Crossing the River to Recovery: Rebecca Rice and the Performance of Black Feminist Theatre for Social Change.” Afrocentric Approaches to Teaching Acting/Directing Theatre: The Hendricks Method and Other Techniques. Eds. Sharrell D. Luckett and Tia M. Shaffer. New York: Routledge Publishing, Inc. Submitted for Review “They Pink Dress Ain’t Done Shit: Performing Black Quare Activism at a Women's Gulf Coast Prison.” Book chapter draws from my research at a women’s maximum security prison in the U.S., whose Drama Club uses performance to address racist and homophobic policies instituted by the prison administration. For the anthology, Applied Theatre: Women and the Criminal Justice System, edited by Coaimhe McAvinchey for Metheun Press. “Serious Fun at Sun City: Rhodessa Jones, Prison Drama and the Performance of Rehabilitation for Women Incarcerated in the “New” South Africa.” Journal article documenting how incarcerated women in South Africa appropriate a prison drama program to critique popular notions about crime, criminality and rehabilitation. In Progress “Awuleth umshini wami (Bring me my machine gun): Mobilizing for Radical Change Through Theatre for Incarcerated Women.” Journal article argues prison-based theatre scholarship overlooks the importance of Black performance practices behind bars, and asserts that a Black feminist theoretical approach to devising and staging prison dramas is critical to incarcerated women’s political organizing from behind bars in South Africa. Acting Right: The Role of Performance in Black Women’s Community Organizing From Behind Bars. Book manuscript that contributes to the emerging literature on law and performance ethnographies about imprisoned women’s appropriation of Black performance practices and prison arts programs for community organizing on both sides of the prison door. FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS AND HONORS Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois Initiative Fellowship, State of Illinois 2009-2013 ($60,000) Competitive fellowship to promote graduate study by people of color from Illinois Center for Legal Studies Graduate Fellow, Northwestern University 2011-2013 National Communications Fraternity Zeta Phi Eta Award, Northwestern University 2012 Ellen S. Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media 2011 Fellow at Columbia College-Chicago Goodman Award, Program of African Studies, Northwestern University 2010 Biggs, Vita 3 Leo Bronstein Homage, Gallatin School, New York University 2006 President's Service Award for Leadership for successfully producing the 2005 & 2006 2006 Gallatin Arts Festival, New York University Artist Fellowship, Washington DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities 2000 The Hattie McDaniel Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Faith & the Good 1995 Thing) at the Chicago Theatre Company, Black Theater Alliance Awards, Chicago, IL Raymond K. Bryant Prize for Outstanding Performance, Theatre & Dance Department, 1993 Amherst College GRANTS Perform Midwest: Incubating Collaborative Research Project, Global Midwest Initiative 2015- University of Illinois-Champaign ($80,000) Bridges six universities, uniting students and faculty 2017 members around three artistic projects that challenge the stereotype of the Midwest as a homogeneous monoculture. I will collaborate with a team of other artists and scholars to build performance and engage in research on animal/human stories. Individual Artist Grant, State of Illinois ($750) to build a new website to promote my artistic 2013 and academic work Buffett Center International Travel Grant, Northwestern University ($2,500) to support ongoing 2012 research in South Africa with the Medea Project: Theatre for Incarcerated Women Buffett Center International Travel Grant, Northwestern University ($2,500) to initiate research 2010 in South Africa on the Medea Project: Theatre for Incarcerated Women Young Emerging Artists Grant, Washington DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities to 2001 develop and tour my solo theatre/dance work, Vigilante.Artist. SELECTED RESEARCH AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS “Demeter’s Daughter: Redefining the Role of the Performing Arts in Incarcerated Women’s Rehabilitation.” Paper delivered at the Marking Time: Prison Arts and Activism Conference. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. October 2014. “In A Dream I Saw A Way to Survive: The Role of Performance in South African Women’s Community Organizing From Behind Bars.” Paper delivered at the Association of Theatre in Higher Education Annual Conference. Phoenix, AZ. July 2014 Performer. Stage Reading of Femmes by Gina Young, the winner of the Jane Chambers Award 2014. Women and Theatre Association. Association of Theatre in Higher Education Annual Conference. Phoenix, AZ. July 2014. “Awuleth Umshini Wami (Bring Me My Machine Gun): Dance as Performative Intervention for Women Behind Bars.” Body/Space/Emergence. Drama Department. University of Pretoria, South Africa. January 2014. By Skype. Biggs, Vita 4 “There Are Black Women in the Future: Performance as a Praxis of Possibility for Women Behind Bars.” Shakespeare In Prisons Inaugural Conference. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. 2013. “That Pink Dress Ain’t Done Shit: Performing Queer Activism at a Women’s Gulf Coast Prison.” Association of Theatre in Higher Education Annual Conference. Washington, DC. 2012. "Don't Be A Dress, Be A Woman: Theatre for Incarcerated Women in South Africa." Society of Dance History Scholars Annual Conference. Philadelphia, PA. 2012 “Serious Fun at Sun City: Re-Appropriating a Johannesburg Prison for Women’s Activism.” Program of African Studies. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. April 2012 “Performance and Prison Rehabilitation for South African Women.” Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. February 2011. “Rhodessa Jones and the Medea Project: Theatre for Incarcerated Women in South Africa.” University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. 2009. “Inside/Out: Staging Research From Behind Bars.” Performance Studies International. York University, Toronto, Canada, 2010. “Why Walk When You Can Fly?: The Living Stage Praxis of Community Engagement and Mobilization.” Citizenship and Applied Theatre Conference. New York University, New York, NY. 2010. “The Living Stage Theatre and the Performance of Black Women’s Community Organizing.” Radical Intersections: Performance Across Disciplines: The Inaugural Performance Studies Graduate Student Conference. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 2009. “The Living Stage and the Performance of Civic Engagement.” American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Washington, DC. 2009. SELECTED PROFESSIONAL THEATRE AND DANCE PERFORMANCES Original Performance Work (Writer and Performer) Where Spirit Rides; Or, The National Black Theatre Festival 2013 Long Way Home Shadowbox Theatre, New Orleans Fringe Festival 2011 Rustbelt Revival, Links Hall, Curator: Holly Hughes 2009 Northwestern University 2008 Nervous Conditions Northwestern University (stage reading) 2010 (written with Lori Baptista) Memory is a Body of Water National Black Theatre Festival 2004 (written with Tanisha Christie) Goucher College 2004 NY International Fringe Festival NY Hip Hop Theatre Fest 2003 Amherst