Vanessa Marie Campagna
Associate Dean of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
Associate Professor and Chair, Theatre
Biography
Vanessa Marie Campagna holds a Ph.D. in theatre and performance studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia. At Monmouth, she coordinates the dramaturgy concentration within the theatre major, as well as the theatre education Major.
Campagna’s research centers on LGBT representation in American theatre and television, employing queer and feminist theories, and New Historicist methodology to explore the rhetorical purposes of dramatized and mediated representations.
Beyond the College, Campagna serves as senior co-chair of the Mid-America Theatre Conference’s Playwriting Symposium. An accomplished director, singer, dancer and actor, she has garnered professional credits throughout the Midwest.
Completing an undergraduate degree at a liberal arts institution motivated Campagna to teach within that same academic context. She couldn’t be happier to be serving the students of Monmouth!
Interests
LGBT Theatre and Drama
Theatre for Social Change
Musical Theatre
19th Century Continental European Theatre and Drama
Queer Theory
Feminist Theory
Television Studies
Disability Studies
Education
Ph.D. Theatre and Performance Studies
Graduate Minor: College Teaching
University of Missouri-Columbia
M.A. Theatre
Theatre History & Dramaturgy concentration
University of Missouri-Kansas City
B.A. Theatre
Acting and Vocal Music Performance concentrations
University of St. Mary
Courses Taught
THEA 497: Internship in Theatre Arts
THEA 490: Independent Study
THEA 377: Principles of Directing
THEA 372: Career Management
THEA 370: Voice and Movement
THEA 278: Theatre Collaboration
THEA 275: Script Analysis and Dramatic Literature
THEA 273: Modern Theatre History
THEA 272: Classical Theatre History
THEA 171: Introduction to Theatre
THEA 119: Theatre Practicum
INTG 406: Theatre and Social Change
INTG 202: World Drama
INTG 101: Introduction to Liberal Arts
Selected Work
PUBLICATIONS
“Gesturing Toward Queer Utopia: the Children’s World of Paula Vogel’s And Baby Makes Seven.” Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, 31, no. 3 (2017), 107-126.
“Gay is the New Cool: Mass Media Images of Gay America,” LGBT Americans at Risk: Problems and Solutions, ed. Chuck Stewart. Praeger, 2017.
“Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: Histories, Futures, and Gay Lives.” Journal of American Drama and Theatre, 26, no. 3 (2014)
“Hope and Repair.” Book Review. Popular Culture Studies Journal, Spring 2014.
“Missouri.” In Proud Heritage: People, Issues, and Documents of the LGBT Experience, 3rd edition, vol. 3, ed. Chuck Stewart. Praeger, 2015.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Since those evenings of my childhood … I have had the ‘red and gold’ sickness. I have never recovered. Each curtain going up … the two voids of darkness and light were joined, separated only by the footlights … After all this time, the theatre, where I work now, has not lost its prestige. I respect it. It intimidates and fascinates me … I live in it …”