Katie Schaag

Katie Schaag is an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance at Spelman College since 2021. Her interdisciplinary approach engages the page, stage, gallery, screen and social context as sites of embodied inquiry. As a writer, artist and theorist, she researches experimental aesthetics through critical race, gender, feminist, trans, queer, and environmental studies.

Her educational background includes:

• Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison
• M.A. from University of Wisconsin-Madison
• B.A. from Loyola University Chicago

Schaag's research focuses on performativity, plasticity, and minoritarian avant-gardes. Her first book project, "Conceptual Theatre: Race, Gender, and Dematerialization," theorizes experimental aesthetics in African American and Asian American avant-garde drama. Her second project, "American Plasticity," draws on eco-critical, feminist, and queer theory to examine synthetic plastic aesthetics in contemporary performance. She creates site-specific performances, immersive installations, and lecture performances, often collaborating with her artistic duo SALYER + SCHAAG.

Her scholarly work appears in Modern Drama, Performance Research, and Inter Views in Performance Philosophy, while her public essays appear in Edge Effects and Yes Femmes. She has presented research internationally at Performance Studies International, Performance Philosophy, and International Federation for Theatre Research.

Schaag has received several notable awards:

• Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech (2018-2021)
• Mendota Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Humanities Without Walls National Fellow

As a committed public humanities scholar, Schaag co-founded the Art + Scholarship Borghesi-Mellon Workshop and the Madison Performance Philosophy Collective at UW-Madison. She has curated grant-funded "Theory-Practice Collaboratories" and international symposia, and continues this interdisciplinary work at Spelman College.

Her creative practice includes the interactive digital poetry platform "The Infinite Woman," which was selected for the Electronic Literature Organization's global e-lit collection (vol. 4). With SALYER + SCHAAG, she creates durational relational aesthetics projects exhibited at venues including Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and Woman Made Gallery.