Ana Elena Puga

Ana Elena Puga is a Professor of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts and Spanish and Portuguese at The Ohio State University. Her work bridges aesthetics and politics in Latin American and US Latino performance, with focuses on migration, human rights, gender, and race. She co-authored Staging Migrant Suffering: Melodrama in Latin American and Latino Activism (2023) and authored Memory, Allegory, and Testimony in South American Theatre: Upstaging Dictatorship (2008). Her research has been supported by Stanford University’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (2010-11) and a Fulbright Grant.

Education:

• D.F.A. Yale School of Drama
• M.F.A. Yale School of Drama
• B.A. University of Chicago

Research Interests: Puga explores how performance intersects with migration, exile, and globalization. Her current project analyzes melodramatic representations of undocumented migrants. Her work combines theoretical frameworks from cultural studies and human rights activism.

Awards & Recognition:

• Pulitzer Prize Nomination (Journalism, 1990)
• Nieman Fellow at Harvard University (1990-91)
• Fulbright Research Grant (2013-14)

Teaching & Outreach: Puga teaches undergraduate courses in Latin American theatre and dramaturgy, and graduate seminars on migration and performance. She co-founded LaMicro Theatre, producing bilingual and contemporary works.