Kristen Sieranski

Kristen Sieranski is a Ph.D. student and Graduate Instructor in Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Notre Dame. She specializes in modern and contemporary drama, focusing on representations of ghosts in theatrical contexts and their relationship to personal, community, or national trauma in postcolonial settings. Her research interrogates how haunting mechanisms articulate unspeakable traumas, the corporeal dimensions of staged performances, and the role of drama in truth and reconciliation processes.

Education:

• Ph.D. Student (current), University of Notre Dame
• M.A. in English, Villanova University
• B.A. in English, Kean University

Affiliations:

• Center for Social Concern Graduate Justice Fellow
• Kellogg Institute for International Study Doctoral Affiliate
• Member of International Network for the Comparative Humanities
• Pursuing a minor in Irish Studies

Her work examines transnational performance networks and how directorial choices shape the meaning of haunting narratives. She is particularly interested in the materiality of live performance and its capacity to confront historical legacies of colonialism.