Rebecca Kastleman

Rebecca Kastleman serves as Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Associate Director of Graduate Studies at Columbia University, with additional affiliation to the PhD Program in Theatre and Performance. Her research examines how modern drama theorizes collectivity through intersections of dramatic literature with social thought and performance practice's implications for political movements.

Her academic credentials include:

• A.B., Harvard University, 2006
• A.M., Harvard University, 2014
• Ph.D., Harvard University, 2017

Dr. Kastleman specializes in twentieth and twenty-first century theater, focusing on modernist performance's engagement with religion, gender, and social formations. Her work spans American, British, European, and postcolonial contexts while incorporating philosophy, aesthetics, and media studies. She investigates how drama generates new social potentialities beyond theatrical spaces through chorus reconceptualization and ritual analysis.

Her scholarly recognition includes the Howard Mumford Jones Prize (2017). She is author of Profaning Acts: Drama After Religion on the Modern Stage and developing Chorus and Collectivity, examining theatrical collectivity as social blueprint.