My research focuses primarily on the intersection of narrative and performance in its various forms. I am currently working with the history of traditions of performance in Scandinavia and the development of this tradition in relation to the history of performance in continental Europe and Britain. My interests beyond my current dissertation project include not only the study of dramatic literature and dramatic performance, but also the study of film and television as well as a secondary interest in oral performance and Modern Swedish Literature.My dissertation, Uncovering Performance in Medieval Scandinavia, investigates the neglected field of pre-Reformation performance in Scandinavia. This project is a survey of the surviving primary sources as well as the scholarship that has been done regarding these texts in the centuries since the Scandinavian Reformation. Previous scholarship has concluded, based on a limited number of surviving texts, that Scandinavians did not participate in the medieval performance tradition evidenced in the many surviving texts from England and the continent. I argue that this previous scholarship artificially limited the field, ignoring a number of dramatic texts and secondary sources based on an outdated concept of drama and a narrow view of the development of European performance itself. I apply modern theories of performance to the available corpus of texts, rejecting the purely literary, nationalist theory that was applied by scholars such as G.E. Klemming and Sophus Birket Smith in the nineteenth century.

I begin with the first contemporary comprehensive survey of the surviving primary sources as well as the scholarship that has been done regarding these texts in the centuries since the Scandinavian Reformation. I propose a selection of sources that is nearly triple the size of original estimates and an astonishing ten times the number of texts referenced by nineteenth century scholars. This work lays the groundwork for a new area of study within the fields of Scandinavian Studies and the study of Medieval Drama. In the immediate future, I will revise my dissertation for publication in article and book form and follow this up with expanded studies of the individual texts. Extensive historical, linguistic, and textual analysis could still be applied to these sources in order to introduce them into the scholarly discussion of early Scandinavian performance. Perhaps the richest area of exploration opened up through this archival work is evidence of a tradition of performance dominated by young scholars that extends well into the early fifteenth century, well before the Humanist student drama that has received the majority of scholarly attention. My future research will focus on this early tradition in order to identify and contextualize Scandinavian performance tradition within the history of European performance.

In addition to continuing my work with medieval drama, I am interested in pursuing questions related to drama in performance as well as adaptation and audience studies. This theory applies to the early material discussed in my dissertation as well as modern performance in Scandinavia and abroad. I am particularly interested in the repertoires of small theaters such as the Commonweal which bills itself as an “Ibsen” theater. Similarly, I am fascinated by modern

adaptations of Scandinavian texts such as The Cutting Ball Theater’s 2012 Strindberg Cycle. I am also intrigued by film and television adaptation and reception including the American versions of the Millennium films, the recent Netflix version of The Killing and television shows such as The Office, which was released in several local versions, including a Swedish version.

My areas of interest and specialization are well-suited for work with undergraduates. As I discussed in my Teaching Philosophy and cover letter, students are more productive when they are engaged with the material. There seems to be a universal interest among students regarding international popular culture. A course focused on audience studies related to film and television would, as my experience shows me, be unusually popular and intellectually constructive. Although “old plays” may not at first be interesting to students, the possibility of exploring unexplored material appeals to undergraduates—and I would bill a course on this material as such. Such a course would provide an unprecedented opportunity for them to engage in the academic project first-hand.