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Christen
MANDRACCHIA, PhD.

Theatre & Performance Studies
DIRECTOR,
DESIGNER
Image by Hannah Busing

01 research

AREAS OF STUDY

THEATRE LABOR

60%

MUSICAL THEATRE

55%

MATERIAL CULTURE

 QUEER HISTORY

THEATRE ARCHITECTURE

POLITICAL COMMS

JEWISH HISTORY

FEMINISM

CRITICAL RACE

TOURISM

DIGITAL STUDIES

30%

35%

Dissertation: "Transforming the Beast: The Theatre Laboratories of the 'Disney Renaissance' 1984-1994"

20%

30%

Peer-Reviewed Publications

40%

35%

Conference Presentations

35%

40%

30%

Articles/Research in Progress

PROFESSIONAL 

CM

As a theatre and performance scholar with extensive professional theatre industry experience and years of mentoring young artists for a career in the industry, I have a profound scholarly interest in the material conditions of theatrical productions, the processes of creative labor, and a special focus on theatre professionals who take their specialized knowledge into non-theatrical contexts. Other research areas include queer history and theory, theatre architecture, tourism, political communications, Jewish history, and the digital humanities.

PORTFOLIO
EXPERIENCEO
Shadow Show

02 PORTFOLIO

MY LATEST INDUSTRY WORK
DIGITAL HUMANITIES

03 Experience

2007

Seeing Double,

Mime Workshop with Ronnie Davis, founding member of

San Fransisco Mime Troupe

 

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2007

Gilgamesh,

KCACTF Irene Ryan Nomination for

performance as Ishtar

 

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2009

The Diary of Anne Frank,

Actor: Mrs. Van Daan

 

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2010-2014

Early Theatre Professional

Actor. Director. Lighting Designer. Stage Manager. Production Manager. Props Master. Stagecraft Instructor. High School Substitute Teacher
The lessons I learned in my early career have shaped my professional and scholarly practice in useful ways. Jobs were scarce so I learned how to create my own opportunities. I returned to my high school alma matter, where I taught stagecraft, served as resident lighting designer, and eventually assistant technical director and production manager.  I developed my skills as a lighting designer professionally in the Philly Fringe Festival each year, in the Off-Off Broadway Strawberry One Act Play Festival, and at other high schools and community theatres. I even got to do a lighting design for Buddy the "Cake Boss". In these years, I learned how to be an artist and a professional.

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2013

Everyman,

Actor: Five Wits

 

2015

Philadelphia Theatre Research Symposium

 

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2015

Thesis in Directing:

Last Days of Judas

Iscariot

 

2015

Graduation, MA in Theatre

 

2015-2017

Road to Off-Broadway

Adjunct Professor, Technical Director, Production Manager, Director, Designer, Producer

After graduating from Villanova, I was empowered to self-produce theatrical productions with my peers. We produced and I directed a few productions locally, while I taught production and design at Delaware County Community College and Penn State Abington - where I also served as technical director and production manager, respectively. I maintained my scholarly work, presenting at conferences, and continuing research on musical theatre and popular culture. I served as the company manager for the Philadelphia Women's Theatre Festival. In 2016 I served as the general manager for I Will Speak for Myself, a one-woman show that reveals the lives of African American women, pre-emancipation, for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Off-Broadway at 59E59 St. Theatre. The next year I had the privilege of directing the award-winning Off-Broadway premiere of Dorian Gray the Musical, which had a sold-out run and won Best of Fest in its category in the New York Musical Festival. The very next day I moved to Maryland for another big adventure.  

2020-2022

Pandemic

Storyteller

Stories and pictures to be posted soon.

2006-2010

BA, Ursinus College

Undergraduate Student. Actor. Sound Designer. Camp Counselor. Thesis in Theatre for Young Audiences and Playwrighting 

In 2006 I did what most parents, high school counselors would advise against: I want to college for theatre. In my time at Ursinus, I learned how to blend practical skills of theatre with rigorous historical research. I applied this knowledge onstage and off in formative ways.  In addition to playwrighting and acting, I also learned that I have a talent for sound design and directing, where I could combine my love of onstage and backstage practice. Spending much of my time in these college years working as a camp counselor and directing drama camps at the YMCA, I developed an interest in theatre for young audiences, and wrote an educational play as my undergraduate thesis project, which blended projections and live actors. In 2010, I graduated with my degree in theatre, into the challenges of the "Great Recession." 

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2011

Les Miserables,

Assistant Director,

Lighting Design
 

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2012

Fiddler on the Roof,

Lighting Design
 

2013

Beauty and the Beast,

Assistant Director,

Lighting Design,

Asst. Tech Dir.

 

2013-2015

MA, Villanova University

Masters Student, Scenic Assistant, Thesis in Directing
At Villanova I learned how to become a scholar/artist - using the theatre as a laboratory and using research in history and theory to inform artistic choices. I discovered a special talent for musical theatre scholarship, queer theory, and feminist scholarship. Here, I participated in my first academic conferences and first envisioned a career in higher education. I earned a graduate assistantship in the scene shop and gained new understandings of the production process from all departments. I received valuable mentorship in areas of production management and learned how to self-produce theatre and invest in my peers. I learned the principles of theatre for social change and volunteered at a juvenile inmate facility, teaching theatre. I completed a thesis in directing. Villanova helped me discover my voice and gave me the tools to shape my future.

2017-2022

PhD. University of Maryland, College Park

Scholar, Technical Director, Sound Designer, Lighting Designer, Director

Stories and pictures to be posted soon. 

2022-Beyond

We're Doing This Again

Scholar, Technical Director, Sound Designer, Lighting Designer, Director

Stories and pictures to come soon.

2010

B.A. in Theatre from Ursinus College

 

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2015

Gypsy,

Director
 

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2016

Venus in Fur

Director
 

2016

I Will Speak for Myself,

General Manager, Lighting Designer

 

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2017

Dorian Gray the Musical,

Director

 

CONTACT
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