LaRonika Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Washington College, where she teaches courses in dramaturgy, theatre history, and performance studies. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she developed a theory of civic dramaturgy for her dissertation on performances of urban planning, cultural space and cultural policy, and the role of art and culture in 21st century Chicago.
Her chapter “Temple-Swapping in the City: The Spatial Imaginary and Performances of Place-Making in the Work of Theaster Gates” is included in Makeshift Chicago Stages: A Century of Theatre and Performance, published by Northwestern University Press. Her essay, “Digital Dramaturgy and Digital Dramaturgs” is included in The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy.
LaRonika...
LaRonika Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Washington College, where she teaches courses in dramaturgy, theatre history, and performance studies. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she developed a theory of civic dramaturgy for her dissertation on performances of urban planning, cultural space and cultural policy, and the role of art and culture in 21st century Chicago.
Her chapter “Temple-Swapping in the City: The Spatial Imaginary and Performances of Place-Making in the Work of Theaster Gates” is included in Makeshift Chicago Stages: A Century of Theatre and Performance, published by Northwestern University Press. Her essay, “Digital Dramaturgy and Digital Dramaturgs” is included in The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy.
LaRonika currently also serves as the LMDA Liaison for Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s (ATHE) Dramaturgy Focus Group (DRFG), where she organizes panels and events that address topics of concern to both academic and dramaturgs in the field.
A professional dramaturg, producer, and writer, LaRonika worked in arts education, literary management, and dramaturgy in Chicago and in the Baltimore/DC area before returning to school for her doctorate. Her work has been funded by LMDA, ATDS, CCBC, ATHE, the University of Maryland, and the City of Chicago.