Amanda Dawson

Biography

Amanda Dawson, Ph.D. (she/her), is an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Head of the BFA Theatre Education Program in the College of Arts & Sciences at Utah State University. Amanda holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, a MA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a BSE in Theatre and Speech Education from the University of Central Missouri. Amanda teaches courses in theatre history, contemporary theatre, and theatre education. In practice, Amanda is a dramaturg and director. Most recently she dramaturged Hay Fever and Shear Madness for the Lyric Repertory Company (Logan, UT). In fall 2024, Amanda will direct Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B for the Department of Theatre Arts at USU. Her scholarship is interdisciplinary and centers on theatre education, dramaturgy, and representations of the United States military and veterans on stage. Amanda’s most recent article, “Dramaturging Script Analysis” was co-written with Dr. Scott Knowles (Southern Utah University) and published in Theatre Topics. She has also published in the Popular Culture Studies Journal, New England Theatre Journal, ArtsPraxis, Etudes, and Howlround. She is conducting an ongoing research project that examines theatre teacher training programs across Utah and the United States. Amanda is actively involved in the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) where she serves on the Governing Council, the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) where she serves as the Editor for the LMDA Bibliography, and the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE).