Carla Della Gatta, PhD
Carla Della Gatta is a theatre historian and performance theorist whose research focuses on ethnicity and aurality, specifically Shakespearean adaptation and performance, bilingual theatre, and theatre archives. Her primary fields are Shakespeare, Latinx theatre, LGBTQ theatre, and critical theory. She is Head of the MA/PhD program and Associate Professor of Theatre Scholarship and Performance Studies at University of Maryland.​
​
Her work has been published in academic journals and collections, and her public scholarship can be found online through Chicago Shakespeare Theater, HowlRound, Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and more. She is on the Steering Committee of the Latinx Theatre Commons and the Executive Council of the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society. She serves on the boards for Shakespeare Survey and the Arden series Shakespeare and Social Justice.
She co-edited the collection, Shakespeare and Latinidad, published with Edinburgh University Press (2021), and her monograph, Latinx Shakespeares: Staging U.S. Intracultural Theater is open access with University of Michigan Press (January 2023).
​
Prior to graduate school, Carla spent nine and a half years in the corporate sector in finance, strategic planning, and sales planning for GAP, Disney, Skechers, and Williams Sonoma. She has extensive experience in process and project management and change implementation.
Carla is Colombian and Jewish, born and raised in Los Angeles, and her scholarship is rooted in her lived experience living between languages.
Employment & Education
Employment:
2023-present: Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Maryland
2019-23: Assistant Professor of English, Florida State University
2015-19: Assistant Professor of Critical Studies - Theatre, University of Southern California
​​
Invited Affiliations:
2022-present: Tsikinya-Chaka Centre (TCC), Wits University of Johannesburg
2018-24: Bedrosian Center, Price School of Public Policy, USC
2017-19: Race and Equity Center, USC
2015-19: Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies, UCLA
​
Education:
PhD - Theatre and Drama, Northwestern University
Certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies
MA - Theatre and Drama, Northwestern University
MA - Literature in English, San Francisco State University
BA - English, University of California, Berkeley
Arts & Academic Boards and Service
Latinx Theatre Commons
2017 - present: Steering Committee
​
The Fornés Institute
2022 - present: Digital Humanities Editor
2018 - present: Member
​​
Shakespeare and Social Justice series, Arden Shakespeare
2021 - present: Advisory Board
​
Shakespeare Survey
2021-present: Advisory Board
​
Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society (MRDS)
2024-27: Executive Council
​​
Teatro Magazine
2021-23: Performance Review Editor (English)
​
Teatro: Revista de Estudios Culturales / A Journal of Cultural Studies
2021-23: Editorial Board
​
Expand the Canon Initiative, Hedgepig Theatre Ensemble
2020-21: Board Member
​
Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
2022: Member, Awards Adhoc Committee, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
2019-21: Member-At-Large / Liaison to the Operations Committee, Governing Council
American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR)
2021-23: Chair (2023), Member (2021-22), committee for three research and publishing awards
2018–20: Chair (2020), Member (2018-19), Collaborative Research Award Committee
Shakespeare Association of America (SAA)
2020-21: SAA Publics Award Committee
2016: NextGenPlen Selection Committee
Awards & Honors
2025: Honored, Maryland Research Excellence Celebration, UMD
2024: Finalist, George Freedley Memorial Award, Theatre Library Association
2024: Honorable Mention, Best Academic-Themed Book, International Latino Book Awards
2024: Finalist, Barnard Hewitt Award, American Society for Theatre Research
2024: Silver Medal, Best Website Promoting a Book, International Latino Book Awards
2023: Nominated, University Undergraduate Teaching Award by alumni, FSU
2023: DHSI Scholarship: “Knowledge Mobilization in the (Digital) Humanities,” Renaissance Society of America
2022: Awarded, to the UCLA Comedia in Translation Working Group, Franklin Smith Comedia Translation Prize
2018: The Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research at Harvard University Summer Session
2016: Awarded, J. Leeds Barroll Dissertation Prize, Shakespeare Association of America
2015: Summer Institute Cologne [sic!] at Cologne University, Sound Studies seminar, declined
2014–15: Gender & Sexuality Studies Graduate Assistantship, Northwestern University
2013–14: Ten-Month Invited Research Study, Biblioteca Nacional de España
2011: Summer Language Grant, Northwestern University
2008: Shakespeare in the Classroom, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland
Grants & Fellowships
2025: ARHU Faculty Advancement Grant, UMD
2024: Wallace Foundation Research Implementation Grant, Project Lead. Co-PI with Jacqueline Flores
2023: Wallace Foundation Planning Grant, Project Lead. Co-PI with Jacqueline Flores, Lillian Manzor, and Jorge Huerta
2023: Conference Travel Grant, Shakespeare Association of America
2022-23 Susan Snyder Fellow, Folger Shakespeare Library Fellowship
2022: Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Materials Grant Funding, FSU, declined
2022: College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Faculty Travel Award, FSU
2022: Provost’s Faculty Travel Grant, FSU
2022: Diversity Grant, Renaissance Society of America (RSA) Annual Meeting
2020: Robert B. Bradley Library Research Grant, co-received with Aaron C. Thomas, FSU
2020: First Year Assistant Professor (FYAP) Grant, FSU
2020: College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Faculty Travel Award, FSU, declined re Covid-19
2018–19: Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
2018–19: Folger Shakespeare Library Short-Term Fellowship
2017: New York Public Library Short Term Fellowship
2017: USC Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences (ASHSS) Grant Writing Fellowship
2016: Targeted Research Area Grant, American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR)
2015: Finalist, Northwestern Presidential Fellowship, Northwestern University
2014: Graduate Student Travel Award, Shakespeare Association of America
2013: Graduate Research Grant, Northwestern University
2013: Visiting Fellow, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
2011: Ignition Grant, Northwestern University
Select Theatre Work
2024: Dramaturg, Romeo and Juliet, Folger Theatre
2024: "Casting for Dubbing," Netflix
2023: Head Scholar/Documentarian, Designer & Director Colaboratorio, Latinx Theatre Commons, Portland
2021: “The Casting Conversation,” Antaeus Theatre Company
2019: Academic Advisor, Public Humanities Initiative, Workshop, Director Saheem Ali, The Public Theater
2018: Translation Collaborator, The Comedia in Translation & Performance Working Group, Diversifying the Classics, UCLA
2018: Organizing Committee, María Irene Fornés Symposium, Latinx Theatre Commons, Princeton
2017: Member, Latino Theater Alliance/LA (LTA/LA), Los Angeles
2017: Scholar in Residence, Encuentro de las Américas, Los Angeles Theatre Center
2016: Facilitator and Speaker, Post-Show Talk Back, Romeo and Juliet, School of Dramatic Arts, USC
2016: Roundtable Member, “Pushing Buttons, Pushing Boundaries: Contemporary Latina/o Theater and Performance Scholarship Methods/Practices—A Long Table Discussion,” Latino Studies Association (LSA), Pasadena
2016: Invited Participant, “Re-Writing Shakespeare Aquí,” The Betsy Escribe Aquí Festival Charlas/Chats, Miami
2015: Participant, Latino Playwrights’ Project, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland
2015: Participant, Scholars’ Pod, Latino Theatre Commons, Carnaval, Chicago
2015: Dramaturg, The Wild Duck, Director Tony Adams, Halcyon Theater, Chicago
2014-15: Pre-Amble Speaker, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
2014: Member, Visibility/Artistic Working Group, Alliance for Latino Theatre Artists, Chicago
2014: Invited Participant, Roundtable Conference on the production of Spanish Golden Age theatre, Fundación de Siglo de Oro/REKATá, Madrid
2012: Scholar for the Theater, Bill Cain’s Equivocation, Victory Gardens Theater
2011: Dramaturg, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Director Mary Poole, Northwestern
2011: Dramaturg, Peribañez, Director Henry Godinez, Northwestern
Courses Taught
Graduate
Introduction to Graduate Studies
Issues in Literary and Cultural Studies
Shakespeare, Race, and Ethnicity
Performing the Hyphen: American Drama after 1960
Shakespeare and Aurality
Queer Theatre / Queer Theory
Contemporary Latinx Theatre & Performance
​
Undergraduate
Literature of Human Rights
Shakespeare
Shakespeare's Comedies and Romances
American Drama after 1970
LGBTQ Drama and Theatre
Latinx Drama and Theatre
Latina Theatre and Feminisms
Jewish American Playwrights
Greek and Roman Theatre
Theatre Across Histories and Cultures
Text Studies for Production
Theory and Practice of World Theatre I
Introduction to Theatre
The Theatre Scene
