Erin Rachel Kaplan
MA, PhD
Dr. Erin Rachel Kaplan (she/her/hers) is a feminist and queer studies theatre scholar, researcher, and practitioner. Her book project in development is currently titled, Performing Killjoy Joy: on the page, on the stage, and in the streets. This monograph will explore the vitality and vibrancy of “killjoy joy” (Ahmed, 2023) and its value and efficacy as a method of utopian performance, resilience, and queer/ feminist resistance.
Dr. Kaplan is an Assistant Professor of Critical Theory, Dramatic Literature, & Practice, at California State University, Sacramento’s Department of Theatre & Dance.
She is trained in applied theatre practices, specializing in Theatre of the Oppressed facilitation and in 2007 studied at the Centro de Teatro do Oprimido in Rio De Janeiro with Augusto Boal and his Jokers.
As an educator, facilitator, and artist she has worked in theatres, community centers, schools, colleges, universities, juvenile detention centers, and prisons.
Dr. Kaplan holds a BA from the University of Michigan, majoring in English Literature, Political Science, and Drama; an MA from New York University’s Steinhardt School in Educational Theatre in Colleges and Communities; and a PhD in Theatre & Performance Studies with a graduate certificate in Women & Gender Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Her research and reviews have been published in Theatre Topics, Theatre Annual, Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and more, and she serves as the Book Review Editor for PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research. She has published book chapters in the edited volumes: Rape Culture 101: Programming Change (Demeter Press, 2020), Applied Theatre with Youth (Routledge, 2021), Sex on Stage: Writing the Body Politic (Bloomsbury, 2025), and Teaching Writing in Theatre and Performance Studies: An Instructor’s Guide (Palgrave, 2026).
Her internationally-produced play, Collateral Bodies (Dramatic Publishing, 2012), tackles the issues of ‘femicide’ and is performed today by colleges and universities across North America, as well as in professional theatres.
Erin serves as the President for the Women & Theatre Program for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).
Additionally, she is an EXCELLENT sourdough bread baker and will happily share recipes, tips, tricks, (and even some starter) with anyone who wants to learn!
