Dr. Kyle A. Thomas


Department

Theatre and Dance

Role: Faculty
Campus: Springfield

Postal mail

Missouri State University
Theatre and Dance
901 S. National Ave.
Springfield, MO 65897

Biography

Kyle received his Ph.D. in Theatre from the University of Illinois in 2018, with the award of departmental distinction for his work in dramaturgy and directing. As a specialist in medieval drama, theatre, and performance, his scholarly efforts sit precisely at the intersection of practice and research. His work centers on developing postmodern approaches for performing of historicaland particularlymedieval plays. His work is exemplified in his direction of the Play of Adam at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Cloisters (NYC), Babio for the Newberry Library (Chicago), and the Mellon Foundation-funded production, Play About the Antichrist for the “Performing the Middle Ages” Symposium at the University of Illinois. Kyle has synthesized much of this work in his forthcoming book (with new English translation by Carol Symes), The Play About the Antichrist (Ludus de Antichristo): A Historical Exegesis, Performance Dramaturgy, and Latin Edition. He is also the Chief Editor of the international journal, ROMARD: Research on Medieval and Renaissance Drama. Further scholarly efforts include research into the economics of the theatre industry, especially commercial theatre. His chapter contribution to the Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theater Producers details the global marketing strategies of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. His efforts to produce public-facing scholarship on theatre can be seen on his YouTube channel, The Theatre History Professor and heard on The Teaching Drama Podcast. He is also a recurring expert featured on the Discovery Channel's Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America.


Details

Education

  • PhD, Theatre, 2018, University of Illinois
  • MA, Theatre, 2012, University of Illinois
  • BA, Musical Theatre, 2005, Ouachita Baptist University

Teaching

  • THE 101 Introduction to Theatre

  • THE 125 Voice & Movement
  • THE 130 Script Analysis
  • THE 210 Writing for Theatre
  • THE 430 Directing I
  • THE 742 Dramatic Theory & Criticism

Professional experience

  • Viewpoints and devising theatre training with Anne Bogart, SITI Company
  • Movement and devising theatre training with Struan Leslie, Royal Shakespeare Company

Directing

  • The Heart of Robin Hood, Interlochen Center for the Arts
  • Play of Adam, The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Viva Verdi! A Night of Italian Opera, Lyric Theatre at Illinois
  • Babio, The Newberry Library of Chicago
  • I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, The Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company
  • Floyd Collins, The Station Theatre
  • The Play about the Antichrist, The University of Illinois

Research and Publications

  • The Play about the Antichrist (Ludus de Antichristo): A Dramaturgical Analysis, Historical Commentary, and Latin Edition with a New English Verse Translation (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2023)
  • "The Performing Arts and Their Audiences,” in A Cultural History of Leisure: the Medieval Age (500-1450), Paul Milliman, ed. Peter Borsay and Jan Hein Furnée, anthology eds. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023
  • “Monks at the World’s End: Performing an Eschatological Monasticism in the Twelfth-Century Ludus de Antichristo,” in Music in the Apocalyptic Mode, Word and Music Studies, vol. 20, Colin McAllister and Lorenzo DiTommaso, eds. (Boston: Brill, 2023), 30-43
  • “Playful Performance: Gameplay and Theatre in the Early Middle Ages,” in European Medieval Drama, vol. 26 (2022): 185-213.
  • “Laying Down the RUG: Andrew Lloyd Webber, the Really Useful Group, and Musical Theatre in a Global Economy,” in The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers, Laura MacDonald and William Everett, eds.(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)
  • “The Medieval Space: Early Medieval Documents as Stages,” in Theatre Survey 59.1 (January 2018)
  • “Theatre in a Mobile World: Critiquing Convention and Calling for Innovation,” online article at Howlround.com (June 3, 2015)
  • “Finding the Practice in Your Theory – Getting a PhD in Theatre Today,” in TYA Today 28.2 (November 2014)
  • “A Ph.D. in Theatre: Working in Theory to Work in Practice,” online article at Howlround.com (December 18, 2013)
  • “Profile: Nedjeljko Fabrio’s The Reformers,” in Ecumenica: Journal of Theatre and Performance 5.2 (Fall 2012)