William W. Lewis 

 

 

 

Will is an Assistant Professor of Theatre History and Criticism at Purdue University. He is an interdisciplinary scholar/artist whose work focuses on the fields of intermedial, postdramatic, and devised performance. His research explores the role of mediatization on contemporary audiences and the implications of constant connection to media on how we teach theatre-making. In his creative practice he implements site specificity, gaming, interactivity, and social media to explore ethics and politics in the 21st century. His focus on better understanding the needs of contemporary students immersed in post-digital culture pushes him to consider innovative ways of creating and analyzing forms of theatre and performance and applying these forms to his teaching and mentoring the next wave of leaders in the field.

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He is co-editor and author of Experiential Theatres: Practice Based Approaches to Training 21st Century Theatre Artists which argues for rethinking the methods and theories we utilize in theatre and performance by considering they ways digital life urges forth the deeper desire for theatrical experiences. He has also has published articles and reviews focusing on digital interactivity, practice as research, and political performance in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theatre Topics, Performance Research, The International Journal of Performing Arts and Digital Media, GPS: Global Performance Studies, Theatre Research International, and New Theatre Quarterly, along with various book chapters. He is currently working on a monograph that tracks the relationship between various interactive technologies and technics of the past forty years and the trend toward individualized experiential performance practices based in immersion, participation , and play.

 

Will is a vocal advocate for the blending of theory and practice by utilizing performance as research (PAR) methodologies. Part of this advocacy includes serving as the founding co-editor of the online journal PARtake:The Journal of Performance as Research whose readership consists of scholars and artists from over 120 countries worldwide. He has served in multiple leadership roles in the Association of Theatre in Higher Education. He has trained in devised theatre with SITI Company in New York City, interactive performance making with Blast Theory in the United Kingdom, and worked as a workshop director on new play development for NYU Tisch. He has directed  Off-Off Broadway, in Los Angeles, and regionally. His performance work has been recognized by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (Quantified Self) and the Kennedy Center College Theatre festival (Woyzeck: The Endless Cycle 1.0). 

 

He completed a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, a MA in Theatre History and Criticism at CUNY Hunter College, and a BFA in Performance at the University of Memphis.

 

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