Keenan Shionalyn
Biography
As a scholar, artist, and teacher, I strive to bring to life the under-explored sides of drama. My research examines Central East European theatre and queer history. As an artist, I drag historical texts blending times into new creations allowing communication with the past. As an educator, I bring history into the present and encourage students to converse with the work of others in the process of creating their own work.
My scholarly work resides at the intersection of theatre history, queer studies, and practice-based research. I use translation and performance as a methodology to understand theatre history and to aid in overcoming the limitations of the traditional archive. The plays and artists that interest me are those that look beyond the typical canon of theatre history, those that have been othered, those history has chosen to forget, and those history never considered. In particular, I am drawn to those with an interest in anti-realism, musical theatre, and alternative forms of drama. My current work examines the writings of Mikhail Kuzmin, a playwright working alongside canonized figures such as Vsevelod Meyerhold and Aleksandr Blok, but whose archive has been both celebrated and intentionally destroyed. Kuzmin's works span a considerable range of genres from mystery plays to operetta before turning towards more expressionistic works in the post-revolutionary world. My research involves translating, staging, and critically analyzing his works including the historical context in which they were written and contemporary interpretations. I am particularly drawn to this artist's approach towards art which shares much in its writing to contemporary queer theory and metamodernism. See my scholarship page for more information about publication and research.
Artistically, I am a dramaturg and a director. As a dramaturg, I try to work closely with playwrights to ensure their play is as impactful to audiences as they imagine while helping directors reach audiences in culturally responsive and sensitive ways. As a director, I focus on consent-based practices to build an ensemble centric rehearsal process. While my work spans from directing for youth to independent productions, I've created work in small black-box productions as well as large scale musicals. My best work emerges in the black box, where I can employ concepts of Grotowski's "Poor Theatre" that allow actors to develop as artists and collaborators to create a shared vision. I currently serve as a the artistic co-director of Balagan Pigeon Theatre, a small collective focused on staging under-represented works through a queer and feminist lens. My work employs a small ensemble to bring previously unstaged works to life while exploring an affective and physical approach to acting. Prior to directing and teaching, I worked as a Stage Manager in Seattle, Chicago, and Utah. See my directing page for more information about my philosophy and my directing portfolio.
In the classroom I focus on pedagogical and andragogical best practices. Being an educator continues to form the core of who I am as a professional and a person. I have over a decade of teaching experience split between High School and University settings. Building from the great work of other educators such as Paulo Freire, bell hooks, and Zaretta Hammond, I employ a liberal arts model in the classroom that centers discussion as a key learning tool that strives toward cultural responsiveness and rigor. See my teaching page for more information about my philosophy, syllabi samples, and other education related work.
