I study theatre and performance history because I believe performance helps us tell complex and compelling truths about the past. I am interested in how particular kinds of performance can intervene in or re-tell histories we probably didn’t learn in grade school, especially around race, gender, and sexuality. As a former latchkey kid who spent way too many hours watching 1990s television, I developed a strong passion for performance and popular culture. My first book Cracking Up: Black Feminist Comedy in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Century United States examines the important mark Black women have made in stand-up comedy in the U.S. and how certain artist have used joke-telling as a form of anti-racist protest and feminist community building. My latest research is about how we listen carefully to queer histories through a variety of sonic performances: laughter, protest, music, and more. I’ll be sharing some of this work in my Engaging Aesthetics course, “Sonic Intimacies: Listening to Queer Histories.” I see the classroom as a laboratory, where we can practice creative thinking, critical inquiry, compassion, and innovation. I especially look forward to teaching as a College Fellow because of this program’s unique focus on exploration and exchange across wide-ranging subjects.