University of Canterbury

Faculty Member, Theatre and Film Studies

Centre for Fine Arts, Music and Theatre and Film Studies

About

My current research interests are centered around the course I recently convened - Film as Spectacle and as Story - and I hope to publish several articles based on discoveries during this course. Other current research topics include Authentic Karaoke and Performance Studies' interpretations of film-going experiences. I am interested in the intersection of theatre and film and, in performance, of playing with the interaction of the live and mediated.

I did an Electrical Engineering degree at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, USA, and was lined up to work for Lockheed-Martin - but had some uncertainty niggling me. I came to Christchurch, New Zealand, in February 2000 for a study abroad experience and am still here, now completely occupied by theatre and film, both theory and practice.

I made the transition to Theatre and Film Studies, completing my BA (Hons) in 2001 and my PhD in 2006. My participation in (unorthodox) theatre productions with Free Theatre Christchurch led me to a political awakening of sorts and also to a peculiar curiosity about Political Theatre in a Post-Political Age - the title of my thesis and subsequent book.

I now teach Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Canterbury. This year I am convening two 2nd year film studies courses: Film as Spectacle and as Story and Popular and Art Film. I co-teach the 3rd year Film and Modernity course.

I continue to work with Free Theatre Christchurch (www.freetheatre.org.nz), the company with which I had my first theatre experiences back in 2000. Our last few productions have garnered national and international attention and several awards and nominations.

Since 2003 I have been President of the Canterbury Film Society and, more recently, Vice President of the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies, with roughly 2000 members nationwide.

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