AHON GOOPTU
Writer | Actor | Collaborator | Scholar
& SCHOLARSHIP THEATRE EDUCATION
RECENT PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS
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Upcoming publication in Shakespeare Adaptations in Indian Cinema, an edited volume by Nishi Pulugurtha: "The Hungry Women: Performing Gendered and Familial Desire in Titus Andronicus" (solicited by Bloomsbury, expected 2023).
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Serving on the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) Graduate Student Caucus Cabinet as the Inclusion Officer and Liaison to the Field Conversations Organizers (2023).
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Defended "Perform to Belong: New Affective In-Betweens for Transnational Minorities," a thesis for the Master of Arts in Theatre from Florida State University (2023).
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Presented "Embodying Partition as Intergenerational and Transnational Affect in Ms. Marvel" for the Emerging Scholars Symposia at the 43rd Annual Mid-America Theatre Conference in Minneapolis (2023).
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Presented "Nowhere Nation: Cruising Citizenship and Learning Brown Queerness, a Glee-ful Match Made in Heaven" for the Beyond Binaries: Fieldnotes from Queer South Asia Panel at the 50th Annual Conference on South Asia in University of Wisconsin-Madison (2022).
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Published "Mapping the Global Absent in Shakespeare: Lessons Learned from a Student-Faculty Collaboration," co-authored by John S. Garrison, in Shakespeare and Digital Pedagogy: Case Studies and Strategies, edited by Diana E. Henderson and Kyle Sebastian Vitale (London and New York: Bloomsbury, The Arden Shakespeare, 2022).
INTERNING WITH
STEPPENWOLF EDUCATION
Education Intern
Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, IL
Summer 2020
My primary duties and responsibilities included developing and designing marketing collateral for distribution to Steppenwolf’s patrons and community partners, assisting with the facilitation of Young Adult Council (YAC)’s interviews and end-of-summer reflection sessions, organizing and facilitating virtual events such as online Jeopardy for 26 high school YAC teens to stay engaged remotely.
I researched and wrote four pieces for the study guide for Steppenwolf for Young Adults’ radio play adaptation of Animal Farm (that reached 20,000+ students worldwide!), including an interview with director Lili-Anne Brown.
Artwork by Christopher Huizar
TEACHING MUSICAL THEATRE
AT TAPROOT THEATRE
Musical Theatre Teaching Intern
Taproot Theatre in Seattle, WA
Summer 2019
My primary duties and responsibilities included shadowing and assisting the director and resident teaching artist for the company, and serving as the external dance captain for all the musical theatre shows. I assisted with vocal warm-ups and music reviews, dance reviews, dramaturgy, line memorization, and character work during the course of the internship and had the chance to work with children between the ages of four and eighteen.
Hello, Dolly!
Frozen, Jr.
Advanced Musical Theatre Revue
Musical Theatre Revues
Stage Combat*
Adventures in Drama*
*denotes a non-musical theatre session
Photos by Alina Sunoo & Isaiah Custer, courtesy of Taproot Theatre
MAPPING ABSENCE
IN SHAKESPEARE
Researcher and Student Project Lead
Grinnell College in Grinnell, IA
Summer 2018 - Spring 2020
This digital humanities project tracks people, places, and objects of interest in Shakespeare's works that are mentioned and play important roles in the plotline, character development, and setting of the respective plays, but remain physically absent from the stage. This online pedagogical tool maps these global absences on a current map of the world and highlights how global a playwright Shakespeare was.
Created by John Garrison, Ahon Gooptu, and Katherine Walden
Presented in the Digital Exhibits of the Shakespeare Association of America (SAA)'s 47th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC (2019)
Consequently, John S. Garrison and I co-authored "Mapping the Global Absent in Shakespeare: Lessons Learned from a Student-Faculty Collaboration" for Shakespeare and Digital Pedagogy: Case Studies and Strategies, edited by Diana E. Henderson and Kyle Sebastian Vitale (London and New York: Bloomsbury, The Arden Shakespeare, 2022).