View Kevin Landis' CV

Kevin Landis is professor and director of the Theatre & Dance Program in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. His research interests and publications are varied. He has studied contemporary avant-garde theatre groups, Eastern European actor training methods, Native American melodrama, Nordic art, American drag, performance analyses of evangelical church services, and theatrical intersections in restaurant food preparation. He has published on several of those topics and co-authored the book Cultural Performance: New Perspectives on Performance Studies.

Dr. Landis’s most recent book, One Public: New York’s Public Theater in the Era of Oskar Eustis, chronicles the famed institution through the words and stories of some of America’s most renowned artists and producers. Of the book, P. Carl, Distinguished Artist in Residence at Emerson college writes, “Landis' passion for theater pops off every page making this book essential reading for anyone who believes in the power of live stories to enrich our culture and our nation.”

Landis is an MFA trained actor and member of the Actor's Equity Association. He specializes in physical theatre training derived from his work with Grotowski's lead actress, Rena Mirecka. Landis uses an eclectic training method that includes Michael Chekhov Technique, Suzuki and LeCoq clown and mask work. The training focuses on the actor's understanding of his/her body as the integral component for vocal expression and performative creativity.

• Ph.D. in Drama, Tufts University, Medford, MA
• Dissertation: Republic of Dreams: Stacy Klein and the Double Edge Theatre, 2009
• M.F.A. in Acting, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, 2005
• M.A. in Theatre Theory, Brown University, Providence, RI, 2001
• B.A. Colby College, Waterville, ME, 1998

Upper Division

• Advanced Acting Studio I
• Clown and Physical Theatre
• Manifestos of the Avant-Garde
• Nationalism, Romanticism and Melodrama
• Nordic Legacy
• Setting the Artistic Table
• Special Topics World Theatre
• Theatre Practicum
• World of the Play

Lower Division

• Acting Studio I & II
• Introduction to Theatre

Recent Professional Direction:

• A Flea in Her Ear (2022)
• Medea (2021)
• Hair (2020)
• The Art of Dining (2019)
• Peer Gynt (2018)
• Wild Honey (2017)
• Cabaret (2017)
• The Shadow (2015)
• Psycho Beach Party (2014)
• Woyzeck (2014)
• Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (2013)
• Salome (2012)
• The Inspector General (2011)
• The Bacchae (2010)
• The Merry Wives of Windsor (2010)

Recent Professional Acting:

• The Tempest (2016) - Theatreworks
• Love's Labors Lost (2012) - Theatreworks
• Church (2011) - Theatreworks
• The Checkov Letters (2011) - Theatreworks
• The Colorado Shakespeare Festival
• New Rep Theatre Boston
• The Theatre at Monmouth

• Kevin Landis, One Public: New York’s Public Theater in the Era of Oskar Eustis, London: Bloomsbury/Methuen, 2022.
• Kevin Landis and Ciara Murphy, “The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit: Lean and Mean Shakespeare,” American Theater, March 2017.
• Kevin Landis and Suzanne MacAulay, Cultural Performance: New Perspectives on Performance Studies, London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2017.
• Kevin Landis, "In Conversation: Tina Packer and Jon Jory Discuss the State of Theatre," American Theatre, October 2014.
• Kevin Landis, "Culinary Pataphysics: Food, Theatre and the Historical Avant-Garde," Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 14, No. 2, Summer 2014, 46-55.
• Performing the Evangelical Migration- International Federation for Theatre Research, Barcelona, Spain (2013).
• Landis, Kevin and Suzanne MacAulay, "New Perspectives in Cultural Performance," in The Visual and Performing Arts: An International Anthology: Volume II, Edited by Stephen Andrew Arbury. Athens, Greece: AITNER, 2012.
• Stop Bloody Acting! And Other Lessons from Devised Performance- Alliance for Colorado Theatre Educators. Keynote Address. Denver, Colorado (2012).
• Molecular Theatre- International Federation for Theatre Research, Osaka, Japan (2011).
• “Mama-Dada (Book Review)”, Theatre Journal, Spring 2010.
• “The Disappearance (Performance Review)”, Theatre Journal, Spring 2010.
• "Julian Eltinge's Manly Transformations," in Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide 14, 5 (September/October 2007).

• UCCS Making a Difference Award (2020)
• Research and Creative Works Award, UCCS College of Letters, Arts and Sciences (2017)
• Tenure Track Teacher of the Year, UCCS College of Letters, Arts and Sciences (2013)
• Chair, UCCS LAS Curriculum and Requirements Committee (2013)
• Roser Grant for Two Bed, Two Bath Guest Artist Residency (2012)
• Roser Visiting Artist Grant for Double Edge Theatre Residency (2010)
• Tufts University Award for Outstanding Contribution to Undergraduate Education (2008)
• Award for Sleight of Hand, Sleight of Dress Graduate Colloquium, Tufts University (2007)
• Spelling's Commission on Higher Education Committee, Tufts University
• Phi Beta Kappa