The Art of Resistance: Catherine Filloux’s Radical Theater for a Fractured World (Virtual Event). Sept. 16, 2025. Award-winning French Algerian American playwright and librettist Catherine Filloux joined us for a conversation about how theatre can offer resistance through form. Her three-decade career has been defined by poetic, unflinching works that confront genocide, state violence, incarceration, and erasure—always through the lens of human connection. From the Khmer Rouge to the U.S. border, Filloux’s plays compel us to bear witness.
Archives Unveiled: a Journey through the Real Histories of Burlesque (Virtual Event). April 9, 2025. This event featured a talk with renowned performer and historian of Queer and Latinx burlesque, Bella Sin, renowned performer and historian of Queer and Latinx burlesque. Bella's work challenges the colonial lens through which burlesque has traditionally been thought about.
Archiving Black Performance: Open Circle with Camille Lawrence and Shady Radical. Feb 20, 2025. Two distinguished archivists specializing in archiving dance and performance. shady Radical, founder of The Radical Archive of Preservation (TRAP), and Camille Lawrence, archivist, curator and consultant, shared their insights and experiences in preserving community archives and the work of black women choreographers. This event was part of the Archiving Black Performance residency that took place from Feb. 18-23, 2025, hosted by the Wexner Center for the Arts. Supported by the Discovery Themes at Ohio State and hosted in collaboration with the Department of Dance, Dance Notation Bureau Extension Center and University Libraries' Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute, this residency aimed to elevate the dances of Black women choreographers and performers.
Rose La Rose's Town: Women's Labor on the Toledo Burlesque Stage. Dr. Elizabeth Wellman, the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute's 2022 visiting researcher, discusses her new book project on the career of burlesque star Rose La Rose. Wellman is the foremost authority on La Rose and is currently conducting research using the Theatre Research Institute's Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs. Wellman's project is supported by the Theatre Research Institute's Visiting Researcher Award. (Recorded August 8, 2022) You can watch the recording HERE
The International Drag King (Community) Extravaganza: Going Global. This event is the third in a series of three webinars devoted to the drag king scene. This installment focuses on the International Drag King Extravaganza (IDKE) and its global influence. The IDKE took place on October 15-17, 1999 in Columbus, Ohio. It soon became an annual, international event. In this webinar, Curator Beth Kattelman talks with IDKE founders to learn more about those early days of the festival and to get their thoughts on the current and future trajectory of drag king events and culture. (Recorded November 9, 2021). You can watch the recording HERE
The Kings' Court: Kinging and Community. This event is the second in a series of three webinars devoted to the drag king scene in Columbus, Ohio. In this installment, Curator Beth Kattelman of the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute moderates a discussion with Luster Singleton, one of the founders of the H.I.S. Kings drag troupe, and members of the Kings' Court, a group of "super-fans" that followed and supported the organization. The Court's history and the importance of drag king fan culture is highlighted. (Recorded October 12, 2021). You can watch the recording HERE
H.I.S. Kings: 25 Years of Drag Kings in Columbus and Beyond. A quarter century ago, the H.I.S. Kings troupe was founded in Columbus, OH by producers Julia Applegate and Luster Singleton and performers Helen Harris, Ivett Domalewski and Sue Steirer (the H.I.S. acronym coming from the first names of the performers). The troupe became extremely popular and eventually led to the founding of the International Drag King Extravaganza (IDKE) in 1999. In this webinar, Beth Kattelman, Curator of the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, talks to some of the H.I.S. Kings founders about the troupe and its legacy. The webinar also touches on the importance of acknowledging and preserving the history of women’s participation in drag and cross-gender performance. (Recorded September 14, 2021) The recording can be viewed HERE
Curator Beth Kattelman Interviews Playwright, Actor and Director Ted Lange. Ted Lange is best known for his role as Isaac the Bartender on the long-running television series "The Love Boat.". In this webinar, Lange discusses the challenge of navigating show business as a black performer and talks about the changing nature of the performance industry. (Recorded on October 6, 2020) You can watch the recorded webinar HERE
Theatre Research Institute Director Jeanine Thompson Interviews actor Jesse Eisenberg and mime coach Lauren Salm. Eisenberg starred in the IFC Films biographical drama, Resistance (2020), inspired by the life of Marcel Marceau. (Recorded Jun 23, 2020) You can watch the recorded interview HERE