Dr. Michelle MacArthur holds a PhD (2014) and MA (2005) from the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto and a BA (2004) in English from McGill University. She joined the School of Dramatic Art in 2016, where she teaches courses in theatre history, dramatic literature, and performance theory. She also currently serves as Program Chair of the University of Windsor's Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Arts & Science.
Dr. MacArthur’s research focuses on four main areas: equity in theatre, theatre criticism, contemporary Canadian theatre, and feminism and performance. Her SSHRC-funded research examines the changing state of theatre criticism in the digital age, with special attention to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Other current projects include a monograph on the critical reception of feminist theatre in Canada and a co-edited collection on the work of playwright Hannah Moscovitch.
In 2019-20, Dr. MacArthur was UWindsor’s Humanities Research Group Fellow; with the HRG’s support, she pursued several projects related to representations of millennials in arts and culture, including an edited play anthology entitled Voices of a Generation: Three Millennial Plays (Playwrights Canada Press, 2022). In 2014-15, Dr. MacArthur was lead researcher for the Equity in Theatre (EIT) initiative, a national campaign focused on redressing gender inequities in the Canadian theatre industry. Her extensive EIT report continues to serve as a resource for research and advocacy efforts in Canadian theatre and beyond. She was editor-in-chief of alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage from 2016 to 2018 and has co-edited three essay collections and two issues of Canadian Theatre Review (vol. 168 & 140).
Dr. MacArthur is an active member of the Canadian Association of Theatre Research and of the University of Windsor's Humanities Research Group board of directors.
Articles
MacArthur, Michelle and Karen Fricker. “The Emancipated Amateur: Rancierian Reviewing Practices and New Models of Theatre Criticism.” Theatre Research in Canada. [forthcoming]
MacArthur, Michelle, Diane Roberts, Shelley Scott, Laine Halpern Newman. “A Hoarding of Memories: Conversations about Feminist Theatre and its Documentation in Canada.” Canadian Theatre Review, no. 200. [forthcoming]
MacArthur, Michelle. “Critical Conversations: Emerging BIPOC Critics Reimagine Theatre Criticism through the Digital.” Theatre Topics, vol. 34, no. 1, 2024, pp. 5–18.
MacArthur, Michelle, Kimberley McLeod, Scott Mealey. “Distance, Disruption, and De-hierarchization: Negotiating Care in the Virtual Space of Zoom Theatre.” Research in Drama Education, vol. 29, no. 1, 2024, pp. 24-42.
Lynch, Signy and Michelle MacArthur. “Critical Disengagement: The Epistemic and White Supremacist Violence of Theatre Criticism in Canada and the USA.” New Theatre Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 1, 2023, pp. 34-49.
MacArthur, Michelle. "Generational Palimpsests: Adapting Restoration Comedy in Erin Shields's The Millennial Malcontent." Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, vol. XXXVI, no. 2, 2022, pp. 51-72.
MacArthur, Michelle, Signy Lynch, Scott Mealey. “Power, Perception, and Professionalism: An Empirical Study of Digital Theatre Criticism in Canada.” Contemporary Theatre Review, vol. 31, no. 4, 2021, pp. 455-70.
MacArthur, Michelle. “The Pedagogy of Grief: Lessons from Making Zoom Theatre During a Pandemic.” Canadian Theatre Review, vol. 188, 2021, pp. 49-53.
---. “Sorry Not Sorry: Apologizing in the Wake of #MeToo.” Canadian Theatre Review, vol. 180, 2019, pp. 20-26.
Kandil, Yasmine and Michelle MacArthur. “What Zombie Feminist Bouffons Can Offer Applied Theatre: Seduction and Provocation in Death Married My Daughter.” Theatre Research in Canada, vol. 39, no. 2, 2018, pp. 156-75.
MacArthur, Michelle. “Crowdsourcing the Review and the Record: Collaborative Approach to Theatre Criticism and Archiving in the Digital Age.” Theatre Criticism: Changing Landscapes, edited by Duska Radosacljevic, Methuen Bloomsbury, 2016, pp. 255-72.
---. “Historiographing a Feminist Utopia: Collective Creation, History, and Feminist Theatre in Canada.” Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Theatre, edited by Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva and Scott Proudfit, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 161-76.
---. “Achieving Equity in Canadian Theatre: A Report with Best Practice Recommendations.” Playwrights Guild of Canada, 2015.
---. “Where Are All the Women? Equity, Post-Feminism, and Canadian Theatre.” Canadian Theatre Review, vol. 165, 2015, pp. 8-13.
MacArthur, Michelle and Anne Wessels. “And By the Way, Miss... Devising as Multi-Generational Feminist Practice.” Ignite: Illuminating Theatre Creation for Young People, edited by Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, Playwrights Canada Press, 2015, pp. 87-101.
MacArthur, Michelle. “The Feminist Spectator as Blogger: Creating Critical Dialogue about Feminist Theatre on the Web.” Theatre Research in Canada, vol. 34, no. 2, 2013, pp. 162-86.
---. "#th8r_crt: A Live and Virtual Discussion." Canadian Theatre Review, vol. 154, 2013, pp. 91-94.
Edited Collections
Wiens, Brianna, Michelle MacArthur, Shana MacDonald, Milena Radzikowska, eds. Assemblies of Resistance: Feminist Stories, Protest, and Dissent in the Digital Age. Lexington Books, 2023.
MacDonald, Shana, Brianna Wiens, Michelle MacArthur, Milena Radzikowska, eds. Networked Feminisms: Activist Assemblies and Digital Practices. Lexington Books, 2022.
MacArthur, Michelle, editor. Voices of a Generation: Three Millennial Plays. Playwrights Canada Press, 2022.
MacDonald, Shana, Brianna I. Weins, Michelle MacArthur, Milena Radzikowska, editors. Networked Feminisms: Activist Assemblies and Digital Practices. Lexington Books, 2022.
MacArthur, Michelle, Lydia Wilkinson, Keren Zaiontz, editors. Performing Adaptations: Essays and Conversations on the Theory and Practice of Adaptation. Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009.
Contact Information
Room 208 Jackman Dramatic Art Centre
michelle.macarthur@uwindsor.ca
519-253-3000 x2825