Dr. Eric Colleary is the Cline Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center, an international humanities research library, archive, and museum. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota. His research has focused on the relationship between performance, history and sexual identity and the ways that archives construct and perform identities over time. Currently, he is working on a book about British interwar theatre and is actively collecting material documenting the impact of the events of 2020 on the theatre profession.

In his position as Cline Curator of Theatre and Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center, Dr. Colleary is responsible for the interpretation and management of the center’s extensive performing arts holdings. He serves on the boards for the American Theatre Archive Project (ATAP) and the Theatre Library Association (TLA) and is a lecturer in the Performance as Public Practice Program in the Department of Theatre & Dance at The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Colleary has organized several major exhibitions and is a frequent speaker on subjects relating to performance history, research methods, and caring for performance archives. His work as a food historian is largely published at The American Table, and his research has been featured in such a diverse range of publications as Popular Science, Smithsonian Magazine, and Vogue.

Prior to his time in Austin, he was a visiting professor in Theatre and Dance at Macalester College in Saint Paul where he taught classes in theatre history, performance theory, sexuality studies and public history/museum studies.

Education

  • PhD, Theatre Historiography – University of Minnnesota, Twin Cities
  • MA, Theatre Historiography – University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
  • BA with Research Distinction, Theatre Arts – The Ohio State University, Columbus

Academic Appointments

Memberships