Michael Mark Chemers
Michael Mark Chemers (born 1970) is currently the Assistant Professor of Dramatic Literature at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States.
Academic Career
Michael Chemers received a PhD in Theatre History and Criticism from the University of Washington in 2001. In 2003, he was awarded a Post Doctoral Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for the Arts in Society. His published work, appearing in Modern Drama, Theatre Survey, the New England Theatre Journal, Disability Studies Quarterly, and elsewhere, proposes and develops new historiographic models for examination of representations of disability, dissidence, and monstrosity in performance. He is active on a national scale in advocacy for persons with disabilities and in the preservation of academic freedom.
Work in Theatre
Dr. Chemers holds an MFA in Playwriting from Indiana University (1997). A member of the Dramatists Guild, his plays have won several national awards and have appeared in theatres across the US. Dr. Chemers has also worked in the professional world as a dramaturg, actor, and screenwriter.
His play "Mommy Abula's Miraculous Traveling Carnival of Wonders" explores the behind-the-scenes lives of a group of side-show 'freaks'.
He will be responsible for coordinating the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama's new undergraduate Dramaturgy curriculum.
Personal
Dr. Chemers collects masks from around the world. He is said to enjoy equally juggling things that are on fire, as well as setting still objects alight.
Sometimes, he answers to the nickname Mickey.