Theatre Arts & Performance Studies

Theatre Arts & Performance Studies Welcomes Four New Faculty Members

Brown University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies is proud to announce the appointment of four new faculty members: Iván A. Ramos, Assistant Professor, Brett Zehner, Visiting Assistant Professor, Tiffany Nichole Greene, Adjunct Lecturer and Rachel Christopher, Assistant Professor of the Practice at Brown/Trinity. 

Portraits of new facultyIván A. Ramos

Iván A. Ramos’ is “thrilled to join the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies and Brown University,” he continues, “I look forward to contributing to the many thriving intellectual and artistic communities in the department and across the university.” Iván A. Ramos’ research investigates the links and slippages between transnational Latino/a American aesthetics in relation to the everydayness of contemporary and historical violence. In particular, he is interested in how the aesthetic may provide a way to engage with an ethics of difference. His work brings together performance studies, queer and feminist theory, Latina/o/x American Studies, and media and film studies. His work has been supported by fellowships from the University of California Humanities Research Institute, the National Humanities Center, and the Ford Foundation. In addition, his writing has appeared in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Latina/o Literature, Third Text, Women & Performance, ASAP/Journal, among others. He was also a contributor to the award-winning catalog for the exhibition Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A.Iván A. Ramos full bio.

Brett Zehner

Brett Zehner, a Brown University alum, is a scholar of performance studies and new media who researches emerging technologies of resistance. Brett's dissertation project, Seizing the Means of Desubjection, explores the ubiquitous emergence of predictive media in the form of machine learning. This research aims to provide a conceptual genealogy of racial capitalism and automated systems prevalent in today's mediascape. Brett is also interested in new aesthetic-political formations emerging through artist explorations of artificial intelligence. Over the past five years, Brett has troubled the boundaries of collaborative literary practice, conceptual and computational art forms, and social practices informed by academic and community-based research. He holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Brown University and an MFA from UC San Diego. Brett Zehner full bio. 

Rachel Christopher

Rachel Christopher, a Brown/Trinity alum, is “thrilled to join the exceptional group of artists that make up the Brown/Trinity M.F.A. Programs.” Christopher continues, “I see the Program’s established dedication to the ‘whole’ artist and constant investigation of collaborative processes as a glorious invitation. I look forward to working in its spaces, within and out of the classroom, to continue its rich heritage of artistic discovery.” Rachel Christopher is an award-winning New York-based actor who works in television, film, and theater in New York City, regionally, and internationally. Rachel has performed in verse, contemporary, and new plays at PlayMakers Repertory Company, St. Louis Rep., Long Wharf Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Shakespeare & Co., and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, to name a few. Her film and television work include Instinct, Blindspot, Girl on the Train, Billions, and others. Rachel received her B.A. from Vassar College in Drama and Classics, emphasizing lyric poetry and translation, and her M.F.A. from Brown/ Trinity Rep in 2011. Rachel Christopher full bio.

Tiffany Nichole Greene

Tiffany Nichole Greene, also a Brown/Trinity alum, is a Freelance Director and Resident Director of Hamilton, an American Musical. She is also a leader, creator, and aggressive explorer of the human condition as it relates to relationships and the injustices of this world. While in graduate school, Greene began to cultivate the skills of a great director. She became a mad scientist in her pursuit of opportunities to observe, investigate, explore, and experiment with her newly defined artistry. Tiffany is a NYTimes Pick, Lincoln Center Directors Lab Alum, Soho Rep Directors Lab Alum, two-time Drama League Finalist, and a proud member of SDC. While Tiffany works on a great variety of genres in theatres across the nation, she is particularly dedicated to the continued development of new works and the play development process. Tiffany Nichole Greene full bio. 

About the Department

Brown University has an ambitious vision for the arts as an integral presence throughout our liberal arts education. We believe the arts are fundamental to critical inquiry into the most important questions facing humanity worldwide. The arts create a spark that cultivates creative expression in all forms, stimulating discovery and fueling innovative thinking. At Brown, artists operating at the highest levels of their crafts learn from and inform scholars and students in disciplines across the sciences and humanities. Brown/ Trinity Rep is a rigorous professional training program that combines technical training from Brown University with real-world experience at a Tony Award-winning regional theater. The goal of the Brown/ Trinity Rep M.F.A. Programs is to produce artists who will be leaders in the world of professional and academic theater, artists who will graduate with a profound belief in the uniqueness of their own imaginative vision as well as with strong confidence in their technical and creative ability to execute it. They will enter the profession eager to engage in the life-long exploration and discovery that comprises a life in the theater.