School of Theatre and Dance

Ralf Remshardt, associate professor of theatre, is a graduate of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Munich, Germany), the Freie Universität Berlin, where he received an MA in German Literature and Theatre Studies, and the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he was awarded a PhD in Dramatic Art. He is a native of Berlin and first came to the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship. He has previously taught theatre at Denison University in Ohio.

Dr. Remshardt is an experienced director, translator, and dramaturg whose scholarly interests range over a wide variety of topics in theatre and drama. He has lectured and delivered papers nationally and internationally at conferences in Canada, Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Portugal, China, and Russia. His publications in both English and German have appeared in Comparative Drama, Theatre Survey, Theatre Journal, Essays in Theatre, Theater der Zeit, Western European Stages, Victorian Studies, Communications and other journals, as well as in several edited collections. Recent/forthcoming publications:

"Theatertreffen 2008," Communications 37 (2008).

Two reviews from London and Berlin, Theatre Journal 60.4 (2008).

"Beyond Performance Studies: Mediated Performance and the Posthuman ," Culture, Language, and Representation 6 (2008).

"The Actor as Intermedialist: Remediation, Appropriation, Adaptation," in Intermediality in Theatre and Performance. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006.

"'The Story and the Screen: Alexander Black's Picture Plays and the Prehistory of Cinema," Princeton University Library Chronicle 65.3 (2004).

His book, Staging the Savage God: The Grotesque in Performance, was published in 2004. Dr. Remshardt is now working on a new book manuscript about theatre and early film entitled Muse of Fire/Muse of Light: Theatre and the Rise of Motion Pictures. This project has been supported by a UF Arts and Humanities Scholarship Grant and a research grant from the Friends of the Princeton University Library. In recognition of his ongoing scholarship, Dr. Remshardt has also been awarded a 2006-2008 University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship and a 2009 Faculty Enhancement Opportunity (FEO) grant.

He has served as a translator and adaptor on plays such as Manfred Karge's Conquest of the South Pole (produced at the Famous Door Theatre in Chicago and the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles) and Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening (produced at UF and at Tampa's Jobsite Theatre) as well as the widely praised Einstein's Dreams (winner of the ACTF Region VII Final in 1997; performed at the 2001 New York Fringe Festival). As member of the School's performance faculty, he maintains an active directing profile. Plays he has directed at UF include The Good Person of Sichuan, Fat Men in Skirts, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Visit, Big Love, The Bacchae, Waiting for Godot (KC/ACTF Meritorious Achievement Award for directing), The Real Thing, and Electronic City. In the summer of 2009, he was invited to stage Einstein's Dreams in Beijing, China.

Dr. Remshardt teaches theatre history, dramaturgy, playwriting, acting (occasionally), and seminars on special topics such as comic drama or contemporary European theatre. He is also an Affiliate Faculty member in the Center for European Studies at UF.

Dr. Remshardt will be on sabbatical in 2009/2010.