Elizabeth E. Tavares is assistant professor of English with the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama. Specializing in early English drama, her research foci include playing companies, theatre history, and Shakespeare in performance. Additional teaching and research interests include collaboration, artist collectives, performance-based research, eco-drama, critical editing, arts criticism, and digital humanities.

Dr. Tavares’s scholarship and performance reviews have appeared in or are forthcoming from Early Theatre, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Bulletin, Shakespeare Quarterly, and Shakespeare Studies, among others, as well as several edited collections, including the recent The Arden Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama. Through the support of grants and fellowships from the NEH, Mellon Foundation, societies for Theatre Research and Renaissance Studies, as well as the Newberry, Folger, and Huntington libraries, this work has won prizes from the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society and Illinois Humanities Research Institute.

Current projects include Playing the Repertory in Early Modern England, a book-length study of the performance practices that shaped the theatre in which William Shakespeare would come to train. In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, entertainer collectives from music and painting to dance and sport were engaged in a cultural project of re-making their shared repertories. Repertory theatre in England was but one manifestation of this trans-European endeavor, one which resulted in an epistemological mode that envisioned experiencing art in curated, repeating, and co-dependent sets. Interdisciplinary in its approaches and international in its archival scope, it offers the first history of these repertory-based, embodied performance practices that drove early modern English theatrical tastes.

Dr. Tavares is also a dramaturg and serves as director of research for the Alabama Shakespeare Project, a performance-based research collective exploring early modern entertainments through a staged reading series and other events. Other dramaturgy credits include a three-woman Macbeth at Portland Center Stage; consultancy with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Back Room Shakespeare Project, and Original Practice Shakespeare Festival; and several blog series for Artists Repertory Theatre.

Alabama Affiliations

• Alabama Shakespeare Project, director of research
• Collaborative Arts Research Initiative, fellow 2021-23
• Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies, core faculty
• Medieval & Early Modern European Studies minor
• Ripple Arts Review, founding faculty editor
• UA in Oxford Study Abroad Program, co-director 2023-23

Articles

with D. Fallow, “John Shakespeare’s Muckhill: Ecologies, Economies, and Biographies of Communal Waste in Stratford-upon-Avon, c. 1550–1600,” Shakespeare Quarterly (forthcoming)

“‘On pleasures past, and dangers to ensue’: Site-Specific Violence and the Post-Renovation Rose Repertory,” Special Issue on Props in Repertory, Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-22): 1–15, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183090

with S. Ballou, “The #OthelloSyllabus: Twitter as Play,” Hybrid Pedagogy (2020-09-04), doi 10.17613/a9qz-e498

“Matisse in the Playhouse,” Shakespeare Studies 47 (2019-10-18): 127–33, doi 10.17613/7n2f-j853

• 2018 Next Generation Plenary selection, Shakespeare Association of America

“Super Troupers; or, Supplemented Playing before 1594,” Shakespeare Studies 45 (2017-10-18): 77–86, doi 10.17613/58yh-5×29

“A Race to the Roof: Cosmetics and Contemporary Histories in the Elizabethan Playhouse, 1592–1596,” Shakespeare Bulletin 34, no. 45 (2016-06-22): 193–217, doi 10.1353/shb.2016.0021

• 2017 Palmer Prize for Best New Essay in Early Drama Archival Research, Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society
• 2016 Prize for Research in the Humanities, Illinois Humanities Research Institute

“The Chariot in 2 Tamburlaine, The Wounds of Civil War or Marius and Scilla, and The Reign of King Edward III,” Notes & Queries 63, no. 3 (2016-07-14): 393–96, doi 10.1093/notesj/gjw145

“A Tale of Two Shrews: Recovering the Repertory of the Lord Pembroke’s Players,” Journal of the Wooden O 14 (2015-08-01): 84–95, doi 10.17613/b968-a398

Chapters

“Fistfights and Sacrifice: Troupe Dynamics, Transformation, and Shakespeare Offstage,” Slings and Arrows: Shakespeare as Canada in Theatre and Television, eds K. Wright and D. Moore (in press)

“Alive in the (Early) Modern Repertory,” Early Modern Liveness: Mediating Presence in Text, on Stage and Screen, eds D. Rosvally and D. Sherman, 111–44 (Bloomsbury, 2023-01-26), doi 9781350318502.0013

“Playing Companies and Repertories,” The Arden Handbook to Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama: Perspectives on Culture, Performance and Identity, eds M. M. Dowd and T. Rutter, 109–27 (Bloomsbury, 2023-01-12), doi 10.5040/9781350161887.ch-4.2

“Claire Kens Well: Appropriation and Itinerant Performance in Outlander Onscreen,” Outlander’s Sassenachs: Essays on Gender, Race, Orientation, and the Other in the Novels and Television Series, ed V. Frankel, 31–43 (McFarland & Company, 2016)

Fora

with L. Johnson and E. MacLeod, eds, Special Issue on Props and the Early Modern Repertory, Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-04-01): 1–141, url tandfonline.com/toc/rshk20/19/1

• E. E. Tavares, L. Johnson and E. MacLeod, “Introduction: Properties of Matter and Performance,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-24): 1–7, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183085
• Part One: Criticism
  • H. Bachrach, “‘What els do maskes, but maskers show’: Masked Ladies in Shakespeare’s Comedies,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-15): 1–16, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183093
  • L. Johnson, “The Nose Plays: Nasiform Negotiations at Newington Butts,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-15): 1–14, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183086
  • J. M. Kuhn, “Inimitable Rarities?: Feather Costumes, Indigenous Artistic Labor and Early Modern English Theater History,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-24): 1–16, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183087
  • E. MacLeod, “The Duke of Gloucester’s Sword: Prosthetic Props in the Repertory of Edmund Kean,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-13): 1–11, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183089
  • E. E. Tavares, “‘On pleasures past, and dangers to ensue’: Site-Specific Violence and the Post-Renovation Rose Repertory,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-22): 1–15, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183090
• Part Two: Performance
  • M. Chapman, “Shakespeare for Everyone? History, Dramaturgy, and the Black Flesh as Prop in Transracial Shakespeare,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-16): 1–13, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183091
  • M. Snell, “Performing Babies and the Properties of Race and Ethnicity,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-10): 1–15, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183092
  • C. Phillips, with K. L. Bradley, V. Brown, L. Davis, K. Fischer, A. Gonzalez, J. B. Schwab, T. Storey, S. Stryker, “The Dramaturgy of Ophelia’s Bouquet,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-17): 1–17, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183095
• Part Three: Critical Debates
  • S. Duncan, “Knowing What we are Making: Props, Scholarship, and the Pandemic,” Shakespeare 19, no. 1 (2023-03-21): 1–17, doi 10.1080/17450918.2023.2183094

with L. Johnson, eds, “Issues in Review: Playing in Repertory,” Early Theatre 25, no. 2 (2022-12-13), doi 10.12745/et.25.2.4732

• E. E. Tavares and L. Johnson, “Introduction: Repertory, Economy, Dramaturgy,” Early Theatre 25, no. 2 (2022-12-13): 115–30, doi 10.12745/et.25.2.4732
• E. MacLeod, “‘You shall see me do the Moor’: The Blackfriars Children and the Performance of Race in Poetaster,” Early Theatre 25, no. 2 (2022-12-13): 131–44, doi 10.12745/et.25.2.4734
  • 2023 Prize for Best Note or Issues in Review Essay, Early Theatre
• R. Barker, “Birth of a Tragedy Queen: Richard Robinson and the Repertory of the King’s Men, 1610-11,” Early Theatre 25, no. 2 (2022-12-13): 145–56, doi 10.12745/et.25.2.4748
• P. Kirwan, “Artist Development and Collective Therapy in the Repertory: The Case of After Edward,” Early Theatre 25, no. 2 (2022-12-13): 157–72, doi 10.12745/et.25.2.4733
• C. Fallow, “New Work In and Beyond Repertory at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe,” Early Theatre 25, no. 2 (2022-12-13): 173–85, doi 10.12745/et.25.2.4739

ed, “Special Issue: Fight or Flyte – Pride and Masculinity in the Middle Ages,” International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities 11, no. 3 (2019), doi 10.7710/263

Reviews

Performances

with M. Heffernan, “Twelfth Night (Back Room Shakespeare Project 2023),” Shakespeare Bulletin (forthcoming)

“Romeo and Juliet (National Theatre 2021),” Shakespeare Bulletin 40, no. 1 (2022-06-27): 148–52, doi 10.1353/shb.2022.0008

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Back Room Shakespeare Project 2020),” Shakespeare Bulletin 38, no. 3 (2021-09-24): 511–15, doi 10.1353/shb.2020.0040 / watch

“Everybody (Artists Repertory Theatre 2018),” Shakespeare Bulletin 37, no. 3 (2020-07-07): 409–13, doi 10.1353/shb.2019.0042

“Romeo and Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2018),” Shakespeare Bulletin 37, no. 1 (2019-05-31): 141–45, doi 10.1353/shb.2019.0013

“Pericles Wet (Portland Shakespeare Project 2017),” Shakespeare Bulletin 36, no. 3 (2018-10-31): 555–58, doi 10.1353/shb.2018.0055

“Romeo and Juliet / Layla and Majnun (Bag & Baggage 2017),” Shakespeare Bulletin 36, no. 2 (2018-07-18): 340–45, doi 10.1353/shb.2018.0030

“The Taming of the Shrew (Original Practice Shakespeare Festival 2016),” Scene: Journal of the Internet Shakespeare Editions 2 (2017): 66–72, doi 10.18357/scene02201718373

“Malvolio’s Revenge; or, Disabusing the Audience,” Shakespeare 400 Chicago: Reflections on a City’s Celebration of Shakespeare, 166–68 (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, 2017)

“The Hollow Crown’s Richard III: The Affective Failure of Direct Address,” In the Glassy Margents, ed T. J. Moretti (2018-01-02)

“The Hollow Crown’s 2 Henry VI: Perspective and Personal Sovereignty,” In the Glassy Margents, ed T. J. Moretti (2017-02-03)

“The Hollow Crown’s 1 Henry VI: Crosscuts, Casting, and Factional Conflict,” In the Glassy Margents, ed T. J. Moretti (2017-01-17)

“The Portland Actors Ensemble: Love’s Labour’s Lost,” In the Glassy Margents, ed T. J. Moretti (2016-10-27)

“‘Spirited with wine: Portland Actors Ensemble’s Summer Season,” The Shakespeare Newsletter 66, no. 1 (2016): 38–40

“Julius Caesar (Back Room Shakespeare Project 2014),” Shakespeare Bulletin 32, no. 4 (2014-12-05): 756–60, doi 10.1353/shb.2014.0058

“Mankind (Illinois Program in Medieval Studies 2013),” Shakespeare Bulletin 31, no. 3 (2013-09-11): 558–62, doi 10.1353/shb.2013.0054

“Othello and Twelfth Night (Shakespeare Project of Chicago 2012),” Shakespeare Bulletin 31, no. 2 (2013-06-06): 286–92, doi 10.1353/shb.2013.0020

“The Comedy of Errors (Court Theatre 2010),” Shakespeare Bulletin 29, no. 1 (2011-04-06): 60–64, doi 10.1353/shb.2011.0004

Books

“What is a Playhouse? England at Play, 1520–1620 by C. Davies (Routledge 2022),” Shakespeare Bulletin 40, no. 4 (2023-03-23): 757–78, url muse.jhu.edu/article/885453

“Rethinking Theatrical Documents in Shakespeare’s England edited by T. Stern (Bloomsbury 2020) and Loss and the Literary Culture of Shakespeare’s Time edited by R. Knutson, D. McInnis, and M. Steggle (Palgrave 2020),” Early Theatre 24, no. 1 (2021-06-30): 173–79, doi 10.12745/et.24.1.4764

“Shakespeare’s Lost Playhouse: Eleven Days at Newington Butts by L. Johnson (Routledge 2017),” Shakespeare 14, no. 2 (2018-04-09): 197–98, doi 10.1080/17450918.2018.1447988

“Shattering Hamlet’s Mirror: Theatre and Reality by M. Carlson (U of Michigan P 2016),” Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 32, no. 1 (2018-01-13): 144–46, doi 10.1353/dtc.2017.0033

“Shakespeare’s Stage Traffic: Imitation, Borrowing, and Competition in Renaissance Theatre by J. Clare (Cambridge UP 2014),” Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 30, no. 2 (2016-05-14): 143–45, doi 10.1353/dtc.2016.0012

Reference

with A. Morris and H. McNamee, “Census of Medieval and Renaissance performance since January 2022,” Research on Medieval and Renaissance Drama 60 (in press)

with K. A. Thomas, “Census of Medieval and Renaissance performance since January 2021,” Research on Medieval and Renaissance Drama 58 (2021-12-31): 79–106, url scholarworks.wmich.edu/romard/vol58/iss1/6

“The Sun Tavern (The Sonne),” in The Map of Early Modern London, ed J. Jenstad (2020-07-12)

with H. Vincent, “A Semi-Diplomatic Transcription of Selections from the John Ward Diaries, vol. 10 (1663–1665),” The Collation: Research and Exploration at the Folger Shakespeare Library blog, ed H. Wolfe (2020-03-19)

Essays

In 2021, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner and I co-led a “Writing for Popular Media” workshop at the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America, hoping to give faculty space to develop pieces that showcase their research in popular venues. Overtime these pieces are finding homes, including

• E. Zeman Kolkovich, “How My Postpartum Guilt Was Healed by a 17th-Century Poet,” Nursing Cleo (2022-04-05)
• J. Crawford, “The First Comedian,” Los Angeles Review of Books (2022-11-09)

“Making the Covert Public,” Humanities for All blog, eds. M. May-Curry and Y. Oliver, National Humanities Alliance (2021-06-15)

“Genre and the Elizabethan Troupe,” Before Shakespeare: The Beginnings of London Commercial Theatre 1565–1595 blog, eds. C. Davies, A. Kesson, and L. Munro (2017-05-11)