Aycan Akcamete
Education
Ph.D., 2023 Comparative Literature Program, The University of Texas at Austin
M.A., 2010 Program in British Cultural Studies (İngiliz Kültür Araştırmaları), Hacettepe University
Research
INVITED TALKS
“Cross-Cultural Collaboration: An introduction & guided conversation for all, hosted by the LMDA BIPOC Affinity Group.” Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) Digital Conference, Virtual, February 2024.
“Theater in Southwest Asia and Turkey,” BIPOC Affinity Group, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), Virtual, September 2023.
“Critiquing the Critics: The Reception SWANA Theater in North America,” No Summary: Conversations with Artists Who Don’t Fit in a Box, organized by Golden Thread Productions and Association for Theater in Higher Education, Virtual, August 2023.
“An Overview of Theater in Turkey from Ottoman Era to the Contemporary.” Summer Language Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Virtual, June 2023.
“Intersection of the Archive, Theater Criticism, and Performance.” Theatre and Thought in the European Tradition Symposium, Austin, April 2018.
SELECT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Panels Organized
“Revising Theater History, Curricula, and Repertories: Theatre Aesthetics from Türkiye.” Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE) Annual Conference, Virtual, August 2024.
“MET Focus Group Emerging Scholars Panel” Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE) Annual Conference, Atlanta, August 2024.
“Launching The Middle East Theatre Handbook: A digital guide to teaching and producing MENA in the academy,” Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE) Annual Conference, Austin, August 2023.
Select Presentations
“Global Crisis and Intercultural Critique: The Reception of How to Hold Your Breath in Istanbul.” American Society For Theater Research (ASTR) Annual Conference, Seattle, November 2024.
“CreatAthon: Middle Eastern North African Theatre Handbook: A Digital Guide to Teaching and Producing MENA in the Academy.” Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE) Annual Conference, Atlanta, August 2024.
“Reimagining Glamour in Performance: A Case Study of Podacto Productions.” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference, Montreal, March 2024.
“Human Rights Narratives in the Stage Adaptation of Can Dündar’s #WeAreArrested.” Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Annual Conference, Denver, December 2022.
“Redefining Embedded Criticism: A Study of Royal Shakespeare Company’s Marketing Network.” American Society For Theater Research (ASTR) Annual Conference, New Orleans, October 2022.
“Subversion and Censorship: Archiving Sadece Diktatör (Just a Dictator) in The Public Space and Public Sphere.” Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE) Annual Conference, Detroit, August 2022.
“Towards a New Model of Theater Criticism: A Case Study of The Reviewing Landscape in England.” American Society For Theater Research (ASTR) Annual Conference, San Diego, October 2021.
“Reclamation of the Stage and the Theatrical Realm: The Adaptation of It Felt Empty at Talimhane Tiyatrosu.” Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE) Annual Conference, Virtual, August 2021.
“Theater Criticism and Meaning-Making: Leyla Nazlı’s Silver Birch House At Arcola Theater.” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference, Virtual, April 2021.
Publications
Journal Articles
"A Theatre of Networks: Reconceptualizing Theatre Criticism and Theatre as an Event." Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, vol. 38 no. 1, 2023, p. 9-28. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/dtc.2023.a925029.
“Problematization of the Savior Metaphor in Gillian Plowman’s Yours Abundantly, From Zimbabwe.” B.A.S. Journal of British and American Studies, Spring/Fall 23, 2017, pp. 27-37.
“The Burst of the Real and the Law in Philip Ridley’s Mercury Fur.” Interactions Ege Journal of British and American Studies, Spring/Fall vol. 26.1-2, 2017, pp. 1-13.
Book Chapters
“Constructing Political Narratives: The Reception of #WeAreArrested in London.” Theatres of Resilience: Navigating Censorship, Gender, Intersectionality in Turkey (2025, Palgrave)
Translation
Akçamete, Aycan, translator. Postdramatik Tiyatro [Postdramatisches Theater], by Hans-Thies Lehmann. Imge Kitabevi. (Under Review)
Select Arts Journalism
Aycan Akçamete, Hala Baki, Marjan Moosavi, and Michael Malek Najjar, “A Roundtable Review: Returning to Haifa at Golden Thread Productions (2024).” Arab Stages vol. 16, Fall 2024. https://www.thesegalcenter.org/arab-stages/a-roundtable-review%3A-retur…;
Arti Ishak, Aycan Akçamete, and Yasmin Zacharia Mikhaiel. “SWANA Theater Deserves Better Futures.” American Theater, July 8, 2024, https://www.americantheatre.org/2024/07/08/swana-theatre-deserves-better-futures/.
Teaching
Fall 2024; COLT 450/550: 20th Century World Drama
Fall 2024; TA 400/500: Performance Studies
Winter 2025; COLT 460/560: Performance Theory
Winter 2025; TA 468: Theater History II