Deborah Payne Professor Literature
- Degrees
- PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
MA, English, University of California Los Angeles
BA (Highest Honors), English and Theatre, Loyola Marymount University - Bio
-
An expert on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theatre, Professor Payne has published on topics ranging from the Restoration actress to baroque opera. She is the editor of “The Cambridge Companion to English Restoration Theatre” (Cambridge, 2000); “Four Restoration Libertine Plays” (Oxford, 2005); and “Revisiting Shakespeare’s Lost Play: Cardenio/Double Falsehood in the Eighteenth Century” (Palgrave, 2016). Recently, she published "The Business of English Restoration Theatre, 1660 - 1700" (Cambridge UP, 2024) and, co-authored with Drew Lichtenberg, "Shakespeare in the Theatre: Shakespeare Theatre Company" (Arden/Bloomsbury, 2024).
In addition to her scholarly activities, Professor Payne has worked as a dramaturge and literary consultant for theatre and opera companies in Washington, D.C., including The Shakespeare Theatre Company, where she served as their Humanities Research Consultant for several years. Her teaching interests include Restoration and eighteenth-century drama; Shakespeare in Performance; drama and theory; and Modern British drama.
Professor Payne has been the recipient of fellowships from the NEH, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Huntington Library, the Williams Andrew Clark Memorial Library, and 鶹ý. In spring 2014, she lectured at the Universidad de Sevilla on a Fulbright Fellowship. She has won distinguished teaching awards from both the College of Arts and Sciences and the University.
- See Also
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
AU Experts
Area of Expertise
Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theatre; theatre history; performance theory; Shakespeare in performance; dramaturgy
Additional Information
Professor Payne published "Revisiting Shakespeare's Lost Play: Cardenio/Double Falsehood in the Eighteenth Century" (Palgrave, 2016) and completed "The Commodiluxe Stage: A New Material History of Restoration Theatre." In 2014 she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to lecture in Spain. Other publications include: Four Libertine Plays (Oxford, 2005). In the summer of 2005, Fisk concluded a three-year Exemplary Project Grant in conjunction with the Shakespeare Theatre, awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities for $250,000.
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.