Karen Jean Martinson is a Assistant Professor in the Communications, Media Arts, and Theatre Program at Chicago State University. She explores the intersection of contemporary USAmerican Performance, consumer culture, and the processes of identification through her scholarly and creative work. She focuses her scholarly research on El Vez, The Mexican Elvis/Robert Lopez, interrogating how his performances cross separating lines of difference such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. Creatively, she works as both a dramaturg and director, staging and devising works of social import and engagement. She currently serves as Secretary of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) after having served the Dramaturgy Focus Group. Martinson was awarded her Ph.D. in Theatre History, Literature, and Critical Theory from the University of Minnesota in 2008.

El Vez, The Mexican Elvis; Contemporary USAmerican Subject Formation; Devised Theatre; Neoliberalism and Consumer Culture Theory; American Girl Dolls, Products, Environments, and Theatre

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