Melanie Dreyer-Lude, EdD, MFA, MA, BA

Area of Study / Keywords

Theatre Practice International Collaboration Interdisciplinary Pedagogy Performance as Research

About

Melanie Dreyer-Lude specializes in intercultural and multilingual theatre projects. She has directed over 70 productions in a variety of international locations, including Germany, Turkey, and Uganda. Fluent in German, Dreyer-Lude translates and directs contemporary German plays, which have been produced in the United States and Canada and published in international magazines and anthologies. A two-time Fulbright scholar, her current research focuses on locating, archiving, analyzing, and adapting traditional stories from small villages in Uganda. Her most recent book, The Adaptable Degree, offers statistical evidence for the employability of theatre graduates across all work sectors. She holds an MA in dramatic literature from Washington University St. Louis, an MFA in directing from Northwestern University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri. She is currently a full professor in the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta.

Research

Books

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2024). The Adaptable Degree: How education in theater supports the economy of the future. Routledge.

Cohen, I., & Dreyer-Lude, M. (2020). Finding Your Research Voice: Story Telling and Theatre Skills for Bringing Your Presentation to Life. Springer Nature. (Invited)

Arlander, A., Barton, B., Dreyer-Lude, M., & Spatz, B. (Eds.). (2017). Performance as research: knowledge, methods, impact. Routledge.

Dreyer-Lude, M. 2006. Mastering Your Performance. Kendall Hunt Publishing. 

 Book Chapters

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2017). Introduction II. Threads: linking PAR practice across spectrums. In A. Arlander, et al. (Eds.), Performance as Research: Knowledge, Methods, Impact (pp. 75-83). Routledge. 

Book Reviews

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2019) The Translator on Stage [Review of the book The Translator on Stage, by Geraldine Brodie]. Comparative Drama 53(1), pp. 143-146.

Refereed Articles

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2021). Problems into Possibilities: How the Pandemic Influenced Stage Composition in the Theatre. Academia.edu. 

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2015). Show and Tell: Using Recorded Feedback to Improve Learning in the Acting Classroom. Methods, 1, 21-29.

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2013). Feeling Double: The Psychophysical Activation of Personality in Bilingual Performance. Theatre Topics, 23(2), 197-208.

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2013) Speech Song: Foreign Language as Music on Stage. Interdisciplinary Humanities, Summer Issue, 124-132.

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2013) Mapping Ottersberg: Using Performance Intervention to Mediate Performance as Research. Experiments and Intensities, Volume 3.

Invited Articles

Clarke, K., Dreyer-Lude, M., Dubois, F., Mengesha, W., Palmer, A., Shaw, K., Warwick, J. (2019). Institutional Responses to #MeToo: A Conversation. Canadian Theatre Review, Fall 2019, pp. 42-47.

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2016).  Teaching Young Directors to Signify. Stage Directors Journal (SDC), Summer 2016, p. 53.

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2014). Viewing Through Cultural Glasses. Istanbul University, Maske, pp 207-214 (Turkish), pp. 306-314 (English).

 Dreyer-Lude, M. (2005). Experiments in Dramatic Structure. TheatreForum Magazine, Summer/Fall 2005, 27, pp. 16-18 

Translations

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2009). Push Up 1-3 by Roland Schimmelpfennig [American English translation of the German]. In B. Maranca, M. Semil, New Europe, New Voices: Plays from the Continent. (pp. 225-266) Theatre Communications Group. (invited)

Dreyer-Lude, M. (2005). Woman from the Past by Roland Schimmelpfennig [American English translation of the German]. TheatreForum Magazine, Summer/Fall 2005, 19-34.

DRAMA 150 - Making and Performing Theatre

Dramatic improvisation as an introduction to the process of acting and to dramatic form. Prerequisite: consent of Department. Note: Restricted to BA Drama Majors, BA (Honors) Drama students, BEd (Secondary) Drama Majors, and BFA (Technical Theatre; Stage Management) students, or admission by consent of Department based on successful completion of Drama 30 or equivalent. Note: Not to be taken by students with credit in DRAMA 149.

DRAMA 358 - Beginning Acting Technique II

Script analysis, characterization, and the laboratory exploration of scenes and/or plays drawn from Realism. Prerequisite: DRAMA 356. Note: Restricted to BFA (Acting) students.

DRAMA 685 - Approaches to Staging the Style Play

Theory and practice of directing extended theatrical styles. Note: Restricted to MFA Directing students, or by consent of the Department. Prerequisite: DRAMA 683.

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