Dr. Bess Rowen, she is an Assistant Professor of Drama at Villanova University. She is a professional actor, a member of Actors’ Equity Association having studied acting at the Michael Howard Studios, and she also works in the theatre as an intimacy choreographer.
She is also a theatre theorist, historian and author. Her book, The Lines Between the Lines: How Stage Directions Affect Embodiment, was published by University of Michigan Press in October 2021 and focuses on what she terms "affective stage directions," which are stage directions written in ways that engage the physical and emotional responses of future theatre makers.
She serves as co-editor of the Journal of American Drama and Theatre and the Performance Review Editor of The Eugene O'Neill Review. Her recent articles can be found in Theatre Survey, Modern Drama, and The Eugene O'Neill Review as well as other publications. She also serves on the Executive Board of the Eugene O'Neill Society, is the co-planner of the Tennessee Williams Scholars Conference, and the Representative for the LGBTQ Focus Group at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
Her current book project is why I was so excited to have her as my guest on the podcast. It focuses on representations of mean teenage girls on stage in the American Theatre over the last century. We’re going to talk about how seeing and embodying those representations permeate young women’s psyche’s and how that may affect them when they get older, in particular, how they show up as business women and women leaders.
You can listen to the full conversation on the #RevealingLi podcast, Ep8 Mean Girls Be Damned – Circles Rise Together with Bess Rowen, available now on:
If you are interested in learning more about the mean girl phenomenon and helping teenage girls navigate social aggression, I encourage you to read Rosalind Wiseman's ground breaking book Queen Bees and Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence. Learn more at:
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