Benjamin Gillespie

Education

Ph.D., Theatre and Performance, The Graduate Center, CUNY New York United States

M.Phil., Theatre and Performance, The Graduate Center, CUNY New York United States

M.A., Theatre, York University Toronto Canada

B.A., Theatre and English, York University Toronto Canada

Books

Gillespie, B. (2025). Late Stage: Theatrical Perspectives on Age and Aging. Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan Press.

Gillespie, B. (2025). Split Britches: Fifty Years On. Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan Press.

Journal Articles

(2024). The Other Tennessee: Reclaiming LGBTQIA+ Public Space as Queer Counterpublic at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism,

(2022). Power to the Pause: A Pandemic Conversation with Jess Dobkin. Canadian Theatre Review, (188).

(2022). A Roundtable Conversation on the State of Hiring and Labour in Theatre and Performance Studies in Canada. Canadian Theatre Review, (189).

(2020). Global Voices in the Time of Coronavirus. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, (43.3).

(2019). Detonating Desire: Mining the Untapped Potential of Ageing in Split Britches’ Unexploded Ordnances (UXO). Performance Research, (27.4).

(2015). Virtuosic Laboring: Queer Embodiment and Administrative Violence at the  Canadian/U.S. Border. Canadian Theatre Review, 161.

(2012). Giving us ‘Everything She’s Got’: Processing the Script as Archive in Jess Dobkin’s Queer Performance Art. Canadian Theatre Review, 149.

David Byrne and the Utopian Imagination. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, (43.3).

Gillespie, B., & Rowen, B. Against Chronology: Queer Intergenerational Approaches to Pedagogy in Theatre  History and Performance Studies. Theatre Topics, 30.2.

Gillespie, B. Interview: Between Desire and Despair. 360 Magazine,

The Long View: Talking Band Turns Fifty. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art,

Book Chapters

(2025). Queer Avant-Garde Theatre. Milestones in Queer US Theatre New York and London. Routledge.

Gillespie, B. (2024). Split Britches and the Camp Absurd. In Bennett, M. (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Absurdist Literature London and New York. Routledge.

(2024). Ruff Around the Edges: Queering Age and Memory/Loss in Peggy Shaw’s Ruff. Late Stage: Theatrical Perspectives on Age and Aging Ann Arbor, Michigan. University of Michigan.

(2024). Making Lesbian-Feminist Theatre: Lois Weaver, Tammy WhyNot, and the Legacy of Split Britches. Milestones in Staging Contemporary Genders and Sexualities New York and London. Routledge.

Gillespie, B. (2023). Exercising Care: The Performance Protocols of Lois Weaver. In Gainor, J., & Burroughs, C. (Eds.), Women’s Theatre Theory and Dramatic Criticism London and New York. Routledge.

Gillespie, B. (2023). Queer Legacies: The Ridiculous Theatrical Company and Split Britches. In Halferty, J. P., & Leeney, C. (Eds.), Analyzing Gender and Performance London. Palgrave Macmillan Springer.

Gillespie, B. (2015). "Everything’s Breakable," or What I Learned from Lois Weaver. In Weaver, L., & Harvie, J. (Eds.), The Only Way Home is Through the Show: The Performance Work of Lois Weaver Bristol, UK. Intellect.

Gillespie, B. (2014). Que(e)rying Theatrical Objects. In Schweitzer, M., & Zerdy, J. (Eds.), Performing Objects and Theatrical Things New York. Palgrave Macmillan.

Gillespie, B. (2011). Performing the Prosthetics of Femininity: Nina Arsenault’s Transsexual Body as a Living Art Object. In Rudakoff, J. (Ed.), TRANS(per)FORMING Nina Arsenault: An Unreasonable Body of Work Bristol, UK. Intellect.

Performing Dramaturgies of Care in Quarantine: Aging, Inclusivity, and Aesthetics in a Virtual World. Pandemic Play: Community in Performance, Gaming, and the Arts New York. Springer.

Conference Proceedings

Gillespie, B. (2024). Queer Ecologies in Theatre and Performance Histories.

Gillespie, B. (2023). Tracing Queer Legacies: Performing Hope across Past, Present, and Future.

Gillespie, B. (2023). Tennessee Williams and the Queer Avant Garde.

Gillespie, B. (2023). Lois Weaver’s What Tammy Needs to Know.

Gillespie, B. (2023). Queer Archival Praxis.

Gillespie, B. (2022). Transfeminisms .

Gillespie, B. The Queer Performance Archive.

Gillespie, B. Tennessee Williams and the Queer Avant Garde.

Gillespie, B. Weaving Acts of Care: Staging Age and Sexuality in the Performance Work of Lois Weaver.

Presentations

Gillespie, B. Moderator, Orpheus Descending Talkback, Theatre for a New Audience. Brooklyn, NY: Theatre for a New Audience.

Other Scholarly Works

Reviews

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Review of The Taylor Mac Book . Theatre Journal.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Review of Ibsen's Ghost. Theatre Journal.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Review of Scene Partners by John Caswell Jr. (Vineyard Theatre. Journal of American Drama and Theatre.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). We’re Gonna Die by Young Jean Lee (Second Stage Theatre). Theatre Journal.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Queer and Now: Review of Q2Q: Queer Canadian Theatre and Performance / Q2Q: Queer Canadian Performance Texts. Canadian Theatre Review.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Death in Silhouette: Review of Mementos Mori by Manual Cinema (Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival). PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Review of The Theatre opf Caryl Churchill by R. Darren Gobert. Theatre Journal.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Review of Ruff by Peggy Shaw (La MaMa, New York). Theatre Journal.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Review of Uncloseting Drama: American Modernism and Queer Performance. Theatre Survey.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Review of Learning How to Fall: Art and Culture after September 11th by T. Nikki Cesare. Theatre Research in Canada.

Gillespie, B. (1970,January 1). Review of Performing Age in Modern Drama by Valerie Barnes Lipscomb. Modern Drama.

University

Professional

Public