Mechele Leon
- Professor
- Theatre & Performance Studies, Tourism
Contact Info
Biography —
A member of the KU faculty since 2002, Dr. Leon teaches theatre history, dramatic theory, and directing at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She served as Chairperson of the Department of Theatre (2012-2017) and as Artistic Director of the University Theatre (2009-2012). Her current research focuses on performance studies as a lens into Jewish heritage tourism.
Working for more than two decades on the history of French theatre, her books include A Cultural History of Theatre in the Enlightenment and Molière, the French Revolution, and the Theatrical Afterlife.
As a theatre artist, she directs productions of plays and musicals and created the solo theatre piece Bladder Interrupted: A Self-Story About Cancer. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities faculty fellowship, a Bourse Chateaubriand, and grants from KU’s International Affairs and the Hall Center for the Humanities.
Working in France from 1996-2001, she taught theatre history, theory, and acting at the American University of Paris.
Education —
Teaching —
Teaching interests:
- Theatre History & Criticism
- Directing for the Stage
- Tourism Studies
Selected Publications —
“By Means of Visitation: Tourism and Identity on Spain’s Sephardic Way,” in Staging Visitation: Tourism and Performance, eds. Bryan Schmidt and Weston Tardowski. University of Michigan Press (Forthcoming).
Leon, Mechele, Renee Cyr, Jonah Greene. Public Speaking as Performance: Practicing Public Speaking in the Theatre & Performance Classroom. Open Educational Resource. University of Kansas Libraries (Pressbooks), 2023.
A Cultural History of Theatre in the Age of Enlightenment. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.
Molière, the French Revolution, and the Theatrical Afterlife. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2009. Winner of the American Society for Theatre Research Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre Studies.
Selected Presentations —
“Return to Sepharad: Excerpts from a Voyage to the Ancestral Past.” Association for Jewish Studies (AJS), Online (Dec. 2024).
“Acts of Return: Sephardic Heritage Tourism and Reparative Citizenship.” American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), Providence, RI (Nov. 2023).
“Molière as National Hero.” Univ. of Missouri Kansas City Emeritus College annual award dinner. (November 2021). Invited Keynote Speaker.
“Theatre and Cultural Diplomacy.” International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), Belgrade, Serbia (July 2018).
“Is 'Culture' Still a Useful Category?” Theatre Historiography Today, symposium sponsored by University of Exeter & Royal Holloway, London, England (Jan. 2018).
“Cancer, Storytelling, and the Narrative Body.” American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), Atlanta, GA (Nov. 2017).
Creative Works —
Las Semillas de Expulsión, by David Crespy. Staged reading directed by Mechele Leon. University of Missouri–Columbia (October 2023).
As You Like It, William Shakespeare, directed and sound designed by Mechele Leon. University of Kansas University Theatre (February 2020).
Spring Awakening: The Musical, Sater and Shiek, directed by Mechele Leon. University of Kansas University Theatre (April 2018).
Bladder Interrupted: A Self-Story About Cancer, written and performed by Mechele Leon. KC Fringe Festival (Kansas City, MO. July 2017); Vital Joint (Brooklyn, NY. Oct. 2017); recording of production selected for inclusion in the International Online Theatre Festival, 2019.
The Rehearsal & The Hypochondriac, Moliere, adapted from the French and directed by Mechele Leon. University of Kansas University Theatre (Feb. 2016).
Adding Machine: A Musical, Loewith & Schmidt, Elmer Rice, directed by Mechele Leon. University of Kansas University Theatre (Nov. 2013).
All My Sons (Touring Production), Arthur Miller, staged and produced by Mechele Leon for Shanghai International Contemporary Theatre Festival (Nov. 2012).