Rate My Professor Gina Di Salvo

Gina Di Salvo is Associate Professor of Theatre History and Dramaturgy in the Department of Theatre at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Holding a PhD from Northwestern University in Theatre and Drama (2014), she specializes in early modern English theatre, with research interests encompassing saint plays, shoemaking narratives in drama, representations of liveness through celestial phenomena like comets in Shakespeare, and dramaturgy practices. Di Salvo serves as Associate Director of the Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at UTK and as the professional dramaturg for the Clarence Brown Theatre, where she supports productions through historical and textual research. During 2018-19, she was a Faculty Fellow at the University of Tennessee Humanities Center, advancing her scholarly work on theatre history.

Her key publications include the article 'Saints' Lives and Shoemakers' Holidays: The Gentle Craft and Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday' in Early Theatre 19.1 (2016), which examines connections between hagiographic traditions and Thomas Dekker's play. She contributed a chapter 'Signs of Liveness: Blazing Stars in Shakespeare’s Comets' exploring astronomical signs and theatrical vitality in early modern drama. Di Salvo authored reviews for Theatre Journal, including on adaptations like Gentle from Dostoevsky. As Associate Editor of Theatre Survey, she shapes scholarship in theatre history. Her influence extends through conference presentations and organization, such as chairing 'Theatre History on the Margins' at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), papers on 'The Virgin Martyr in Repertory' at Shakespeare Association seminars, 'The Morality Play, Recycled' at upcoming events, and 'The Saint Play, A Revision' on medieval-to-early modern transitions. Public lectures include the 2024 Strode Shakespeare Lecture 'Trial by Theatre: Shame and Social Judgement in Early Seventeenth-Century London' at the University of Alabama. Di Salvo's committee roles and editorial contributions enhance early theatre studies, bridging medieval hagiography, Renaissance drama, and contemporary dramaturgy.