Paul Rae is Professor of Theatre Studies in the School of Culture and Communication, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Melbourne. Born and educated in the United Kingdom, he earned a BA from the University of Bristol, an MA from the University of Warwick, and a PhD from Middlesex University. In 1996, he relocated to Singapore, where he resided for 17 years, co-founding the theatre company Spell#7 with Kaylene Tan in 1997. During this period, he served as Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore from 2007 to 2014. Rae joined the University of Melbourne in 2014 as Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in Theatre Studies, advancing to full Professor. He held the position of Head of English and Theatre Studies from 2019 to 2020 and Head of the School of Culture and Communication from 2021 to 2024.

Rae's research specializations encompass contemporary theatre and Asia-Pacific performance cultures, areas in which he supervises PhD students. He is the author of two monographs: Theatre & Human Rights (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and Real Theatre: Essays in Experience (Cambridge University Press, 2019). In 2024, he co-edited The Cambridge Guide to Mixed Methods Research for Theatre and Performance Studies with Tracy C. Davis, an work that received the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Edited Works Award in 2025. His scholarly articles appear in prominent journals such as TDR/The Drama Review, Theatre Journal, Performance Research, and Theatre Research International, including 'Workshop of Filthy Creation: The Theatre Assembled' (2015), 'Archipelagic Performance: Scenes from Maritime Southeast Asia' (2019), 'Masculinity after #MeToo in Mainstream Theatre: Watching Miller, Rehearsing Kane, Reading Geoffrey Rush v Nationwide News Pty Ltd' (2019), and 'The feeling of being watched: lived Confucianism and theatricality in Kuo Pao Kun's mid-1980s monodramas' (Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 2020). Rae contributed as Associate Editor from 2013 to 2018 and Senior Editor of Theatre Research International. He has presented public lectures, including at UCLA, and maintains an active profile in theatre practice and scholarship.

Professional Email: paul.rae@unimelb.edu.au