Bess Rowen

Bess Rowen, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Villanova University. She coined the term "affective stage directions," which are stage directions written in ways that engage the physical and emotional responses of future theatre makers. She earned her PhD in Theatre and Performance at The Graduate Center, CUNY and her MA in Performance Studies from NYU. While at CUNY, she was the recipient of the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Public Humanities as well as a Graduate Center Dissertation Fellowship. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association and has studied acting at Michael Howard Studios, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, and The Gaiety School of Acting in Ireland. She also works as an Intimacy Choreographer. Her article “Undigested Reading: Rethinking Stage Directions Through Affect” can be found in the September 2018 volume of Theatre Journal, which was also covered in Episode 27 of "On TAP: A Theatre & Performance Studies Podcast."