Lesley Ferris serves as Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of theatre at Ohio State and has twice served as department chair. She plans to retire in December 2019.
Collaboration has been central to Lesley’s artistic philosophy. She developed partnerships with numerous Ohio State departments such as dance, history, and political science, with the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design, the Mershon Center for International Security Studies and the Wexner Center for the Arts. Having started her career in the United Kingdom, she was able to bring numerous international connections to Ohio State, and international collaboration and study became key elements of the department’s program.
During her tenure as chair, the department emphasized new works, established a laboratory space in Drake Performance and Event Center for experimentation, and drew renowned guest artists to campus including Anne Bogart, Woodie King, Jr., Tony Kushner, Marcel Marceau, Tim Miller and Caridad Svich.
While at Ohio State, Lesley published three books (with a fourth forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press) and thirty articles. She delivered 59 papers at conferences around the country and world. She has written extensively about gender and performance, including cross-dressing, and women and theatre, especially women playwrights. She has also spent a career advancing women in theatre and academia.
Lesley directed eighteen productions at Ohio State, and an additional ten productions outside the university. Highlights of her directing career in our department include Angels in America: Perestroika, St. Joan of the Stockyards, Sleep Deprivation Chamber, The Camouflage Project, and Forbidden Zones: The Great War, the last three of which integrated media with live performance.
(information edited from a Department of Theatre release)