Overview
Sara Stamatiades is the Joseph F. Martino ’53 Lecturer at Cornell University, where she recently received her PhD in English literature. In her comparative dissertation, “The Theater of Discovery: (Un)making the World on the Early Modern Stage,” she engages with a broad range of theatrical texts, from lesser-known Restoration masques and Spanish interludes to more widely recognized works by Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, and Aphra Behn. Through her close readings, Sara advances her definition of discovery as a performative process and colonial endeavor that makes worlds as it unmakes them. In the first half of the project, Sara focuses on representations of discovery onstage, which often rely on the signaling of curtains, props, and lighting. The final chapters shift to examine theatrical representations of discovery’s aftermath: the development of colonial spaces and modes of indigenous resistance.
Sara has won multiple awards for her teaching at Cornell, including the Gertrude Spencer Prize. Bringing her enthusiasm for early modern theater into the classroom, she recently taught an advanced undergraduate course called “Shakespeare Offstage,” which studies Shakespearean myths, adaptations, and strives to answer the question: is Shakespeare still relevant? Additionally, Sara has served as the Assistant Director of the Cornell Writing Centers, demonstrating her commitment to writing pedagogy and supporting undergraduate students. As a 2020-2021 Public Humanities Fellow at Humanities New York, Sara began developing community-engaged projects in Ithaca, NY, including two playwriting workshops. The latest workshop, “Stages of Life,” brought together teens and elders to write short plays based on each other’s lives, while fostering meaningful intergenerational connections.
Research Focus
- 16th & 17th-Century English and Spanish Literature
- Early Modern Drama & Performance
- Global & Postcolonial Studies
- Translation Studies
- Early Modern Critical Indigenous Studies
- Political Theology
- Public Humanities & Community Engagement