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John Michael DiResta

John Michael DiResta is a theater director, dramaturg, writer, and Assistant Professor of Theater at Skidmore College.

John Michael's work as a director focuses on new work development, site-responsive theater, community engagement, and queer theater. He is particularly interested in the intersection between new work development and theater for social change and highlights in his work the importance of repositioning audience experience in new plays.

Ten actors link arms with each other during a performance.
Balancing Trauma and Joy While Teaching Queer Theatre History
Essay

Balancing Trauma and Joy While Teaching Queer Theatre History

24 October 2023

Theatre professor John Michael DiResta reflects on teaching queer theatre history to students who have had very different lived queer experiences than he had growing up. By investigating queer theatrical history from a contemporary lens and with an invitation to engage and make something new, his students were able to find the joy in history where they previously only saw trauma.