PhD Candidate Alyssa Stover wins Selma Jeanne Cohen Conference Presentation Award
The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) awarded PhD Candidate Alyssa Stover the Selma Jeanne Cohen Conference Presentation Award at the 2025 ASTR Conference in Denver, Colorado November 6-9, 2025, where Stover gave a paper titled "We're All a Little Gay!: Queer Histories and Futurity in the Van Ella Bordella Burlesque Show." Stover argued that this show serves as a re-imagining of queer histories that have been overlooked or erased, as performers deploy camp and humor as subversive tools, using queerness as a force of disruption. According to ASTR, "The award provides a $1000 honorarium and complimentary conference registration to a scholar to participate in a plenary or working session at the ASTR conference. This presentation must, in the spirit of Selma Jeanne Cohen, explore the intersections of theatre and dance/movement."