LaRonika Thomas
- 410-810-7757
- lthomas6FREEwashcoll
- Gibson Center for the Arts 224
Dr. LaRonika Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Washington College, where she taught as a lecturer since the Spring of 2020. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she developed a theory of civic dramaturgy for her dissertation on performances of urban planning, cultural space and cultural policy, and the role of art and culture in 21st century Chicago. Basically, cities are produced by people, which means that using performance theories can help us understand how cities are planned, produced, and used.
Her other research interests and areas of specialization include dramaturgy and directing; new play development and script analysis; theatre history, in particular American theatre since the 19th century; site-specific and devised performance; dramaturgy archives; digital space and digital dramaturgy.
She was the Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Loyola University Maryland for the 2017-2018 year and has also taught Theatre, English, Anthropology, and Communication courses at the University of Maryland, Towson University, MICA, Purdue University, Indiana University, and the Community College of Baltimore County, in addition to Washington College.
A professional dramaturg, producer, and writer, LaRonika worked in arts education, literary management, and dramaturgy in Chicago and in the Baltimore/DC area before returning to school for her doctorate. She has worked in various capacities with the Goodman Theatre, the Public Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Center Stage, The Playwright's Center, The Neo-Futurists, and Writers' Theatre, among others. Her work has been funded by LMDA, ATDS, CCBC, ATHE, Washington College, the University of Maryland, and the City of Chicago.
Education
- Ph.D. in Theatre History and Performance Studies, University of Maryland, 2022
- M.A. in Theatre, with honors, Purdue University, 2003
- B.A. in Anthropology and Theatre, with honors, Indiana University, 1999
Academic Expertise
- Dramaturgy and New Play Development
- Theatre History
- Civic Dramaturgy & Performing the City
- Performance Studies
- Chicago Theatre
- Storytelling and Public Speaking
The First-Year students I advise also take my First Year Seminar, Gamblers, Tricksters, Actors, and Sinners: Seeing the World through the Theatrical. In this class on theatricality, not only do you gain skills and strategies for academic success at Washington College, but you everyone from Plato to Butler argue about why theatrical activity is a force of good or evil.
I work with students in several capacities, whether I am advising them on their theatre Senior Capstone Projects, where they produce and work on a production, or guiding them in their dramaturgical research, directing them in a show, or opening up ways for them to compete and train at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Additional Information
- Loyola University, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre, 2017-2018
- University of Maryland, Department of English, Certificate in Critical Theory, 2018
- University of Maryland, University Teaching and Learning Program Certificate, 2015
- University of Maryland Theatre and Performance Studies Graduate Fellowship, 2011
- Thomas, LaRonika. “Texts in Conversation to Engage Non-Majors.” In Theatre Topics, 35.1 (March 2025).
- Thomas, LaRonika. “Temple-Swapping in the City: The Spatial Imaginary and Performances of Place-Making in the Work of Theaster Gates.” In Makeshift Chicago Stages: A Century of Theatre and Performance, edited by Megan E. Geigner, Stuart J. Hecht, and Jasmine Jamillah Mahmoud. Northwestern University Press, 2021.
- Thomas, LaRonika. “Digital Dramaturgy and Digital Dramaturgs.” In The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, edited by Magda Romanska. Routledge Press, 2014.
- Thomas, LaRonika et. al. "An Interdisciplinary Book Review of Kinesthetic Cities: Dance and Movement in Chinese Urban Spaces by SanSan Kwan." Verge: Studies in Global Asias 2, no. 1 (Spring 2016) 28-41.
- Washington College Faculty Enhancement Grant, 2024
- University of Maryland Teaching and Learning Transformation Center Distinguished Graduate Teaching Fellow, 2016
- American Theatre and Drama Society Graduate Student Travel Award, 2016
- American Theatre and Drama Society Graduate Student Fellow, 2016
- National Finalist in the KCACTF Critic's Competition, Kennedy Center, 2003
Each semester I teach a theatre course where we read and discuss plays and examine the interplay between theatre and society. Students read, engage in lively debate, reflect, and present throughout the semester.
- THE101 – Drama, Stage, and Society I
- THE102 – Drama, Stage, and Society II
- FYS101 – Gamblers, Tricksters, Actors, and Sinners: Seeing the World through the Theatrical
- THE394 – Theatre and Social Movements in America: From Suffrage to Decolonization
- CMS150 – Public Speaking
- Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA)
- American Theatre & Drama Society (ATDS)
- Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
- American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR)
- Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC)
- Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Cultural Association (MAPACA)