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Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Travis P. Brisini
229 Sparks Hall
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16801
[email protected]
Education
Ph.D., (2012) Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. Advisor: Michael S.
Bowman. Major: Communication Studies—Performance Studies. Dissertation:
AMD&ART: Performativity and Participation in Ecological Remediation.
M.S., (2007). Southern Illinois University—Carbondale, Carbondale, Il. Advisor: Craig
Gingrich-Philbrook. Major: Speech Communication—Performance Studies. Research
Report: Infinite Lines of Flight: Expression Pig and the Search for Oneiric Subjectivites.
B.A., (2005). Kutztown University.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Brisini, Travis P. “The Conference Room Carpet.” Text and Performance Quarterly
(forthcoming)
--. “Performativity and Onto-Performance in Ecological Art.” Texas Speech
Communication Journal: Special Issue on Performance Studies. 37.1 (2013).
Presentations at Professional Meetings (via abstract submission)
2015
Brisini, Travis. “Prosthetic Affect and Historical Emotion: Professor Jeno’s ‘School for
Smiles.’” Panelist. National Communication Association Convention. Las Vegas,
November 2015.
--. “The Question of the Animal: Posthumanism in Performance as Metadisciplinary
Impulse. Panel Co-Chair & Respondent. National Communication Association
Convention. Las Vegas, November 2015.
2014
Brisini, Travis . “The Conference Room Carpet.” Panelist. National Communication
Association Convention. Chicago, November 2014.
2013
Brisini, Travis P. “Communication Food Choices and Consequences: Performance
Studies at the Table.” Panel Chair. National Communication Association Annual
Convention. Washington, November 2013.
--. “Standing Water/Sarracenia alata.” Panelist. National Communication Association
Annual Convention. Washington, November 2013.
2012
Brisini, Travis P. “Strange Holes and Cleavages: The Environmental Affinities of
Marjory Stoneman Douglas.” Panelist. National Communication Association.
Orlando, November 2012.
--. “And out of the darkness came the hands/That reach thro’ nature,
moulding men: ‘Digit-al” inheritance in posthumanism.” Panelist. Central
States Communication Conference. Cleveland 2012.
2011
Brisini, Travis P.“The Oil of Gladness: Home and Healing After the BP Oil Spill.”
Panelist. National Communication Association Annual Convention. New
Orleans, November 2011.
2010
Brisini, Travis P. “Forgiving the Wolf of Gubbio: Toward a Posthuman Critical
Stance.” Panelist. National Communication Association Annual Convention.
San Francisco, November. 2010.
---. “Performing the Beats Through Ekphrasis: Michael McClure.” Panelist. National
Communication Association Annual Conference. San Francisco, November,
2010.
---. “Reframing the Digital Frame.” Panelist. National Communication Association
Annual Conference. San Francisco, November, 2010.
---. “Throwing Myselves to the Wolf.”
Invited Performer. Patti Pace Performance Festival.
Georgia Southern University, February, 2010.
2009
Brisini, Travis P. “Throwing Myselves to the Wolf.” Panelist. National
Communication Association Annual Convention. Chicago, November, 2009.
--. “Flesh, Time, and Space: Alternative Orientations Toward Digital
Performance.” Chairperson. Chicago, November, 2009.
2007
Brisini, Travis P. “Radical Cartography/Radical Subjectivity.” Central States
Communication Association Annual Convention, Minneapolis, 2007.
2006
Brisini, Travis P. “D.A.’s and Drainpipe Jeans, Or Why I’m Sick of Being
Called ‘The Fonz’.’ Panelist. The Midwest Popular Culture Association Annual
Convention. Indianapolis, October, 2006.
2005
Brisini, Travis P. “Performing History: A Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the
Performance Studies Division.” Panelist. National Communication Association
Annual Convention. Boston, November, 2005.
Teaching Experience
Teaching Experience at Penn State University
CAS 100A: “Public Speaking”
CAS 100B: “Small Group Communication”
Teaching Experience at Louisiana State University
CMST 3040: “Performance Composition”
This course articulates practical strategies for composing and staging original
performance pieces, specifically working within the disciplinary boundaries of
Performance Studies. Students generate anecdotal, poetic, imagistic texts, and through a
process of collaborative strategizing, stage those texts in innovative, evocative fashions.
This class also serves as an introduction to literary concepts such as “text” and
“intertext,” as well as performance-specific iterations of familiar literary concepts and
tropes (metaphor, syllogism, etc.).
CMST 3900: “Creative Collaboration”
This course examines the role of collaboration in twentieth-century performance,
from the early avant-garde through the digital era, with special attention focused on the
later half of the twentieth century. Students learn the history of important movements
such as Fluxus, Neoism, the Mail Art networks, as well as Body Art and Video/Net Art.
From these examples, students are taught methods of using collaborative strategies to
produce original performances.
CMST 2040: “Performance of Literature”
This course applies the fundamental concepts of performance studies to an
embodied engagement of literature, teaching students techniques for adapting,
interpreting and staging literary works, as well as beginning to instruct them in the
fundamentals of authoring their own original performance scripts. These techniques
include close-reading, dramatistic analysis and devising performances, in addition to
other methods.
CMST 2060: “Public Speaking”
This course focuses on the pragmatic application of current theories regarding
public address, informs students of the logic that undergirds public speaking, and
provides them with a venue in which to hone their skills as public speakers. The students
are expected to display proficiency in four distinct varieties of public address:
Narrative/Personal Account, Informative, Persuasive, and Commemorative speaking. In
addition to this “hands-on” portion of the class, the students are also given the tools
necessary to cultivate a philosophical and aesthetic understanding of appropriate,
effective public speaking, a characteristic that allows them to develop situationallyspecific, dynamic public speeches.
CMST 1061: “Fundamentals of Communication”
The purpose of this course is to familiarize introductory-level communication
students with the theoretical and practical materials that comprise the broad field of
“Communication Studies.” Consequently, the course is divided into three distinct
sections: Communication Theory, Rhetorical Theory, and Performance Theory. Each
section represents a distinct way of conceptualizing the phenomenon of
“communication”--the reasons why we might choose to communicate and the patterns,
both implicit and explicit, which shape our communication.
Teaching Experience at Southern Illinois University--Carbondale
SPCM 390f: “Applied Communication: Performance Studies Emphasis”
(2006-2007)
This course allows undergraduate students to directly participate in the process of
staging productions in the Marion Kleinau Theatre, as well as assisting in routine
maintenance of the theatre. Teaching responsibilities include instructing students in
practical theatrical skills, such as lighting design, costume design, the fabrication of
theatrical properties, sound design and publicity, as well as the scheduling and
supervision of both technical rehearsals and staging of Departmental and Guest-Artist
productions.
SPCM 101: “Introduction to Oral Communication: Speech, Self And Society”
(2005-2007)
The introductory Speech Communication course required for all undergraduates
as part of the University-approved Core Curriculum. This course combines elements of
Public Speaking, Communication History, Interpersonal Communication, Intercultural
Communication and Philosophy of Communication into a hybrid course designed to
provide students with both a practical and theoretical understanding of the process of
communication.
Professional Affiliations

National Communication Association

Southern States Communication Association

Central States Communication Association

International Environmental Communication Association

Lambda Pi Eta (National Speech Honor Society)
Community and Professional Service
Community Service
AMPLIFY: A community outreach organization comprised of teenagers throughout St.
Tammany Parish that promotes drug awareness, leadership and positive decision making
through performance-based community service. Developed script for outreach
performances, led small-group sessions for leadership training, workshopped performer’s
pieces.
Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge

HopKins Black Box board member- Ph.D representative (2008-2009)

Performance Studies Representative: Communication Studies Graduate Student
Organization (2009-2010)

Departmental Discussion Facilitator:
“Station to Station” by Drs. Benjamin Powell & Brianne Waychoff (March 2008)
“The Ticket that Exploded” by Dr. John Lebret (April 2009)
“Voodoo Queen” by Brandon Nicholas (November 2009)
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Speech Communication Masters Program Representative to the Faculty (20052007)
Performance Experience
Writer/Director
“The B.F.G.” Director. Slidell Little Theater, Slidell, LA. April 2014.
“Duck Hunter Shoots Angel.” Director. Slidell Little Theater, Slidell, LA. AugustSeptember 2012.
“Stellaluna.” Director. Slidell Little Theater, Slidell, LA. April 2012.
“Pinkalicious.” Director. Slidell Little Theater, Slidell, LA. August, 2011.
“Throwing Myselves to the Wolf.” Writer, Director, Performer (Lead). HopKins Black
Box Theatre, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, February 2009.
“Dr. Weathervaine’s [adjective] [adjective] Olde Timey Medicine Show (And Revue).”
Writer, director and performer (Lead). Marion Kleinau Theatre, Southern Illinois
University, Carbondale, March, 2007.
“Captain Jack Crawford: Poet-Scout and American Showman.” Writer, Director,
Performer (Lead). Shryock Auditorium, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania,
Kutztown, May, 2005.
Performer/Contributor
“Goodnight Moon.” Performer. Slidell Little Theater, Slidell, LA. September 2013.
“A Year with Frog and Toad.” Performer (Lead). Slidell Little Theater, Slidell, LA,
September 2012.
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Performer (Lead). Slidell Little Theater, Slidell,
LA, August 2012.
“The Importance of Being Earnest.” Performer (Lead). Slidell Little Theater, Slidell, LA.
January, 2012.
“Metaphysique d’Ephemera.” Contributor and Performer (Lead). Directed by Sarah
Jackson. HopKins Black Box Theatre, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, April,
2011.
“The Double Life of Dr. Dapertutto.” Performer (Lead). Written and directed by Ruth
Laurion-Bowman. HopKins Black Box Theatre, Louisiana State University, Baton
Rouge, April 2010.
“Love Thy Symptom as Thyself.” Contributor and Performer. Directed by Michael
Bowman. HopKins Black Box Theatre, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge,
October, 2008.
“The Life and Times of King Kong.” Performer (Lead). Written and directed by Tracy
Stephenson Schaffer. HopKins Black Box Theatre, Louisiana State University, Baton
Rouge, October, 2007. Also, invited performer at Patti Pace Performance Festival,
January 2008.
“Truth or Dare.” Contributor/Performer. Directed by John Lebret. HopKins Black Box
Theatre, Louisiana State University, September, 2007.
“Cataclysm!: A Post-Medium Revision of Witkiewicz’s The Water Hen.” Performer.
Adapted and directed by Jake Simmons. Marion Kleinau Theatre, Southern Illinois
University, Carbondale, April, 2007.
“Skinless/Boneless.” Performer. Written and directed by Michael A. Rose. Christian H.
Moe Laboratory Theatre, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, July, 2006.
“Expression Pig: A Dancing Lucid Dream.” Performer. Written and directed by Jake
Simmons and Chris Collins. Marion Kleinau Theatre, Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale, November, 2005.
Lighting/Stage Properties Design for the following productions:

“The B.F.G.,” directed by Travis Brisini

“Duck Hunter Shoots Angel,” directed by Travis Brisini

“Stellaluna,” directed by Travis Brisini.

“Pinkalicious,” directed by Travis Brisini

“Throwing Myselves to the Wolf,” by Travis Brisini and Brianne Waychoff

“If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again: An Ethnography of African American
Motherhood,” by Yvette Hornsby-Minor

“Hold My Tongue: The Sisterly Enfleshment of My Black Femininity,” by
Antoinette McDonald

“Good Eats!” by Chris Collins

“Erratic, Unauthorized and Historically Inaccurate,” by Stephanie Juno

“Doctor Weathervaine’s [Adjective] [Adjective] Olde Timey Medicine Show
(And Revue),: by Travis Brisini and Charles Parrott

Cataclysm!: A Post-Medium Revision of Witkiewicz’s The Water Hen,” by Jake
Simmons

“Esperando al Puerto: Waiting at the Door of Kinship, Gender and Performance,”
by Dr. Elizabeth Bell, Guest Artist-in-Residence

“Mother Load,” by Janet Donoghue

“Queer Feminist Revival: The Almost Musical,” by A. Lynn Zimmerman

“Crippling Language: Disabling the Body,” by Lauren Lamb and Nichole
Nicholson

“The Pornographic I,” by David Hanley-Tejeda

“Trail Mix: A Sojourn on the Muddy Divide Between Nature and Culture,” by Dr.
Jonathan Gray

Undergraduate Spotlight Performances

Graduate Spotlight Hours
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Faculty Spotlight Hours