Name:
Deborah Paredez
Unit and Program Area:
Performance Studies Unit, Performance As Public Practice Area
Classes You Teach (Have Taught):
Graduate: Performance as Public Practice Proseminar; Racialized Body in Performance; Performative Writing
Undergraduate: America in Contemporary Performance; from Zoot Suits to Hip Hop: Black and Latino Performance; Languages of the Stage; 19th & 20th Century Theatre & Performance History
What you enjoy most about being a part of the UT Department of Theatre & Dance or describe your most memorable experience while teaching in the department:
I am continually inspired by the feminist ethos of the faculty and students in PPP-by the ways they fuse impassioned thinking and incisive artistry with a genuine commitment to bettering the world around them. I also appreciate and learn a great deal from the diverse range of experiences and backgrounds of my undergraduate students. They offer daily reminders of why a diverse classroom is an ideal learning environment.
Favorite thing about Austin:
I love all the ways that austin allows for pampering oneself: swimming in stacy pool for free, the abundance of yoga instructors; amazing acupuncturists; the crossings spa.
Current projects/research/interests/hobbies:
I am currently working on a series of articles about Ugly Betty in addition to returning to my poetry writing.
The biggest risk you have taken to date (can be career-related or not):
I think it's always a risk and a revolution to allow oneself to love and be loved–like an iron ore heated and glowing, awaiting its future shape.
Something about yourself that we wouldn't know from reading your professional biography:
I'm forever a Buffy fan and a sucker for singer–songwriter music like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Laura Nyro, Aimee Mann, and Rufus Wainwright.
