Margaret Savilonis

Education

Ph.D, Theatre History, The University of Texas at Austin
Dissertation:  ". . . give us the history we haven't had, make us the women we can't be": Motherhood & History in Plays by Caryl Churchill and Pam Gems, 1976-1984 
M.F.A., Acting, The University of Georgia
B.A., English & Dramatic Arts, Suffolk University

Published Books and Articles

Chapters in Books

• "Value, Voice, and Identity in Three Birds Alighting on a Field." International Dramaturgy: Translation and Transformation in the Theatre of Timberlake Wertenbaker. Eds. Sara Freeman and Maya Roth. Peter Lang, May 2008.
  
  
• "Utopia in absentia: Staging Possibilities in Kirk Lynn's WAR." Drama and the Postmodern: Assessing the Limits of Metatheatre. Ed. Daniel Keith Jernigan. Cambria, November 2008.

Reference Book Entries

• "Performing Arts: Performers." Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Eds. Bonnie G. Smith, et al. Oxford UP, January 2008.
  
  
• "Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut." General Themes in Literature. Ed. Jennifer McClinton-Temple. Facts on File, 2009.
  
  
• "The Sea Gull, by Anton Chekhov." General Themes in Literature. Ed. Jennifer McClinton-Temple. Facts on File, 2009.

Courses Taught

E103 Fundamentals of Composition
E105 Composition
E110 Literature & Composition
E353 The Romantic Era

Interests and Experience

Dr. Savilonis has been teaching in the English Department at UNH since Fall 2006. In addition to the courses she has taught at UNH, she has taught courses in Theatre History, Dance History, and surveys of British, American, and World Literature. Her primary areas of interest include modern drama; American and British literature of the 1920s-1930s; Renaissance and Restoration theatre and drama; Eastern European literature; and hypertext literature and performance. Her current research includes an investigation of dance in the U.S. in the 1930s, focused on the ways in which artists such as Ruth Page, Helen Tamiris, and Myra Kinch explore constructions of national identity in works choreographed for the Federal Theatre Project from 1937-1939.

Dr. Savilonis is committed to interdisciplinary work, believing that disciplines such as history, literature, and theatre are not discreet units, but fields that inform one another and work together to both produce and reproduce culture. She is particularly invested in helping students engage in the learning process and hopes that they can develop personal strategies that allow them to recognize the value of writing as a way to make thought development an active, physical process and enable them to develop the skills and the confidence to actively, publicly articulate their points of view.