The Through Line: Spring 2015

Before beginning his tenure-track position at Florida State University this coming fall, Samer Al-Saber, PhD ’13, is finishing up a two-year Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Davidson College, where he has been teaching, directing, and continuing his research on Palestinian theatre in Jerusalem and the cultural history of the city through artists’ eyes.

Back in Seattle to attend the American Comparative Literature Association’s annual conference—where he co-convened a seminar with Amal Eqeiq (PhD ‘13, UW Comparative Literature) concerning the use of ethnographic methods to understanding history—Samer took the time to sit down with the School of Drama to discuss his research, scholarly approach, and his tenures at UW and Davidson.

What brought you to the University of Washington and the School of Drama PhD program?

The doctoral program here is for both generalists and emerging scholars who wish to tackle unexplored territories. I looked into Middle Eastern studies and a number of theatre programs, but few would permit me to do the research I wanted to do. Here, it was general enough—and driven by methodology enough—that I was able to take the methodology and apply it to my own work. UW is a massive university with lots of resources and departments, and it was important to me to build contacts across campus. There were many colleagues across campus...

by Sunam Ellis

This is not my first time as a graduate student. Several years ago I was in a Ph.D. Human Development program. I wanted to research marital relationships. But not really. It was my back-up plan. Theatre is, and has always been, my first love. The lure of a full-ride at a prestigious school, though—the promise of becoming Dr. Ellis—it was hard to resist. And I had a fire to succeed. After two semesters and a summer abroad, I had already completed a solid chunk of my master’s thesis. But there was no joy. And I ultimately left the program.

Fast-forward several years…

After many discussions with my husband, we decided to take a chance. I was going to make a serious pursuit of acting, the thing that had always brought me so much joy. I brushed up on the craft by doing some community productions before heading off to auditions for graduate programs. The plan was simple: If a graduate program accepted me, I would follow that dream. If not…well, we’d see.

It was intimidating because I was now the mother of three. During my first go-round with graduate school, I remember being holed up for days, working frantically on papers and projects. How could I balance the rigors of graduate school with motherhood? And I wasn’t the only one with concerns. During graduate program interviews, I saw the exact moment many recruiters lost interest:...