Jieun Lee is a first-year PhD student in Theatre History and Performance Studies at the University of Washington. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, she taught ACT (Action, Communication, and Teamwork) courses at Chung-Ang University and acting courses at Seoul Culture Arts University in South Korea. She earned her MA in Performing Arts from Hongik University, where her thesis examined female subjectivity in Korean musical theatre. Jieun has also performed as an actor in musicals, plays, and films, including The Immersive Great Gatsby, 13 Fruitcakes, and The Jungle.

Her research focuses on women in musical theatre, representation in performance, immersive theatre practices, and applied theatre in educational contexts. She is especially interested in how performance constructs, negotiates, and challenges gendered subjectivities on stage, and how these representations shift across historical and contemporary contexts. She is currently developing a research project on Black presence in Korean theatre and how it invites us to rethink Koreanness in a multicultural society. Drawing on her experience as both educator and performer, Lee seeks to bridge pedagogy and praxis and foster more inclusive spaces for performance and education.