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Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins
Emeritus Professor

Joanne Tompkins

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+61 7 336 54935

Overview

Background

Professor Joanne Tompkins is currently seconded to the Australian Research Council as Executive Director of the Humanities and Creative Arts panel, for a period of three years (until 2019).

Her research interests include spatial theories and virtual reality; post-colonial, intercultural, and multicultural drama, literature, and theory; performance theories; and feminist performance.

Her current research includes 3D visualisation and modelling of theatre spaces; the spatial theory of heterotopia; space in Australian and Canadian theatre; database of Australian performance; multicultural theories and drama, and intercultural performance.

She is the author of articles on: Spatial theory and virtual reality; post-colonial, multicultural, and intercultural drama and theory; Australian drama and literature and Canadian drama;

She is author of: Theatre’s Heterotopias: Space and the Analysis of Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014; and Unsettling Space: Contestations in Contemporary Australian Theatre. Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2006.

She is co-author of: A Global Doll's House: Ibsen and Distant Visions. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016 (with Julie Holledge, Frode Helland and Jonathan Bollen); Women's Intercultural Performance, Routledge, 2000 (with Julie Holledge); and Post-colonial Drama: Theory, Practice, Politics, Routledge, 1996 (with Helen Gilbert).

She is editor of: Theatre Journal, "Space and the Geographics of Theatre," a special issue of Modern Drama, 2004; "Theatre and the Canadian Imaginary," a special issue of Australasian Drama Studies, 1996.

She is co-editor of: Performing Site-Specific Theatre: Politics, Place, Practice, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 (with Anna Birch); Site-Specificity and Mobility, a Special Issue of Contemporary Theatre Review 2012 (with Anna Birch); Performance and Design, a special issue of Australasian Drama Studies (with Andrew Filmer and Miranda Heckenberg) 2012;Modern Drama: Defining the Field, University of Toronto Press, 2003 (with Ric Knowles and WB Worthen); Modern Drama 1999-2005; Performing Women / Performing Feminisms: Interviews with International Women Playwrights (with Julie Holledge).

Availability

Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, University of Toronto
  • Masters (Coursework), University of Waterloo
  • Doctoral Diploma, Queen Mary University of London

Research interests

  • Theatre and Spatiality

    I am interested in the creation and manipulation of imaginative space/locations on stage, and the ways in which architecture contributes to imaginative stage space. I am also interested in the relationship between space on stage and space in the cultural context outside a theatre venue. I describe this through the concept of heterotopia, a development of Kevin Hetherington's formulation of Foucault's version of the term.

  • Theatre and Virtual Reality

    I research the ways in which theatre might engage with virtual reality. I explore this primarily through the redevelopment of historical theatre venues, virtually. These venues are useful to explore architectural structure, how special effects worked, how actors moved and performed on such stages, and how stage properties functioned then.

Research impacts

Professor Tompkins has made a research impact in terms of the development of cultural spaces for theatres, galleries, and museums. Through the Ortelia project (www.ortelia.com), she, in conjunction with two Virtual Reality modellers, has developed tools for managing contemporary cultural venues. There is also the capacity for curating and archiving gallery and museum exhibitions and designing theatre productions. There is also a historical component to the theatre projects: this aspect of Ortelia models early modern theatres from London to investigate how performance was staged then. Ortelia has also developed the capacity to provide the curation of 3D mobile objects for museum exhibitions and for greater investigation by the museum community and by the cultural community from which the objects have emerged.

She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Queen Mary, University of London (2015).

Works

Search Professor Joanne Tompkins’s works on UQ eSpace

74 works between 1999 and 2021

41 - 60 of 74 works

2006

Book Chapter

The Shape of a Life: Constructing the ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ in Joan MacLeod’s The Shape of a Girl and Guillermo Verdecchia and Marcus Youssef’s A Line in the Sand

Tompkins, Joanne (2006). The Shape of a Life: Constructing the ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ in Joan MacLeod’s The Shape of a Girl and Guillermo Verdecchia and Marcus Youssef’s A Line in the Sand. Theatre and autobiography: Writing and Performing Lives in Theory and Practice. (pp. 124-136) edited by Sherrill Grace and Jerry Wasserman. Penticton, British Columbia: Talonbooks.

The Shape of a Life: Constructing the ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ in Joan MacLeod’s The Shape of a Girl and Guillermo Verdecchia and Marcus Youssef’s A Line in the Sand

2006

Book Chapter

Gendering space: The desert and the psyche in contemporary Australian theatre

Tompkins, Joanne (2006). Gendering space: The desert and the psyche in contemporary Australian theatre. Feminist Futures? Theatre, Performance, Theory. (pp. 190-208) edited by Elaine Aston and Geraldine Harris. New York, N.Y, United States: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gendering space: The desert and the psyche in contemporary Australian theatre

2006

Book Chapter

Counter-monumentalising and Janis Balodis's The Ghost Trilogy

Tompkins, J. E. (2006). Counter-monumentalising and Janis Balodis's The Ghost Trilogy. Unstable Ground: Performance and the Politics of Place. (pp. 81-93) edited by McAuley, Gay. Berlin: P.I.E. Peter Lang.

Counter-monumentalising and Janis Balodis's The Ghost Trilogy

2006

Book

Unsettling Space: Contestations in Contemporary Australian Theatre

Tompkins, Joanne E. (2006). Unsettling Space: Contestations in Contemporary Australian Theatre. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9780230286245

Unsettling Space: Contestations in Contemporary Australian Theatre

2005

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2005). 48 (2)

Modern Drama

2005

Book Chapter

Conflicting fields of vision: Performing self and other in two intercultural Shakespeare productions

Tompkins, Joanne (2005). Conflicting fields of vision: Performing self and other in two intercultural Shakespeare productions. A companion to Shakespeare and performance. (pp. 610-624) edited by Barbara Hodgdon and W. B. Worthen. Oxford: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9780470996706.ch33

Conflicting fields of vision: Performing self and other in two intercultural Shakespeare productions

2005

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2005). 48 (3)

Modern Drama

2005

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2005). 48 (1)

Modern Drama

2005

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2005). 48 (4)

Modern Drama

2005

Journal Article

Theoretical methodologies and the advent of virtual analytical tools in theatre

Harvey, N. and Tompkins, J. (2005). Theoretical methodologies and the advent of virtual analytical tools in theatre. Contemporary Theatre Review, 15 (4), 455-469. doi: 10.1080/10486800500280479

Theoretical methodologies and the advent of virtual analytical tools in theatre

2004

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2004). 46 (4)

Modern Drama

2004

Journal Article

Directing and producing theatre with the help of virtual reality

Tompkins, J. E. (2004). Directing and producing theatre with the help of virtual reality. Scenography International (7), 1-5.

Directing and producing theatre with the help of virtual reality

2004

Journal Article

Review: The semiotics of theatre and drama, second edition by Keir Elam

Tompkins, J. E. (2004). Review: The semiotics of theatre and drama, second edition by Keir Elam. Australasian Drama Studies, 44, 146-148.

Review: The semiotics of theatre and drama, second edition by Keir Elam

2004

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2004). 46 (3)

Modern Drama

2004

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2004). 46 (3)

Modern Drama

2004

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2004). 46 (3)

Modern Drama

2003

Book Chapter

Yellow Fever, Yellow Claw, Yellow Peril: Performing the Fantasy of the

Tompkins, Joanne (2003). Yellow Fever, Yellow Claw, Yellow Peril: Performing the Fantasy of the. Performing National Identities: International Perspectives on Contemporary Canadian Theatre. (pp. 289-302) edited by Grace, Sherrill and Glaap, Albert-Reiner. Vancouver, Canada: Talonbooks.

Yellow Fever, Yellow Claw, Yellow Peril: Performing the Fantasy of the

2003

Book

Modern Drama: Defining the Field

R. Knowles, J. E. Tompkins and W. B. Worthen eds. (2003). Modern Drama: Defining the Field. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

Modern Drama: Defining the Field

2003

Journal Article

Space and the geographies of theatre: Introduction

Tompkins, J. (2003). Space and the geographies of theatre: Introduction. Modern Drama, 46 (4), 537-541. doi: 10.3138/md.46.4.537

Space and the geographies of theatre: Introduction

2003

Edited Outputs

Modern Drama

Modern Drama. (2003). XLVI (2)

Modern Drama

Funding

Past funding

  • 2017 - 2018
    AusStage Phase 6 Visualising Venues in Australian Live Performance Research (ARC LIEF grant administered by Flinders University)
    Flinders University
    Open grant
  • 2015
    The Queen's theatre project: Recreating cultural heritage and reclaiming historical performance through 3D visualisation
    UQ Collaboration and Industry Engagement Fund - FirstLink
    Open grant
  • 2014 - 2015
    AusStage, Phase 5: Australian live performance and the world - global networks, national culture, aesthetic transmission (ARC LIEF Grant administered by the Flinders University of South Australia)
    Flinders University
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2014
    The AustLit Resource: supporting research in studies of Australian literary and narrative cultures
    ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2014
    VIMMA: Virtual, Intermedial and Mixed Reality Performance in live Production and Creative Contexts (TEKES grant administered by the University of Tampere)
    University of Tampere
    Open grant
  • 2013
    UQ Travel Awards Category 1 - Professor Maria Delgado
    UQ Travel Grants Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2013
    Humanities in the digital age: infrastructure for Australian literary studies, publishing studies, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies
    ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2013
    The Mobile Museum: Digital 3D objects and participatory design in the Pacific
    UQ Collaboration and Industry Engagement Fund
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2012
    Digital humanities practice in Australian literary studies: data development, structural enhancement and open access innovation - Austlit phase 4
    ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2011
    eResearch Infrastructure for Humanities Scholars: facilitating literary and narratives studies; children's and popular fictions and film/TV studies
    ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2011
    AusStage Phase 4: Harnessing collective intelligence and pioneering new visual methodologies for innovative research into Australian live performance (ARC LIEF administered by Flinders University)
    ARC LIEF Collaborating/Partner Organisation Contributions
    Open grant
  • 2009 - 2010
    AustLit Phase Three: Transforming the study of Australian Literature through a collaborative e-Research environment
    ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities
    Open grant
  • 2009 - 2011
    Ibsen Between Cultures: The Australian Experience (ARC Discovery Project administered by Flinders University)
    Flinders University
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2010
    The Local Spaces of Contemporary Brisbane Theatre: A Strategy for Analysing and Interpreting Theatre
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2007
    AusStage: Gateway to Australian live performance, phase 3 - enhancing collaborative research methodologies through digital networking technologies
    Open grant
  • 2004 - 2006
    Theatres Online: Achieving Theoretical and Practical Solutions to Problems of Theatre Space via Virtual Reality Computational Modeling
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2001 - 2004
    Analysing Theatre Space: History, Culture, Politics
    UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards - DVC(R) Funding
    Open grant
  • 2001 - 2003
    An Analysis of Theatrical Space as a Contested Cultural Site in contemporary Australian & Canadian Theatre
    ARC Australian Research Council (Large grants)
    Open grant
  • 2000
    Unstable Spaces: Traces of Maralinga, Nuclear Fallout, and Contamination in Contemporary Australian Theatre.
    ARC Australian Research Council (Small grants)
    Open grant
  • 1998 - 1999
    Intercultural women's performance: crossing cultural boundaries in performance theory and practice
    ARC Australian Research Council (Large grants)
    Open grant
  • 1998
    Staging Multiculturalism: Multicultural Theory, Nationalist Discourses, and Theatre Practice in Australia and Canada
    ARC Australian Research Council (Small grants)
    Open grant
  • 1997
    Post-colonialism, interculturalism and feminist performance
    University of Queensland New Staff Research Grant
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Available projects

  • Theatre

    Among the topics I could supervise are theatre history, theatre theory, and cultural, national, spatial approaches to theatre. I am particularly interested in Australian and Canadian theatre.

  • Digital Humanities and Virtual Reality

    I am interested in topics relating to digital humanities and theatre and VR theatre.

Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

Contact Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins directly for media enquiries about:

  • Australian drama
  • Australian fiction
  • Canadian drama and fiction
  • Computer animation of theatre design
  • Cultural space as virtual reality
  • Drama
  • Fiction
  • Intercultural theatre
  • Multicultural theatre
  • Multimedia in theatre
  • Post-colonial drama/theatre
  • Spatial theory - theatre
  • Stage design
  • Theatre stage design
  • Virtual reality - stage design
  • Virtual reality modelling

Need help?

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