Left: Plenary Presentation at American Society of Theatre Research (ASTR) 2019.

Brief Bio 2024: Dr. Joshua Truett (Assistant Professor in the Dept. Theatre and New Dance, Cal Poly Pomona) is an artist-scholar who explores performance as resistance, resilience, and community-builder. Based on a continuing ethnographic project in Oaxaca, Mexico, Dr. Truett’s current research explores festivals in indigenous and mestizo (ethnic/racially mixed) groups in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Oaxacan diaspora in other parts of Mexico, and the US Southwest. Using decolonial methodologies informed by queer, trans, and Indigenous studies, the project investigates the activism performed by groups of muxes: a non-binary gender and non-normative sexuality rooted in the beliefs and practices of the Isthmus Zapotec culture. Josh is also a producer, writer, and performer who works across theatre, film, and new media. A García-Robles Fulbright recipient in Oaxaca and a University Fellow (Ph.D.) at The Ohio State University, he has received numerous other awards and grants to support his creative work and interdisciplinary initiatives on campus and in the community.

Bio: Dr. Joshua L. Truett, Fulbright/ Garcías-Robles Research Fellow 2018-2019 (Mexico) and Ohio State University Fellow 2014-2015, is Assistant Professor in the Dept. Theatre and New Dance, Cal Poly Pomona. He received his Ph.D. in Performance, History, and Theory from The Ohio State University, with a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Josh also received an MFA in Dramatic Writing for TV, Film, and Theatre from California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA) and a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of Arts. As the founder and Artistic Director of the Mneme Theatre Experiment, he has received numerous grants and artistic residences, including an Associate Artist residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and an Individual Artist Grant from the Queens Council for the Arts (NYC). He has taught classes and workshops at San Francisco State University, California State University Los Angeles, and The Ohio State University. While at Ohio State, Josh was awarded the Dana Greenblatt Feminist Media Studies Award, the Paul Varley Award (Best Graduate Student Paper) from the Japan Studies Association, and won first place for Arts Oral Presentation at the Hayes Research Forum (OSU). His dissertation Performing Indigenous Fiesta Resistance: Muxes, Velas and Zapotec Style explores the festival performances of the muxes, a queer third-gender identity within the Zapotec culture of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico. His research has been supported by a generous Kramer International Fellowship from Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute, grants from the Global Mobility Project and Public Humanities Collaborative, and the Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Research Grant, as well as travel grants from Sexuality Studies Program, Center for Ethnic Studies, College of Arts and Sciences (OSU), Snow and Morrow Funds, and the Dr. Katie Whitlock Memorial Fund (Theatre OSU). He regularly presents his research at major international conferences hosted by the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics (NYU), the American Anthropological Association, the Latin American Studies Association, and the American Society of Theatre Research. His writing has been published in Theatre Annual, The Latin American Theatre Review, and The Drama Review (TDR).

Research & Artistic Interests: Performance, Media, and Cultural Studies // Performance Art // Experimental and Physical-Theatre (Grotowski, Suzuki, Viewpoints, Dance Theatre) // Japanese Dance-Drama (Noh, Kabuki, Butoh) // Community-Engaged Theory and Praxis // Two-spirit, Feminist, Trans, Joto/a, Cuir/Queer Theory and Critique // Latinx/é, Latin American, and Indigenous Studies: Critical Latinx/é Indigeneities.