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Kris Salata

Chair

Professor

School of Theatre

Dr. Kris Salata is Chair of the School of Theatre (in charge of academic affairs) and Professor in Performance. He holds a Ph.D. in Drama and Humanities from Stanford University. He has published books, articles and book chapters on the experimental practice of Jerzy Grotowski, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Tadeusz Kantor, and the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards. His recent book, Theatre’s Carnal Prayer: Acting After Grotowski (Routledge, 2020),focuses on the actor’s work as a self-revelatory total act, and on theatre centered on such an act. Founded in theatre practice, Kris Salata’s narrative moves through postmodern philosophy, critical theory, theatre, performance, ritual, and religious studies, concluding that the fundamental structure of prayer, which underpins the actor’s deed, can be found in any self-revelatory creative act.

Education

Joint Ph.D. in Drama and the Humanities, Stanford University, Stanford, California

Teaching Areas

Stage Directing, Performance, and Theory courses in the BA, MA, MFA and Ph.D. programs

Research Areas

My scholarship investigates theatre as a site of encounter, ethics, and transformation—beyond representation. Across books, chapters, articles, and talks, I have developed a trajectory that moves from encounter, to embodiment, to process, extending performance theory into broader philosophical and cultural debates.

Unwritten Grotowski: Theory and Practice of the Encounter (Routledge, 2013) reframed Jerzy Grotowski’s legacy not as a fixed system but as an unfinished practice of encounter—highlighting tacit knowledge, embodied attention, and relationality as central to theatre’s ethical and phenomenological force.

Acting After Grotowski: Theatre’s Carnal Prayer (Routledge, 2020) shifted the focus to embodiment and ethics, conceptualizing acting as a “carnal prayer”—an embodied ritual of vulnerability, attention, and responsibility.

My forthcoming volume, Grotowski’s Process (with Dariusz Kosiński, Methuen, 2026), situates Grotowski’s work as a life-long investigation of process—ontological, phenomenological, and epistemological—challenging conventional notions of authorship and cultural transmission.

Together, these works chart a progression from encounter to embodiment to process, setting the stage for my new project, Consent: Theatre Beyond Theatre, which examines consent as a performative and relational practice rather than a fixed agreement. By reframing consent through the lens of theatrical encounter, the project links ethical vulnerability to artistic agency, extending my long-standing exploration of theatre’s role in shaping our understanding of human relation.

Select Scholarly/Creative Works & Awards

  • Theatre’s Carnal Prayer: Acting After Grotowski (Routledge, 2020)
  • The Unwritten Grotowski: Theory and Practice of the Encounter, Routledge, London, 2012
  • Currently working on a new book: Theatre as a Laboratory: Thinking and Practicing Encounter
  • Forthcoming book chapters: “Kantor’s and Grotowski’s Poor Theatres.” In: Magda Romanska and Kathleen Cioffi (Eds.), The Theatre of Tadeusz Kantor (Northwestern University Press)
  • “Asking, What is Collaboration? On Behalf of Grotowski”. In: Noyale Colin and Stefanie Sachsenmaier (Eds.), Collaboration in Performance Practice: Premise, Workings and Failures. (Palgrave Macmillan)
  • Excellence in Teaching Award, Phi Beta Kappa (2014).
  • Council of Research and Creativity, Florida State University (2013).
  • “Guardian of the Flame” Award, Florida State University (2012).
  • Council of Research and Creativity, Florida State University (2008).
  • Thomas Marshall Travel Award, American Society for Theatre Research (2006).
  • Research Grant, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University (2004).
  • “Highest Distinction” in directing, Stanford University (2003).
  • Research Grant, Center for Russian and East European Studies, Stanford University (2003).