Scholars@Duke
Ryan M Donovan

Ryan M Donovan

Assistant Professor of Theater Studies
Theater Studies
Office hours I am on research leave during the 2025-2026 academic year.  

Academic Honors

Vera Mowry Roberts Award for Best Article

Scholarly Society American Theatre and Drama Society · 2026

The American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS) offers the Vera Mowry Roberts Research and Publication Award for the best essay published in English. I received the Vera Mowry Roberts Award for “‘Demanding in the Extreme’: Virtuosity and Labor in Bob Fosse’s Dancin’,” published in Theatre Survey no. 1 (2026): 89-120. 

Graduate of the Last Decade

University The Graduate Center, City University of New York · 2026 More about this honor

Outstanding Book

Scholarly Society Association for Theatre in Higher Education · 2024 More about this honor

Honorable Mention, John W. Frick Book Award

Scholarly Society American Theatre and Drama Society · 2024

Honorable Mention, Sally Banes Publication Prize

Scholarly Society American Society for Theatre Research · 2024

News Items

Published June 2, 2026
The Show Must Go On — But at What Cost?
Published December 13, 2023
Broadway Veteran Joins Local Students for Master Class in Song & Dance
Published November 20, 2023
NPR
NPR's Books We Love
Published February 14, 2023
Whose Body Gets the Spotlight on Broadway?
Published February 14, 2023
Spring Books from Duke Authors from Wittgenstein to Capoeira
Published October 6, 2022
Ryan Donovan on the Miscasting of Broadway and Musical Theater
Published February 25, 2022
Don't Look Back! Duke Faculty Dive Into Hadestown, Feb.28.
Published October 26, 2021
Teen Vogue
What Will It Take for Broadway to Embrace Size-Inclusivity?
Published September 13, 2021
More Than Tracy Turnblad Podcast
Nerd Representation Is the Next Frontier with Ryan Donovan
Published May 28, 2021
WNYC
The "Broadway Bodies" Conversation Moves to Center Stage
Published May 15, 2021
LA Times
‘I have to be thin to do this job’: Inside the theater’s long-standing fatphobia