Teaching

We are deeply committed to working intergenerationally, both with people older and younger than us. Teaching has been an incredible way for us to not only share the knowledge we've learned over the years but also to learn from our students; the relationships we have built with our students have informed our practice in more ways than we can begin to say. Through teaching we confront head on how complex identities and difference may be negotiated through performance.

Since 1997 Lois has formalized her relationship as an artist in a teaching institute through a half time post at Queen Mary University of London, and in 2007 she was promoted to Professor of Contemporary Performance at Queen Mary University of London. This half time position at Queen Mary has provided Lois time and place to continue to develop as a creative artist as well as the resources to interrogate other aspects of her relationship to performance: performance as pedagogy, performance as facilitation, and performance as research. Her participation in the development of the department’s performance research profile contributed to its being ranked first in the UK for quality of research in 2008.

Peggy received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in 2017 from QMUL. We were awarded the 1997 Hunt-Scammon Distinguished Artist Residency at the Department of Theatre and Speech at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, and the 2006 Martin Luther King, Jr.-Cesar Chavez-Rosa Parks Visiting Professorship at University of Michigan. At the University of Michigan, Lois also delivered the Penny Stamps Distinguished Lecture on the works of Split Britches.

We have taught in short and long term positions, engaging with students over many years or over just one day. We have taught on performance courses at New York University’s Tisch School of Art, Mt. Holyoke College, University of Richmond, University of Texas, University of Maryland, Wells College, Smith College, Amherst College, U. Mass, Cal Arts, Hampshire College, University of Hawaii, University of Northern Iowa, U.C. Davis, U.C. Riverside, and William and Mary. These teaching positions have often resulted in long term collaborations, friendships, and lifelong learnings.

During some of these teaching positions we even worked with students to create performances, like these two: