Diana Taylor

Diana Taylor is University Professor and Professor of Performance Studies and Spanish at NYU. Her research explores the intersection of performance, memory, and social justice in the Americas. Her book Theatre of Crisis received the Best Book Award from the New England Council on Latin American Studies, and The Archive and the Repertoire earned both the Outstanding Book Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and the Kathleen Singer Kovacs Award from the Modern Language Association, of which she served as President in 2017. Taylor is also the Founder and Past Director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, which is supported by the Ford, Mellon, Rockefeller, Rockefeller Brothers, and Henry Luce Foundations.

Over the course of her career, Taylor has received numerous fellowships and honors recognizing her scholarly and creative contributions, including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, two Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships, support from the Mellon Foundation, and an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Digital Innovation Fellowship. She also held a Research Fellowship at the Institut d’Études Avancées de Paris.

In recognition of her impact on the field, Taylor was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received the Edwin Booth Award for her outstanding contributions to the New York City theatre community and her efforts to bridge academic and professional theatre. In 2025, she was elected an International Fellow of the British Academy and awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Digital Publication Fellowship. In 2026, she was selected to receive the Rodolfo Usigli Medal, granted by the Rodolfo Usigli National Center for Theater Research, Documentation, and Information (CITRU) of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) of the Government of Mexico, in collaboration with the Department of Literature at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.

Taylor writes in both English and Spanish, and her work has been widely translated into multiple languages, including Portuguese, French, Italian, Polish, and Korean.

Professional Awards & Distinctions

• Rodolfo Usigli Medal for Theatre awarded by Theatre Rodolfo Usigli National Center for Theater Research, Documentation, and Information (CITRU) of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) of the Government of Mexico, and the Department of Literature at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, 2026.
• Elected as International Fellow, British Academy, 2025.
• N.E.H. Digital Publication Fellowship, Jan 1- Dec. 31, 2025. Terminated, April 2025.
• Edwin Booth Award (CUNY), 2021.
• Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2018.
• Institut D’Etudes Avancée de Paris, Research Fellowship, 2016-2017.
• American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Digital Innovation Fellowship, 2013-14.
• Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, 2012-13.
• John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 2005-2006.
• Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship. “Cultural Dimensions of the Mexican Transition” 2003-2004, of the Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias (CRIM), UNAM, Fall, 2003.
• Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, “Cultural Agency in the Americas.” Bellagio, October 2002.
•  Salzburg Seminar Presidential Fellow, 1996.
• Invited Scholar: Seminario Teórico Internacional, "Teatro en el fin de siglo."  Part of "Yuyachkani 25th anniversary celebration, Peru. July,1996.
• UCHRI, Director (with Juan Villegas) of University of California Humanities Research Institute residence program: Theatrical Transculturation.  Fall term, 1990.
• Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Award funding travel and research in Argentina, Summer 1990.
• Faculty Fellowship, Dartmouth College, Fall, 1986.
• Mellon Foundation: Course Development for Interdisciplinary Studies: Funding to develop and teach RITUAL, MAGIC AND THE THEATRE, for "Ideas that shaped the Twentieth Century," Dartmouth College, Summer, 1986 and THEATRE, RITES AND SOCIAL CRISIS, 1987.

Book Awards

• Sejong Academic Book Award (KPIPA, Ministry of Culture, Korea) for Performance Performance, translation of Performance into Korean by Sunmi Yong, 2022.
• Premio Teatro del Mundo (Argentina, rubric: Labor en Edición) for Performance, 2013.
• Modern Language Association Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize for the best book in Latin American and Spanish Literatures and Culture for The Archive and the Repertoire, 2004.
• Association of Theatre in Higher Education, Outstanding Book Award for The Archive and the Repertoire, 2004.
• New England Council of Latin American Studies (NECLAS) Best Book Award for Theatre of Crisis: Drama and Politics in Latin America, 1992.
• Joe E. Callaway Prize for the Best Book on Drama, Honorable Mention for Theatre of Crisis: Drama and Politics in Latin America, 1992.

Teaching Awards

• Tisch School of the Arts nominee for the New York University Distinguished Teacher Award, 2004.

Print Monographs

• Shapeshifting Performances: Jesusa Rodríguez and the Arts of Transformation (Duke University Press and Fondo de Cultura Económica, in-process)
• ¡Presente! The Politics of Presence (Duke University Press, 2020) 
• Performance, politica e memoria culturale: Edited by Fabrizio Deriu. (Editoriale Artemide, 2019)
• Performance (Asuntos Impresos, 2012)
• Acciones de memoria: Performance, historia, y trauma (Fondo Editorial de la Asamblea Nacional de Rectores, 2012)
• The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas (Duke University Press, 2003)
• Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina’s “Dirty War” (Duke University Press, 1997)
• Theatre of Crisis: Drama and Politics in Latin America (University Press of Kentucky, 1991)

Edited Books

• Crossings: Living between Languages and Varied Imagination by Sylvia Molloy. Edited and with an Introduction by Diana Taylor. (Seagull Books, 2025)
• Estudios avanzados de Performance co-edited with Marcela Fuentes. (Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2011. New edition, 2023)
• Stages of Conflict: A Reader of Latin American Theatre and Performance, co-edited with Sarah J. Townsend. (Michigan University Press, 2008)
• Holy Terrors: Latin American Women Perform, co-edited with Roselyn Costantino. (Duke University Press, 2003). 
• Defiant Acts: Four Plays by Diana Raznovich, co-edited with Victoria Martinez. (Bucknell University Press. 2002)
• The Politics of Motherhood: Activist Voices from Left to Right, co-edited with Annelise Orleck and Alexis Jetter. (University Press of New England, 1997)
• Negotiating Performance: Gender, Sexuality and Theatricality in Latin/o America, co-editor, with Juan Villegas. (Duke University Press, 1994)
• The Representation of Otherness in Chicano and Latin American Theatre and Film, co-edited with Juan Villegas. Special Monographic Issue Gestos, 1991.
• En busca de una imagen: Ensayos sobre el teatro de Griselda Gambaro y José Triana, editor. (Girol Books, 1989)
• Fernando Arrabal: El arquitecto y el emperador de asiria y Cementerio de automoviles, editor (Cátedra, 1984)

Major Grants Received:

• Henry Luce Foundation, “Zip Code Memory Project: Filming Practices of Justice and Repair.” Co-Director (with Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University), $25,000. 2021-23.
• Henry Luce Foundation, “Zip Code Memory Project." Co-Director (with Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University), $25,000. 2021-22.
• Henry Luce Foundation, “Zip Code Memory Project: Practices of Justice and Repair.” Co-Director (with Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University), $250,000. 2021-22.
• Center for Study of Social Difference, Columbia University. “Zip Code Memory Project: Practices of Justice and Repair.” Co-Director (with Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University), $50,000. 2021-22.
• Henry Luce Foundation, “Local Ecologies of Migrant Care: Rapid response to COVID-19.” Hemispheric Institute.  $250,000. July 1- December 31, 2020.
• Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Partnership Grant. “Hemispheric Encounters: Developing Transborder Research-Creation Practices.” $2,500.000. 2020-2027.
• Open Society Foundation, “Animating Change.” $150, 000. Hemispheric Institute. 2019-2020.
• Open Society Foundation, “Flipping the Switch: Changing Public Opinion in Mexico re Central American Migration.” Hemispheric Institute. $90,000. 2017.
• Henry Luce Foundation, “Ecologies of Migrant Care: Religious Actors and Civil Society in the Face of
• Humanitarian Crisis,” $700,000. Hemispheric Institute.  2016-2018.
• Ford Foundation, “Diverse Spaces,” $500,000. Hemispheric Institute. 2015-2018.
• Henry Luce Foundation, Religion and Politics in the Americas, Hemispheric Institute, $400,000. 2013-2016.
• Ford Foundation, "Networking Art Spaces and Artists in the Americas." Hemispheric Institute. $250,000.00, 2013-2015.
• Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Partnership Grant, “Canadian Consortium on Performance and Politics in the Americas,” $2,500,000, 2013-2020.
• C.F.I. Partnership Grant, “Canadian Consortium on Performance and Politics in the Americas,” $1,000,000, 2013-2020.
• Rockefeller Foundation, NYC Cultural Innovation Fund, $250,000. Hemispheric Institute. 2012-2014.
• Ford Foundation, "Networking Art Spaces and Artists in the Americas." $250,000.00, Hemispheric Institute. 2011-2013.
• Nathan Cummins Foundation, “New World Theatre: Documenting the Legacy.” $75,000.00, Hemispheric Institute. 2010-2011
• Ford Foundation funds redirected by UMass-Amherst in the form of a sub-award for work on building a digital repository for New WORLD Theater materials, Hemispheric Institute. $155,000.00.
• Henry Luce Foundation, Religion and Politics in the Americas, Hemispheric Institute, $440,000. Hemispheric Institute. 2009-2012.
• Ford Foundation, Transnational Arts Initiative, $260,000.00, Hemispheric Institute. 2009-10.
• Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Hemi-New York, $100,000, Hemispheric Institute. 2008-2010.
• Ford Foundation, $1,000,000 matching funds (NYU) for Hemispheric Institute Endowment, 2007, NYU, $1,000,000 matching funds (Ford) for Hemispheric Institute Endowment, 2007.
• Ford Foundation, $600,000 for operation of Centro Hemisferico/FOMMA (Chiapas, Mexico).
• Ford Foundation, continued funding for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics.” 2006-2006, $70,000.00
• Ford Foundation, continued funding for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics.” 2006-2008, $150,000.00
• Ford Foundation, continued funding for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics.” 2006-2008, $450,000.00
• Ford Foundation, continued funding for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics.” 2005-2006, $200,000.00
• Andrew Mellon Foundation grant for the development of the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library, 2005-2007, $740,000.00
• Ford Foundation, continued funding for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics.” 2004-2006, $300,000.00
• Ford Foundation, continued funding for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics.” 2003-2005, $450,000.00
• UNESCO grant to Hemispheric Institute’s “Intangible Heritage Working Group” (Chaired by Diana Taylor and Lourdes Arizpe) to develop guidelines re ‘performance festivals’ for the International Convention of Intangible Heritage. $27,000.00
• Rockefeller Foundation funding for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics.” 2000-2003, $240,000.00
• Ford Foundation, continued funding for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics.” 2000-2003. $650,000.00
• Ford Foundation, planning grant for “Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics,” a consortium of institutions, cultural institutions, scholars, artists and students. 1998-2000. $150,000.00

Other Honors and Awards for the Hemispheric Institute:

• “Excellence in Digital Publication” for HemiPress, 2017. American Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and American Society of Theatre Research.
• Hemispheric Institute named one of the “Top 9 amazing political art projects of 2010” (http://artthreat.net/2010/12/9-political-art-projects/)
• Diamond Web Award, 2002-2003 given by International Association of Web Masters and Designers for the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics site.
• Golden Globe Award, 2002-2003, for outstanding web design for the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics site.