Lukas T. Woodyard is a scholar, amateur theorist, and dramaturg from Georgia. Their academic career has led them to write on various topics from the works of Paula Vogel to performance art with nonhuman animals to theorizing AIDS and queer living-towards-death. Their current interest is looking at the genre of the manifesto and how contemporary versions of them are enacted. Other research interests include deviance, object-oriented ontology, death, animal studies, French poststructuralist thought, and Asian American studies. Besides being obsessed with nonsense, Lukas likes to enjoy theatre, music, television, and films in their free time.

Why PS @ NYU?

I chose Performance Studies because it was advertised to me as a discipline for "misfits." My academic experience had been frustrating for me because I was unable to stick to a subject and remain within the lines of that discipline. PS encourages to go beyond the lines due to the interdisciplinary and anti-disciplinary nature of the field. I feel like with the working without limits and studying the doings of the world is where I belong. I am an academic misfit.