Dr. Melissa Poll

Instructor and Faculty Advisor for FIRE

Photo of Melissa PollLeasure Hall 103D
mjpoll@ksu.edu
785-532-5738

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:15-2:15 p.m in office or via Zoom

BFA, MA, University of British Columbia

PhD, Univeristy of London, Royal Holloway

About Dr. Poll

A settler researcher who originally hails from the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm), Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (colonially known as Vancouver, Canada), Dr. Poll worked as a theatre and film actor before moving to London, England in 2009 for her PhD studies. (You can see Dr. Poll in blink-and-you-miss-her supporting roles in the TV series “Smallville” and “Sanctuary”!).

Dr. Poll loves connecting with and learning from her students. As an educator, she strives to work with her classes to create a brave and generous environment where every student feels heard.

Research Interests:

Dr. Poll’s research focuses on Indigenous/settler performance collaborations, land acknowledgment and action, social justice dramaturgy, feminism, and intersectionality.

Select Publications:

  • Poll, Melissa. (2022). “Beyond the Optics of Ally-ship: Social Justice Dramaturgy in Development.” Interventions / Contemporary Theatre Review, March.
  • Poll, Melissa. (2021). “Towards an Eighth Fire Approach: Developing Modes of Indigenous-Settler Performance-Making on Turtle Island,” Contemporary Theatre Review, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 390–408.
  • Poll, Melissa. (2018). Robert Lepage’s Scenographic Dramaturgy: The Aesthetic Signature at Work. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Poll, Melissa. (2016). “When Little is Said and Feminism is Done? Simon Stephens, the Critical Blogosphere and Modern Misogyny.” Interventions / Contemporary Theatre Review, vol. 26.
  • Poll, Melissa. (2014). “Adapting ‘Le Grand Will’ in Wendake: Ex Machina and the Huron-Wendat Nation’s Scenographic Collaboration.” Special issue of Theatre Research in Canada edited by Erin Hurley and Hervé Guay, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 330–51.

GUEST EDITED JOURNAL ISSUES:

  • Cole, Jenn and Melissa Poll. (2024). “Performing (in) Place: Space, Relation, Action,” Performance Matters, vol. 10, no. 2.
  • Cole, Jenn and Melissa Poll. (2021). “Performing (in) Place: Moving on/with the Land,” Performance Matters, vol. 7, no. 1–2.

Awards and Recognitions:

  • 2022: Patrick O’Neill Award for Best Edited Collection - Honorable Mention for Performance Matters, vol. 7, no. 1–2, 2021: “Performing (in) Place: Moving on/with the Land.” Edited with Jenn Cole
  • 2019: Award for volunteer contributions to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Boys & Girls Club
  • 2017–20: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship for “Towards Reconciliation: Recognizing the Intergenerational Repercussions of Colonization through Intercultural Performance-Making,” (nominated for an Alice Wilson Award), Department of English, Simon Fraser University
  • 2015: Visiting Scholar Fellowship at the Autry National Center/Native Voices Theatre Company based on the project “Beyond Beads and Buckskin: Indigeneity and Globalization on the Contemporary Stage”

Community Engagement Projects:

Dr. Poll is a proud member of K-State’s Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance and has worked as a volunteer tutor for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s Boys & Girls Club since 2018. In 2024, she joined the College of Arts and Sciences’ Committee for Wellbeing and Belonging. Thanks to her background in acting, love of performance, and commitment to anti-colonial, anti-racist theatre, Dr. Poll also serves as the Social Justice Dramaturge at Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival.

Courses:

  • GWSS 105: Intro to Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies
  • ENGL 220: Fiction into Film
  • THTRE 270: Introduction to Theater
  • THTRE 171: Fundamentals of Acting