Dani Snyder-Young teaches courses in theatre history, dramatic literature, dramatic theory, directing, playwrighting, and dramaturgy.  Prior to joining the IWU faculty in the Fall of 2008, Dr. Snyder-Young taught at Pace University and New York University.  As a veteran teaching artist and researcher in arts education, she has taught at North Star Academy (Newark), Clara Barton High School (Brooklyn), Graphic High School of Communication Arts (Manhattan), the Lab School (Bronx), PS 167 (Brooklyn), and the Upham's Corner Charter School (Boston).

Dr. Snyder-Young's professional theatre work focuses primarily on community based performance, new play development, and adaptations of classical texts.  Her devised work with young people has been performed in New York at the Public Theatre and the HERE Arts Center; she has been an artistic associate of Boston TheatreWorks and a founding member of New York City's Present Tense Theater Project.  Dr. Snyder has worked regionally with the Barrington Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, New Repertory Theater, Boston Playwright's Theater, Coyote Theater, Gloucester Stage, Hangar Theatre, Other Side Productions, Playwrights' Platform, Peabody House Theatre Cooperative, Shadowboxing Theatre Collaborative, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival,, as well as internationally with Misery Loves Company of Prague, Czech Republic.  She is a member of Actor's Equity Association.

Dr. Snyder-Young's research focuses on applied theatre, or theatre in the service of problem solving, conflict negotiation, community building, education, and research. Some of her recent publications include "Rehearsals for Revolution? Participatory Theatre, Dominant Discourses, Democratic Tensions" in Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre Research; "Stop Staring, Start Seeing: Housed Spectatorship of Homeless Performers" in Theatre Research International; and "Beyond 'An Aesthetic of Objectivity': Performance Ethnography, Performance Texts, and Theatricality" in Qualitative Inquiry. Dr. Snyder-Young regularly presents her work at regional, national, and international conferences including Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed, Association of Theatre in Higher Education, International Drama in Education Research Institute, American Society of Theatre Research, and International Society of Theatre Research.  Dr. Snyder-Young serves as chair of the committee selecting the Association of Theatre in Higher Education's annual award for Leadership in Community-Based Theatre and Civic Engagement. Her current project, Theatre of Good Intentions: Hopes and Challenges for Theatre and Social Change examines the limitations of theatre in creation of social change, opening up a productive discussion of theatre's unique strengths and theatre artists' opportunities to make change in an unjust world.

"The Rez Sisters" Directed, Fall 2009