Associate Professor of Performance and Communication Arts Andrea Nouryeh says what she loves most about her work is “being a perpetual student.”  Also the coordinator of St. Lawrence’s African studies program, she researches contemporary American theater, specifically women playwrights and African American drama and performance; Anglophone African drama and performance; and dramaturgy as both a professional practice and specific approach to the study of theater history. She has also researched canteens (social venues for soldiers during World War II) and hopes to research those in London and Paris while directing St. Lawrence’s London Program in 2007-08.

But she says her most rewarding experience as a teacher at St. Lawrence has been “serving students as a mentor for their own creative projects and scholarly pursuits. When I work one on one with actors who are mining a text for performance, I revel in watching them increase their analytical skills,” she says.  “With those students whom I have worked with on research projects, I thoroughly enjoy the process of reading materials that are often new to me, sharing mutual insights and discoveries, and then helping the students shape an interesting thesis. Being part of that has been extremely stimulating and invigorating.” 

Nouryeh says that in teaching performance she can discuss “historical, political, sociological, religious, anthropological and psychological phenomena through the medium of dramatic texts and performance scripts.  I also get to bring in works of music, painting and sculpture to help establish the creative context in which plays were written.  So, I'm always learning something new and widening my understanding of culture and history each time I teach a new play.

“I have a profound responsibility every time I enter the classroom,” Nouryeh says. “I hold the keys that may enable my students to discover who they are, what they believe in, and how best to articulate this effectively to others.” 
Aside from her work, Nouryeh likes to cook, dance, watch movies and listen to jazz. She also enjoys museums, dance and music concerts “and, of course, going to the theater.”