Rachel Merrill Moss, PhD
Theatre Historian. Dramaturg. Thespicurean.
I am a theatre practitioner and scholar whose research focuses on performances of Jewishness in Poland and East Central Europe. I am Assistant Professor of Theatre History in the Performance as Public Practice Program at University of Texas at Austin.
My first book, co-edited with Debra Caplan, is The Dybbuk Century: The Jewish Play that Possessed the World (University of Michigan Press, 2023). I have also published scholarship in Theatre Journal and the Journal of American Drama and Theatre.
I've worked as a freelance dramaturg and theatre critic in New York City, as well as in producing and management in commercial off-Broadway theatre. Most recently, I served as Dramaturg for the New York City premiere of Tadeusz Słobodzianek's Our Class directed by Igor Golyak (2025 Lucille Lortel Award Winner for Outstanding Revival, Wall Street Journal "Best of 2024"); as well as Dramaturg and Co-Adaptor for The Dybbuk directed by Igor Golyak and performed in Boston's historically landmarked Vilna Shul (2025 Elliot Norton Award Winner for Outstanding Production). I co-devised and performed in the Warsaw-based theatre company Strefa WolnaSłowa’s Azyl Warszawa projects, focusing on the dynamics of Poles and migrant experiences in Poland (2019-2020). In December 2020, I co-created and facilitated Dybuk na stulecie, an online and Warsaw-based centenary celebration in honor of S. Anski’s The Dybbuk, in partnership with Poland’s Instytut Teatralny.
I was a Fulbright research fellow in Poland (2018-2019), and I was awarded the 2022 New Scholars Prize by the International Federation for Theatre Research.
My first book, co-edited with Debra Caplan, is The Dybbuk Century: The Jewish Play that Possessed the World (University of Michigan Press, 2023). I have also published scholarship in Theatre Journal and the Journal of American Drama and Theatre.
I've worked as a freelance dramaturg and theatre critic in New York City, as well as in producing and management in commercial off-Broadway theatre. Most recently, I served as Dramaturg for the New York City premiere of Tadeusz Słobodzianek's Our Class directed by Igor Golyak (2025 Lucille Lortel Award Winner for Outstanding Revival, Wall Street Journal "Best of 2024"); as well as Dramaturg and Co-Adaptor for The Dybbuk directed by Igor Golyak and performed in Boston's historically landmarked Vilna Shul (2025 Elliot Norton Award Winner for Outstanding Production). I co-devised and performed in the Warsaw-based theatre company Strefa WolnaSłowa’s Azyl Warszawa projects, focusing on the dynamics of Poles and migrant experiences in Poland (2019-2020). In December 2020, I co-created and facilitated Dybuk na stulecie, an online and Warsaw-based centenary celebration in honor of S. Anski’s The Dybbuk, in partnership with Poland’s Instytut Teatralny.
I was a Fulbright research fellow in Poland (2018-2019), and I was awarded the 2022 New Scholars Prize by the International Federation for Theatre Research.
