Rachel Chung

In the past, Rachel has studied queer sexuality in Gothic literature and fanfiction and narratives of suicidality in performance. She has also conducted research in medicine, including:

• the experiences of women with cerebral palsy seeking gynecological care
• pain management practices in sub-acute hospital units
• depression rates in young women studying for the Collegiate Scholastic Ability Test in South Korea
• iso-volumetric contraction and relaxation times in the left ventricle.

Rachel studies sexual violence in Shakespeare as performed by casts of all women. Focusing primarily on productions directed by Phyllida Lloyd, she is working to combine the worlds of gender studies and the semiotics of theatre. So far, her primary influences are Judith Butler, Elaine Aston, George Savona, Kier Elam, and Phyllida Lloyd. Rachel is interested in the intersection of queer and gender theories with audience reception theory, particularly in the ways (feminine) bodies acquire and produce meaning onstage. Thesis title: Re-Dressing Rape: Sexual Violence in Shakespeare through Casts of All Women