Northern Illinois University
School of Theatre and Dance
College of Visual and Performing Arts

Gibson Alessandro Cima is an associate professor of theatre history and head of the Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies program in Northern Illinois University’s School of Theatre and Dance. His essays on South African theatre and performance, theatre from the Global South, and post-colonial theory have appeared in Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, Black Theatre Review and South African Theatre Journal. His current project is a book about the influence of South Africa’s anti-apartheid protest theatre on post-apartheid and global stages. As a theatre practitioner, he has devised work addressing Georgetown University’s historical role in the institution of slavery, directed the US premiere of South African playwright Juliet Jenkin’s The Boy Who Fell From the Roof, and brought his own adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa.

Research Interests

• South African Theatre History
• African Diasporic Theatre and Performance
• Post-Colonial Theatre and Performance
• Theatre Pedagogy

Selected Publications

• “After Revivals: New Protest Theatre by “Born Free” South Africans,” in Routledge Handbook on African Theatre and Performance, (Routledge, 2024), 281-293.
• “History Plays: Performing the Anti-Apartheid Movement on Contemporary South African Stages,” in Theatre After Empire edited by Megan Geigner and Harvey Young (Routledge, 2021), 68-84.
• “The Book of Mormon’s African Fantasies,” in Singing and Dancing the Book of Mormon: Critical Essays on the Broadway Musical, (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Press, 2016), 129-142.
• “Exporting South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Global Arts Corps’ Truth in Translation,” Theatre Journal, Vol. 70, No. 1 (2018): 43-63.

Courses Taught:

• THEA 200 – Script Analysis
• THEA 201 – The Aesthetics of Theatre
• THEA 370 – History of Theatre and Drama I
• THEA 371 - History of Theatre and Drama II