Robert A. Schanke (M.A. and Ph.D.) received the 2013 Career Achievement Award for Educational Theatre from the 1500-member Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) at their August meeting.
Schanke is professor emeritus of theatre at Central College in Iowa, where he served for 27 years. A native Iowan, he received his Bachelor of Arts from Midland College and both his Master of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska.
“To me this award was a confirmation for faculty members at a liberal arts college—we are appreciated as much as the faculty at the large universities,” Schanke told a Central College publication.
His articles on theatre history appear in Theatre Survey, Theatre Topics, Southern Theatre and Central States Speech Journal. He has contributed to numerous reference books and anthologies, including Women in American Theatre, Cambridge Guide to American Theatre and Shakespeare Around the Globe.
He is author of Ibsen in America: A Century of Change (Scarecrow, 1988) and Eva Le Gallienne: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood, 1989). His Shattered Applause: The Lives of Eva Le Gallienne (Southern Illinois, 1992) was a finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the Barnard Hewitt Award for theater research. He coedited with Kim Marra Passing Performances: Queer Readings of Leading Players in American Theater History (Michigan, 1998) and Staging Desire: Queer Readings of American Theater History (Michigan, 2002). Their final collaboration, The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy, appeared in 2005.
Schanke has directed theatre productions in England, Wales and Mexico. He is a Fellow of the Mid-America Theatre Conference and was honored with alumni achievement awards by both Midland College and the University of Nebraska. In 2003, he was elected into the National Theatre Conference. In 2004 he was elected into membership of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre and also received the Excellence in Editing Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.