Thomas Marshall Graduate Student Awards

Deadline: All application materials must be received by July 1, 2013. Applicants are responsible for seeing that sponsoring and supporting letters are received by the deadline.

Purpose: Each year the American Society for Theatre Research awards up to three grants of $800 each in honor of the late Thomas F. Marshall, a distinguished theatre scholar and founder of ASTR, who took particular interest in the encouragement and support of promising students in the field of theatre research. The purpose of the grants is to encourage students to become active members of the Society by helping them to meet the expenses of attending the ASTR annual meeting in November. ASTR conference registration fees will be waived for grant winners.
 
Eligibility: any student majoring in theatre/performance studies in any academic department at any level of higher education is eligible. Students need not be members of ASTR at the time of application.
 
Application: The student should e-mail to Shaun Franklin-Sewell at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it the following documents in a single attachment with the subject heading "Marshall Award application."

• a single-page essay (less than 350 words, with 1.5 spacing, 12-point type and 1-inch margins) explaining the value of attending the next ASTR meeting to your career;
• a copy of your curriculum vitae

Also, the student should request a sponsoring letter from a member of ASTR and a supporting letter from an additional person familiar with your work. Letters should be sent by the recommender directly to Shaun Franklin-Sewell at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please note that recommenders must write separate letters for each nominee they support. Each member of ASTR is permitted to nominate only one student per year for a Marshall grant. Members of the Marshall committee may not nominate students, but students from the home institutions of committee members can be nominated by others. Committee members do not vote on students from their own institution.

Send queries to Deborah Paredez (chair) at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Evaluation: Applications will be judged by a committee comprised of Deborah Paredez (chair), Megan Sanborn-Jones, and Gibson Cima. Criteria include the quality of the applicant's expression of interest in attending this ASTR meeting, the applicant’s record of achievement in scholarship and/or service, and on the recommenders’ letters of support.
 
Notification: All applicants will be notified by September 1, 2013.

Note: In the event that a person is chosen to receive more than one award to help defray the costs of attending the ASTR conference, that person will receive the money associated with the larger of the two awards but will be acknowledged as a winner of both. The relevant awards committees shall have the right to disburse monies unspent by the award recipient to support additional worthy applicants.