Elizabeth Kurtzman is a playwright, performer, teacher, and doctoral candidate in the Theatre and Performance department at the University of Pittsburgh. Her studies focus on the performances of fear, particularly in live horror events such as scare attractions, as well as the acting and embodiment of monsters and villains onstage and onscreen. Her dissertation, the tentatively titled “Chilling Affect: Sensory Engagement and Participation in Immersive Horror Experiences,” examines how immersive experiences, audio performances, and virtual apps or websites use sensory techniques to hook audiences and encourage engagement. As a Mellon scholar, Liz traveled across the country to experience scare attractions and to go behind the scenes of these horror productions, and to present her work on Gothic film and stage adaptations.
After earning her undergraduate degree from Heidelberg University, Liz attended Virginia Tech, where she received a Master’s in English Literature. She was granted the Chermside Award for her Master’s thesis, which examined the historical antecedents of Poe’s Shadows, a multidisciplinary immersive performance that she helped produce in 2018.
Research Interests
Horror Studies, Affect, Adaptations, Playwriting, Visual Rhetoric, Audio Studies, Immersive Performance, Spiritualism
