The Theatre School > About > Faculty & Staff > Theatre Studies > Rachel Shteir

Rachel Shteir

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  • rshteir@depaul.edu
  • Head of Dramaturgy
  • DFA, MA Yale University
    BA University of Chicago
  • Theatre Studies
  • 773-325-7533

Rachel Shteir is the author of four books: Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show (Oxford University Press, 2004), Gypsy: the Art of the Tease (Yale University Press, 2009), The Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting (The Penguin Press, 2011) and Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter (Yale University Press, 2023). ​

Striptease won the George Freedley Memorial Award and Gypsy was a San Francisco Chronicle Lit Pick. Betty Friedan was a finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Awards and a New Yorker Best of the Week pick.  ​ Rachel has also written for magazines, newspapers and blogs, including American Theatre, Bookforum, The Daily, The New York Times, Slate, The Guardian, Playboy, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Chicago Magazine, The Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, (the late) New York Newsday, (the late) Lingua Franca, The Nation, Tabl​et, Theatre, The Village Voice and The Washington Post

Rachel has lectured widely on popular culture and theatre and is often quoted in the national media. She is the recipient of six Yaddo residencies as well as MacDowell, Ragdale Colony and Virgina Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) residencies. ​

Before arriving in Chicago in 2000, she taught at Yale, Carnegie Mellon University, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, the Columbia University School of the Arts and the National Theatre Institute. Rachel holds a BA from the University of Chicago in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and an MFA and DFA in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from the Yale School of Drama.​

Visit https://www.rachelshteir.com/​ ​to learn more.

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