Hui Peng

Assistant Teaching Professor of Theatre

Office: Phi Beta Kappa Hall 212
Email: [[hpeng03]]
Phone: 757-221-5457
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:30-3:30pm (Fall 2026) or by appointment

Areas of Specializaation

Global Disability Studies, Performance Studies, East Asian and Lusophone Theatre, Audience Studies and Spectatorship

Background

I am a contemporary theatre and performance scholar who studies how accessible theatre practices (e.g., Relaxed Performance, Open Captioning, and Artistic ASL) undo ableist theatre etiquette and contribute dramaturgically to inclusive performance-making. Currently, I am working on my monograph, Undoing Ableism: The Dramaturgy of Relaxed Performance and the Making of Neurodivergent Bodies, which aims to complicate the dominant Anglo-North American Disability Studies frameworks by centering accessible practices and epistemologies from the Global South. I am the co-convenor of the at the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) and committee member of International Relaxed Performance Network.

As an interdisciplinary artist, I work between the white cube and the black box to create culturally responsive performance that amplifies marginalized voices. At the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Shanghai, I directed Nietzsche Goes Bananas Here, a performance that incorporated the lived experiences and embodiment of wheelchair users, inviting general audiences to engage with the exhibition through a crip lens. At Macao-Asia Satellite Television, I directed documentary series focusing on youth mental health and patient advocacy in Southeast Asian healthcare system, foregrounding disabled experiences often obscured by mainstream media. Most recently, I worked as an access dramaturg for Shared Dialogue, Shared Space, a public art festival curated by Korean Art Forum in New York City, where I developed access strategies in response to the diverse needs of festival participants and audiences.

Informed by my research and artistic practice, access is also at the center of my pedagogy. Whenever possible, I use Open Educational Resources (OER) to make courses low- to zero-cost. As a multilingual speaker, I am attentive to linguistic and cultural barriers in the classroom and use multimodal teaching strategies (e.g., podcasts, video essays) to encourage students to choose the modality that best suits their learning styles. Currently, I am exploring contract grading and ungrading with my students, with the hope of using them as reparative practices to claim agency within the meritocracy of higher education.

I earned my PhD in Theatre and Performance from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Prior to joining �鶹�ƽ��, I taught at Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan College, Baruch College in New York City.