Dissertation Defenders

A fictitious online university struggling to remain relevant, PhD candidates desperate to secure full-time teaching positions at adjunct wages, and academic-sounding topics make for a fraught (and odd) online debate.

Written by Sean Michael Cummings, Lisa Wagner Erickson, and Rebecca Gorman O’Neill

Directed by Veronica Straight-Lingo

Featuring Sean Michael Cummings, Veronica Straight-Lingo, and Sadie Gracelynn Trigg

 
 

PRESS

Westword: Five Things to Do for Free This Week in Denver

  • On THE DISSERTATION DEFENDERS: “Theater 29 was in the middle of of planning its next production when the coronavirus pandemic hit. After that, the action moved off the stage and into cyberspace, where creative director Lisa Wagner Erickson and Veronica Straight-Lingo came up with a new concept: Anoitos University, a fictitious online university struggling to remain relevant, where Ph.D. candidates are desperate to secure full-time teaching positions at adjunct wages.”

Boulder Weekly: What to do when there’s “nothing” to do

  • “THE DISSERTATION DEFENDERS: Lisa Wagner Erickson (Theater 29) and Veronica Straight-Lingo (KGNU) came up with the concept and characters for playwrights Sean Michael Cummings and Rebecca Gorman O’Neill to develop.”