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Chris Hay

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Professor Chris Hay

 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8507-3556
20122026

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Research Biography

I am an Australian theatre and cultural historian, with particular expertise in the pre-New Wave period between 1949 and 1975 and the contemporary mainstage. In all of my research, I'm interested in the institutionalisation and legitimation of live performance, and what this can reveal about national preoccupations and anxieties.

My work has been recognised with significant research grants, including an ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) between 2020 and 2025 as well as collaborative awards via the ARC Discovery Program and the ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities, and prizes (including ADSA's Marlis Thiersch Prize for best journal article in 2022).

Research Expertise

My research expertise can be separated into three broad strands:

  1. The hidden and shadow traces of forgotten theatrical texts and practices in Australia, particularly in the subsidised sector; 
  2. The historiography of performer training in Australia, extending to innovative contemporary training methodologies; and
  3. The experience of liveness in contemporary performance, including through intermedial events like the Eurovision Song Contest.

I'm available to supervise PhD- and Masters-level research across all three of these strands, in both theory- and practice-led modes. In particular, I'm looking to support projects that interact with and support the development of the AusStage database (www.ausstage.edu.au), which I currently lead.

Education/Academic qualification

PhD, Learning to Inhabit the Chair: Knowledge Transfer in Contemporary Australian Director Training, University of Sydney

Award Date: 13 Jun 2014

External positions

Co-President, Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama, and Performance Studies

Co-Editor, Journal of Australian Studies

Ex-Officio Member, Executive Committee, International Australian Studies Association (InASA)

Elected Member, Executive Committee, International Federation for Theatre Research

Editor, Performance Paradigm

Supervision

  • Registered

Research Areas

  • Drama and performance

Supervisory Interests

  • Australian drama
  • Theatre historiography
  • Directing, performance making and actor training

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  1. SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
    SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  2. SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
    SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
  3. SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
    SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
  4. SDG 13 - Climate Action
    SDG 13 Climate Action
View all 42 research outputs

  • DP25: Re-Mapping the Lost Literary Capital: Darwin/Larrakia Nation

    Carleton, S. (Chief Investigator (Project Lead)), Hay, C. (Chief Investigator (Flinders Lead)) & Sefton-Rowston, A. (Chief Investigator)

    18/03/25 → 31/12/27

    Project: Research

  • ACHF: Australian Creative Histories and Futures

    Hay, C. (Chief Investigator (Flinders Lead)), Hurrell, C. (Chief Investigator), Barnett, T. (Chief Investigator), Wake, C. (Chief Investigator (Project Lead)), trezise, B. (Chief Investigator (Project Lead)) & Johnson, A. (Chief Investigator (Project Lead))

    27/05/24 → 30/06/28

    Project: Research

  • Marlis Thiersch Prize

    Hay, C. (Recipient), 2022

    Prize

  • 1 Organising a conference, workshop, ...
  • 1 Invited talk