Paul Gagliardi

I am a Teaching Associate Professor of English at Marquette University.

My primary fields of research are twentieth-century American cultural studies, drama and performance studies, labor studies, and film studies. And my research focuses on the intersection between economic calamity, theories of work and labor, and the performative art people produce during eras like the Great Depression. In my courses, I emphasize understanding the historical, social, and cultural context of texts, but also how our contemporary readings problematize literature. I also foster interdisciplinary dialogue between all fields in my courses, and support students with both their academic and professional goals.

My book, All Play and No Work: American Work Ideals and the Comic Plays of the Federal Theatre Project (Temple University Press, 2023), examines how select comedies produced by the federal government during the Great Depression portrayed complicated norms of working and labor. I argue that many plays actually subverted norms of traditional labor or promoted alternate forms of working to audiences during the 1930s. My writing on the Federal Theatre Project and other subjects, such a confidence artists, has appeared in such outlets as Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Middle West Review, and Howlround. I’m currently working on several projects, including the portrayal of confidence schemes in The Righteous Gemstones and the cultural mythology of Slyvester Stallone’s early films.