Dr. Ryan Adelsheim is a scholar of contemporary American theater and performance, queer and trans studies, and performance studies. Ryan's current book project focuses on the aesthetics of unfinishedness in queer and trans contemporary, American performance. With interests in performance studies, trans studies, and queer temporality, their interdisciplinary work considers theater, performance, dance, and devising. They received their doctorate and MFA from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, and their BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Prior to arriving at the University of Iowa, Ryan was a lecturer at Tufts University in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. Their writing has appeared in Theater where they also served as the associate editor, Modern Drama, Performance Response Journal, The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays (v. 3), and Routledge's Dramaturgy and History anthology. They co-planned the 2026 Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas conference in New Haven, CT and were a participant in the 2023 NEH Summer Institute for Preserving and Transmitting American Ensemble-Based Devised Theatre hosted by the Pig Iron Theatre Company

Ryan is also a nationally recognized new play dramaturg, adaptor, and producer and has worked with companies across the country including the Playwright’s Center, the New Harmony Project, Playwrights Horizons, Steppenwolf Theater Company, and Baltimore Center Stage, among others. Recent creative credits include co-adaptor for Affinity based on the novel by Sarah Waters with director Alex Keegan, dramaturg and researcher for soldiergirls by Emil Weinstein and Emily Johnson-Erday, and producer on the Emerging Playwrights Commissions with Audible Theater. They are currently developing Lolly, an adaptation of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes (1926), with co-adaptor Alex Keegan, with support from The Drama League and The Beatrice Terry Residency.