About

Dr. Esther Kim Lee is an award-winning author and theatre historian. She is Frances Hill Fox Professor of Theater Studies, International Comparative Studies, and History and the Director of Asian American & Diaspora Studies at Duke University. 

Dr. Lee teaches and writes about theatre history, Asian American theatre, Korean diaspora theatre, and globalization and theatre. You can read more about her background and how she approaches her research and teaching in this article. 

In 2023, she received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Society for Theatre Research. 

Dr. Lee’s publications include:

•  A History of Asian American Theatre (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
• The Theatre of David Henry Hwang (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2015). 
• Seven Contemporary Plays from the Korean Diaspora in the Americas (Duke University Press, 2012). 
• Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era (University of Michigan Press, 2022)  
• Modern and Contemporary World Drama: Critical and Primary Sources (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2022)