Elizabeth Kurtzman is a playwright, performer, and professor whose research focuses on performances of fear, particularly in live horror events such as scare attractions, as well as the acting and embodiment of monsters and villains onstage and onscreen. Her dissertation, “Chilling Affect: Sensory Engagement and Participation in Immersive Horror Experiences,” examined how immersive experiences, audio performances, and virtual apps or websites use sensory techniques to hook audiences and encourage engagement. An Ohio native, Kurtzman attended Heidelberg University, where she studied theatre and creative writing. She earned her PhD in Theatre and Performance Arts at the University of Pittsburgh and her MA in English Literature at Virgina Tech.
Representative Publications
Research Interests
Horror Studies, Affect, Adaptations, Playwriting, Visual Rhetoric, Audio Studies, Immersive Performance, Spiritualism
