Adrienne Gibbons Oehlers is a PhD candidate in the Theatre Graduate Program and a recipient of the AAUW American Fellowship for 2022-23. Her research and creative work intersect both dance and theatre, and her dissertation is focused on female dance ensembles in musical theatre, interrogating how the structure has simultaneously expanded upon and reified constructions of womanhood, particularly that of African American women in the first half of the twentieth century. She has forthcoming chapters in the edited collections, Dance in Musical Theatre: A History of the Body in Movement (edited by Dustyn Martincich and Phoebe Rumsey) as well as in Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in Musical Theatre: He/She/They Could Have Danced All Night (edited by Kelly Kessler). Adrienne received her MA at The Ohio State University and her master’s thesis, Spectacular Women: The Radio City Rockettes from 1925 to 1971, followed the history and trajectory of the Rockettes as female dancers and as symbols of American culture.

A professional actor since graduating from college, she has performed extensively in musical theatre, appearing in numerous regional theatres, National and European tours, as a Radio City Rockette, and on Broadway in the original cast of The Producers.  She has taught voice, acting, and movement as well as Intro to Theatre, African American Theatre History, Musical Theatre History, and America on Stage. 

Oehlers is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, SAG/AFTRA, and AGVA.