Aoise Stratford, lecturer in the Department of Performing and Media Arts, recently won the CAITY (Contingent/Adjunct/Independent Scholar/Two-Year Caucus) Essay Award from the Northeast Modern Language Association. Stratford received the award for her essay "Abortion, Infanticide, Sterilization and the Monstrous Maternal in Suzan-Lori Parks' Red Letter Plays."

The CAITY Essay Award is presented annually for the best essay developed from a paper presented by contingent faculty, adjunct instructors, independent scholars, and two-year college faculty members at a Language Association convention section. Stratford previously presented her paper as part of a panel on feminist representations of abortion and related issues in literature.

For her Essay Award submission, Stratford revised and expanded the paper into an extended essay. In addition to a cash prize, Stratford’s winning essay receives publication consideration by Modern Language Studies, a peer-reviewed journal from the association.

Stratford has a PhD in theatre history and dramatic literature from Cornell and an MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco. Her plays have had more than 100 productions worldwide and have won many awards. As a dramaturg, she has worked on productions at Cornell, Ithaca Shakespeare Company, The Cherry Arts and others. Stratford’s book reviews can be found in Modern Drama, Theatre Survey and The journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and she is a contributor to the textbooks “The Art of Theatre Then and Now” and the upcoming “Workshopping Your New Play.”