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Sheila Coursey, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
English

Education

  • Ph.D. in English, University of Michigan, 2019
  • M.A. in English, University of Michigan, 2015
  • B.A. in English, College of the Holy Cross, 2013

Research Interests

  • Late medieval and early modern literature, theater and spectatorship studies, domestic tragedy, crime literature, digital humanities.
  • Her current research focuses on audience engagement and response in late medieval and early modern English drama, especially plays that explore crime narratives and communal responses to crime. She also examines the afterlives of early English performance in twentieth and twenty-first-century theater and popular entertainment.

Publications and Media Placements

Sheila Coursey and Hannah Korell, “Introduction: Nightmares on Thames Street” in Horror on the Early Modern Stage: Nightmare on Thames Street, ed. Sheila Coursey and Hannah Korell. Bloomsbury: Arden Shakespeare (forthcoming July 2026).

Sheila Coursey, “Insidious Sights: Jump Scares and Suburban Horror in Early Modern Domestic Tragedy,” in Horror on the Early Modern Stage: Nightmare on Thames Street, ed. Sheila Coursey and Hannah Korell. Bloomsbury: Arden Shakespeare (forthcoming July 2026).

Sheila Coursey, “Mediating Criminal Conversion in Domestic Tragedy and City Comedy,” Early Theatre 28.2 (2025): 149-162.

Sheila Coursey, “Medieval Religious Drama,” The Routledge Guide to Shakespeare and Religion, ed. William Stockton. Routledge, 2025. ISBN: 9781032575667

Sheila Coursey, “Creating Interior Mayhem in The Castle of Perseverance.” New Chaucer Studies: Pedagogy and Profession 4.2 (2023):75–84. https://doi.org/10.5070/NC34262327

Colten Biro, Sheila Coursey, Sydney Lindsey, Simone Sparks, Lauren Terbrock-Elmestad. Visual Rhetoric: A Field Guide. The Compass Lab, Saint Louis University. September 2022. https://www.slucompasslab.com/visual-rhetoric-a-field-guide

Sheila Coursey, "Two Lamentable Tragedies and True Crime Publics in Early Modern Domestic Tragedy." Comparative Drama 53.3 (2019): 263-286.

Albin, Andrew, Barbara Bono, Anston Bosman, Michelle Butler, Theresa Coletti, Sheila Coursey, Matthew Evan Davis, Katharine Goodland, Maria Horne, Mariah Min, Heather Mitchell-Buck, Jesse Njus, William Robert, and Jay Zysk. “Teaching Medieval Drama and Performance.” Folger Shakespeare Library. December 2017. https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/Teaching_Medieval_Drama_and_Performance_(colloquium)

Sheila Coursey, “Making Mountains from Molehills: Mystery Staging and Performance in Henry VI Part III.” Newberry Essays in Medieval and Early Modern Studies 9 (2015).

Bridget Franco, Sheila Coursey, and Kelsey Smith. CINEGLOS: Glosario cinematografico interactivo. College of the Holy Cross. August 2011. [https://sites.holycross.edu/cineglos/]