Tiffany Antone and Cason Murphy contribute leadership, scholarship to Mid-America Theatre Conference

Iowa State University Department of Music and Theatre faculty members Tiffany Antone and Cason Murphy recently showcased their expertise and leadership at the annual Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC), held March 5-7, 2026, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Together, they presented scholarship in three different symposia across the conference; produced, directed, dramaturged, and acted in over a dozen new plays; and contributed to the organization through significant service roles.

MATC is a national conference dedicated to the advancement of theatre practice and scholarship through bringing together theatre scholars, practitioners, and educators to foster dialogue, collaboration, and innovation in the field. The 2026 conference was themed around the idea of “Making and Remaking Americana.”

Tiffany Antone, associate teaching professor of theatre at Iowa State, played a pivotal role in the Playwriting Symposium, serving as the senior co-chair. In this capacity, she organized over a dozen panels, workshops, play readings, and other events. Antone also actively participated in the conference as a panelist in an invited roundtable sponsored by the Practice/Production and Playwriting Symposia titled “Supporting the Playwright in Universities.”

Cason Murphy, associate professor of theatre at Iowa State, contributed to panels within the Practice/Production and Theatre History Symposia, while also directing and acting for the Playwriting Symposium. He presented his paper, ““The American Play: Making and Remaking the Origins of the ‘American’ Theatre”, exploring the history of Ye Bare and Ye Cubbe, the first piece of English-language theatre in the Americas in 1665—and the basis of the new devised work that will be produced as part of the ISU Theatre 2026-2027 Mainstage season. For Theatre History, Murphy outlined a radical new close reading of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 musical Oklahoma! in his paper, “Jud Fry Loved His Feller Man: Queering the Conditional Love Song in Oklahoma!” He also appeared as a Robo-Vacuum in the ten-minute play Peanut Butter Androgyny and directing A Better Man by Stan Denman and Eduardo Velez for the conference’s “First Acts Showcase.”

In addition to his scholarly contributions, Murphy marked a milestone in his leadership within the organization by completing his term as immediate president of MATC, concluding seven consecutive years of service to the organization.

The participation and leadership of Antone and Murphy at MATC 2026 highlight the Iowa State University Department of Music and Theatre’s commitment to theatrical scholarship, creative collaboration, and professional engagement at the national level.