Dane Eissler
Samuel Beckett's "The Lost Ones" at Rowan University, photo by Kevin Monko
Dane’s research centers on the intersection of queer theory, interdisciplinary performance, and visual art, using their practice to explore how identity is formed, fragmented, and reimagined. Working across performance, painting, and puppetry, Eissler engages childlike play and imagination not only as an aesthetic, but as vital epistemological tools that resist linear narratives of selfhood. Their creative research considers how play and non-normative modes of expression can disrupt hegemonic structures that define identity as fixed, binary, or stable. Drawing on queer theory, particularly concepts of performativity, fluidity, and liminality, Eissler’s work embraces the unstable and transitional as fertile ground for self-inquiry and collective reflection. Puppetry, with its inherent doubleness (i.e. object and animate being) serves as a central metaphor and methodology in Eissler’s exploration of embodiment and disembodiment, control and surrender. Painting and performance likewise function as laboratories for improvisational identity, allowing for intuitive, nonlinear engagement with personal and collective memory, fantasy, trauma, and transformation. Through this interdisciplinary creative research, Eissler aims to make visible the invisible structures that govern how we see and experience ourselves and others. Their work invites viewers into a shared space of unmaking and (re)making identity. Ultimately, Eissler’s research investigates how queerness, not only as an identity but as a methodology, can open new pathways for empathy, liberation, and relational being.
- Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Rowan University, photo by Kevin Monko
- Tennessee Williams' "Stairs to the Roof" at EgoPo Classic Theater, photo by Dave Sarrafian
Dane Eissler (they/he/it) is a theater maker, visual artist, educator, and creative researcher. Dane made his Philadelphia debut performing in BRAT Productions' The Last Plot in Revenge, directed by Obie-winner John Clancy. Soon after earning a BA in Theatre from Rowan University, Dane began a long-standing collaboration with EgoPo Classic Theater, where they have directed, designed, produced, and performed in many pieces over the years. Most recently, Dane curated EgoPo's 2024-2025 Queer Revolutions season and directed and puppet designed Charles Ludlam and Bill Vehr's Turds in Hell. While living in Chicago, Dane was co-founding Artistic Director of A Dead Whale Productions, and worked with Rough House Theater, Whiskey Rebellion Theatre, Gorilla Tango, Women of the Now, Living Room Vauntgardia, Windy City Performs, Megan Stalter’s Freakfest, and The Annoyance Theatre. Now based in Philadelphia, Dane is an Adjunct Professor at Rowan University and Temple University, where they teach classes in theater history and practice. As a 2024 Independence Foundation Arts Fellow, Dane studied puppetry in Indonesia with Papermoon Puppet Theatre and presented work in their international puppetry festival, Pesta Boneka. They are a member of the Trans+ Virtual Centre of Excellence, an international interdisciplinary research and advocacy group.