Dr. Karen Jean Martinson is an Assistant Professor of Dramaturgy in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. Her scholarly and creative work interrogates contemporary US American performance, dramaturgy, and processes of identification, focusing on issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Her manuscript-in-progress, Make the Dream Real, dissects the performances of El Vez, The Mexican Elvis. She has published in such journals as Theatre Annual, Theatre Topics, and Popular Entertainment Studies. Martinson currently serves as the VP Advocacy for the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the American (LMDA).