The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) announced on November 15, 2024, at its annual conference that Michelle Liu Carriger, the Chair of the UCLA Department of Theater and Associate Professor, has been awarded the Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History for her book Theatricality of the Closet: Fashion, Performance, and Subjectivity Between Victorian Britain and Meiji Japan. The award is given each year to the best book in theater history or cognate disciplines published during the previous calendar year (2023). It is awarded to works that are innovative in their approach to material, meticulous in their historical scholarship and original in their conclusions. 

Carriger’s book is a richly illustrated exploration of fashion and its capacity for generating controversy and constructing social and individual identities. It investigates key historical moments that examine the interconnected ways in which gender, sexuality, class and race are created by the everyday act of getting dressed.

“All of us at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television congratulate Professor Carriger on this exceptional honor. Her groundbreaking scholarship explores how performance, identity, and culture are deeply intertwined, enriching theater history while offering profound insights into the ways we understand ourselves and society. This recognition underscores the power of scholarship to bridge disciplines and inspire meaningful dialogue within and beyond the arts,” said Brian Kite, dean of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.