About me
Joe Salvatore is a Clinical Professor of Educational Theatre at NYU Steinhardt, where he teaches courses in ethnodrama, verbatim performance, community-engaged theatre, and new play development. He also serves as the Vice Chair for Academic Affairs for the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions. In 2017, Joe founded the Verbatim Performance Lab (VPL), which, under his direction, has created over 25 video and live performance projects exploring a range of political, social, and cultural topics and facilitated outreach and education programs throughout the United States. Current projects include an international research collaboration examining how interview-based verbatim performance interventions can disrupt discrimination in healthcare delivery; an ethnodrama exploring the impact of clergy sexual abuse on survivors' spirituality and health; and an interview project exploring freedom of expression and academic freedom at NYU. In Fall 2024, Joe collaborated with Keith R. Huff to produce and present VPL's "That's Not a Partisan Feeling, That's Patriotic: A Portraits US Election 2024 Event," an interview project examining perceptions of the US presidency during the 2024 election cycle. Joe is the author of the forthcoming book "Creating Ethnodrama: A Theatrical Approach to Research" set for release in 2025 with Guilford Press.