Catherine Ann Schuler, professor emerita of women, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of Maryland College Park, died on November 7 in Silver Springs, Maryland. She was 70 years old and had suffered from cancer.
A native of Dixon City, Illinois, she grew up on a farm. During her high school years, her family moved to Naples, Florida. Dr. Schuler earned a bachelor’s degree in theater at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. An accomplished performer, she won leads in a number of stage presentations before turning to academic theater as a career. She earned a master of fine arts degree from Emerson College in Boston, and a Ph.D. in theater history from Florida State University.
Dr. Schuler did extensive field research in Finland and Russia and was considered an authority on Russian theater. She was an associate professor in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland before joining the department of women, gender, and sexuality studies in 2011.
In addition to teaching theater history and women’s studies at the University of Maryland, she served as editor of the Theater Journal. Dr. Schuler was the author of Theatre and Identity in Imperial Russia (University of Iowa Press 2009) and Women in Russian Theatre: The Actress in the Silver Age (Routledge, 1996).