About

Mission:

Mopped Stage Productions connects those who study theatre with those who practice theatre by staging performances in support of emergent scholarship.

History:

The idea for Mopped Stage began in 2024, when a fellow PhD student approached Philip Wiles about possibly staging Susan Glaspell’s playTrifles in support of her research on violence in works by American women authors. Interested in the prospect, Philip reached out to Casey Berner to begin working through the logistical concerns associated with getting a play on its feet.

Several production meetings, coffee chats, and dreaming sessions later, Philip and Casey realized they wanted to keep producing together and saw a need: the ephemeral nature of theatre means that scholars frequently write about objects of study based only on written records—playscripts, reviews, diary entries, and perhaps a video recording for the very lucky among us. But working on a performance unlocks new questions, possibilities, and even modes of inquiry. At the same time, the rigor required of graduate study makes continuing one’s theatre practice difficult, and starting off with practical work near-impossible if you haven’t already had a theatre job.

Our question was simple: what if we could take care of all the hurdles so that theatre scholars could more easily have the opportunity to do hands-on theatrical work?

Who We Are:

Casey Berner is a Brooklyn-based theatre scholar, artist, and administrator. A PhD candidate in Theatre and Performance at the Graduate Center, CUNY, she studies musicals with short Broadway runs and interesting production histories outside of New York City. As a producer, Casey brings years of experience in nonprofit development as well as stage management, dramaturgy, and costuming. She teaches at Brooklyn College and Baruch College, and works as a fundraising consultant. Casey holds a BA with honors in Communication and English and an MA in Theatre with a certificate in Nonprofit Management, both from Villanova University.

Philip Wiles is a scholar/actor/improviser from Houston, Texas who comes to the CUNY Graduate Center by way of Oklahoma and Los Angeles. In addition to his scholarly pursuits, he maintains his improv practice in the various improv comedy theatres sprinkled through the city. He holds a BFA in Drama from the University of Oklahoma, and an MA in Performance Studies from NYU.