Daphna Ben-Shaul graduated BA (with distinction) in the Department of Theatre Studies, including studies in the Department of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has completed her MA studies (with distinction) and her PhD at the Department of Theatre Arts, Tel Aviv University. Her PhD dissertation is titled “Disbelief for the Moment: The Problematic of Aesthetic-Theatrical Illusion and its Breaking” (2003). She taught in the Department of Theatre Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (until 2010) and teaches issues in performance studies at the School of Visual Theatre (SVT) in Jerusalem. Among her papers, keynote lectures, guest lectures and workshops, cultural curation, and moderation – she was a guest lecturer at Fachbereich Neuere Philologien, Institut für Theatre-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft, the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2022); and co-organized the international conference supported by the Israel Science Foundation titled “Critical Performance On-Site: Aesthetic, Political, and Historiographic Debates” (2023).
Her awards and grants include the Herbert Levin Scholarship for distinction (1990-93); The Wolf Foundation Scholarship for distinction (1996); The Gutwirt Foundation Scholarship for distinction (1994-99); the Lady Davis Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Hebrew University (2006); together with colleagues, the German-Israeli Foundation (GIF) for Scientific Research and Development (2005-2010); together with colleagues, the Humanities Fund Grants Yad Ha’Nadiv for Innovations in Teaching MA Program titled “Theatre Lab: The Laboratory Program in Theatre and Performance” (2010-2015). Her research titled “Taking Place in Civic Space: Contemporary Site-Specific Performance in Israel” was supported by the Israel Science Foundation, ISF (2015-2020).
