(Photo courtesy of RVC Schools)
ABOUT
Russell M. Dembin (he/him) is an educator, theatermaker, arts administrator, editor, writer, and scholar whose work is grounded in anti-racism; anti-oppression; accessibility; and diversity, equity, and inclusion. With specialties in the intersections of culture and social justice, Russ is dedicated to amplifying the voices and stories of historically marginalized communities. As the high school theater teacher at South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York, since 2024, he has taught International Baccalaureate (IB) Theatre, years 1 and 2 (Nassau County’s only public school currently offering these courses), and Theater Arts 1 and 2 and co-taught the technical theater class Play Production. Also at RVC, Russ is co-advisor of South Side’s Drama Guild and troupe director for the school’s International Thespian Honor Society chapter (#3715), coordinating efforts to establish the troupe as an official student organization for the first time since it was chartered in 1989. He has quickly become a leader among local theater educators, facilitating student workshops at the 2026 New York Thespian Festival (ThesFest) and in 2025 moderating the only Guild of IB Schools of the Northeast (GIBS) roundtable for theater teachers in recent years.
Until 2020, Russ was the managing editor of American Theatre magazine and AmericanTheatre.org, published by Theatre Communications Group (TCG); during his five years with TCG, he co-curated the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Brown Bag meeting series and served in the organization-wide EDI Workgroup and on the Strategic Planning Workplace Culture Subteam and the Archives Committee. Previous roles include contributing editor of Everything Sondheim, associate editor of The Sondheim Review, and associate director of the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s On Tour drama program in Merrick, New York. He has also taught courses at SUNY New Paltz and the University of Texas at Austin, and his writing has appeared in The Austin Chronicle, Musical Theatre Review, Theatre Journal, and the Journal of Beckett Studies. In addition, Russ is a book copy editor and proofreader and a freelance dramaturg. In addition, he has held the following leadership positions: board member and co-VP of Anti-Oppression for Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), steering committee member of the American Theatre Archive Project, and planning committee member of LMDA’s Dramaturging the Phoenix essay and forum series. Russ holds a Ph.D. in Performance as Public Practice from UT Austin and an M.A. in Theater History and Criticism from Brooklyn College.