NICOLA SHAUGHNESSY is Professor of Performance at the University of Kent, UK. Her teaching and research specialisms are contemporary performance, applied theatre, autobiography and performance theory. Previous publications include essays on gender and theatre, autobiographical drama and applied theatre as well as a book on Gertrude Stein. She is Co-Director of Kent University's Research Centre for Cognition, Kinesthetics and Performance and leads the AHRC funded research project Imagining Autism.