Crystal Cheng

Crystal Cheng's research revolves around early modern Japanese theater, literature, and visual culture, with a particular focus on the portrayal of murders and suicides of female characters. Her work aims to explore how the trope of selfless, sacrificial women has been constructed, employed, and challenged by predominantly male playwrights, fiction writers, and actors during the Edo period. She is also interested in how sensationalized theatrical violence was adapted into printed media and its impact on public perceptions of honor, death, and feminine virtue. Initially an art student at Maryland Institute College of Art, Crystal later received her B.A. in Comparative Literature from Boston University and M.A. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University. She enjoys creating Chinese subtitles for kabuki plays in her free time and aspires to one day translate kabuki in an official capacity.