Christopher Balme currently holds the chair in Theatre Studies at the University of Munich. Born and educated in New Zealand, where he graduated from the University of Otago, he has lived and worked in Germany since 1985 with positions at the universities of Würzburg, Munich and Mainz. From 2004 to 2006 he held the chair in Theatre Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He has published widely on German theatre, intercultural theatre and theatre and other media. Professor Balme is a former president of the German Society for Theatre Research and is president-elect of the IFTR. From 2004 to 2006 he was Senior Editor of Theatre Research International. He currently edits the journal Forum Modernes Theater. Recent publications include Decolonizing the Stage: Theatrical syncretism and postcolonial drama (Oxford 1999), Pacific Performances: Theatricality and Cross-Cultural Encounter in the South Seas (Palgrave Macmillan 2007) and Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies (Cambridge 2008) and The theatrical public sphere (Cambridge 2014). . His current research interests focus on the legacy of modernism in the globalization of the arts; theatre and the public sphere; and the relationship between media and performance. He is director of the Global Theatre Histories project (www.global-theatre-histories.org).