A book by Mechele Leon, a Kansas University associate professor of theater, is the winner of the 2010 Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History, presented by the American Society for Theatre Research.  

“Moliere, the French Revolution, and the Theatrical Afterlife,” chosen from among 30 nominated theater studies published in 2009, was recognized Nov. 20 at the ASTR annual conference in Seattle.

Leon, who also serves as artistic director of the University Theatre at KU, began her research for the “Book of the Year” while a graduate student in France from 1996-2001. The manuscript was completed in 2008, and the the University of Iowa Press published the book in 2009.

During her research for the book, Leon received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in 2005-06, a Hall Center for the Humanities grant for travel to France and the KU Book Subvention Award from the Vice Provost for Research.