[1] In his review, James Holsinger noted that the book helped to "resituate the early American canon" by taking closet dramas seriously.
[4] Davis has delivered numerous academic papers at conferences and is a frequent lecturer on American theatre history.
Before retiring in 2017, Professor Davis served on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was the Director of Graduate Studies and Chair of the Doctoral Program in Theatre.
In 2007, he acted in the original world-premiere production of August: Osage County at the Steppenwolf Theatre, performing the role of Bill on stage as Jeff Perry’s understudy.
As a director, he has worked on dozens of productions, winning both regional and national awards from the American College Theatre Festival.
In 1985, his production of Excursion Fare was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as the ACTF recipient of Best Original Play.