Glenda Yael Nieto Cuebas
George & Louise Peters Professor in the Department of World Languages & Cultures – Spanish; Leland F. & Helen Schubert Honors Program Co-Director
Education
- B.A., Interamerican University of Puerto Rico
- M.A., University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
- Ph.D., University of Massachusetts-Amherst
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Dr. Glenda Y. Nieto-Cuebas is a Professor of Spanish and the George and Louise Peters Professor of World Languages and Cultures. Originally from Puerto Rico, she earned a B.A. in Fine Arts from the Universidad Interamericana in San Germán and an M.A. in Hispanic Studies from the Universidad de Puerto Rico in Mayagüez. She received her Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Before joining the faculty at ³Ô¹ÏÍø, she served as a Lecturer of Spanish at Amherst College.
Dr. Nieto-Cuebas's upper-level courses, publications, and research focus on Early Modern Spanish Literature, particularly 17th-century theatre and its contemporary productions. Aware of the challenges these texts can pose for undergraduate students, she often incorporates hands-on, project-based assignments to foster deeper understanding and provide unique, engaging experiences that would otherwise be difficult to access. She has designed numerous academic projects and mentored students with interests in Early Modern Spanish Theatre. These collaborations have included adapting, producing, and performing plays for live audiences; internships centered on translating and adapting medieval romances for professional shadow puppet productions; and securing Theory-to-Practice Grants and Student Independent Project Grants involving research, travel to theatre festivals in Spain and the U.S., and workshops with international theatre companies from Spain and Mexico. She has also co-presented with students at professional conferences.
Dr. Nieto-Cuebas is the co-editor of Social Justice in Spanish Golden Age Theatre (University of Toronto Press, 2021), and has authored several book chapters, articles, and interviews in peer-reviewed journals such as Comedia Performance, e-Humanista, Sixteenth Century Journal, Romance Quarterly, Romance Notes, Symposium: A Quarterly Journal of Romance Languages, Latin American Theatre Review, and the Journal of Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching (SMART).
Her current work includes pedagogical projects and publications that explore how experiential learning can help students engage with classical Hispanic theatre through non-traditional approaches. Most recently, she co-authored a monograph with Dr. Erin Cowling (MacEwan University), which explores how Latinx theatre practitioners adapt and produce 17th-century Hispanic texts for contemporary audiences. This work emphasizes the artists' lived experiences and socio-cultural realities as BIPOC creators. The book is forthcoming from the University of Toronto Press.
Areas of Interest/Expertise
- Early Modern Spanish Literature
- Spanish Baroque Theater