Joan FitzPatrick Dean teaches drama and film at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her essays on Martin McDonagh appear in The Theatre and Film of Martin McDonagh (Methuen, 2012), Martin McDonagh: A Casebook (Routledge, 2007), Theatre Journal, and Nua. She wrote for Film West between 1993 and 2011. Cork University Press published her book on the film and play Dancing at Lughnasa.