Her current book project examines contemporary “Chitlin Circuit” theatrical productions and the reception practices of African American spectators. Shaw’s scholarship and interviews with African American theater practitioners have appeared in the journals Theatre Survey and Theatre Topics, as well as Time Out Chicago magazine. Her ethnographic research has been featured, most recently, in Black Theatre is Black Life: An Oral History of Chicago Theatre and Dance, 1970–2010 (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2013).