E deanampd@yorku.ca
W Personal Website
P 416-736-2100 ext. 33881
EDUCATION
Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |B.A. Wellesley College
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
theatre historyperformance studies
digital performance
film history
modern drama
...
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Sarah Bay-Cheng is an accomplished leader in the fields of arts, media, performance, and design, currently serving as the Dean of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) at York University. With a demonstrated passion for cultivating creative excellence, Sarah has dedicated her career to shaping the future of arts education.
Since joining York in 2019, Sarah has successfully lead AMPD initiatives that drive artistic innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and academic excellence. These include the new AMPD Equity Plan, the Final Mile Club podcast, and the York Year of the Arts, among others. Her exceptional leadership skills and commitment to nurturing emerging talent have resulted in the development of a vibrant and inclusive community of students, faculty, and staff. Recognized as a staunch advocate for the arts, Sarah actively cultivates partnerships and initiatives that bridge academia and industry, emphasizing the societal importance of artistic expression.
With a robust academic background and an extensive research portfolio, Sarah’s expertise lies in the intersections of technology, media, and performance. Her work has garnered international recognition in the areas of theatre, performance, and media. Her publications include the books Performance and Media: Taxonomies for a Changing Field (2015), Mapping Intermediality in Performance (2010), Poets at Play: An Anthology of Modernist Drama (2010) and Mama Dada: Gertrude Stein’s Avant-Garde Drama (2004) as well as articles, essays, and invited lectures. Prior to coming to York, she was a Fulbright Visiting Senior Scholar in Media and Cultural Studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands (2015) and the founding director of the Technē Institute for the Arts and Emerging Technologies at the University at Buffalo (2012-2015). In 2016, she co-founded the podcast On TAP: A Theatre and Performance Studies podcast, sponsored by the Department of Theatre at York Unviersity. Sarah has also worked as a director and dramaturg with particular interest in intermedial collaborations and a fondness for puppetry. More information: https://sarahbaycheng.net
Select Publications
Books
- S. Bay-Cheng, J. Parker-Starbuck, D.Z. Saltz. Performance and Media: Taxonomies for a Changing Field (University of Michigan Press, 2015).
- S. Bay-Cheng, C. Kattenbelt, A. Lavender, R. Nelson, eds. Mapping Intermediality in Performance (Amsterdam University Press/University of Chicago Press, 2010).
- S. Bay-Cheng and Barbara Cole, eds. Poets at Play: An Anthology of Modernist Drama (Susquehanna University Press, 2010).
- S. Bay-Cheng. Mama Dada: Gertrude Stein’s Avant-Garde Theatre (Routledge, 2004; pbk. 2005).
Essays & Articles
- S. Bay-Cheng, “Modernist Afterlives in Performance: The Afterlife of Modernist Acting” Modernism/modernity Print+ Vol. 4, Cycle 3 (October 10, 2019). modernismmodernity.org/articles/afterlife-modernist-acting
- S. Bay-Cheng, “The Algorithms of Democracy,” 100 Years of Now, Journal for Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Goethe Institute (1 January 2017): journal.hkw.de/en/die-algorithmen- der-demokratie/.
- S. Bay-Cheng, “Pixelated Memories: Performance, Media, and Digital Technology” Contemporary Theatre Review 27.3 (fall 2017): 324-339.
- S. Bay-Cheng, “Unseen: Performance Criticism in an Age of Digital Recordings,” Theatre 46.2 (2016): 77-85.
- S. Bay-Cheng, “Postmedia Performance,” Interventions – Contemporary Theatre Review (May 2016). contemporaryTheatrereview.org/2016/postmedia-performance/. Reprinted and translated in POESIA PROGRAMABILIDADE PERFORMANCE: Projetos, processos e práticas em meios digitais (POETRY PROGRAMABILITY PERFORMANCE: Projects, processes and practices in digital media), eds. Sandra Guerreiro Dias and Bruno Ministro (2020).
- S. Bay-Cheng, “Digital Historiography and Performance” Theatre Journal 68.4 (December 2016): 507-527.
- S. Bay-Cheng, “‘When This You See’: The (Anti) Radical Time of Mobile Self-Surveillance” Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts 19.3 (summer 2014): 48-55.
- S. Bay-Cheng, “Theatre is Media: Some Principles for a Digital Historiography of Performance,” Theatre 42.2 (2012): 27-41.
- S. Bay-Cheng, A. S. Holzapfel. “The Living Theatre: A Brief History of a Bodily Metaphor” Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 25.1 (fall 2010): 1-19.
- J. Anstey, A.P. Seyed, S. Bay-Cheng, J. Bono, D. Pape, S. Shapiro. “Agent Takes the Stage,” International Journal of Art and Technology 2.4 (2009): 277-296.
- J. Anstey, S. Bay-Cheng, D. Pape, S. Shapiro. “Human Trials: An Experiment in Intermedia Performance,” Computers in Entertainment 5.3 (November 2007): 1-17.
News
- New York Times: “All the World’s a Screen? They’re Used to It” (February 3, 2021)
- NPR – All Things Considered: commentary “Is It Theater? Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ Adaptation For The Sims 4 To Stream On Twitch” (October 27, 2020)
- WNYC – Fishko Files: commentary for “Thomson and Stein” (February 4, 2020)
- Global News Radio Toronto: Interview (23 December 2019)
- CBC – The National: “How Digital De-Aging Is Changing the Face of Movies” December 2019
- Global News Radio – The Morning Show, December 2019
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