March 10 – 12

The University of Southern Mississippi Performance and Media Symposium

Prominent scholars in the sub-field of performance and media theory will join students and faculty from USM Theatre for a series of presentations and dialogues about the intersection of theatre and technology. Invited scholars include Dr. Sarah Bay-Cheng from York University and Dr. David Saltz from UGA.

Date //

March 10, 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Panel Discussion with invited scholars

March 11, 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Research Presentation by Dr. Sarah Bay-Cheng

March 11, 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Research Presentation by Dr. David Saltz

March 12, 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Virtual Theatre Discussion with invited scholars and USM students

March 10 – Panel Discussion of Invited Scholars //

4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

March 11 – Research Presentation by Dr. Sarah Bay-Chen //

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

March 11 – Research Presentation by Dr. David Saltz //

4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

March 12 – Virtual Theatre Discussion with invited scholars and USM students //

9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Invited Scholars //

Sarah Bay-Cheng [pronounced Bay-JUNG, rhymes with “sung”] is the Dean of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University in Toronto, Canada. She was formerly Chair and Professor of Theater and Dance at Bowdoin College, teaching theater history and theory, dramatic literature, and intermedia performance.  Her research focuses on the intersections among theater, performance, and media including histories of cinema, social media, and digital technologies in performance. Recent publications include Performance and Media: Taxonomies for a Changing Field (2015) and Mapping Intermediality in Performance (2010) as well as essays in Theater, Contemporary Theatre Review, and Theatre Journal, among others. She is a co-host for On TAP: A Theatre and Performance Studies podcast. Bay-Cheng frequently lectures internationally and in 2015 was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She has served on the boards of Performance Studies international and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and is currently a member of the Executive Committee for the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR). Bay-Cheng has also worked as a director and dramaturg with particular interest in intermedial collaborations and a fondness for puppetry.

David Saltz is Head of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, and Executive Director of Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE). He is a specialist in modernist theatre and performance, performance theory, the philosophy of art, and directing. His primary research focuses have been performance philosophy and the interaction between live performance and digital media. He was Principal Investigator of Virtual Vaudeville, a large-scale research project funded by the National Science Foundation to simulate a nineteenth century vaudeville performance on the computer. He has explored the use of computer technology extensively in his own work as a director and teacher. Along those lines he established the Interactive Performance Laboratory at UGA, has directed a series of productions incorporating real-time interactive digital media, and has created interactive sculptural installations that have been exhibited nationally. He is co-director for the NEH Institute on Digital Technologies in Theatre and Performance Studies (His recent work focuses on robotic theatre. He is co-author (with Sarah Bay-Cheng and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck) of Performance and Media: Taxonomies for a Changing Field (University of Michigan Press, 2015), coeditor (with David Krasner) of the book Staging Philosophy: Intersections between Theatre, Performance and Philosophy (University of Michigan Press, 2006), and has published numerous articles in scholarly journals and books. Dr. Saltz received a Sandy Beaver Special Teaching Award in 2008. He has served as Secretary of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and as co-editor and then editor of Theatre Journal from 2006-2009, as a member of the Commission on Accreditation for NAST, and currently serves as NAST Treasurer (2018-2020). Before coming to Georgia, Dr. Saltz taught at State University of New York at Stony Brook and The College of William and Mary.

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