Welcome! I’m a professor of theater and performance studies teaching different kinds of theater history and theory, experimental performance, and researching the intersections of media technologies and performance, both historical and in contemporary culture. In fall of 2015, I was in residence at Utrecht University (Netherlands) as a Fulbright Scholar and visiting professor in the Department of Media and Cultural Studies. In January 2016, I joined the Department of Theater and Dance at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where I teach courses in dramatic literature, theater history, and media performance. I also serve as the current Chair of the Department of Theater and Dance at Bowdoin.

Photo: Bob Handelman

Outside of Maine, I am one of the co-hosts for On TAP, a podcast dedicated to issues in theater and performance studies and academia. I also serve as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Contemporary Theatre Review, the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, and on the editorial boards for ASAP/Journal, Theatre Research in Canada, and Theatre Topics. From 2012-2016, I was a member of the Board of Directors for Performance Studies international. I’m now on the executive committee for the American Society for Theatre Research.

Prior to Bowdoin, I taught as an assistant professor in English and Theater at Colgate University (2001-2005) before moving to the University at Buffalo (State University of New York), where I taught from 2005-2015. At UB, I was jointly appointed in Theatre & Dance and Media Study and served as the Founding Director of Graduate Study for new graduate programs in Theatre & Performance. From 2012-2015, I also served as the Founding Director for the Techne Institute for Arts and Emerging Technologies (http://techne.buffalo.edu). In its first three years, Techne launched several new programs, including the Digital Scholarship and Cultures initiative (DiSC), the Art, Robotics, and Technology for Youth (ARTY) Workshop, and the Techne Trekker, a mobile media art studio designed to bring a variety of digital artwork to the community.

Research and publication info:

Academia.edu: http://buffalo.academia.edu/SarahBayCheng

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah_Bay-Cheng

sbaycheng[at]bowdoin[dot]edu