Education:
Ph.D., New York University - 1996 (Music & the Performing Arts Professions)
Areas of Expertise:
Byam is experienced in educational theater, theater for development, studies in popular street performance and cultural practices of the African diaspora. She has a consistent record in identifying and developing new approaches to applied theater, and is able to encourage more effective use of sociocultural themes in cultural and educational activities.
Books and Publications
"Sanctions and Survival Politics: Zimbabwean Community Theater in a Time of Hardship." Routledge Companion to Applied Theater. Eds. Sheila Preston and Tim Prentki. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2008
Community in Motion: Theatre for Development in Africa. Forward by Ngugi wa Thiongo. Greenwood Publisher. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2000
"Communal Space in African Performance." Radical Street Performance. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 1998
"Art, Dialogue and Resistance: An Interview with Wole Soyinka." American Theatre Magazine January. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 1997
Creative Work
"August in April," Documentary project in collaboration with Arizona State University. Targeted for completion 2008. 2008
"August in April: An Anthology Drama." Concept and production. New Federal Theater, New York, April 2006; Herberger Theater, Phoenix, October. 2006
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Diversity Grant, City University of New York, 2006-07 / 2005-06. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
For research on "Taming the Warrior: Vanishing Identities in Caribbean Performance Art." (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Professional Award, National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women. (Awards and Honors) 2006
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Arts and Sanctions in Southern Africa." African Literature Association. Accra, Ghana, May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
"Theater and Human Rights." Zimbabwe International Book Fair. Harare, Zimbabwe, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
Pedagogical Achievements
Contributing writer, Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts. New York City Department of Education, 2005-07. 2007