• BA, The University at Buffalo
• MFA, Sarah Lawrence College
• MPhil, The Graduate Center, CUNY
• PhD, The Graduate Center, CUNY (in progress)

Janet Werther (they/them) earned their BA in Dance from The University at Buffalo and their MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. Janet has performed locally with Anne Burnidge Dance and in NYC with The Ballez Company. Their solo show Are You My Mother? was produced as part of the HOT! Festival of queer performance in NYC in 2013. Janet has taught dance and theatre for youth (ages 3+) for many years, especially at The Brooklyn Arts Exchange, where they also worked in arts administration and were in residence artistically with The Ballez.

Over the past decade Janet has taught both Theatre & Performance Studies and Gender & Sexuality Studies at a variety of colleges and universities across New York State. They particularly enjoy teaching and researching at the intersections of performance and LGBTQ+ history and experience. Janet’s writing is published in Studies in Musical Theatre, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, TDR: The Drama Review, and their most recent article on transgender performance and casting in musicals was published in the edited volume Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in Musical Theatre: He/She/They Could Have Danced All Night (2023, edited by Dr. Kelly Kessler).

Janet’s dissertation focuses on contemporary queer feminist adaptations of canonical plays. Some favorite recent projects include their work as the Dance Dramaturg for UB’s production of Men On Boats (2017 dir. Dr. Eero Laine), archival research & dramaturgy for the Bessie Award winning dance work Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and Other Works by John Bernd (2016, chor. Ishmael Houston-Jones & Miguel Gutierrez), and curating & co-producing the 2019 Booth Award ceremony honoring Ishmael Houston-Jones through the CUNY Graduate Center. Janet also enjoys knitting and dancing Contact Improvisation (especially with their three year old twins).