Laya Shahzamani (she/her) is a scholar originally from Iran who is currently a first-year PhD student in theater and performance studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Laya has been studying art since 2012 and she holds both a BA and MA in Dramatic Literature from the School of Performing Arts and Music at the University of Tehran. Her research interest is highly influenced by her social background as a young Iranian woman. Thus, it mainly focuses on gender evolution in Iranian post-revolutionary drama and the new generation of theater scholars and playwrights.
Her practical and research-based works delve into gender studies, exemplified by her investigation into women's role-play in Bahram Beizai’s plays in her BA thesis. During her education at UT, she dedicated some time to practical work such as acting, writing screenwriting, and playwriting while involving in the Student Tajrobe Theater Festival administration process.
Her academic contributions include publications in various journals such as Enba, Neda, and Namayeh-Shenakht where she explores subjects ranging from theater and gender transition to the political significance of women's roles in Iranian culture. This includes “Gender and transition”, which analyzes the suppression of gender identities over the street movements in the Middle East. Additionally, she has translated notable works addressing gender and theatrical arts, further contributing to the academic discourse in her field.
Her research interests encompass Iranian contemporary theater, cultural history, new historicism, and the narratives of trauma and gender, particularly within the Middle East and Islamic contexts. Laya is recognized for her multidisciplinary approach to theater and gender studies, combining practical experience with scholarly research to advance understanding of the performing arts in the Iranian context and beyond.
