Lawrence Switzky

Lawrence Switzky is an Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Toronto, with cross-appointments in Graduate Faculty and Undergraduate Instruction. His research bridges theatre history, digital media theory, and modernist studies, focusing on intersections between performance practices and technological advancements.

• Specializes in materiality in 20th-century theatre directing
• Examines theatre's relationship to mass computation and AI
• Co-editor of Modern Drama journal
• Contributor to Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism

Research Interests center on digital theatre, game studies, and how performance traditions like puppetry challenge computational logic. His work traces how automation concepts evolved through ventriloquism, devising, and agency delegation in performance.

Publications span from 2007 to 2020, covering topics like Shakespearean object performance, dramatic ethics in VR, and transmedia storytelling. His manuscript The Rise of the Theatre Director is under contract with Northwestern University Press.

Honors:

• Co-winner of the 2011 Best Essay Award
• Guest-editor for multiple special issues including Modern Drama and SHAW journals

Education:

• BA - Yale University
• MA - Harvard University
• PhD - Harvard University