Westley Montgomery wins Gerald Kahan Scholar's Prize
Montgomery was recognized for the 2024 article “The Many Voices of Sissieretta Jones: Opera and the Sonic Necromancy of the Black Phonographic Archive.”
Westley Montgomery, Postdoctoral Associate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, has been awarded the Gerald Kahan Scholar’s Prize for the 2024 article “The Many Voices of Sissieretta Jones: Opera and the Sonic Necromancy of the Black Phonographic Archive,” published in Theatre Journal.
The prize, awarded by the American Society for Theater Research, recognizes “the best essay written and published in English in a refereed scholarly journal or edited collection,” covering any subject in theatre research.
Montgomery will join Yale's Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2026.
A performance theorist, Montgomery’s research revolves around trans studies, Black cultural studies, and sound and technology.
Montogomery's current project, tentatively titled Technologies of Transition: Race, Gender, and the Voice in Performance, explores how Black and trans artists use sound technologies to challenge the material conditions of oppression.
Montgomery’s writing can be found in Theatre Journal and Transgender Studies Quarterly.