KEY CONTACT PERSON(S)/EXECUTOR OF ESTATE:
Donald Byrd
Spectrum Dance Theater
800 Lake Washington Blvd
Seattle, WA 98122
206-325-4161 (work)

HUMAN REPOSITORIES OF THE WORK
(name and contact info, relationship to the artist and the work, assessment):
Donald Byrd and the dancers of his New York company: Alan Furey, Maud Karlsson, Murielle Melancon, Lucia Miller, Warren P. Miller, Jr., Leslie Perretti, Quincella, and Samantha Webb

VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
(location, format, condition, assessment):
The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library holds the following pertinent documentation:

Partite [and] Enactments in Time of Plague (1988)—compilation video with choreography by Donald Byrd and music by Mio Morales; presented by Donald Byrd Dance Foundation Inc., performed by Donald Byrd/The Group, and taped in performance at Symphony Space, New York, in May; Enactments approx. 36 1/2 min. in length; costumes by Gabriel Berry; lighting by Blu; performed by Alan Furey, Maud Karlsson, Murielle Melancon, Lucia Miller, Warren P. Miller, Jr., Leslie Perretti, Quincella, and Samantha Webb; one 3/4 in. videocassette (45 min.); call number MGZIC 9-2210.

Video archivist for Donald Byrd/The Group:

Star Reese
303 Greenwich St., #6D
New York, NY 10013

Reese is currently engaged in preservation efforts using Final Cut Pro to transfer all tapes to DVD.

PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION
(location, format, condition, assessment):
The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library holds black and white prints of Byrd and Byrd/The Group, none identified specifically as documenting Enactments in Time of Plague. The New York Times review by Dunning (see below) is accompanied by a photograph credited to Ted Keenan.

MOVEMENT NOTATION
(location, type [including notes taken by dancers], assessment):
None identified.

PRODUCTION MATERIALS
(scores, sound recordings, set/costume designs):
Production materials are in the possession of the company.

ORAL HISTORY:
None identified.

PERSONAL PAPERS
(location of newspaper clippings, printed programs, press releases, notes, files, diaries; assessment):
These documents are in the possession of the company.

IMMEDIATE NEEDS
(archival assistance? storage? other?):
None identified.

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:
Barry Laine, to whom Enactments in Time of Plague was dedicated, was a dance critic in New York who died of AIDS.

Since 1976, Donald Byrd has created over eighty works for his own company, as well as for major black modern dance companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco), Cleo Parker Robinson, Dallas Black Dance Theater, and Phoenix Dance in Leeds, England; and for classical companies including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Concordanse, Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia, Italy, MaggioDanza di Firenze, and Oregon Ballet Theater. Byrd has also choreographed for numerous stage productions, including Center Stage in Baltimore, the New York Shakespeare Festival, as well as the Peter Sellars productions of A Soldiers Tale, The Seven Deadly Sins, I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, and the re-staging of Stravinsky's L'Histoire de Soldat presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has collaborated with Anna Deavere Smith on a workshop production of House Arrest presented at the Mark Taper Forum. In 1997 he choreographed San Francisco Opera's production of Aida, and directed and choreographed Carmina Burana for New York City Opera. He has collaborated with Max Roach on many projects including the 1994 multi-media performance piece JuJu, presented at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and on We Commit: Max Roach in Germany. Byrd is the recipient of fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Metropolitan Life Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1992, he received a Bessie Award for The Minstrel Show. Byrd served on the faculty of the California Institute for the Arts for six years, and has taught at Wesleyan University, the School of Visual Arts, Harvard Summer Dance Center, California State University Long Beach, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Ohio University. Byrd has been an associate-artist at the Yale Repertory Theater and serves on the Board of Trustees for Dance Theater Workshop.

LIST OR OVERVIEW OF WORKS
(title, premiere date, music, production notes, performers):

Enactments in Time of Plague (1988)— choreography by Donald Byrd; music by Mio Morales; performed by Donald Byrd/The Group; premiered at Symphony Space, New York, in May; costumes by Gabriel Berry; lighting by Blu; performed by Alan Furey, Maud Karlsson, Murielle Melancon, Lucia Miller, Warren P. Miller, Jr., Leslie Perretti, Quincella, and Samantha Webb; dedicated to the late Barry Laine.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Dunning, Jennifer. 1988. "A Humanist Approach In Byrd's Choreography." New York Times (8 May).
• Solomons jr, Gus. 1988. "Reviews/Eye on Performance, NYC." Dance Magazine (August).
• Jowitt, Deborah. 1989. "Dance." Village Voice (9 May).