Ruth Byers
Ruth Byers, who was born in 1932 in Georgia, first met and began working with Dr. Paul Baker during her time as a student at Baylor University. After earning her undergraduate degree at Baylor in drama, English, and music theory, she continued her studies with Dr. Baker for her master's degree in drama, which she completed in 1954.
Byers then dedicated her career to teaching drama, including at the Children's Theater at Baylor, at the Dallas Theater Center, and at Baylor and Trinity as a member of the drama faculty.
In 1968, she published Creating Theater: From Idea Through Performance with Children and Teens, which focused on "creative playwriting" and the importance of encouraging children to develop their own ideas through theater. She noted that she took inspiration from Dr. Baker's Integration of Abilities framework and expanded upon it for Creative Theater. She included pedagogical exercises that fostered ideation, sensory experience, and free play to help give students the tools to write their own theatrical works. Byers also authored Space Time in Theater, Ideas and Me, as well as several plays and films. She passed away in 2005.