Call for Papers

ATHE Theory & Criticism Graduate Student Essay Contest

The Theory and Criticism Focus Group seeks papers from graduate students for its newly revitalized Essay Contest. This is an exciting opportunity for an emerging scholar in the areas of performance theory and criticism whose work expands the analytical processes and paradigms for examining performance. This award will foster that student’s work by introducing the writer of the winning essay to the many excellent resources provided by the ATHE conference.

With this in mind, the T&C Focus Group has assembled a reward that lifts financial burdens and offers beneficial feedback on the student’s work from multiple sources. The prizes listed below are intended to bolster the work of the student by supplying them with individual attention of a senior scholar and by providing them with books and journals connected to their particular interests.

The winning scholar will receive:

-          ATHE 2016 conference fee

-          The opportunity to participate in a Theory and Criticism-sponsored roundtable

-          A one-year’s subscription to the Routledge journal of your choice

-          A Routledge book of your choice

-          A mentoring session with a senior scholar at ATHE 2016

Submissions due: Saturday, April 16, 2016

Submissions can address any aspect of theory or criticism relating to performance, theatre, or dramatic literature.  Essays should be unpublished and either conference or article length (no more than 8000 words).

Papers will be judged on originality of research and argument, sophistication of engagement with theory and criticism, and quality of writing. The judging panel is comprised of Theory & Criticism focus group officers. A winner will be announced on May 7, 2016.

Please send submissions to:

Dr. Susanne Shawyer, Elon University

sshawyer@elon.edu

Call for Papers: Theory and Criticism Focus Group of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), 2016 Conference

Chicago, IL, August 11-14, 2016

1) “Dis/Embodied Capital ”—An Interactive Roundtable Event

In response to the 2016 ATHE conference theme of “Bodies at Work: Performance, Labor, and ATHE @ 30” and its location in Chicago—a city steeped in labor and performance histories—the Theory and Criticism Focus Group seeks praxis and scholarship that examines the dis/embodied capital of performance.

Many forms of capital converge in the production of theatre and performance. As cultural art forms meant to be seen, experienced, and remembered, theatre and performance have no inherent material value in the classic Marxian economic sense. Instead, as Pierre Bourdieu suggests, theatre and performance often circulate as cultural and symbolic capital. Yet the means of production that go into the creation and circulation of theatre in public and private sectors requires an ever-increasing creative use of economic capital, creative capital, and labor. In our 2016 Roundtable Series, we ask how the constant juxtaposition of economic and non-economic forms of capital in the production of theatre and performance might be theorized through the ways in which capital works both within and upon bodies. Forms of capital may veer towards the disembodied: venue locations, theatre spaces, ticket prices, business structures, scripts, building materials, jobs, season selections, touring schedules, public policies, laws and regulations, as well as the physical collection of archives. Alternatively, theatre and performance depend heavily upon the less tangible forms of capital that theatre artists, actors, and audiences already embody: race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, language, age, body size, experience, knowledge, training, and memory. More often than not, these forms of dis/embodied capital intertwine to create complicated ecosystems of symbolic, cultural, economic, social, creative, and political capital that undergird the cultural, historical, and ideological constructions of theatre and performance.

The Theory and Criticism Focus Group seeks position papers from theatre artists, pedagogues, scholars, activists, philosophers, and critics interested in examining the notion of dis/embodied capital in our 2016 Roundtable Series. The roundtables are designed to encourage interactive conversation, and therefore the portion of time allotted to formal presentation of position papers will be limited; focus instead will be placed on stimulating dialogue amongst panelists and audience members. Building on the tradition of our previous roundtable series, we strive to include a diverse range of participants from graduate students and emerging scholars, to professional critics, established artists, and senior scholars.

Position papers can take the form of a short essay, a manifesto, an outreach exercise, a critical review, a theoretical musing, a research report, a creative project, an interview, or an embodied performance practice. Questions to consider include, but are not limited to:

·         Historical Memory: How has theatre and performance theory historically engaged with dis/embodied capital? How do the history or public memory of theatre companies, significant productions, or influential artists employ dis/embodied capital? What forms of dis/embodied capital are favored in the creation of archives and institutional memory?

·         Casting and/or Season Selection: How do notions of dis/embodied capital influence the actual practice of casting and/or season selection decisions? How does the influence of dis/embodied capital work in decisions of casting and/or season selection across time, space, and place? What are the alternative models that try to invent new forms of capital?

·         Human Bodies as Capital: How has theatre used bodies as capital? How can performance reveal systems of power that use bodies as capital? What are the consequences of paid and unpaid labor in the theatre?

·         Systems of Exchange: How does dis/embodied capital function in (trans)national exchanges of theatre productions, artists, pedagogy, and scholarship? How does digital technology (re)invent new relationships in dis/embodied capital? What are the boundaries of consensual exchange and cultural (mis)appropriation?

·         Educational Value: How do educational programs in theatre and performance understand/sustain/influence/capitalize on theatre-making?  How does theatre education hold value in dis/embodied forms of capital? What pedagogical techniques best address the interplay between economics and ideology in theatre? When are students consumers of capital and when are they creators of capital?

The Theory and Criticism Focus Group will be accepting individual, 250-word position paper abstracts for the Dis/Embodied Capital Roundtable Series until Friday, October 23^rd, 2015. Submissions should include 1) an abstract (250 words or less), 2) a title, 3) contact information (name, institutional affiliation, email address, and phone number), 4) a brief bio of 50 words or less, and 5) any specific A/V requirements.

Participants will be informed of their acceptance by Thursday, October 29^th, and the Theory and Criticism Focus Group will oversee the submission of the Roundtable Series panels through ATHE’s online proposal process. Send your position paper abstracts to the Theory and Criticism Focus Group conference planner Amy Guenther at akguenther@utexas.edu

2) Call for Complete Session Proposals, Sponsored by the Theory and Criticism Focus Group

We also seek complete session proposals for the 2016 conference that include a broad range of theoretical interrogations and applications. We encourage multidisciplinary dialogues across the fields of performance scholarship and praxis. We also seek participants from a variety of focus group affiliations. Note that all multidisciplinary proposals must be authorized by TWO sponsoring ATHE focus groups; please contact the appropriate focus group conference planners and/or committee chair for authorizations. See the ATHE website for details: www.athe.org

The Theory and Criticism Focus Group supports broad definitions of criticism and performance, and therefore encourages a wide range of examples and topics. Feel free to explore both historical and contemporary critics and theorists, in popular culture, academic scholarship, and performance praxis. Panel proposals that engage scholarly conversation in creative ways are highly encouraged.

Complete session proposals (separate from the Roundtable Series) should be directed directly to the ATHE website (www.athe.org). You must have the names for all participants ready for the proposal. The website includes submission information and forms. The session proposal deadline in November 1^st, 2015.

NOTES:

If you have questions about the ATHE panel proposal submission process, feel free to email Amy Guenther at akguenther@utexas.edu

Single paper submissions (outside of our annual roundtable series or a completed session proposal) looking for a session home may contact Amy Guenther at akguenther@utexas.edu

Individuals do not need to be a member of the Theory and Criticism Focus Group or ATHE to submit single presentations or panels. However, if chosen and scheduled, participants must become members of ATHE by the time of the conference.

You'll find in the attached .pdf a list of all Theory and Criticism Focus Group-sponsored sessions at the upcoming Montreal ATHE 2015 conference.

Please join us for what is sure to be an interesting and engaging time!

Call for Proposals:

Papers, Installations, Performances, Manifestos, and Workshops

Subverting Academia and Subversive Academics

Due January 5, 2015

A Symposium by the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

University of Maryland, College Park

March 5th and 6th, 2015

Throughout the 2014-2015 academic year the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies will present A Festival of Subversive Artists and Minds: a multimedia and interdisciplinary investigation of subversion in the arts. The festival will explore questions of subversion and the arts: How do artists use the arts to challenge, transgress, and overturn established authorities and conventions? Where does subversion appear in the arts and what qualifies an artist for the dangerous and seductive epithet, subversive? When is it the responsibility of art to make a difference?

This symposium offers an opportunity to engage scholars and artists in an exploration of subversion’s multiple meanings and uses in research, artistic practice, scholarship, and pedagogy.  During this interdisciplinary symposium, we will look at subversion through multiple lenses, such as the artistic, the political, the scientific, the legal, the historical, the sociological, and the pedagogical.  We welcome proposals from all areas of the humanities, sciences, arts, and social sciences that broadly explore the concept of subversion and academia, with particular interest in the theatrical and the performative.  Given the changes to labor practices within academia, we are interested in how subversion may not be merely an object of study, but may also be a pedagogical mode or method. 

Possible presentations, discussions, performances, and panels include:

·       Performance and Subversion – Subversion as a Performance Paradigm

·       Labor Studies and Subversiveness

·       Subversion and Scientific Research

·       Subversive Teaching Methods/Pedagogy as Subversion

·       Subversion and Embodiment

·       Subversion and the Built Environment

·       Subversion and Identity (race, class, gender, sexuality, age, disability, etc.)

·       The way subversion manifests in a variety of fields, including cultural studies, economics, history, anthropology, visual and performing arts, literature, etc.

While this symposium will feature traditional formats of papers and panels, we also encourage proposals that might subvert traditional symposia structures, including performances and interactive presentations. We will consider submissions by graduate and undergraduate students.

Please send proposals of 250 words or less to symposium co-chairs, LaRonika Thomas and Khalid Y. Long, at umdsubversivesymposium@gmail.com by January 5, 2015.

Please include the title of your paper or project, your name, affiliation, a 100-word bio, and any A/V requests.

For more information about the symposium or the year-long Festival of Subversive Artists and Minds, please visit:  www.subfest.org.