Fw: Call for papers - Contemporary Theatre Review: New Dramaturgies

[BRIAN QUIRT]

Please respond to Synne Behrndt, address below:


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From: Synne.Behrndt  <Synne.Behrndt at winchester.ac.uk>
Subject: Call for papers - Contemporary  Theatre Review: New Dramaturgies


***********CALL FOR  PAPERS**********

Contemporary Theatre Review, Issue 4:2009: New  Dramaturgies

Issue editors: Cathy Turner and Synne  Behrndt

Deadlines:

Proposals (250 word abstract) - September  15th 2008

Full draft (5000-6000 words*) - February 1st 2009

*  Contributions to the 'documents' section may be negotiable in terms  of
length. Please consult the editors.

Please send abstracts to both  the editors at
Cathy.Turner at winchester.ac.uk and Synne.Behrndt at winchester.ac.uk.
Contributions  by post can be sent to Synne Behrndt, Performing Arts,
Faculty of Arts,  University of Winchester, Hampshire, SO22  4NR.

*************************************************************
There  has been much excitement and debate about the role of the
dramaturg in  recent years, as evidenced, for example in Mary Luckhurst's
recent book  (2006) and our own (2008), to cite only UK examples. Not
only has there  been a need to reassess and analyse historical practices,
but the ways in  which we understand and apply the term 'dramaturgy' and
dramaturgical  practice have had to change in response to the changing
landscape of  contemporary performance practice.

This issue proposes that there is a  real need to investigate these
changes and to bring together different  perspectives from a range of
countries and contexts, to draw together the  threads of debate around
dramaturgy and the dramaturg. Dramaturgs and  scholars alike have long
attempted to free dramaturgy as a discipline,  practice and term from its
traditional associations with classical theatre  processes. Importantly,
this endeavour to redefine dramaturgy has arrived  out of the
proliferation of new forms, working processes and questions  facing
contemporary performance and theatre practices. In this issue we  want to
consolidate and examine a number of emerging aspects within  contemporary
performance from a dramaturgical perspective as well as to  discuss a
contemporary practice's implications for dramaturgical thinking  and
process.

Peter Eckersall has written about the expansion of the  application of
dramaturgy and dramaturgical practice across new performance  forms and
beyond (Eckersall 2006) and in our own book's concluding chapter,  we
touch on some of the resulting challenges for dramaturgs  and
dramaturgical practice today, including the emergence of  self-reflective
'dramaturgies of process and production'; site-related  'nomadic'
dramaturgies and 'interactive' dramaturgies. We would like to  invite
discussions of the ways in which dramaturgical theory and practice  might
be applied to an expanded field, exploring its function within  theatre
that breaks (or dialogues) with the dramatic form, its relevance  to
devising, dance and dance theatre, live art, curatorial practice and  new
technologies.

We do not propose to exclude a consideration of  theatre and performance
writing from this discussion of changing practices;  on the contrary, we
are very interested in contributions which discuss  dramaturgical work
that is preoccupied with facilitating new approaches to  analyzing and
writing plays. This could be a discussion of the dramaturg's  role in
facilitating new approaches to writing, or consideration of the  ways in
which interdisciplinary approaches to dramaturgical analysis  might
generate interesting ways of looking at existing theatre  texts.

We are looking for articles that address a readership of  dramaturgs,
directors, writers, performers and other artists (some of them  also
academics) and would welcome proposals from practitioners, academics  and
those who consider themselves as both. Alongside more  'traditional'
academic articles, CTR includes a section entitled  'documents'. In this
issue, for example, this might include the following:  interviews with
and dialogues between practitioners; reports from relevant  research
centres; documentation of artistic process and  performances.

We would particularly like articles to address the  following areas:

1) Dramaturgy as a term or a concept.

How is  this changing? Some prefer to reserve the term 'dramaturgy' for
its  particular application in theatre contexts. For others, the word  is
broadening out to encompass disciplines and cultural events beyond  or
'in proximity of performance' (Goulish 2000). We would welcome  articles
that focus on concrete examples to discuss whether this gives rise  to
problems, opportunities or to both. Do we need a different word?  Is
there a problem with the legacies of theatre and nationalism implicit  in
the word 'dramaturgy'? Or does the word, together with the modes  of
practice and analysis associated with it, have something illuminating  to
bring to the analysis of practices beyond the theatre, encompassed  by
the broader term 'performance studies'?

If the definition of  'dramaturgy' is changing, is a redefinition of the
dramaturg emerging from  this?

2) The Production of New Dramaturgies

a)  contexts

Art and performance practice is constantly faced with a range  of new
dramaturgical considerations, particular to their time, place  and
context. We would therefore like to ask what contexts,  circumstances,
conditions, questions and politics give rise to new  dramaturgies? We
would welcome proposals that explore the relationship  between a
particular cultural context or community and emerging  dramaturgies. We
are particularly interested in analysis that set out to  demonstrate how
a given dramaturgy comes into being.

We are also  interested in considering whether one can describe a
'national', or a  'cultural' dramaturgy any longer, or meaningfully
discuss the lack of one.  What kinds of coherence or diversity can be
found in different countries  and continents?

We are particularly interested in proposals for  articles discussing
countries or groups whose practices have been less  frequently discussed
(or discussed only in broad overview) in debates  around dramaturgy and
the dramaturg.

b) processes

Some of  these might well be connected to the above and it is not our
intention to  separate context from process. However, there are a range
of emerging  processes and media that affect many different contexts, or
where the  context is not the primary focus of the discussion.

For instance, what  new dramaturgies are being produced through new
technologies? Do these new  forms have wider implications in generating
new ways of considering  dramaturgical structures and approaches?

How do new dramaturgies  respond to the bombardment of media messages
that we experience? And might  there be a dramaturgy of stillness and
silence (where can this be  found?)

How do collaborative processes and structures produce new  dramaturgies
and new dramaturgs? In a cross-disciplinary performance  practice, what
kinds of dramaturg might we need? Does dance, for example,  need a
different kind of dramaturg - does the field demand new skills and  uses
for the role? What about performances beyond established theatre  and
arts contexts? Does the concept of 'dramaturgy' and the role of  the
dramaturg remain useful and how does it alter? What role does or  might
the dramaturg play in relation to live art?

How might writing  be facilitated and developed across an expanded field?
What new dialogues  and forms are being produced?

Can we begin to apply dramaturgy, and  dramaturgical process, to
non-theatrical processes, such as the curatorial,  or even creative
producer, role? What curatorial practices might facilitate  new
dramaturgies and new audiences? How do the latter produce one  another
(or not)?

3) Spectatorship

We would also like to  discuss the role of the audience and the many ways
in which one might  engage with dramaturgical analysis.

What developments might concern the  critical practice of dramaturgical
analysis? We are interested in articles  that discuss modes of
experiencing, viewing, writing about, discussing and  documenting
performance.

What might be the consequences for  spectatorship in these new
dramaturgies? We are interested in examples of  redefinitions, or new
conceptions of the audience, or spectator, in light  of changing
practices.

For more info on Contemporary Theatre Review,  please follow weblink:

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/gctr

Synne K.  Behrndt
Lecturer
Department of Performing Arts
Faculty of Arts
The  University of Winchester
Hampshire SO22 4NR
Phone: +44  (0)1962827128
Email: Synne.Behrndt at winchester.ac.uk
www.winchester.ac.uk
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