Staging the Middle East in Theatre and Through Performance

[yana meerzon]

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE                                  
 




 
                            BERKELEY • DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • MERCED • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO                                         SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ
 
 
                                                                                                                                                
 
 
Staging the Middle East in Theatre and Through Performance
Department of Theatre
University of California, Riverside
 
April 3 – 4, 2009
CALL FOR PAPERS
 
Conference Convener: Dr. Erith Jaffe-Berg
erithj at ucr.edu (951) 827-4418
 
We are caught in nets of bewildering and puzzling interdependencies. 
The claims of cultures to retain their individuality in the fact of such
interdependencies can be realized only through risky dialogues with 
other cultures that can lead to estrangement and contestation as well 
as comprehension and mutual learning.
                                                                                     (Seyla Benhabib)
 
 
With this observation Seyla Benhabib begins her book The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era. This conference aims to facilitate the conversation by investigating ways in which various performance practices and theatre produced in the Middle East, the US, Canada and other places simulates, represents, recognizes and challenges narratives of the Middle East. 
The theatre has become an important venue, vying as it does with other media in “staging” the Middle East. The use of the term “staging” suggests a self-awareness on the part of artist or audience about the representation of the Middle East. With its multiple communicative mechanisms, the theatre exploits the spectrum that ranges from the supposed “real” to the “put on.” The very materiality of this representation or “put on” --  bodies and languages --  become central issues in contemporary staging of the Middle East. This conference is aimed at exploring how theatre and other performance contexts, including performance art, spoken word, and digital media have critically engaged in the staging of the Middle East and its peoples, cultures and conflicts. Among the topics that may be addressed in papers proposed for the conference are the following:

Pre and post-9/11 constructions of the Middle East in theatre and drama.
Comparisons of different performative contexts in terms of how they represent  the Middle East
Comparative analysis of theatre companies in creating new paradigms for representing the Middle East
Detailed descriptions of the productions, analysis of company-issued statements, accounting of audience demographics and responses to dramas created about the Middle East
Translations and adaptations of Middle Eastern plays and television shows into other contexts and vice versa 
the representation of Muslim women in the pre- and  post -9/11 theatre
Plays and performances by Muslim-Americans and/or Arab-Americans and the representation of exilic identities and intercultural hybridities

Critical differentiations between theatre and other media in terms of how they address questions regarding the Middle East
Self-conscious strategies in the staging of the Middle East
 
 
Please send an abstract and contact information to the convener no later than October 15, 2008. Proposals will be accepted either through email attachment or post. Notifications of acceptance will be made in November.
 
Dr. Erith Jaffe-Berg
Department of Theatre
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
erithj at ucr.edu
 
 
 
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