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<DIV>MESSAGE FROM THE CONFERENCE ORGANISERS:</DIV>
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<DIV>Dear IFTR/FIRT Members:</DIV>
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<DIV>We are moving steadily ahead with the IFTR/FIRT 2005 conference, Citizen Artist: Theatre, Culture, and Community, to be hosted by the Department of Theatre and its PhD Program in Theatre and Performance Studies here at the University of Maryland, College Park, 26 June to 2 July, 2005. You will find the general conference schedule on our web site at <A href="http://www.theatre.umd.edu/IFTR/">http://www.theatre.umd.edu/IFTR/</A> along with a great deal of other information about the events planed for that week. We think you will find it an exciting program and new things are being added on a regular basses so check the web site from time to time. You can register on line using a credit card, just click on Apply, then select the Registration tab, or you can download the form on that page and mail it in with your payment. The cost of registration goes up on April 1st so do register this month. </DIV>
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<DIV>You will also see that you can make reservations for on-campus housing when you register. To book hotel accommodations instead, just click on Travel and then click on Lodging. We recommend that you stay at our Inn and Conference Center since it is the closest hotel to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and it has a special registration form just for us. You can reach it from our web site or just go to: <A href="http://www.stayatmarriott.com/IFTRConference/">http://www.stayatmarriott.com/IFTRConference/</A>.<BR>If you made a reservation earlier and did not get the $109.00 conference rate (group code IFTIFTA), please register again from this special page, then cancel you previous registration once you are sure you have a room at the proper rate. </DIV>
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<DIV>If you applied to do a plenary session paper at the conference, you should have received a formal invitation (via the email address you put on your panel paper proposal form) between December 10th and 17th, 2004. Those outside the USA were sent their applications first. This invitation will have indicated if your paper was accepted or not. If you applied and did not receive such an invitation please contact Dr. Frank Hildy at <A href="mailto:IFTR2005@UMD.EDU">IFTR2005@UMD.EDU</A>. If you applied to the New Scholars Forum, you should have heard from Dr. Peter Eversman (<A href="mailto:P.G.F.Eversmann@uva.nl">P.G.F.Eversmann@uva.nl</A>) by February 4th. If you applied to a Working Group you should be in contact with the convener concerning your paper.</DIV>
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<DIV>Please do not hesitate to contact me at <A href="mailto:IFTR2005@UMD.EDU">IFTR2005@UMD.EDU</A> with any problems or questions you may have or if you need a hard copy of the invitation. I try to reply to all emails within 3 days so if you do not receive a reply in a week please try again just in case there has been an email problem. (I was away February 8-15 so if you wrote to me during that time and did not get a reply, please send your message again.) Do understand that things are quite busy here and at times delays get longer that we expect but I really appreciate reminders, they are a great help. </DIV>
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<DIV>I am very much looking forward to seeing all of you here in June. I think you are really going to enjoy this conference. </DIV>
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<DIV>Sincerely, <BR>Prof. Franklin J. Hildy, Organizer<BR>IFTR/FIRT 2005 Conference.<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>