Please circulate widely.<br><br>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>Call for Papers: Theory and Criticism Focus Group of the Association for
Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), 2013 conference</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>Orlando, August 1-4, 2013</span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><u><span>"Play/Ground</span></u></b><span><b><u><span>” – An Interactive Roundtable Event</span></u></b></span></p>


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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-weight:normal">In response to the 2013 ATHE conference theme of “P[L]AY: Performance,
Pleasure, and Pedagogy,” the Theory and Criticism Focus Group seeks praxis and
scholarship that explore the notion of a “performance playground.” <br></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-weight:normal"><br></span></b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>Performance is practiced on the playground. In parks or
street corners, rooftops or rooms, on playgrounds we explore performance
through play. By kicking a soccer ball or stacking blocks, we investigate physical
movement and spatial relationships. By trying the roles of soldier and doctor,
princess and president, we test racial, social, and gender boundaries as we
discover the rules of play. By promoting or challenging those rules, we create
art and arguments today. Actors play roles. Teachers play theatre games.
Critics go to a play. Writers play with words. Theorists play with ideas. Activists
confront power plays. Yet our performances of play, and our playful
performances, are always ideologically grounded, shaped by cultural practices,
historical moments, spatial configurations, and moral philosophies.
Stanislavski and Suzuki ground the actor’s craft. Ground plans shape movement
choices. Technological innovations improve the daily grind. Performance
challenges or sustains ground–in assumptions and practices.</span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>The Theory and Criticism Focus Group is </span><span><span lang="EN-US">curating</span>
a roundtable series that encourages participants and audiences to imagine a
performative <b>Play/Ground, a place where
theory, practice, and play come together.</b> We aim to create a series of
panels where scholars, teachers, and practitioners can investigate, challenge,
re-imagine, and explode how</span><b><span style="font-weight:normal"> historical or contemporary theatre-makers and theorists
have played with performance forms, thereby challenging cultural practices,
contesting ideological norms, and intervening in social and political debates. </span></b></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>Theory and
Criticism seeks submissions from theatre artists, pedagogues, scholars,
activists, philosophers, and critics interested in exploring the notion of the
performative <b>Play/Ground</b>. Building
on the tradition of our previous panel series, we strive to include a diverse
range of participants from graduate students and emerging scholars, to
professional critics, established artists, and senior scholars. For the 2013
conference, we will host a series of roundtable discussions that take up the
notion of the performative <b>Play/Ground</b>
from a range of disciplinary practices and methodological approaches. Questions
to consider include but are not limited to:</span></p>

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<ol><li><span></span><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US"><span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US">How has theatre or performance theory historically engaged with notions
of play?<span>  </span>How do specific schools of
criticism frame play? What contemporary or historical performances exemplify or
resist the classic theorists of play? How do new performance forms, or the new
media landscape, challenge our understandings of performance as play?</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US"><span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US">How does performance pedagogy adapt play for artistic or political
purpose? What assumptions do performance pedagogy or theatre history pedagogy
make about how students should be “grounded,” or what knowledge and skills they
need? What playful performance pedagogy do you use, and why? How does your
institution frustrate or support play on your campus and in your community?</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US"><span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US">How can play be harnessed for outreach or community engagement? What can
we learn from playful attempts to engage with publics and counterpublics? How can
play work as criticism or activism? What are the ethical considerations or
boundaries of play or playful performances?</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US"><span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US">How can play be embodied in performance? How are theories that engage
with notions of playful creativity useful for performance practice? How can
playful praxis challenge or explode accepted performance practices?</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US"><span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US">How do notions of space, place, and location ground our sense of play?
How can space be used playfully in performances? How does space ground social
and political debates, or playfully disrupt ideological norms?</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US"><span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight:normal" lang="EN-US">How does play relate to ideology? How do performances of play, or playful
performances, erase or reveal issues of labor, gender, race, and/or class, in
both the theatre and in the academy? </span></b></li></ol>











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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>Position papers
could 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.</span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>The Theory and Criticism
Focus Group will be accepting individual, 250–word position paper abstracts for
the <b>Play/Ground</b> roundtable series
until <u><span>Wednesday, October 24^th,
2012</span></u>. Submissions should include an abstract (250 words or less), a
title, contact information (name, institutional affiliation, email address, and
phone number), a brief bio (50 words or less), and any specific A/V
requirements. Participants will be informed of their acceptance by <u>Monday,
October 29^th</u>, and Theory and Criticism will oversee the
submission of the series panels through ATHE’s online proposal process. Send
your paper abstracts to Theory and Criticism focus group conference planner
Susanne Shawyer at </span><a href="mailto:sshawyer@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span>sshawyer@gmail.com</span></a><u><span>. </span></u><span></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span>Complete session proposals, sponsored by the Theory and Criticism
Focus Group </span></b></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>We also seek
complete session proposals for the 2013 conference that include a broad range
of theoretical interrogations and applications. We encourage multidisciplinary
dialogues across the fields of performance scholarship and seek participants
from a variety of focus group affiliations. Note that all
multidisciplinary proposals must be authorized by <span>three sponsoring ATHE focus groups</span>; please contact the appropriate
focus group conference planners and or committee chair for authorization. For a
list of the ATHE focus group conference planners visit </span><a href="http://www.athe.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=14" target="_blank"><span>http://www.athe.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=14</span></a><span>  and click
on the desired focus group.  </span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span style="font-weight:normal">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.</span></b></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>Complete session proposals</span><span> (separate from the roundtable series)
should be submitted directly to ATHE: </span><a href="http://www.athe.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=156" target="_blank"><span>http://www.athe.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=156</span></a>.
<span>All
participants must be included in these proposals.  The website
includes submission information and forms.  The session proposal
deadline is <span>November 1^st,
2013.</span></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>NOTES:</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>If you have any
questions about the ATHE panel proposal submission process, feel free to email
Susanne Shawyer at <a href="mailto:sshawyer@gmail.com" target="_blank">sshawyer@gmail.com</a>.</span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>Single paper
submissions (outside of our annual roundtable series or a complete proposed
session) looking for a session home may contact </span><a href="mailto:sshawyer@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span>sshawyer@gmail.com</span></a><span>. </span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span>Individuals do
not need to be a member of Theory and Criticism 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.</span></p>

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