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<p><b>Call for Papers, Performances and Artistic Works</b></p>
<p><b>Festival of Original Theatre (FOOT)</b></p>
<p><b>Staging Realities</b></p>
<p><b>February 4-7, 2016</b></p>
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<p>The 24th annual Festival of Original Theatre (FOOT) invites proposals to our 2016 conference: Staging Realities. FOOT 2016 will engage in discussions of performance and how it is conceived of on stage, in everyday life, and within the digital world. Prompted by the recent resurgence of documentary, verbatim, site-specific, and other forms of theatre that make use of aspects of the real in their frame or content, as well as the increased cultural capital assigned to the “upsurges of the real” in performance, this year's conference aims to explore the liminal space between reality and artifice: a space that troubles the easy division of fiction and fact, and is increasingly utilized by today’s most provocative theatre. </p>
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<p>The theme of FOOT 2016, Staging Reality, speaks to the blending of reality and artifice: a blurring that has been receiving a great deal of academic attention in recent years, both in Canada and abroad. This blurring breaks down distinctions between the roles of audience, critic, artist, activist, and academic, as the opinions of “real people” are increasingly sought out by theatre makers, and artists increasingly turn their focus to the “real world” effect of their work.</p>
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<p>FOOT 2016 invites proposals of papers, performances, staged readings, short films and workshops from scholars, artists, and activists who want to explore the blurring of theatricality and reality. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):</p>
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<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Applied and community based theatre</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Staging current events</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Memorials and historical re-enactments</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Theatre as/theatricality of protest and activism</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Site-specific performance </p>
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<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Performance personas in a mediatized world</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The ethics of representing real people and events</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Non-actor performers</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Man on the street criticism and the “everyman” figure</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The use of cognitive science/affect in theatre and performance </p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Realness as social capital/the draw of reality claims</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The reality of being an artist: theatre and economics</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Theatre/performance and “real-world” impact</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Virtual realities and digital performance</p>
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<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Reality T.V., live broadcasting, simul-casting</p>
<p>●<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Documentary film </p>
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<p>In recognition and celebration of the increasingly permeable boundaries between reality and performance, FOOT 2016 is especially interested in non-traditional proposals that blend art and academia, activism and criticism, or theory and practice.</p>
<p>In addition, FOOT 2016 is interested in staging original artistic works that engage with this year’s conference theme. Interested artists are highly encouraged to send a description of their artistic work along with an excerpt of up to 10 pages, if applicable.</p>
<p><b>Application Deadline: October 1, 2015</b></p>
<p>Please send a 300-word paper proposal or description of your artistic work, as well as a short bio to: <a href="mailto:foot.graddrama@utoronto.ca?subject=FOOT%202016">foot.graddrama@utoronto.ca</a></p>
<p>For more information check out our website:</p>
<p><a href="http://2016foot.wordpress.com">2016foot.wordpress.com</a></p>
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