Call for Papers

[Tracy Davis]

                     CALL FOR PAPERS
               THEATRE HISTORY SYMPOSIUM 1996
                "THE UNREAL VERISIMILITUDE:
      CINEMA AND THEATRE'S FIRST CENTURY OF CO-EXISTENCE"
 
In 1996, the Theatre History symposium of the Mid-America Theatre
Association (MATC) marks the centenary of the first motion pictures in
vaudeville houses and music halls, and a century of co-existence between
cinema and theatre.  Proposals are invited on -- BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO
-- the following topics:
-cinema as an outgrowth of theatre's fascination with optical trickery,
illusions of motion, projections, peep shows, photography, and any and
all technologies of making and viewing, or ways of capturing images and
manipulating vision;
-the reciprocal impact of theatrical and cinematic aesthetics anywhere in
teh world;
-the influence of the cinema industry's epicenters (e.g., HOllywood,
Berlin, Bombay) on theatrical activity and cultural production;
-examination of what constitutes `real drama' whether in teh sense meant
by Belasco (an economic distinction) or the philosophical;
-formative influence on the genres of cinema and their relationship with
other cultural categories;
-descriptions of theatre audiences' behavior, viewing, and social
identifications, as treated by scholarship:  how has spectating become as
legitimate a subject of study as other categories of performance;
-adaptations from stage to screen and screen to stage;
-the economics of cinema and the reconfiguration of leisure as an
entertainment industry;
-relationships between the apparati of cinema dn theatre, whether from
theoretical or technological perspectives;
-questions of performance technique and the transmission of acting
traditions from stage to film and back again;
-the transmission of myth through `paradigmatic forms,' such as
publicity, iconography, gossip, etc.
 
Proposals should be no longer than two pages.  Since papers will be
delivered as oral presentations of fifteen to twenty minutes long,
speakers should aspire to clarity, concision, and an avoidance of jargon
(theoretical or technical) and of obscurity.  Proposals must indicate
whether the presentation requires audio-visual enhancement (slide
projectors, video, film clips).  Proposals may be sent to either of the
co-chairs by the DEADLINE OF 1 NOVEMBER 1995:
 
   Tracy C. Davis                      Laurence Senelick
   Dept. of Theatre                    Dept. of Drama
   Northwestern University             Leir Hall
   1979 Campus Dr.                     Tufts University
   Evanston, IL 60208                  Medford, MA 02155
   tcdavis at casbah.acns.nwu.edu