ATHE Conference

[Ric Knowles]

Hi Kathy & everyone,

I've been to ATHE on a few occasions and presented papers there, and
I've been a member for some time. There IS active graduate student
participation at the conferences, which are divided among focus groups,
not all of which are of interest to everyone or of uniformly high
standards. The best, in my view, are the Criticism and the Theatre History
groups. There is no Canadian subgroup, though quite a number of Canadians
belong and have participated. It seems that when Canadian sessions are
held, they are attended only by Canadians, but Canadian papers in other
sessions are generally well received.

The major advantage to membership in ATHE is that subscriptions to
_Theatre Topics_ and (most significantly, as the currently best theatre
journal, co-edited now by Susan Bennett) _Theatre Journal_ come with
membership.

The major drawback is that its conferences are HUGE (bringing together
people interested in the full range of drama/theatre related topics),
are held in August in big hotels in big (usually) US cities, and are
consequently REALLY EXPENSIVE. I've also found the quality of the
conferences have declined in recent years. But I'd be inclined, if I were
you (or others who live near or in Toronto), to go while it's local and
see for yourself.)

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ric