Ecology and Canadian theatre

[Jane Kreis]

Dear Nelson,
As a fellow doctoral student working in Brisbane, Australia I yelled out
'yippee' when I saw the subject heading of your email. I have since
realised, after reading the body of your email, that your slant on ecology
and theatre is vastly different to mine. Nevertheless, I wanted to contact
you because from time to time I may come across references that relate to
your field and vice versa. 

My work focuses on sustainability of the Australian independent theatre
sector and during the course of my research many interviewees stated that
they felt Australian independent theatre and many of the arts needed a model
other than the current business or economic model and many preferred to
think of an 'ecological' model where individuals and their companies are
part of an organic structure with viable habitats, partnerships,
collaborations and growth. I am still developing this idea in line with the
primary focus of my sustainability research which is based on
Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory and other related creativity and optimal
experience frameworks but this might be enough for you to see how 'ecology'
fits into my research and its outcomes. 

If you come across any other metaphorical or analogous statements like those
my interviewees mentioned, it would be really useful to my argument and I
look forward to hearing how your research progresses. I'll let you know if I
find anything for you on my hunts across the libraries and the ether...
Kind regards,
Jane Kreis


-----Original Message-----
From: Canadian Theatre Reserach [mailto:CANDRAMA at LISTSERV.UNB.CA] On Behalf
Of ncgray
Sent: Tuesday, 11 September 2007 11:48 PM
To: CANDRAMA at LISTSERV.UNB.CA
Subject: Ecology and Canadian theatre

Greetings everyone,

As a doctoral student who is currently researching and writing on the
relationship between ecology and performance in Canadian theatre, I would
be interested in engaging in dialogue with any like-minded others. I'm
also interested, for the purposes of my own research, in hearing about any
Canadian productions, past or present, that deal with ecological issues or
that have contributed to what Jonathan Bates called "the historical
continuity of a tradition of environmental consciousness".

Anyone who wishes to respond to this query may of course contact me via my
personal email address.

Thanks to everyone for the ongoing informative postings.

Nelson Gray
email: ncgray at uvic.ca