CFP: Imagining the 21st Century Classroom (CATR seminar)

[Marlis Schweitzer]

CALL FOR PROPOSALS:
Imagining the 21st Century Classroom: Thinking Beyond the 
Theory/Practice Divide

What: Seminar
Where:  To be held at the Canadian Association for Theatre Research 
conference, Vancouver, BC
When: May 31-June 3, 2008
Deadline: March 7, 2008

Seminar Leaders:
Marlis Schweitzer, York University
Laura Levin, York University 

The goal of this seminar is to imagine ways to continue moving beyond 
the traditional divide between performance theory and practice within 
the academy - a divide that, despite the best efforts of faculty, is 
often reflected in departmental structures and curriculum. Following 
Jill Dolan's call for alternative theatre pedagogies in Geographies of 
Learning, we hope to explore how performance practice can be used "to 
stage arguments, to embody knowledge and politics, [and] to open a 
community to itself and the world in ways that are dangerous, visceral, 
compelling and moving" (64). Our seminar will investigate how the 
problematic binary between critical inquiry and artistic exploration is 
being dismantled through performance in theatre studies courses today. 
We know from conversations with colleagues at other institutions as well 
as our own that this work is already happening in many of our 
classrooms, but we have yet to fully recognize the range of strategies 
and techniques that are being developed. In addition to showcasing and 
reflecting critically on specific pedagogical strategies, we will also 
consider how these methods are shaping emerging definitions of "practice 
as research."   

How, our seminar asks, can theatre function as laboratory for 
workshopping theoretical ideas and experimenting with new social 
relations? What can we do to encourage students to recognize the 
creative and political potential of this kind of work? How can we begin 
to affect change by pooling our resources as teachers?  

We invite proposals for presentations that discuss one performance-based 
exercise that you use in the classroom to engage students in exploring 
theoretical questions and/or social issues.

Examples of performance-based exercises might include:

-        using tableau to explore Brecht's theory of gestus

-        using image theatre to investigate problems in the community

-        staging Renaissance drama to consider historical staging practices

-        experimenting with gender play in the spaces of everyday life

Participants will be asked to describe and/or demonstrate one activity 
during the session and to briefly address the pedagogical value and 
challenges of this exercise. Each participant will be given 10 minutes 
for the presentation and will be expected to circulate a one-page 
handout prior to the conference.  These handouts will be compiled into a 
workbook for seminar participants.  

Applicants should send proposals of 250 words as a Microsoft Word 
attachment with affiliation and full contact information to 
schweit at yorku.ca <mailto:schweit at yorku.ca> and levin at yorku.ca 
<mailto:levin at yorku.ca> by March 7, 2008.
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