winner of the Lawrence Prize

[Moira Day]

Hi Shelley,

Wonderful! Congrats to the committee on their hard work. And to Lydia and Parie
both.

Moira


Quoting "Scott, Shelley" <s.scott at ULETH.CA>:

>
> The Canadian Association for Theatre Research/
> Association canadienne de la recherché théâtrale is pleased to announce the
> winner of the 2008 Robert Lawrence Prize.
>
>
> The Lawrence Prize is awarded to Lydia Wilkinson for her paper, "Creating a
> Canadian Odyssey: George Elliott Clarke’s Global Perspective in Trudeau: Long
> March/Shining Path."  The committee were particularly impressed by
> Wilkinson’s sophisticated analysis of Clarke’s opera and her argument that
> Clarke’s manipulation of the historical record and resulting portrayal of
> Trudeau as “a symbol for an ideal Canadian multiculturalism” is a
> self-conscious construction that expresses Clarke’s politics. Her argument is
> supported by a carefully nuanced examination of Clarke’s libretto and
> commentary, and by her use of a theoretical framework based on Sharon
> O’Brien’s concept of anti-biography. Wilkinson’s argument is coherent,
> well-structured, and well-written, making her claims about the complex
> relationship between author and biographical subject remarkably lucid.
>
> Honorable mention goes to Parie Leung  for her paper "Siting the Utopian
> Performative:
> Exploring Human Agency through Site-specific Theatre and Small Audiences."
> Leung
>  reconsiders notions of utopian theatre in relation to non-traditional,
> site-specific performance, theorizing a shift in agency. When audience
> members are integrated as performers in such productions, their individual
> acts of reception generate “transformative utopian moments,” suggests Leung,
> moments that remain with the spectators and may continue to influence them.
> Rethinking work on euphoria and reception by Dolan, Dyer, Schechner, Knowles
> and Auslander, and allowing that the possibility of transformation is
> inherently romantic, Leung recounts her own experiences in participating in
> two quite different performances, interrogating both her responses to the
> processes of production and to the contents themselves. The paper provides
> precise descriptions of the material conditions of performance, cogent
> analyses of reception, a theorization of the post-performance attitude of
> viewers, and a compelling suggestion that archived euphoria may linger,
> extending the moment of performance beyond the fact of disappearance.
>
> The Robert Lawrence Prize was established in 1995 by the Association to
> honour the memory and contribution of a valued member and friend. The prize
> recognizes the research of an emerging scholar who has presented an
> outstanding paper at the Association's yearly conference. The award of
> $150.00 is supported by the generous donations of Mrs Robert G. Lawrence.
>