CFP- Canadian Theatre Review: Performance in an age of Eco-crisis

[ncgray]

Greetings everyone,

We live in age of unprecedented ecological crisis, but what does this have
to do with performance and theatre?

The Fall 2010 issue of the Canadian Theatre Review will be focused on
performance in an age of eco-crisis.

Here--both below and in the following attachment--is our call for
proposals to what we believe should be a lively and provocative issue.

We look forward to your response.

Please note that the deadline for PROPOSED submissions is June 1st.


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Canadian Theatre Review
Call for Papers: Performance in an Age of Eco-crisis

“Critics and scholars who want to investigate the way ecologies--physical,
perceptual, imagined--shape dramatic forms stand at the edge of a vast,
open field of histories to be rewritten, styles to rediscuss, contexts to
reperceive.”  --Erika Munk

“Ecological victory will require a transvaluation so profound as to be
nearly unimaginable at present. And in this the arts and
humanities—including the theater must play a role --Una Chaudhuri

“Representations of nature are inherently ideological and political. . . 
.  These ideologies are demonstrated in power structures and economic
systems; concretized in institutions and policies that govern land use,
they are written in land, water, and air, and in the bodies of women,
children, workers, and the non-humans with whom we share ecological
community.”  --Theresa J. May

We live in an age of unprecedented eco-crisis that is influencing every
field of human endeavour, from activism and aesthetics to economics and
engineering. The last few decades have witnessed a surge of new
publications on topics such as eco-feminism, nature writing, animal
studies, eco-poetics & environmental history, while in the world of
theatre there have been conferences on ecology and performance, festivals
of eco-drama, and new initiatives in green theatre design and sustainable
production techniques.

In the academies, theatre and performance scholars are challenging the
assumptions of human-centred performance, re-visiting past works vis-à-vis
eco-critical issues, and pointing out the ecological import of new forms
of performance from First Nations theatre to site-specific work to plays
about environmental justice.

With the Fall 2010 issue of the CTR, we want to focus on how performances
and theatre productions from this part of the world are responding to our
ecological age.

We are therefore soliciting articles, production anecdotes, reviews,
interviews, scripts and photographs –anything of merit that sheds light on
this topic.

Eco-critical readings of Canadian performances including theatre, dance,
and performance art are welcome. So, too, are forums and interviews.

We want to hear from writers, producers, directors, designers,
choreographers, performers, and reviewers from every region of the country
voicing their thoughts on everything from green theatre practices and
productions to the challenges of creating work that addresses ecological
issues.

We are also looking for scripts (preferably recently produced or about to
be) that deal with environmental justice or that have ecological import
for our time.

Proposals for this issue of Canadian Theatre Review might address, answer
or engage with one or more of the following questions:

• Have eco-centric performances in Canada been marginalized or overlooked
because of human-centred assumptions?

• Are Canadian theatre scholars and artists embarrassed about “nature”? 
Has our desire to be urban sophisticates tricked us into a smug naivety
with respect to the nonhuman natural world on which our economic and
cultural life ultimately depends?

• Are there instances of green theatre practices in design, production or
theatre architecture in this country?  If not, why not?

• Is there an ecological aspect to site-specific performances in Canada
that has gone acknowledged?

• What is the relationship between eco-centric theatre and issues
involving race, class, culture, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and religion?

• Are there plays, performances and productions in this country . . .

  o that do not “background” the nonhuman physical world as “scenery”, but
    bring it forward in the action?

  o that highlight environmental justice and/or make links between politics
    and ecology?

  o that are both post-colonial and eco-centric?

  o that (implicitly or explicitly) challenge the notion of culture and
    nature as binaries?

  o that position human action vis-à-vis other agencies, as part of an
    interconnected and interdependent web of relations?

  o that convey the relationship between humans and the nonhuman natural
    world with respect to an ecological ethics or to what social theorist
    Mick Smith has called “an ethics of place”?

Articles, essays, and interviews should be between 1000 and 3,000 words.

Scripts can be for one act plays or full-length productions.

The deadline for proposals is June 1st, with manuscripts completed by
October 1st.

Please send proposals and queries to the guest editors for this issue:
Sheila Rabillard <rabillar at uvic.ca> and Nelson Gray <ncgray at uvic.ca>