CFP: Seminar "Upsurges of the Real" CATR 2012

[Jenn Stephenson]

Call for Participants – SEMINAR: “Upsurges of the Real”

Seminar organizer: Jenn Stephenson

 

Canadian Association for Theatre Research/ l’Association canadienne de la
recherche théâtrale 

Conference 2012, 26-29 May 2012, University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier
University, Ontario, Canada

 

At a very basic level, the negotiation between the two synchronous worlds of
the actual and the fictional forms the foundation of what makes theatre
theatre, distinguishing performance from life. In print forms of literature,
little black squiggles on paper stand in for the real world. A still life
bowl of fruit is made of paint and canvas. In the theatre, of course, the
actual object at work and its fictional image are unusually close—a chair is
another chair; a bright light is another bright light. The likeness of these
two elements approach the limit horizon as in calculus, almost (but never
quite) reaching identity. More recently, these basic questions of the real
on stage have come again to the fore with increased production of (and
academic interest in) such genres as documentary theatre, verbatim theatre,
autobiographical performance, and site-specific theatre – all of which place
a premium on the actual nature of certain theatrical elements. In general,
the conventions of the theatre work hard to subdue the real and bend it to
its fictional will. 

 

This seminar will look at those moments when, like contents under pressure,
the real breaks through those bounds and surges upward. Questions to be
considered may include: 

·         audience attraction to “truth” and the “authentic”

·         instability of the real inside the fictionalizing frame of theatre

·         the use of the “real” in performance to effect political/social
change

·         ethical obligations of performance to its real world antecedents

·         perceptual fluidity of what is real and how this fluidity is
applied in support of the work’s themes or goals

·         strategies for managing the interplay between real and fictional
worlds (e.g. metatheatre, framing)

Working Plan: 

To make the best use of face-time at the conference, papers will be
completed one month in advance of the conference and circulated by email or
FTP DropBox. Each paper will be read (at least cursorily) by everyone in the
seminar. Each paper will be assigned two respondents. In the seminar
session, each pair of respondents will be asked 1) to identify briefly the
main argument of the paper and outline its key points, 2) to highlight the
innovations of the paper and to suggest its significance for the field, 3)
to pose questions which would extend the thinking of the paper beyond its
initial parameters. The authors of the papers will have an opportunity to
respond to these suggestions/questions. Discussion will then be open to the
group, including both participants and auditors. Ideally, the papers
presented in this manner will serve as a jumping off point for a more
general discussion of the key issues around this topic in the mode of a
graduate seminar. Auditors will be welcome.

Please send 250-300 word abstracts and a brief bio to organizer Jenn
Stephenson (jenn.stephenson at queensu.ca)
<mailto:jenn.stephenson at queensu.ca)%20by>  by 15 January 2012.

 

 

Jenn Stephenson

Associate Professor, Drama

Queen's University

Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6

 

Phone. (613)533-6000 x78597

Email.  <mailto:jenn.stephenson at queensu.ca> jenn.stephenson at queensu.ca

Web.  <http://www.queensu.ca/drama/jstephenson>
www.queensu.ca/drama/jstephenson

 

"There is no theory that is not a fragment, carefully prepared, of some
autobiography" --Paul Valéry 

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

 

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