CFP: Commedia dell'Arte conference 2012 - Toronto, Ontario

[Luella Massey]

With apologies for cross-posting
Please forward and/or add to your lists

Call for Papers for the International Colloquium

*"Passing on the Commedia dell'Arte Tradition: *
*Past and Present Training and Pedagogical Approaches" *

 
*18 February 2012, Toronto. *

Event organized by the Drama Studies Programme, Glendon College, York 
University,
 in collaboration with the University College Drama Programme
and the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama at the University of Toronto

 

/"A famous Spanish comedian named Adriano, who came to Naples with other 
[actors] to put on/

/their comedies, could not understand how one could produce a comedy by 
simply coordinating/

/several characters and staging it in less than an hour. An undertaking 
as fascinating as it is difficult/

/and risky, it should not be attempted except by qualified and competent 
people..."/

 

Andrea Perrucci's quote raises the issue of the training of the Commedia 
dell'Arte performers. While the success of Commedia dell'Arte troupes 
throughout the centuries is well documented, the performers' training 
practices often remain elusive. Today, various teaching approaches have 
been devised to recreate the Commedia dell'Arte. This colloquium 
proposes to explore the transmission of performance knowledge from the 
Golden Age of the Commedia dell'Arte to current practices inspired by 
this tradition.
 

Paper topics may include, but are not limited to:

-The transmission of performance knowledge in the Golden Age of the 
Commedia dell'Arte;

-Deducing practices from Commedia scenarios;

-Interpreting Commedia dell'Arte treatises;

-Commedia dell'Arte training trends in the 20^th and 21^st centuries;

-Specific training approaches: Meyerhold, Giorgio Strehler and the 
Piccolo Teatro of Milan, Dario

Fo, Jacques Lecoq, etc.

-Commedia dell'Arte training in various countries;

-Specific aspects of training: rhythm and musicality, improvisation, 
grammelot, masked

performance techniques, dialects, etc.;

-Commedia dell'Arte training and the other performing arts: circus, 
opera, puppetry, etc.;

-Commedia dell'Arte training and interculturalism.

Dr. *Robert Henke*, Professor of Comparative Literature and Drama, 
Washington University in St Louis is the confirmed key-note speaker of 
the conference. He is the author of /Performance and Literature in the 
Commedia dell'Arte /(Cambridge UP, 2002), a groundbreaking book that 
examines the interplay between oral and literary cultures in the 
Commedia dell'Arte.

We are open to various presentation formats; from academic presentations 
with a historical focus to lecture-demonstrations. Presentations may be 
in English or French and should be 20 minutes in length. Proposals 
should include the following items:

-Your name, title (student, faculty, independent scholar), and academic 
affiliation.

-Your contact information (particularly email) and a short bio.

-The title and abstract for your paper. Please limit abstracts to 250 
words.

-Any special requests for your presentation.

Please direct queries and proposals in Word format to the colloquium 
co-chairs: Guillaume Bernardi (Coordinator, Drama Studies Programme, 
Glendon College, York University) and Gabrielle Houle (PhD candidate, 
Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto), at the 
following address:

 

*commedia2012 at glendon.yorku.ca <mailto:commedia2012 at glendon.yorku.ca> *

All proposals must be received by October 31, 2011. Emails of acceptance 
will be sent by November 15, 2011. We intend to publish selected papers 
in a peer-reviewed publication.

*In parallel with the colloquium, Carlos Garcia Estevez, internationally 
acclaimed Commedia performer, educator and co-founder of Amsterdam based 
Teatro Punto, <*_*www.teatropunto.net* <http://www.teatropunto.net/>_*>, 
will be leading a Commedia dell'Arte workshop at the University College 
Drama Program (University of Toronto). For more information on this 
workshop and to enroll in it, please contact the workshop organizer, 
Lester Trips Theatre, at <*_*lestertrips.theatre at gmail.com>* 
<mailto:lestertrips.theatre at gmail.com>_*. *

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