Reminder: ASTR seminar "Unsafe Realism 2.0" due MAY 31

[Kim Solga]

Hi everyone!

Just a quick reminder that the ASTR seminar deadline is fast approaching. Below please find our CFP; feel free to query us on anything unclear.

Warm wishes,
Kim

Unsafe Realism 2.0: Rethinking Feminist Realisms
 
Roberta Barker, Associate Prof., Dalhousie University ( barkerr at dal.ca)
Kim Solga, Senior Lecturer in Drama, Queen Mary University of London ( ksolga at uwo.ca)
 
In 2009, the first “Unsafe Realism” working session at ASTR convened a broad range of scholars working in both theatre studies and performance studies to re-think established scholarly biases around stage realism and naturalism. In the wake of new scholarship by Jill Dolan, Ellen Gainor, and Rhonda Blair, among others, our goal with that session was to look again at the notion that realism is “safe”: that – whether as performance technique, or as textual framework – it forms a kind of easy, comfortable “home” for too many writers and practitioners, and along the way evacuates the stage of political and social power.
 
“Unsafe Realism 2.0” will advance the exciting conversations we had in 2009 by refocusing our work specifically around feminist concerns. Feminist theory has historically been resistant to realism, viewing it as politically retrograde and the affective responses it engenders as fatal to women’s liberation. Yet recent developments are challenging such established conclusions. Within the last three and a half years,Theatre Journal has published two special issues (in 2008 and 2010) on women and feminism in theatre and performance today, and Jean Benedetti’s fresh translations of the major works of Stanislavsky in 2008 continue to influence important revisions of our scholarly understanding of realist performance praxis. At the same time, burgeoning work in affect studies encourages theatre scholars to consider anew the “problem” of emotional attachments to the stage. Especially within the context of broader insecurities about feminism’s staying power through the twenty-first century, what might these new scholarly developments have to teach us about possible relationships between feminism and realism? How might contemporary realist theory and praxis aid rather than hinder a feminist politic? Can realism – quite contrary to our expectations – participate in women’s theatrical futures, as it has already, for better or for worse, participated in women’s theatre history?
 
Papers may:
offer fresh thinking in feminist theory in relation to realist text or performance, past or present;
consider realism and feminism in the wake of affect theory;
consider how non-traditional or non-text based forms and genres may be taking up realism’s core ideals, theoretical fundamentals, or landmark texts in new feminist ways;
consider how realist practices may (or may not) be aiding the work of women artists of colour in North America and beyond;
consider how realist practices may (or may not) be aiding the work of feminist artists working in disability performance;
consider the work of contemporary women playwrights, actors, and directors in realist modes.
Please send abstracts (250-400 words) and a brief biographical note (50 words) to Roberta Barker (barkerr at dal.ca) AND Kim solga ( ksolga at uwo.ca) by May 31, 2012. Please note that successful participants will be expected to begin the drafting process over the summer, and to work closely with co-participants online during the fall. This work will be mandatory.
 
 
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