Call for Chapter Proposals - The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq

Tue Mar 18 13:48:14 EDT 2014

*Call for Chapter Proposals*

*The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq*

*Editors: Mark Evans (Coventry University, UK) and Rick Kemp (Indiana
University of Pennsylvania, USA)*

This book, currently under consideration by Routledge, is proposed with the
support and involvement of the École internationale de théâtre Jacques
Lecoq. It will be the first major attempt to provide a comprehensive and
critical guide to Jacques Lecoq's work in at least ten years. Lecoq is one
of the most influential international theatre pedagogues of the last fifty
years, and yet remarkably little has been written about his work. In line
with the general format of Routledge Companion volumes, this new book will
contain multiple chapters written by different authors about various
aspects of Lecoq's life, teaching, and legacy. The book is intended to be a
comprehensive and authoritative survey of Lecoq's work. Offering a breadth
and depth of analysis that builds on and augments the limited number of
previous texts on Lecoq (Murray 2003 and Chamberlain & Yarrow 2001), this
book will offer a contemporary critical analysis of the significance of
Lecoq's work as well as placing his practice within a wider historical,
cultural and philosophical context.

         The structure of the book will be as follows. After a general
introduction that will include a biography, the first section "Context,
Influences, and Practice" is intended to give the reader information about
the social context within which Lecoq began his work as well as specific
influences, and accounts of his early work before founding the school. The
following chapters have already been proposed for this section:

·      Jacques Lecoq and the Crisis of Acting in Modernism, 1944-1968
(Bruce McConachie, University of Pittsburgh)

·      The influence of sport on 20th Century theatre (Mark Evans, Coventry
University)

·      Outside the Mainstream: Studios, Laboratories and Ateliers (Tom
Cornford, University of York, UK)

The second section "Pedagogy" will include chapters devoted to specific
subjects of the school's curriculum, with a contextualisation of how they
developed over time. Chapters already proposed for this section include:

·      The Neutral Mask (Dody DiSanto, former teacher at the Lecoq School,
Director, Center for Movement Theatre, Washington DC.

·      The full-face mask: expressive, larval, utilitarian Paris)

·     A Dynamic Approach to Poetry, Painting and Music: Lecoq on Bartók.
(Jennie Gilrain, Touchstone Theatre, PA.)

·      Tragedy: the hero, the chorus, the tribune. (Shona Morris, Drama
Centre, London)

In the third section "Cultural Connections and Pedagogic Legacy" we hope to
address the way in which Lecoq's teachings fit into the wider picture of
trends in twentieth century theatre, and to look at the way in which they
are carried on, both at the school and by former students who teach as part
of companies or in other schools. This section already includes the
following chapters:

·      Lecoq, emotion and acting theories in Western theatre (Rick Kemp)

·      The Body as Building Block for Language (Maiya Murphy)

·      Applying Lecoq's Pedagogy in Education and Community Building (Mark
McKenna, Touchstone Theatre)

·      Lecoq graduates and UK drama schools (Vladimir Mirodan, Drama
Centre, London)

The fourth and final section is "The Performance Diaspora," about former
students who have become individual artists or started companies.  We
anticipate that chapters in this section will have varied formats as they
could be written by the artists themselves, or be written about them, or be
interview material. Chapters already lined up include:

·      Pig Iron - Openness and Observation (Quinn Bauriedel, USA)

·      The transmission of Lecoq's work through embodied encounters
(Rebecca Loukes, University of Exeter)

·      British Movement Directors and Lecoq training  (Ayse Tashkiran,
RCSSD, London)

·      Clowning - from training into professional clowning and devised
performance (Malcolm Tulip, University of Michigan)

·      The actor/creator and the influence of Lecoq's pedagogy on American
ensembles (Susan Wright Thompson, USA)

Other authors that have committed to writing chapters or contributing to
the book include Franc Chamberlain (University of Huddersfield) and Simon
Murray (University of Glasgow).

We also intend to have the capacity for linking to video material, either
on a companion website, or in the Routledge Performance Archive.

Routledge will promote the book internationally, and thus it will not only
assist in the wider recognition of Lecoq as one of the great theatre
teachers and philosophers of the twentieth century, but also alert people
worldwide to the vibrant and ongoing life of the school, the rich work of
students (past and present), the success and influence of teachers who have
worked at the School and at their own institutions, and the impact of
theatre performers, actors, theatre artists and companies the School has
supported. We welcome contributions from pedagogues and theatrical
practitioners as well as academics.

We seek potential authors for chapters currently identified within the
structure of the book, as outlined below. We are also open to suggestions
for chapters not currently identified in these lists.

*Section 1: Context, Influences and Practice*

The introduction will identify Lecoq's physical, cultural and intellectual
journeys within mid-twentieth century Europe. It will set out the broad
context for his work and his teaching and point to the significance of each
of the following chapters. In doing so, it will identify some of the
possible historic reasons why Lecoq's work can be seen as both necessarily
rooted in a city such as Paris, and yet can also been seen as speaking to
wider European social, political and intellectual agendas.

Chapter Topics:

·      Post-WWII theatre policy in Europe - nationalism, internationalism,
humanism and populism in relation to the development of Lecoq's practice.

·      The French theatrical avant-garde of the early twentieth century
(e.g. Copeau, Artaud, Antoine).

·      Mime, 'mime,' and mimes (from Deburau and Decroux to Marceau and
Barrault).

·      The rediscovery of the mask in twentieth century theatre

·      Theatre and the French intellectual environment (e.g. Jousse,
Bachelard and Merleau-Ponty)

·      Satire and Absurdism - the Parenti-Lecoq Company, Fo, and European
Absurdism

·      Silent comedy, mime and film (e.g. Chaplin, Tati and the impact of
film and television on mime and silent comedy)

*Section 2: Pedagogy*

The introduction will give a general outline of the history of the school
and the development of its pedagogy, and identify Lecoq's central aims and
the overarching design of his pedagogy. It will in broad terms identify the
contributions of teachers such Philippe Gaulier, Monika Pagneux, Norman
Taylor, Thomas Prattki and Jos Houben (amongst others) - for example
Pagneux's introduction of the work of Moshe Feldenkrais into the
school's *preparation
corporelle*.

Chapter Topics

*(Chapter authors will be asked to contextualize each topic, and with each
pedagogic form, describe its adoption into the school's curriculum. Some
topics are more thematic, in order to incorporate multiple pedagogic
activities, or to offer a cognitive context for the practices. Chapters
will vary in length (standard: 4,000 words and concise: 2,000 words) with
more space being given for core aspects of the pedagogy.)*

·      Body and environment: Sensory stimuli and psychological states
(Concise)

·      The physicalization of language (Concise)

·      Movement, Music, and Art (Concise)

·      Play/Le Jeu and improvisation

·      Acrobatics, stage combat and juggling (Concise)

·      Movement Analysis

·      Pantomime Blanche and cartoon mime (Concise)

·      Melodrama (Concise)

·      Commedia dell'arte

·      Bouffons

·      Clowns

·      Text (Concise)

·      The L.E.M. (The *Laboratoire d'Étude du Mouvement*)

·      Autocours, Les Inquêtes and Les Commandes

*Section 3: Legacy*

The Section Introduction will give an overview of the many ways in which
Lecoq's teaching is influencing performance pedagogy internationally, and
how it interweaves with wider trends that are becoming evident in twentieth
century and contemporary theatre, and other arenas. The introduction also
acknowledges and briefly describes phenomena that are significant but, for
various reasons, have not been accorded their own chapter. These would
include, for example, Lecoq graduates who teach in drama schools in
countries other than the UK and the USA, and the practice of companies
running short workshops as they tour.

Chapter Topics:

·      Lecoq and interculturalism in twentieth century theatre

·      Contemporary theory and performance practice

·      Post-Lecoq pedagogy and the independent theatre studio

·      Lecoq graduates and US drama schools

·      The school now and into the future

*Section 4: Diaspora*

Lecoq was fond of telling his students that he was training them for a
theatre that did not yet exist - a provocation to create new forms of
theatre. The introduction explains how this section addresses the work of
actors, directors, writers, clowns and others in response to this
provocation. It is by no means exhaustive - the sheer volume of work that
originates from Lecoq's school precludes this.

(*Chapters in this section will have varied formats as some will be written
by the artists themselves, others will be written about them, and some will
be composed of interview material. We invite proposals on the topics
mentioned below and will also accept proposals on other topics in this
area. Other than the case studies of particular companies, the topics below
give examples of the way in which authors should seek to identify themes,
trends, or principles that have become evident in the work of Lecoq-trained
practitioners*. *We also intend to have a capacity for linking to video
material, either on a companion website, or in the Routledge Performance
Archive).*

Chapter Topics

·      Théâtre du Soleil

·      Footsbarn

·      Mummenschantz

·      Théâtre de Complicité, Complicite and Simon McBurney

·      The Movement of Words: Yasmina Reza (France) and Theatre Columbus
(Canada)

·      'Le Jeu' in the world of medicine: Brazil's  'Doctors of Joy' and
The Clod Ensemble's 'Performing Medicine' in the U.K.

·      Physical expression and the body as intercultural agent - South
Africa's Magnet Theatre and Toronto's Why Not Theatre

·      Directing: James McDonald, Luc Bondy, and Leah Hausmann

·      Lecoq and film; Geoffrey Rush, Toby Jones and Julie Taymor

·      UK Generations - e.g. Moving Picture Mime Show, MummeranDada,
Brouhaha, Hoi-Polloi, Peepolykus, and Theatre O.

·      Conclusion (Editors)

Chapters should be 3,500 - 4,000 words long.

Chapters may be written as conventional academic essays, but we also
welcome suggestions for chapters that are constructed around interviews,
case studies or other primary source material. There is also a possible
opportunity for a 'photographic essay' as a contribution if an author
wishes to propose this.

We invite anybody who is interested in proposing themselves as a possible
chapter author in this Companion volume to contact Rick Kemp directly at:
rkemp at iup.edu  In the first instance we require: an indication of which
chapter(s) you would be interested in writing and why, a 250 word abstract
for the chapter(s), and a short biographical statement outlining your
academic and/or performance and/or pedagogical background and any relevant
affiliations. A more detailed outline of the proposed structure and content
of the book is available on request.

Timeline:

Expressions of interest and abstracts to reach the editors by: Friday 28
March 2014

Response from editors, and if successful, invitation to submit chapter: 9
May 2014

Deadline for submission of chapters: 31 October 2014

Editors' comments and suggestions to authors by: January 2015

Deadline for revised chapters: February 2015

Typesetting and proofing: March - June 2015

Intended date for publication: Autumn 2015

*Mark Evans* is Professor of Theatre Training and Education and Associate
Dean of the School of Art and Design at Coventry University. He is the
author of *Movement Training for the Modern Actor* (Routledge, 2009)
and *Jacques
Copeau* (Routledge, 2006), and is an Associate Editor of the Theatre Dance
and Performance Training journal. Mark is a co-convenor of the Performer
Training Working Group in the Theatre and Performance Research Association.
He studied with Jacques Lecoq, and with Philippe Gaulier and Monika
Pagneux, in Paris in the 1980s.

*Rick Kemp* is Professor of Theatre and Head of Acting and Directing at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He has received awards on both sides of
the Atlantic for his work as an actor and director, including the Institut
Français award, the British Telecom Innovations Award, and the 2004 Heinz
Endowments Creative Heights Award. Rick trained with Philippe Gaulier and
Monika Pagneux in Paris in the 1980s, holds an MA from Oxford University,
an MFA in Performance Pedagogy, and a PhD in Theatre and Performance
Studies. He is the author of *Embodied Acting: What Neuroscience Tells Us
About Performance *(Routledge, 2012).
Rick Kemp, PhD
Professor, Head of Acting and Directing
Department of Theater and Dance
*Embodied Acting: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Performance*
Routledge 2012
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415507882/
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