CFP: Adapt/Translate/Appropriate for ATHE 2015

[Susanne Shawyer]

Please excuse cross postings.

Dear Colleagues,
Please find attached a CFP for this year's Theory and Criticism-sponsored
roundtable series at ATHE 2015 (Montreal).
Susanne


***
Call for Papers: Theory and Criticism Focus Group of the Association for
Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), 2015 conference
Montréal, July 30-August 2, 2015

"Adapt/Translate/Appropriate” – An Interactive Roundtable Event

In response to the 2015 ATHE conference theme of “Je me souviens/I
remember,” and the conference location of the multicultural and diverse
city of Montréal, the Theory and Criticism Focus Group seeks praxis and
scholarship that explore the notion of “adaptation/translation/
appropriation.”
Adaptation, translation, and appropriation are transformative acts that (in
various ways) remember their source texts, and in so doing these
transformations carry significant theoretical and critical implications.
The Theory and Criticism Focus Group invites you to imagine and explore the
myriad of ways that performance adapts, translates, and appropriates. In
our 2015 roundtable series, we will curate panels where scholars, teachers,
and practitioners can investigate, challenge, re-imagine, and explode how
historical or contemporary theatre-makers, historians, teachers, and
theorists have adapted, translated, or appropriated texts, bodies, spaces,
images, and ideas to create or explode performance forms and theatrical
languages, explore cultural practices, challenge or support ideological
norms, and engage in social or political debates.

Theory and Criticism seeks submissions from theatre artists, pedagogues,
scholars, activists, philosophers, and critics interested in exploring the
notion of adaptation/translation/appropriation. Building on the tradition
of our previous panel series, we strive to include a diverse range of
participants from graduate students and emerging scholars, to professional
critics, established artists, and senior scholars. For the 2015 conference,
we will host a series of roundtable discussions that take up the notion of
adaptation/translation/appropriation from a range of disciplinary practices
and methodological approaches.

Position papers might engage with, but are not limited to, the following
themes and questions:

•       Critical Silences: how can the act of adaptation, translation, or
appropriate open up spaces for underrepresented voices or engage with
underserved communities? How does performance engage with political
silences, moments of non-communication, or the gap between cultures and
meanings? How can performance praxis challenge or reveal silences or gaps
in meaning for a variety of communities? How is silence a useful tool or
inspiration for historiography, criticism, pedagogy or creative work?

•       Critical Nostalgia: how does performance engage with remembrance,
nostalgic pleasure, and the historiography of the past? How does
performance or performance criticism adapt, translate, or appropriate the
past for contemporary audiences? How can the notion of “critical nostalgia”
challenge established methodologies or inspire pedagogical innovation? How
might performative nostalgia create or disrupt publics and counter-publics?

•       Critical Revolutions: how has the act of adaptation, translation,
or appropriation revolutionized genre, theatrical language, performance
forms, theatre pedagogy, or performance theory? How has the translation of
a critical work or performance inspired a field of study, new performance
praxis, or theatrical experimentation? How has translation, adaptation, or
appropriation created a space for new voices to be heard or ideologies to
grow? How has performative translation, adaptation or appropriation
disrupted or challenged ideologies?

•       Lost Treasures/Found Objects: how does the historian or
theatre-maker adapt, translate, or appropriate archival performances or
documents? How can revisiting classical works offer challenges to
conventional wisdom or established norms? How can lost works, missing
documents, hidden participants, or gaps in history inspire new performance
praxis, theatrical languages, or theatre pedagogy? How do contemporary
bodies and embodiment adapt, translate, or appropriate historical bodies or
concepts? How can the performance space or theatrical design adapt,
translate, or appropriate theatrical theory or performance praxis?

Position papers can take the form of a short essay, a manifesto, an
outreach exercise, a critical review, a theoretical musing, a research
report, a creative project, an interview, or an embodied performance
practice. The roundtables are designed to encourage interactive
conversation, and therefore the portion of time allotted to formal
presentation of position papers will be limited; focus instead will be
placed on stimulating dialogue amongst panelists and audience members.

The Theory and Criticism Focus Group will be accepting individual, 250–word
position paper abstracts for the adaptation/translation/appropriation
roundtable series until Thursday, October 23rd, 2014. Submissions should
include 1) an abstract (250 words or less), 2) a title, 3) contact
information (name, institutional affiliation, email address, and phone
number), 4) a brief bio of 50 words or less, and 5) any specific A/V
requirements. Participants will be informed of their acceptance by Tuesday,
October 28th, and Theory and Criticism will oversee the submission of the
series panels through ATHE’s online proposal process. Send your paper
abstracts to Theory and Criticism focus group conference planner Jane
Barnette at jane at ku.edu


Complete session proposals, sponsored by the Theory and Criticism Focus
Group

We also seek complete session proposals for the 2015 conference that
include a broad range of theoretical interrogations and applications. We
encourage multidisciplinary dialogues across the fields of performance
scholarship and seek participants from a variety of focus group
affiliations. Note that all multidisciplinary proposals must be authorized
by two sponsoring ATHE focus groups; please contact the appropriate focus
group conference planners and or committee chair for authorization. See
http://athe.site-ym.com/?154 for more details.

The Theory and Criticism Focus Group supports broad definitions of
criticism and performance, and therefore encourages a wide range of
examples and topics. Feel free to explore both historical and contemporary
critics and theorists, in popular culture, academic scholarship, and
performance praxis. Panel proposals that engage scholarly conversation in
creative ways are highly encouraged.

Complete session proposals (separate from the roundtable series) should be
submitted directly to ATHE:
http://athe.site-ym.com/?page=15_Session_Proposals. You must have the names
of all participants ready for the proposal. The website includes submission
information and forms. The session proposal deadline is November 1st, 2014.

NOTES:
If you have any questions about the ATHE panel proposal submission process,
feel free to email Jane Barnette at jane at ku.edu

Single paper submissions (outside of our annual roundtable series or a
complete proposed session) looking for a session home may contact
jane at ku.edu

Individuals do not need to be a member of Theory and Criticism or ATHE to
submit single presentations or panels.  However, if chosen and scheduled,
participants must become members of ATHE by the time of the conference.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/candrama/attachments/20140923/8b35fe09/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: TheoryCriticismRoundtable_ATHE2015_CFP.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 108392 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/candrama/attachments/20140923/8b35fe09/attachment.pdf>