The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0428 Friday, 10 November 2010
From: Sarah Enloe <
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Date: November 5, 2010 12:46:57 PM EDT
Subject: CFP: 6th Blackfriars Conference
25 - 30 October 2011, Sixth Blackfriars Conference
(Be there for the bear . . . or for the truancy)
On odd numbered years since the first October the Blackfriars Playhouse opened,
scholars from around the world have gathered in Staunton, during the height of the
Shenandoah Valley's famed Fall colors, to hear lectures, see plays, and learn about
early modern theatre. In 2011, the American Shakespeare Center's Education and
Research Department will once again host Shakespeareans, scholars and practitioners
alike, to explore Shakespeare in the study and Shakespeare on the stage and to find
ways that these two worlds -- sometime in collision -- can collaborate. Past
conferences have included such notable scholars as Andrew Gurr, the "godfather" of
the Blackfriars Playhouse, Tiffany Stern, Russ McDonald, Gary Taylor, Stephen
Greenblatt, Roz Knutson, Tina Packer, and many more in five days full of activities.
Except for banquets, all events -- papers, plays, workshops -- take place in the
world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theatre, the Blackfriars Playhouse.
This conference distinguishes itself from saner conferences in a variety of other
ways. First, to model the kind of collaboration we think possible we encourage
presenters to feature actors as partners in the demonstration of their theses. For
instance, in 2009, Gary Taylor's keynote presentation "Lyrical Middleton" featured
ASC actors singing and dancing to the songs in Middleton's plays. Second, we limit
each paper session to six short papers (10 minutes for solo presentations, 13
minutes for presentations with actors). Third, we enforce this rule by ursine fiat -
- a bear chases from the stage those speakers who go over their allotted time.
Delegates also attend all of the plays in the ASC fall season -- Hamlet, Henry V,
The Tempest, by Shakespeare, Tamburlaine by Christopher Marlowe, and The Importance
of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde -- and, for the past several conferences, bonus
plays written by their colleagues and performed by actors in the Mary Baldwin
College MFA in Shakespeare in Performance program. The spirit of fun that imbues the
conference manifests itself in the annual Truancy Award, for the sensible conferee
who -- visiting the Shenandoah Valley at the height of Fall -- has the good sense to
miss the most sessions.
The 2011 gathering will include a returning keynote speaker, Shakespearean scholar
Tiffany Stern, author of essential performance studies such as Making Shakespeare,
Rehearsal from Shakespeare to Sheridan, and Documents of Performance. Professor
Stern's work has played an influential role in the development of the American
Shakespeare Center's Actors' Renaissance Season, and her presentations continue to
inspire the further exploration of the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries
in the ASC's educational and artistic programming. Additionally, George T. Wright,
author of Shakespeare's Metrical Art, will present. Professor Wright's text on
prosody illuminates Shakespeare's use of meter for actors and scholars. We will
invite our other speakers with an eye to other aspects of Shakespeare's plays in
performance such as playing the possibilities of rhetoric, playing in early modern
theatres, early modern play audiences (then and now), metrical analysis, early
modern rehearsal practice, early modern visual design, pedagogy (early modern and
current practice and its influence on performance).
Since each conference expands on the activities of the preceding conferences, the
2011 incarnation will include thematic panels following each keynote address. The
work of the conference always echoes in the work on stage at the Blackfriars
Playhouse and in the American Shakespeare Center's Research and Scholarship
department, and it has provided the material for two books devoted specifically to
essays from the conference (Inside Shakespeare, edited by Paul Menzer, and Thunder
in the Playhouse, edited by Matt Kosusko and Peter Kanelos). Plans are already afoot
to include papers from the upcoming conference in a third book.
ASC Education and Research extends this call for papers on any matters to do with
the performance of early modern drama (historical, architectural, political,
dramatical, sartorial, medical, linguistical, comical, pastoral) to all interested
parties for our bi-annual conference to be held at the Blackfriars Playhouse in
Staunton, Virginia, 25-30 October 2011.
Please submit an abstract here:
http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1007217-Fa8fydC0oQ
All best,
Sarah Enloe
American Shakespeare Center
Director of Education
540-885-5588 x28
540-292-3395
The American Shakespeare Center recovers the joy and accessibility of Shakespeare's
theatre, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its
practices through performance and education.
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