CFP: Revisiting Medieval Performance

EMBODYING POWER: WORK OVER TIME JOINT CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THEATRE RESEARCH, THE THEATRE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION,
AND THE CONGRESS ON RESEARCH IN DANCE
Seattle, WA; 18-21 November 2010; The Renaissance Seattle Hotel
CALL FOR PAPERS & PARTICIPANTS FOR WORKING SESSIONS;DEADLINE: May 31, 2010*
Call for Papers for the Working Session entitled
REVISITING MEDIEVAL PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE, THEORY, PRAXIS
Conveners: Lofton Durham, Western Michigan University, and Jenna Soleo-Shanks, Briar Cliff University
The thousand years between the Roman theatre and Shakespeare’s stage was an extraordinarily fertile time in the history of Western performance, yet this era suffers from comparison with the adjoining periods.  Still dogged generally by the problematic inheritance of 19th century philology and, more specifically, by the evolutionary paradigms established by medieval theatre scholars in the early 20th century, the study of medieval performance is ripe for new scholarship. As Carol Symes has argued, “the medieval theatre was more multifaceted, more immediate, and more representative (in every sense) than that circumscribed by the playhouses of the Renaissance.  This is the medieval theatre we need to be studying.” Although scholars from various disciplines have made valuable and important contributions to the study of medieval performance, the future of medieval performance studies depends on the unique perspectives and specific theoretical tools of theatre scholars.  Such scholarship contributes to our appreciation of performance as a dynamic cultural form by considering, among other ideas, how performance related or reacted to existing power structures and how the bodies of performers existed in and interacted with spaces that were not exclusively meant for performance.  Theatre scholars also offer new perspectives on the limits and definitions of performance evidence.
This working group will bring together various theoretical perspectives and broad definitions of evidence, in order to explore the unique function and importance of performance in medieval cultures. We are particularly interested in three aspects of this topic: new primary source evidence or alternate applications of evidence; new or revised methodologies for approaching medieval performance practices; and theoretical applications that draw connections among disparate cultural phenomena, illuminate new bodies of evidence, and/or alter conventional understandings of medieval performance, theatre, and drama. 
Session Format and Guidelines:
Session chairs will group papers in clusters.  Each member of the cluster will be responsible for reading all papers in the cluster.  At the conference, each cluster will receive a set of questions from the session chairs, which the cluster will consider as a group during a break-out session.  After these break-out sessions, the clusters will give a summary report of their discussion to all session participants.  The session chairs will facilitate the reporting session in order to create a summary report of the questions raised, lessons learned, and possible future actions or avenues of scholarship and dissemination.  -- To apply, send a 200-word abstract and a brief bio by MONDAY, MAY 31st to BOTH lofton.durham@wmich.edu and jsoleo@gmail.com.  All participants will be required to join ASTR or CORD and register for the conference.  Please visit http://www.astr.org/Conference/WorkingSessionsGuidelines/tabid/128/Default.aspx for more information on participants' responsibilities.
Thanks for your interest,
Lofty Durham; Assistant Professor; Department of Theatre; lofton.durham@wmich.edu