4th Annual Tri-University Colloquium for Theatre and Performance Research
University of Victoria, April 27 – 28, 2018
Return to the Phoenix
Intersections and Interventions
In 2018, the Tri-University Colloquium for Theatre and Performance Research returns to the
Phoenix at the University of Victoria to begin a new cycle of presenting graduate research. Our
successful events at the University of Victoria (2015), the University of British Columbia (2016)
and Simon Fraser University (2017) have created the momentum to continue sharing our work.
Building from the themes and connections of the first cycle, the 2018 Colloquium title considers
the range of intersections and interventions that fall under the banner of theatre and
performance. Acknowledging the Applied Theatre program at UVic within this banner, this
year’s colloquium also looks to the ways applied theatre can intersect and inform theory and
practice while intervening in the areas of community development, social justice and education
through performative projects.
We are very excited to welcome Professor Jan Selman (Drama) of the University of Alberta as
our keynote speaker. Along with her extensive career in theatre with its own sites of
intersection — ranging from the Banff Playwrights Colony, the Citadel Youth Theatre Festival,
Catalyst Theatre, Concrete Theatre and the East Africa Institute – Ignite Africa (Kenya) — she
was co-editor with Jane Heather of Are We There Yet? Theatre, Teens, Sex Ed (2015), the
Canadian Association of Theatre Research, Patrick O’Neill Book Award winner in 2016.
We invite papers that investigate intersections and interventions across the diverse forms of
theatre, performance art, dance, music, cinema, sound, political activism, everyday life, and
philosophy. As Monica Prendergast and Juliana Saxton note, “It is the negotiation of the
aesthetic with the everyday through the medium of theatre that results in the variety of forms
of applied theatre.” (13).
Papers may consider, but are not limited to, the following questions:
How can the diverse range of performative art intersect and/or intervene with the current
social and political issues of everyday life or how does applied theatre invite the community
into this process?
How does performance create sites of intersection across different cultures or how does
performance offer opportunities for cultural intersections?
Can applied theatre create intersections between communities or can performance affect, or
create, an intervention within individuals or communities?
Can hearts and minds be changed in performance to measurable effects?
How does the range of theatre and performance modes affect an audience?
How does the aesthetic of a performance affect or negotiate with the social issues of a
community and/or is the aesthetic necessary to the success/impact of a performance project?
What modes of performative art intersect to create an affective or cathartic response?
Submissions are currently being accepted from emerging graduate student researchers and
those nearing the completion of their programs at UVic, SFU, and UBC, as well as neighbouring
institutions in the Pacific Northwest. We will also accept work from researchers who graduated
from these institutions within the last two years. Research from across the fine arts,
humanities, and social sciences are welcomed in traditional and non-traditional formats.
Proposals may be accepted in either 20-minute (or less) presentations or 60-minute panel
sessions. Submissions may be in the form of formal academic papers, informal presentations of
research, manifestos, panel topics, staged readings, performances that integrate physical,
visual, sound, digital material or any other presentational format.
Please send submissions and inquiries to tri.uni.colloquium@gmail.com by January 31, 2018.
Please include a 50-word bio, 100-word abstract for individual papers or 700-word proposal for
60-minute panels.
Works Cited
Prendergast, Monica and Juliana Saxton. Applied Theatre: International Case Studies and
Challenges for Practice. Intellect Books. 2009.