Robert G. Lawrence Prize / Le prix Robert G. Lawrence

CATR Lawrence Prize Call for Self-Nominations

The Robert G. Lawrence Prize was established in 1995 by the Association to honour the memory and contribution of a valued member and friend. The prize recognizes the research of an emerging scholar who has presented an outstanding paper at the Association’s annual conference. The award of $200.00 is supported by the generous donations of Mrs. Robert G. Lawrence. The award is open to graduate students and emerging scholars who recently completed their PhD (less than five years) and who present a paper in either French or English at the annual CATR/ACRT conference. Please note that position papers presented as part of seminar, roundtable or workshop sessions are not eligible for consideration.

If you are a graduate student or an emerging scholar (PhD completed within five years) presenting a paper at this year’s conference and would like to be considered for the award, or would like more information, please email Jessica Riley, Chair of the Lawrence Committee, at j.riley@uwinnipeg.ca by Friday, May 17. Advance self-nomination is required to ensure that members of the adjudication committee will be present at all candidates’ presentations.

Note 1: The award will be made on the basis of the paper as presented at the conference. Assessors will consider the content of the paper (i.e. cogency and originality of argument, strength of evidence) as well as its presentation (i.e. effectiveness of delivery, use of illustrative media, accessibility etc.). To be eligible for the award, all candidates are required to supply a written copy of their presentation, complete with a list of works cited, as well as copies of any relevant illustrative resources used (i.e. slides, links, handouts, etc.) to Jessica Riley at j.riley@uwinnipeg.ca within a week of the presentation.

Note 2: We ask that presenters design their presentations to maximize and integrate accessibility. This helps to ensure that all panel attendees will have access to the same information/content you present. As such, when applicable, presenters should implement the following to make their presentation accessible:

• Provide image descriptions for any photographs, graphs, or other significant images/videos
• Provide content notes for potentially distressing content or themes. Please also provide advance notice about any loud noises or flashing lights
• Upload an access paper for your presentation at least one week in advance (instructions to follow in a subsequent post). An access paper can either be a full copy of the paper you are reading from or a bullet point outline with the key points of your argument and all cited quotes included. The submitted access paper should also be in a larger (size 14-16) sans serif font and double spaced. Two of the most common sans serif fonts are Arial and Calibri
• Include closed captions for video clips. If you are unable to caption a clip due to copyright, please transcribe the video as part of your access paper
• Be mindful of the pace at which you are speaking or presenting so that live-captioners, ASL interpreters, and attendees can follow your presentation with ease

If you have any questions or would like one-on-one support to make your presentation accessible, please reach out to the Accessibility Committee at catr.accessibility@gmail.com.

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Appel d’auto-nominations du Prix LAWRENCE de l’ACRT

Le prix Robert G. Lawrence a été créé en 1995 par l’association pour honorer la mémoire et la contribution d’un membre et d’un ami précieux. Le prix reconnaît les recherches d’un chercheur naissant qui a présenté un article exceptionnel au colloque annuel de l’association. Le prix de 200,00 $ est soutenu par les généreux dons de Mme. Robert G. Lawrence. Le prix est ouvert aux étudiants des cycles supérieurs et aux chercheurs émergents qui ont récemment terminé leur doctorat (moins de cinq ans) et qui présentent un article en français ou en anglais lors du colloque annuelle CATR / ACRT. Veuillez noter que les exposés de position présentés dans le cadre de séminaires, de tables rondes ou d’ateliers ne sont pas admissibles à l’examen.

Si vous êtes un étudiant diplômé ou un chercheur émergeant (doctorat terminé dans les cinq ans) présentant un article au colloque de cette année et que vous souhaitez être pris en considération pour le prix, ou si vous souhaitez plus d’informations, veuillez envoyer un courriel à Jessica Riley, présidente du comité Lawrence, à j.riley@uwinnipeg.ca d’ici le vendredi 17 mai. L’auto-nomination préalable est requise pour s’assurer que les membres du comité d’arbitrage seront présents à toutes les présentations des candidats.

Note 1 : Le prix sera décerné sur la base de l’article présenté au colloque. Les évaluateurs tiendront compte du contenu de l’article (c.-à-d. argument convaincant et originale, bonne utilisation des preuves) ainsi que de sa présentation (c.-à-d. l’efficacité de sa livraison, l’utilisation de supports illustratifs, les mesures d’accès etc.). Pour être admissibles au prix, tous les candidats doivent fournir une copie écrite de leur présentation, accompagnée d’une liste des œuvres citées, ainsi que des copies de toutes les ressources illustratives pertinentes utilisées (diapositives, liens, documents, etc.) à Jessica Riley à j.riley@uwinnipeg.ca dans la semaine suivant la présentation.

Note 2 : Nous demandons aux présentateurs de concevoir leurs présentations de manière à maximiser et à intégrer l’accessibilité. Ces mesures sont essentielle pour s’assurer que tous les participants au panel auront accès aux mêmes informations / contenus que vous présentez. À ce titre, le cas échéant, les présentateurs devraient mettre en œuvre ce qui suit pour rendre leur présentation accessible :

• Fournir des descriptions d’images pour toutes les photographies, graphiques ou autres images/vidéos importantes
• Fournissez des notes de contenu pour le contenu ou les thèmes potentiellement pénibles
• Veuillez également informer à l’avance de tout bruit fort ou de tout feu clignotant
• Téléchargez un document d’accès pour votre présentation au moins une semaine en avance (instructions à suivre dans un article ultérieur). Un document d’accès peut être soit une copie de l’article que vous lisez, soit simplement un aperçu avec toutes les citations citées incluses. Le document d’accès soumis doit également être dans une police sans empattement plus grande (taille 14-16) et à double interligne. Deux des polices sans empattement les plus courantes sont Arial et Calibri
• Inclure des sous-titres codés pour les clips vidéo. Si vous n’êtes pas en mesure de sous-titrer un clip en raison du droit d’auteur, transcrire la vidéo dans le cadre de votre document d’accès
• Soyez conscient du rythme auquel vous parlez ou présentez afin que les sous-titreurs en direct, les interprètes ASL et les participants puissent suivre votre présentation en toute simplicité.

Si vous avez des questions ou si vous souhaitez obtenir un soutien individuel pour rendre votre présentation accessible, veuillez communiquer avec le comité de l’accessibilité à catr.accessibility@gmail.com.

2023 Winner

The 2023 Lawrence Prize is awarded to Matt Jones for his paper titled “Shakespeare in Guantánamo.” Jones’ sophisticated analysis of the interdependence of high culture, political power, and violence in the context of Guantánamo Bay was considered by the committee to be deeply considered and skillfully presented, advancing a complex and provocative argument with admirable clarity and conviction. Tackling the weighty history of Guantánamo prison as a “living (or perhaps undead) archive of the now abandoned US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Jones offers a multi-faceted exploration of the ways that ideas enable this history of violence through the deployment of European “high” culture, including Shakespeare. In an expertly wrought and complex analysis, Jones teases out: the regulating functions of access to culture within the prison system; the ways that grotesque, sadistic humour operates as part of the enabling deployment of high culture; as well as defiant manifestations of the circulation of culture in the Guantánamo context, such as detainees sharing poetry amongst themselves “in circumvention of prison rules (and in circumspect forms) resists the attempts of their oppressors to reduce them to bare life,” as defined by Agamben. Perhaps most strikingly, Jones uses his focus on Guantánamo to expose how Western “high culture” operates not only to justify or shore up white supremacist violence but also as a means for perpetrators to deflect or hide that violence from themselves. In the days and weeks following our encounters with Jones’ work—both in its engaging presentation over Zoom and its polished, written form—committee members were unanimously struck by the reverberations of his powerful analysis. Through its case study focused on Guantánamo and its theorization of how "fiction underwrites violence," Jones’ paper represents an original and valuable contribution to our field.

Honourable Mention goes to Megan Johnson for “Performances of ‘Shoring up’: Infrastructural Imaginings of an Uncertain Future.” Through the concept of infrastructural dramaturgy, Johnson makes a key theoretical intervention, examining the function of arts infrastructures through a decolonial/disability justice performance lens. The committee was impressed by the clarity and concision of Johnson’s analysis of a range of sites, from opera to visual art installation to film, and by the relaxed, engaging, and adaptable mode of Johnson’s presentation. The ethics of access advocated in the content of Johnson’s paper was admirably expressed in its delivery. The dissertation project from which this original and instigating interdisciplinary research is drawn represents a vital contribution our discipline, advancing our thinking about disability and environmental justice as they relate to the urgent project—and invigorating potential—of reimagining arts institutions.

Past Winners 

The year listed indicates the year the paper was presented at the annual conference. Formal recognition of the Lawrence Prize often happens at the conference the following year.

2022 - Sheetala Bhat, for “‘Restart the play’: On Cyclicality and the Indian Woman in the Theatrical Future of C Sharp, C Blunt.”

Honorable Mention:
Jessica Watkin, for “Disability Dramaturgy: History, Perspective, and Practice."

2021 - (none awarded)

2020 - (none awarded)

2019 - Alana Gerecke, "Choreographies of Exclusion: Dîner en Blanc’s spectacle of Whiteness"

2018 - Kelsey Blair, “Theoretical Exchanges: The Structuring of Practice in Cultural Performance Genres and the Case of Canadian Women’s Basketball."

2017 - (co-winners)
Katrina Dunn, “Liquid Apocalypse: Contemporary Canadian warnings in theatrical form”
Kelsey Laine Jacobson, “‘Everything is True, Some Things are Scripted’: Good Fences and the Dialogue of Truthfulness”

Honorable Mention:
Julia Henderson, “Utopian Performativity in The Chop Theatre’s Sonic Elder: Performing Time, Place and Age Identity”

2016 - David Owen, “Thrills and Chills: Embodying the Fiction at Fan Expos, in Cosplay, and through Intermedial Performance.”

Honorable Mentions:
Alana Gerecke, “Legislated Choreography and Sidewalk Design.”
Julia Henderson, “Resisting Dominant Ideologies of Aging: Sally Clark’s Moo and Ten Ways To Abuse An Old Woman”

2015 - Katrina Dunn, “Turning Our Backs On The City We Look On Water Canada’s National Arts Centre Considered.”

Honorable Mentions:
Matt Jones, “Hearts and Minds in Extremis: Performing the Body at War.”
Zita Nyarady, “The View from an Ankle Hang: The Capital(s) of Inverted Spectacle in Cascade.”
Jessica Riley, “Interrogative Feedback and the Myth of Neutral Dramaturgy.”

2014 - Benjamin Gillespie, "Virtuosic Labouring: Queer Embodiment and Administrative Violence at the Canadian/US Border"

Honorable Mentions:
Brian Batchelor, "Zapatouristic Differentiations: Reading Autoethnographic Representations and Touristic Identities through the Camera Lens in Oventic"
Ian McWilliams, "‘Very Realistic, and Was Received with Intense Silence by the Audience’: Founding Spectres and Recasting The Last Stand"

2013 - Kim McLeod, “Finding the New Radical: Digital Media, Oppositionality and Political Intervention in Contemporary Canadian Theatre.”

Honorable Mention:
Julia Henderson, “Dissolving the Edges: Challenging Age Binaries by Viewing King Lear in Temporal Depth.”

2012 - Helene Vosters, "Between Two Worlds: Reflections on a Year of Falling"

Honorable Mention:
Jess Riley, "The Dramaturge and/as Hyphen-ated Artist Scholar"

2011 - Nicholas Hanson, “A Solo Census: One-Person Productions as a Rising Tide?”

2010 - Robin Whittaker, “Intellectual and Un/Disciplined: Relocating Toronto’s Alumnae Theatre Company, from Philanthropic Theatre to the Original ‘Alternative’.”

2009 - Jill Carter, “Shaking the Paluwala Tree: Fashioning Internal ‘Gathering Houses’ and Re-Fashioning the Spaces of Popular Entertainment through Contemporary Investigations into Native Performance Culture (NpC).”

2008 - Lydia Wilkinson, “Creating a Canadian Odyssey: George Elliott Clarke’s Global Perspective in Trudeau: Long March/Shining Path”

2007 - James McKinnon, “Aiming the Canon at Canadian Audiences: Cowgirl Opera’s The Three Sisters: A Black Comic Opera”

2006 - Barry Freeman, “Interculturalism in the Prague-Toronto-Manitoulin Theatre Project (PTMTP)”

2005 - Kim Solga, “Spaces Within and Spaces Between: Ground Plans for an Architecture of Feminist Performance”

2004 - Laura Levin, “Environmental Affinities: Naturalism and the Feminine Body”

2003 - David Fancy, “In Defence of Bad Acting: A Prolegomena for an aesthetics of the amateur actor”

2002 - Natalie Alvarez, “‘Are You an Actor?’: Big Fat Inc. and the Secret Agents of Capitalism”

2001 - Marlene Moser, “Identity and Realism in The Drawer Boy and The Farm Show”

2001 - Sky Gilbert, “Art as Plague and Plague as Art: The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me”

2000 - Robert Appleford, “Red Sons in the Sail Set: Hazards of Occupation in Floyd Favel Starr’s Lady of Silence and House of Sonya”

1999 - Kate Cornell, “The Ballet Report of 1962: A Forgotten Artifact of Canadian Dance Heritage”;

1999 - Christiane Gerson, “Le lieu théâtral comme médiateur entre le spectacle et le spectateur”

1998 - Scott Duchesne, “Mike is the Message: Performing the Common Sense Revolution”

1998 - Paul M. Malone, “The Cybernetic Actor and Cybernetic Mirror”

1997 - Julie Salverson, “Transgressive Storytelling and Refugee Testimony”

1996 - Rosalind Kerr, “Border Crossings in Sharon Pollock’s Blood Relations & Doc”

1995 - Celeste Derksen, “Masculinity and the Mise en Scène: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid”