Location: Zoom Room 1
Zoom Link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3874647177?pwd=Jw1g9axPFpvKa8qEe26DCLjGd0ACbW.1
Abstract:
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research, this roundtable brings together international scholars and artists who work within the cross-cultural exchange of Canadian plays through adaptation, transnational production, research, and teaching. Participants from Africa, Europe, and Asia will share experiences that reveal how Canadian theatre is received, reshaped, and sparks dialogue across diverse cultural contexts.
Prof. Naomi Morgan, who recently completed the first-ever translation of a Quebecois play into Afrikaans—Michel Marc Bouchard’s Tom à la ferme—will reflect on her process of working with Quebecois material and the resonances she uncovered between the Canadian context of the source text and the South African (Afrikaner) context of the translation. Albert Rau, a founding member of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-Speaking Countries, will discuss why he teaches English Canadian drama in EFL classrooms in Germany, and how Canadian plays can challenge stereotypical or clichéd images of Canada while functioning as cultural mediators for students. From South Korea, Dr. Kiyoung Jang will speak about her paper on the recent production of Canadian playwright David Freeman’s Creeps and how staging this Canadian work in Korea opens up questions regarding the representation of disability and crip aesthetics in the Korean context.
Together, the roundtable participants will use these examples to explore the political, cultural, and philosophical questions that surface when Canadian plays encounter new audiences, languages, and sociopolitical contexts. The roundtable will invite attendees into an open conversation about both the international appeal and the challenges of Canadian theatre’s global mobility, and what these cross-cultural exchanges mean for Canadian playwrights, creators, educators, and scholars today and in the future.
Participants:
Albert Rau (Independent scholar in Germany)
Prof. Naomi Morgan (professor in South Africa)
Prof. Kiyoung Jang (professor in South Korea)
Moderator:
Dr. Heunjung Lee
Biographies:
Dr. Heunjung Lee is SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary. Her project, Cultural Dance for Dementia, investigates how a culturally tailored dance program can support the identities and creativity of Korean older adults with dementia.