Performing Emergence: RePlay, ReCollect, ReExist
CATR 2022 Call for Papers and Sessions
Performing Emergence: RePlay, ReCollect, ReExist
A hybrid conference on the Theatre Agora website with online hosts STU (May 27-28) and
UTSC (June 6-7) and in-person at the University of Lethbridge (June 12-14)
Reminder! Deadline Extended to Friday, November 26, 2021.
CATR 2022 emerges into a hybrid in-person and online conference! Online hosts St. Thomas University and the University of Toronto Scarborough and in-person host University of Lethbridge welcome the Canadian Association for Theatre Research (CATR) in supporting conversations in drama, theatre, dance, and performance studies and practice. We seek paper and session proposals in English and French within and outside the conference theme.
The conference organizing committee is thrilled to announce three acclaimed theatre leaders as keynote speakers: Stó:lō scholar and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts at Queen’s University Dylan Robinson, ARTICLE 11’s Ntlaka’pamux / Irish cofounding Artistic Director Tara Beagan, and Obsidian Theatre’s Artistic Director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu!
Performing Emergence: RePlay, ReCollect, ReExist sends the clarion call to scholars and artists to share their emerging research related to all aspects of theatre and performance studies, practice, and mentorship. We are open to all theatre and performance subjects of interest. But we are particularly intrigued by “Emergence.” Post-nationalist, afro-futurist writer adrienne maree brown draws from an eco-biology perspective, saying, “In the framework of emergence, the whole is a mirror of the parts. Existence is fractal—the health of the cell is the health of the species and the planet” (brown 2017). Far from pure novelty, Robert Daniel Austin and Lee Devin observe that for artists, “Inclusion of past actions into materials of creation is the force that drives emergence” (Artful Making 2003), while Josette Féral observes that, “Ces technologies sont souvent liées à l’émergence de nouvelles formes scéniques” (Pratiques performatives 2012). How does “Emergence” relate to how theatre and performance practices reflect on, interrogate, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its interwoven emergencies, including health care crises, climate change, classism, and economic disparity? Moreover, we ask how do Indigenous and racialized experiences, sexual orientation, and gender identity continue to be impacted by these emergencies?
Emergence, in part, speaks to Adolfo Albán Achinte’s concept of “re-existence,” in which groups question and make visible “practices of racialization, exclusion and marginalization, procuring the redefining and resignifying of life in conditions of dignity and self-determination, while at the same time confronting the bio-politic that controls, dominates, and commodifies subjects and nature” (translated in Catherine E. Walsh’s “The Decolonial For”). We might ask, through what means can performance forge a path of re-existence? Consider: RePlay (historical re-enactment, dramatic repetition, original practices, second runs, theoretical retakes, emerging into performance), ReCollect (gathering energy, synergy of activism, taking pause, personal and cultural memory, critics and critical traces, amateur and nonprofessionalizing discourses, archival emergences), and ReExist (Indigenous sovereignty and ways of knowing, social justice, inequality, renewals of scholarly disciplines and performing arts industries, interventions into pedagogy, leadership, and mentorship, conversations about careers outside theatre and performance studies and practice, dramatic and dramaturgical emergencies). Proposals developed from these approaches are encouraged, but by no means required.
We inviteproposals to present Panel Papers and to organize various Session formats. Each proposal should include the following details: your name, institutional affiliation (if any), 50-word bio, Paper or Session title, and preferred mode of delivery (in-person at U. of L., online synchronous, hybrid in-person-and-online synchronous, online recorded asynchronous, or ‘no preference’). Please also include the details listed for your paper or session type below, and how any Session expenses (e.g. artist honoraria), if applicable, will be covered.
Panel Papers (15-20 minutes) present an aspect of your research or artistic practice within a tightly argued and structured framework. Along with the details listed above, your proposal should include a 250-word descriptive abstract for the proposed paper. Papers from accepted abstracts will be grouped into Open Panels.
Curated Panels (90 minutes) feature presenters’ papers (usually 3) that you have already grouped into a proposed panel. Along with the details listed above, please include a 250-word rationale for bringing these papers together; the 250-word abstracts and titles for each paper proposed; and the names, emails, and affiliations (if any) of your presenters.
Praxis Workshops and Performances (90 minutes) provide intersections of scholarly inquiry and creative practice. They offer a forum for practitioners and artist-scholars to present training, pedagogy, or performance techniques and processes, usually within a participatory structure. Along with the details listed above, please include a 250-word descriptive rationale that reflects a well-defined framework and, if applicable, clarifies the level of preparation or training required for attendee involvement. Also, please indicate space and equipment needs, minimum and maximum number of participants, and whether observers/audiences are welcome.
Roundtables (90 minutes), Seminars (3 hours), and Working Groups (3 hours) offer structured conversations between participants, audience members, and a moderator on pressing issues in research, practice, pedagogy, or professional concerns. Along with the details listed above, proposals should include a 250-word rationale, including the issues to be discussed, goals, session structure, and preparation for the session. In addition, please include a list of names and email addresses for confirmed session members (and the moderator if it’s not you). These sessions may include: exchanges of research papers and other documents for participant feedback prior to the session; invited respondents providing feedback before or during the session; and in-session breakout groups featuring participants and audience members. Please indicate if you would like us to disseminate a brief Call for Participants that you prepare if your proposal is accepted. If you are curious about forming a new Working Group, which, if accepted, holds a scheduled session at three consecutive CATR Conferences, please read carefully the detailed description of CATR Working Groups on our website (https://catracrt.ca/2044-2). Please send Paper or Session proposals (or any questions) to the Conference Chair (catracrtsubmit@gmail.com) by Friday, November 26, 2021. Scheduling limitations may prevent individuals from being involved in multiple sessions. Proposals are encouraged in English or French and you may present in either language. CATR encourages cross-generational and cross-career-stage dialogue “from Emerging to Emeriti” in visible places within the Conference. Early-, mid-, and late-career scholars, artists, artist-practitioners, and students are all strongly encouraged to submit proposals. CATR encourages all voices, including those speaking from Indigenous, underrepresented, and marginalized perspectives, and from a wide range of subjects and approaches. All session participants are required to be CATR members before the start of the Conference in order to participate. For more information on CATR, now approaching our 46th year, or to join or renew your membership, please visit https://catracrt.ca.