Richard Plant Award/ Le prix Richard Plant
Named in honour of one of the Association’s co-founders, this award is given annually to the best English-language article on a Canadian theatre or performance topic. The award is given in alternate years to a long form article/article/book chapter and a short form article, blog post or substantial piece of written criticism. The 2022 award is being given to a long form article and/or a book chapter in a scholarly collection, published in 2020 and/or 2021.
Nommé en l’honneur d’un des cofondateurs de l’Association, ce prix est remis chaque année au meilleur article de langue anglaise traitant de théâtre ou de performance au Canada. Il est décerné, en alternance, à un article long ou à un chapitre de livre puis, l’année suivante, à un article court, à un billet de blogue ou à une critique écrite majeure. En 2022, le prix récompense un article long ou un chapitre de livre dans un ouvrage collectif savant publié en 2020 ou 2021.
2023 Committee: Benjamin Gillespie (chair), Matt Jones, Signy Lynch
2022 WINNER
Katrina Dunn and Malus fusca, "Coproducing Mimesis" in Theatre Pedagogy in the Era of Climate Crisis, eds. David Fancy and Conrad Alexandrowicz, Routledge, 2021.
CITATION
Katrina Dunn and Malus fusca’s “Coproducing Mimesis” is a refreshing attempt to reimagine how theatre and theatre pedagogy might better respond to our climate crisis. As they reconsider representation for the current moment, Dunn and her deciduous co-author Malus fusca—a special crabapple tree—call for a new theory of mimesis rooted in posthuman sensibilities, one that will “reinvigorate our understanding of the nature and function of the stage, the composition and performance of plays, the work of the actor, director and designer, the body of dramatic literature and the study of theatre history" (182). A sweeping, ambitious, and playful essay, “Coproducing Mimesis” invites us to rethink mimesis as an activity that is coproduced together with nonhuman kin. The roadmap the authors draw from Plato to posthumanism is impressive and convincingly engages philosophers as wide-ranging as Aristotle to Karen Barad to Gilles Deleuze to arrive at the idea of a posthuman mimesis. Dunn and partner make a significant contribution to theatrical theory alongside ecocritical discourse, which recognizes the need for new tools to face the crisis of planetary life.
Honourable Mentions
Nazli Akhtari, "Diaspora Walks: Small Lessons in Unlearning," Performance Matters: “Performing (in) Place: Moving on/with the Land” 7.1–2 (2021): 73–83.
Nazli Akhtari’s “Diaspora Walks: Small Lessons in Unlearning” is a clever experiment on the possibilities of attentive walking as a path to unlearning Canada’s settler colonial frameworks of citizenship. Bringing performance and diaspora studies together with walking methodologies, Akhtari explores ways of unlearning “pedagogies of citizenship and modalities of settlement” while continuing to “learn from Indigenous recognition and care of territorial lands as relations and Indigenous methodological interventions to unsettle colonialism” (73). “Diaspora Walks” is impressive in its staging of the flows of thought of its author and the way that their reflective meanderings draw together such disparate problems of our time.
Gallagher-Ross, Jacob. 2020. “Twilight of the Idols.” Theater 50(3): 29-47
Jacob Gallagher-Ross’s “Twilight of the Idols” is a thoughtful and reflective reconsideration of the colonial legacy of early Canadian art and theatre read through Deanna Bowen’s project God of Gods: A Canadian Play, an art exhibition that investigates the legacy of a landmark Hart House Theatre production of the same name. Examining the role of Canadian modernist art in shaping the cultural and mythical character of this country, Gallagher-Ross elucidates Bowen’s claim that God of Gods was “an allegory of national origin” and “the script for Canadian racism” (35).
LAURÉAT
Katrina Dunn et Malus fusca, « Coproducing Mimesis », dans Theatre Pedagogy in the Era of Climate Crisis, sous la direction de David Fancy et Conrad Alexandrowicz, Routledge, 2021.
CITATION
L’article « Coproducing Mimesis » de Katrina Dunn et Malus fusca est un essai stimulant, qui permet de revoir comment le théâtre et la pédagogie du théâtre pourraient mieux répondre à notre crise climatique. Alors qu’ils réexaminent la représentation du moment présent, Dunn et son coauteur à feuilles caduques Malus fusca — un pommier du Pacifique spécial — réclament une nouvelle théorie de mimèsis ancrée dans des sensibilités posthumaines, qui « revigorera notre compréhension de la nature et de la fonction scénique, de la composition et de la représentation des pièces, du travail d’acteur, de la direction et de la scénographie, du corpus de la littérature théâtrale et de l’étude de l’histoire du théâtre » (182). Un essai complet, ambitieux et ludique, « Coproducing Mimesis » nous invite à repenser la mimèsis comme une activité coproduite avec des proches non humains. Le cheminement que les auteurs présentent de Platon au posthumanisme est impressionnant et fait appel de façon convaincante à des philosophes diverses, de Aristote à Karen Barad à Gilles Deleuze, pour arriver à l’idée d’une mimèsis posthumaine. Dunn et son collaborateur apportent une contribution significative à la théorie théâtrale en complément du discours écocritique, qui reconnaît la nécessité de disposer de nouveaux outils pour faire face à la crise menaçant la vie sur terre.
Mentions spéciales
Nazli Akhtari, « Diaspora Walks: Small Lessons in Unlearning, » Performance Matters : « Performing (in) Place: Moving on/with the Land » 7,1–2 (2021) : 73–83.
« Diaspora Walks: Small Lessons in Unlearning » de Nazli Akhtari est une brillante expérience sur les possibilités de la marche attentive comme moyen pour désapprendre les cadres coloniaux canadiens de citoyenneté. Recourant à la fois aux études sur la performance et la diaspora et aux méthodologies de la marche, Akhtari explore les façons de désapprendre les « pédagogies de la citoyenneté et les modalités de la colonisation » tout en continuant « d’apprendre des Autochtones, la reconnaissance et la protection du territoire ainsi que les relations et les interventions méthodologiques autochtones pour déstabiliser le colonialisme » (73). « Diaspora Walks » impressionne par la présentation des flots de pensée de son autrice et par la façon dont les méandres de sa réflexion rejoignent des problèmes de notre temps si disparates.
Gallagher-Ross, Jacob. 2020. « Twilight of the Idols. » Theater 50(3): 29–47
« Twilight of the Idols » de Jacob Gallagher-Ross est une remise en question approfondie et réfléchie de l’héritage colonial de l’art et du théâtre canadiens anciens, à partir du projet God of Gods : A Canadian Play de Deanna Bowen, une exposition d’art qui analyse le legs de cette production emblématique du Hart House Theatre du même nom. Examinant le rôle de l’art moderne canadien dans la structuration du caractère culturel et mythique de ce pays, Gallagher-Ross explique l’affirmation de Bowen selon laquelle God of Gods était « une allégorie d’origine nationale » et « le scénario du racisme canadien » (35).
2022 Committee:
Jimena Ortuzar (Chair) E: jimena.ortuzar@ryerson.ca
Siyuan Liu E: liu44@mail.ubc.ca
Benjamin Gillespie E: benjamin.a.gillespie@gmail.com
Matt Jones E: mf.jones@utoronto.ca
Past Winners
2021 - Jenn Cole’s “Shanty Songs and Echoing Rocks: Upsurges of Memory along Fault Lines of Extraction.” Canadian Theatre Review 182 (Spring 2020): 9-15.
2021 (Honourable Mention) - Jill Carter’s “My! What Big Teeth You Have!”: On the Art of Being Seen and Not Eaten.” Canadian Theatre Review 182 (Spring 2020): 16-21.
2021 (Honourable Mention) - “‘Siri, Are you Female?’: Reinforcing and Resisting Gender Norms with Digital Assistants.” Critical Stages//Scènes critiques 21 (June 2020).
2020 - <https://catracrt.ca/?page_id=1988/"> Benjamin Looker, “Staging Diaspora, Dramatizing Activism: Fashioning a Progressive Filipino Canadian Theatre in Toronto, 1974–2001.”
2020 (Honourable mention) - <https://catracrt.ca/?page_id=1988/">Rebecca Burton, “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Canadian Theatre Here and Now.È
2018 - Alexandra (Sasha) Kovacs, “Beyond Shame and Blame in Pauline Johnson’s Performance Histories”
2018 (Honourable mention) - Michelle Olson, “Heart of the Telling”
2017 (Honourable Mention) - Jill Carter, “The Physics of the Mola: W/Riting Indigenous Resurgence on the Contemporary Stage,” Modern Drama 59.1 (Spring 2016): 1-25.
2015 - Roberta Barker. "The Gallant Invalid: The Stage Consumptive and the Making of a Canadian Myth" TRIC / RTAC 35.1 (2014)
2014 - VK Preston and Alanna Thain. "Tendering the Flesh: the ABCs of Dave St-Pierre's Contemporary Utopias" TDR 57.4 (2013)
2014 (Honourable Mention) - Ric Knowles and Jess Riley. "Aluna Theatre's Nohayquiensepa: The Intermedial Intercultural and the Limits of Empathy" Latina/o Canadian Theatre and Performance, Toronto: Playwrights Canada, 2013.
2013 - Natalie Alvarez. "Realisms of Redress: Alameda Theatre and the Formation of a Latina/o Canadian Theatre and Politics" New Canadian Realisms Toronto:Playwrights Canada, 2012.
2013 - Louis Patrick Leroux. “From langue to body — the quest for the ‘real’ in Québécois theatre.”New Canadian Realisms Toronto: Playwrights Canada, 2012.
2012 - Glen Nichols. “Identity in Performance in Carol Shields’s Stage Plays” West-Words: Celebrating Western Canadian Theatre and Playwrighting.
2012 (Honourable Mention) - Christine Kim. “Performing Asian Canadian Intimacy: Theatre Replacement’s Bioboxes and Awkward Multiculturalism” Asian Canadian Theatre. Toronto: Playwrights Canada, 2011.
2011 - Barry Freeman. “Navigating the Prague-Toronto-Manitoulin Theatre Project: A Postmodern Ethnographic Approach to Collaborative Intercultural Theatre.”TRIC 30.1-2 (2009): 58-81.
2011 - Yana Meerzon. “The Exilic Teens: On the Intracultural Encounters in Wajdi Mouawad’s Theatre.”TRIC 30.1-2 (2009): 82-110.
2010 - Laura Levin. “Can the City Speak? Site-Specific Art After Poststructuralism.”Performance and the City. Eds. D.J. Hopkins, Shelley Orr and Kim Solga. London: Palgrave, 2009.
2009 - Kim Solga. “The Line, The Crack, and the Possibility of Architecture: Figure, Ground, Feminist Performance.” TRiC 29.1 (Spring 2008).
2009 (Honourable mention) - Julie Salverson. “Taking liberties: a theatre class of foolish witnesses.” Research in Drama Education 13.2 (June 2008).
2008 - Jennifer Drouin, “Daughters of the Carnivalized Nation in Jean-Pierre Ronfard’s Shakespearean Adaptations Lear and Vie et mort du Roi Boiteux.” TRIC 27.1 (2006).
2007 - Marlis Schweitzer. “Stepping on Stiletto: Kaleidoscope, CAPP, and Controversy.” TRIC 25. 1-2 (2004): 24-42
2007 (Honourable mention) - Jenn Stephenson. “Metatheatre and Authentication through Metonymic Compression in John Mighton’s Possible Worlds.” Theatre Journal 58.1 (March 2006): 73-93.
2006 - Rob Appleford, “Daniel David Moses: A Ghostwriter with a Vengeance,” Aboriginal Drama and Theatre, ed. Rob Appleford. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2005. 150-65.
2005 - Helen Gilbert, “Black and White and Re(a)d All Over Again: Indigenous Minstrelsy in Contemporary Canadian and Australian Theatre,” Theatre Journal 55 (2003): 679-98.
2004 - Denis Salter, “Between Wor(l)ds: LEpage’s Shakespeare Cycle,” Joseph L. Donohoe and Jane Koustas, eds. Theatre sans frontières: Essays on the Dramatic Universe of Robert Lepage. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 2000. 191-204.
2003 - Sherrill Grace, “Creating the Girl from God’s Country: Nell Shipman and Sharon Pollock,” Canadian Literature 172 (2002): 98-117.
2002 - Patricia Badir, “‘So entirely unexpected’: The Modernist Dramaturgy of Marjorie Pickthall’s The Wood-Carver’s Wife,” Modern Drama 43.2 (Summer 2000).
2001 - Margaret Groome, “Affirmative Shakespeare at Canada’s Stratford Festival,” Essays in Theatre 17.2 (May 1999): 139-64.
2000 - Denis Salter, “Hector Willoughby Charlesworth and the Nationalization of Cultural Authority, 1890 – 1945,” Establishing Our Boundaries: English-Canadian Theatre Criticism, ed. Anton Wagner. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
1999 - Jonathan Rittenhouse, “‘Our Granada’: The Granada Theatre, Wellington Street, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, America, the World and Me.” TRIC/RTC 18.2 (Fall 1997): 148-166.
1998 - Robert Nunn, “”Flickering Lights and Declaiming Bodies: Semiosis in Film and Theatre,”TRIC/RTC 17.2 (Fall 1996): 147-159.
1997 - Alan Filewod, “The Comintern and the Canon: Workers’ Theatre, Eight Men Speak and the Genealogy of Mise en scène,” Australasian Drama Studies 29 (Oct. 1996): 17-32.
1996 Not awarded this year.
1995 - Jennifer Harvie & Ric Knowles, “Dialogic Monologue: a Dialogue” TRIC/RTC 15 (Fall 1994):136-163;
1995 - Patrick O’Neill, “The Impact of Copyright Legislation Upon the Publication of Sheet Music in Canada, Prior to 1924,” The Journal of Canadian Studies 28.3 (Fall 1993): 105-22.
1994 - Sheila Rabillard, “Absorption, Elimination, and the Hybrid: Some Impure Questions of Gender and Culture in the Trickster Drama of Tomson Highway,” Essays in Theatre/Études théâtrales 12.1 (Nov. 1993), 3-27.
1993 - Ric Knowles, “The Dramaturgy of the Perverse,” Theatre Research International 17.3: 226-35
1992 - Robert Nunn, “Canada Incognita: Has Quebec Theatre Discovered English-Canadian Plays?” Theatrum 24: 15-19.
1991 - Manina Jones, “The Collage in Motion: Staging the Documentary in Reaney’s Sticks and Stones,” Canadian Drama 16.1 (1989): 1-23.
1990 - Alan Filewod, “Erasing Historical Difference: The Alternative Orthodoxy in Canadian Theatre,” Theatre Journal 41.2 (May 1989): 201-21.
1989 - Ric Knowles, “The Legacy of the Festival Stage,” CTR 54 (Spring 1988): 39-45.