Category Archives: announcements

Dance/Performance Studies Asst. Prof @ Bowdoin

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Come work with me at Bowdoin College! Join a creative and collaborative group of people who are re-imagining dance, theater, and performance in the liberal arts of the 21st century. Join us! Any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.

~SBC

Assistant Professor of Dance/Performance Studies

The Department of Theater and Dance at Bowdoin College invites applications to the position of Assistant Professor of Dance, with a specialization in dance and performance studies of Africa and/or the African diaspora, to begin July 1, 2017. As a collaborative and interdisciplinary department, Theater and Dance is committed to student achievement in the performing arts. As such, we encourage inquiries from candidates who will enrich and contribute to the cultural and ethnic diversity of our department and college. Specifically, we seek applications from those who can contribute expertise in either dance studies or critical studio practice, and who can connect the field of dance to other areas of study. The teaching load is two courses each semester. The successful candidate will offer a range of courses in critical dance or performance studies, as well as develop courses in areas of individual specialization. Courses will be cross listed with our Africana Studies Program, as appropriate. Contributions to the curriculum may include both studio practice and writing-intensive courses, depending on qualifications and interests. Teaching responsibilities could also include contributions to the Introduction to Africana Studies course in rotation with Africana Studies Program faculty. The successful candidate will possess effective collaborative skills, interdisciplinary adventurousness, and enthusiasm for teaching, mentoring, and advising a diverse population of students. Terminal degree (M.F.A. or Ph.D.) expected by time of appointment.

Bowdoin College accepts only electronic submissions.  Please visit https://careers.bowdoin.edu to submit: a letter of application that describes a research agenda and approach to teaching performance in the liberal arts; curriculum vitae; writing sample; and the names and contact information for three references who have agreed to provide letters of recommendation upon request.

Review of applications begins October 1, 2016, and will continue until position is filled.

A highly selective liberal arts college on the Maine coast with a diverse student body made up of 31% students of color, 5% international students and approximately 15% first generation college students, Bowdoin College is committed to equality and is an equal opportunity employer. Bowdoin College does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, color, religion, marital status, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, veteran status, national origin, or disability status in employment, or in our education programs.

Bowdoin College offers strong support for faculty research and teaching.  We recognize that recruiting and retaining faculty may involve considerations of spouses and domestic partners.  To that end, where possible, the College will attempt to accommodate and respond creatively to the needs of spouses and partners of members of the faculty.

For further information about the college please visit our website: http://www.bowdoin.edu

 

Farewell Utrecht and Digital History

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I’m both excited (and a bit melancholic) to announce that on 17 December, I will deliver the Christmas lecture on “Why Theatre?” at Het Huis. I’m honored to be a part of this great series at Het Huis, one of my favorite performance venues in Utrecht. Het Huis has sponsored a number of excellent talks and performances over the years, so it’s a real pleasure to participate especially as part of the Christmas-time celebration. I’ll be speaking about my current research project on digital historiography and performance.

But, it will also be bittersweet as my final presentation during my time in Utrecht. On Wednesday, I’ll meet with the Performance and Media seminar for the last time and by the end of the month, I’ll be headed back to the US. My time in Europe has been both stimulating and restorative and I’m very grateful to the excellent staff at the Fulbright Center in Amsterdam for facilitating my fellowship and to my wonderful colleagues at Utrecht University, who have been so generous and welcoming. I’ve also been lucky to have been able to visit with artists, colleagues, and friends at other institutions and, predictably, the time has gone by quickly.

Hopefully, I can deliver a good-bye talk that is worthy of the generosity I have received here.

New Book on Performance and Media

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I’m delighted to announce that my book, Performance and Media: Taxonomies for a Changing Field, is now available from the University of Michigan Press. Co-authored with Jennifer Parker-Starbuck and David Z. Saltz, the book suggests new ways for understanding the relations among theatre, media, and performance both in contemporary practices and historically. It was a pleasure to collaborate on this project with Jen and David. Stay tuned for the interactive, digital companion to the book coming later in 2016.

ACLS Grant – Digital Extension Grants

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New funding opportunity for research in digital humanities.

The ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) has announced a new grant program:The Digital Extension Grant Program. This program builds on the existing Digital Innovation Fellowship Program and is available for collaborative teams, not just individual scholars. More details from their announcement:

ACLS Digital Extension Grants may:

  • Extend existing digital projects and resources with content that adds diversity or interdisciplinary reach;
  • Develop new systems of making existing digital resources available to broader audiences and/or scholars from diverse institutions;
  • Foster new team-based work or collaborations that allow scholars from institutions with limited cyberinfrastructure to exploit digital resources; or
  • Create new forms and sites for scholarly engagement with the digital humanities and new ways to document and recognize participant engagement.

ACLS will award up to six Digital Extension Grants in this competition year. Each grant provides up to $150,000 in funding, supporting a range of project costs, for terms of 12-18 months.

Proposals must be submitted through ACLS’s online application system, which will begin accepting applications October 15. Further information about the program and eligibility criteria is available online at http://www.acls.org/programs/digitalextension/. The application deadline for the inaugural competition of the Digital Extension Grant program is February 2, 2016.

CFP: Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada

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As a member of the editorial board for Theatre Research in Canada/Recherches théâtrales au Canada, I’m pleased to share the latest call for submissions to the special issue: “Defying Stage Monoligualism:
 Bi- and Multilingual Theatre Practices in Canada.” The issue will be edited by Nicole Nolette and Art Babayant, forthcoming in fall 2017. The full call is below in French, then English.

Bien des choses à tous!

***

CALL FOR PAPERS/APPEL À CONTRIBUTIONS

Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada

Bousculer la scène unilingue :
Pratiques théâtrales bi- et plurilingues au Canada
Rédacteur invités : Nicole Nolette et Art Babayant

(English version follows)

La conjoncture entre langue(s) et théâtre a fait coulé beaucoup d’encre au Québec et au Canada francophone, souvent sans distinction du référent sociopolitique. Au Québec, des numéros récents d’Études françaises et de Jeu : revue de théâtre ont posé la question différemment. D’une part, les contributeurs à Études françaises ne s’intéressent « pas tant à la manière dont la langue investit la dramaturgie, qu’à celle dont la dramaturgie investit la langue » (Bovet 6). D’autre part, ceux qui, soit à partir de la position du spectateur ou de celle du praticien, écrivent dans Jeu : revue de théâtre répondent à un appel à penser cet investissement dramaturgique des langues au pluriel, à « franchir le mur des langues » entre communautés théâtrales pour permettre la « cohabitation des langues sur les scènes de théâtre » (Saint-Pierre et Couture).

Du côté anglophone, on a peu donné suite à l’ouvrage panoramique de l’Américain Marvin Carlson, Speaking in Tongues: Languages at Play in the Theatre, pour enquêter les lieux où se joue le plurilinguisme théâtral canadien. De plus, la mise en valeur de l’interculturalisme comme pratique et comme méthode d’analyse a occulté un discours plus spécifique sur la place du plurilinguisme dans le théâtre canadien.

Ce numéro thématique bilingue (français et anglais) propose de mettre côte à côte des praticiens et des chercheurs qui s’intéressent à différentes combinaisons linguistiques du théâtre au Canada. L’idée est de dépasser l’étude des langues du théâtre au Québec et au Canada francophone, et même celle du bilinguisme au Canada, pour traiter plus globalement des multiples formes des langues et du théâtre au Canada. Il s’agit avant tout d’une proposition d’ordre méthodologique et comparatiste, qui offre un aperçu horizontal des différentes combinaisons plurilingues au théâtre au Canada, des différentes communautés théâtrales qu’elles visent et des méthodes qui servent à les analyser.

Axes de réflexion possibles suggérés aux auteurs (liste non exhaustive) :

•    Méthodes de la pratique du théâtre plurilingue au Canada (surtitrage, traduction, traduction ludique, non-traduction,
etc.) et méthodes d’analyse de cette pratique;
•    Théories du plurilinguisme et de l’hétéroglossie (Bakhtine) et leur importance pour 
la pratique et la réflexion théâtrales au Canada;
•    Plurilinguisme et théâtre exilique, diasporique, autochtone, postcolonial, 
postdramatique et environnemental au Canada;
•    Dramaturgie canadienne et effacement du plurilinguisme, stratégies d’évocation du 
plurilinguisme (par ex. jeu des accents);
•    L’acteur plurilingue : formation, développement et reconnaissance;
•    Publics de théâtre et compétences linguistiques au Canada.

Les propositions d’articles comportant vos coordonnées institutionnelles sont à remettre à nnolette@fas.harvard.edu, art.babayants@utoronto.ca et tric.rtac@utoronto.ca jusqu’au 15 janvier 2016. Les propositions seront acceptées pour le 1er février 2016 sous condition d’une évaluation subséquente des articles par les pairs. Les articles de 7000 mots seront à remettre le 15 avril 2016.

Defying Stage Monoligualism:
 Bi- and Multilingual Theatre Practices in Canada

Guest editors: Nicole Nolette and Art Babayant

The intersection between theatre and language(s) has been written about extensively in French within Canada, but often without distinguishing Text from its sociopolitical Context. In Quebec, recent issues of Études françaises and Jeu: revue de théâtre have proposed two different frameworks. Contributors to Études françaises seem less interested in how language affects dramatic works than in how dramatic works transform language (Bovet 6). On the other hand, researchers and practitioners contributing to Jeu: revue de theatre have called for more movement across the ‘walls of language’ separating theatre communities and more space for ‘the co-existence of languages on stage’ (Saint-Pierre and Couture).

In English language literature, Marvin Carlson’s Speaking In Tongues: Languages at Play in the Theatre received little follow-up. Overall, in English Canada the development of intercultural theatre practices and theories seem to have overshadowed discussions on multilingualism in theatre.

This bilingual (French and English) special issue gives voice to practitioners and researchers who investigate various combinations of the use of multiple languages in Canadian theatre. The objective is to go beyond the study of multilingual drama in Quebec and francophone Canada as well as to venture past the question of Canadian bilingualism in order to gain a larger comparative and methodological understanding of various forms of multilingual theatre in Canada, of the various theatre communities addressed by such forms and of the methodologies available to analyse them.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of topics:

•    Practical approaches to stage multilingualism in Canada (surtitling, translation, playful translation, non-translation, 
etc.) and methods of analysis of these various approaches;
•    Theories of multilingualism and heteroglossia (Bakhtin) and their impact on 
theatrical practices and research;
•    Multilingualism in exilic, diasporic, indigenous, postcolonial, postdramatic, site-specific theatre in Canada;
•    Strategies of erasure and evocation of multilingualism in Canadian theatre/drama;
•    Multilingual actor training, development and recognition;
•    Canadian theatre audiences and their linguistic competencies.

Article proposals, including institutional affiliation, should be sent to nnolette@fas.harvard.edu, art.babayants@utoronto.ca and tric.rtac@utoronto.ca by January 15th, 2016. Notice of acceptance, conditional to peer review of full-length articles, will be given by February 1st, 2016. Articles of 7,000 words will be submitted by April 15th, 2016.

Works Cited / Bibliographie

Bovet, Jeanne. « Présentation. » Études françaises 43.1 (2007): 5‑7. Print.
Carlson, Marvin A. Speaking in Tongues: Language at Play in the Theatre. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006. Print.
Couture, Philippe, et Christian Saint-Pierre. « À quand un théâtre montréalais bilingue? » Jeu: Revue de théâtre 145 (2012): 6‑8. Print.

Robots and Performance

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Next month I’m delighted to present at a special session on “Robots and Performance” sponsored by Robot Culture and Aesthetics (ROCA), a research collaboration among faculty at the University of Copenhagen and Aalborg University in Denmark. It’s a privilege to be on the ROCA advisory board, so I’m very excited to present in this venue. And, Copenhagen is one of my favorite cities.

“Machine Vision: Robots, Cinema, and Posthuman Performance”

The presentation with Elizabeth Jochum (Aalborg University) and Gunhild Borggreen (University of Copenhagen) is scheduled for 14.00h on 10 October at Københavns Universitet Amager, lokale 27.0.09, bygning 27, Njalsgade 136, 2300 Khb S. There’s a Facebook event announcement here.

Faculty Position Announcement: Dance

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Job Announcement: Assistant Professor of Dance
Bowdoin College
Submission Deadline: September 30, 2015

Dance Colleagues: Join me at Bowdoin College! The Department of Theater and Dance is currently accepting applications for a tenure-track position in Dance to begin July 2016. Great opportunity to work with generous, collaborative colleagues and smart students in a supportive and dynamic artistic and academic environment. Details posted here.

A highly selective liberal arts college on the Maine coast with a diverse student body made up of 29% students of color, 3% International students and approximately 15% first generation college students, Bowdoin College is committed to equality and diversity and is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage inquiries from candidates who will enrich and contribute to the cultural, socio-economic, and ethnic diversity of our college. Bowdoin College does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, color, religion, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, national origin, or disability status in employment, or in our education programs. For further information about the college and the department, see our website at www.bowdoin.edu.

CFP: Performance and Disability – Special Issue of Theatre Research in Canada/Recherches théâtrales au Canada

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
Performance and Disability
Deadline: Aug. 1, 2015
Special Issue of Theatre Research in Canada/ Recherches théâtrales au Canada
French-language translation follows.

Guest Editor: Kirsty Johnston, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia

In 2012 the Canada Council for the Arts released an access and equality strategy targeting Deaf and disability arts.[1]  While on one level this signaled a new direction for funding and support to “expand the arts” according to the council’s equity strategy, it also built from a recognition “that Deaf and disability arts are important evolving sectors and art practices in the Canadian arts ecology, to be supported, promoted and advanced.”[2] This theme issue builds from a similar recognition: that disability theatre and performance are an evolving and lively field of arts innovation and practice in Canada that deserve wider recognition and criticism. Although Canadian disability theatre can point to historical antecedents with some shared principles, it is generally understood to have emerged in the 1990s as a host of disability artists and activists sought to take the stage in order to recast and reimagine what disability means and entails in performance. Rejecting hackneyed stereotypes and performance traditions that encourage “cripping up,” artists developed new theatre companies, plays, dramaturgical processes, and performance practices.[3] They raised fundamental questions about social inclusion and justice, identity, arts access, and the body. Since the foundations of the field were laid, disability theatre in Canada has expanded into new centres, connected with international artistic alliances and collaborations, and in some cases, struggled to maintain momentum.

In view of this sustained artistic activity and recent national initiatives to support, promote, and advance its precepts and practices, this issue invites examinations of the many ways that the terms “disability,” “theatre,” and “performance,” can and have provoked one another. Where, why, and how have disability theatre and disability performance developed in Canada (or not)? With what means and challenges? What artists, companies, policies and practices have supported or hindered expansion? What fundamental questions do disability theatre and disability performance raise for performance criticism more broadly? How are performance theories concerning embodiment, space, affect or intermediality  recast through a disability studies lens? How have performance scholars and reviewers imagined disabled people among their target audiences (or not)? What debates have animated scholars and practitioners? What, in short, is the cutting edge of the field and why?

We invite submissions on this theme by August 1, 2015. Full articles should be no longer than 7,000 words, typed double-spaced, following the internal editorial style found in the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing –3rd Edition (New York: Modern Language Association, 2008). Please submit articles, along with an abstract and brief biographical note, via email attachment to tric.rtac@utoronto.ca. Please contact Kirsty.Johnston@ubc.ca with any specific questions.

——-
APPEL À CONTRIBUTIONS : Performances handicap

Numéro thématique de Recherches théâtrales au Canada/ Theatre Research in Canada
À paraître sous la direction de Kirsty Johnston, professeure agrégée, University of British Columbia

En 2012, le Conseil des arts du Canada annonçait l’adoption d’une stratégie d’accès et d’égalité à l’intention des artistes handicapés ou sourds.[1] L’initiative signalait une nouvelle orientation au chapitre du financement et de l’appui accordé par le CAC à « l’art à part entière » et prenait acte du fait que « la pratique des artistes handicapés ou sourds représente un secteur et des pratiques de grande importance dans le milieu artistique canadien et qu’il faut soutenir, promouvoir et favoriser son évolution »[2]. Ce numéro thématique part d’une reconnaissance semblable : au Canada, le théâtre et la performance handicap forment un champ d’innovation et de création artistique dynamique qui est marqué par une évolution rapide et qui mérite d’être mieux reconnu et d’être exploré plus en profondeur. Sur le plan historique, il existe des antécédents dont les principes ont beaucoup d’éléments en commun avec cette forme de théâtre, mais il est généralement admis que ce courant est apparu pendant les années 1990, quand une multitude d’artistes et d’activistes ayant un handicap ont voulu monter sur scène pour revoir la signification et les implications de l’invalidité dans le contexte d’une performance. Un certain nombre d’opposants aux vieux préjugés et aux traditions d’interprétation qui encourageaient les artistes à « jouer l’estropié » ont fondé des compagnies de théâtre, ont créé des pièces et mis au point des procédés dramaturgiques et des pratiques d’interprétation.[3] À la contribution de ces personnes s’est ajoutée toute une série de questions fondamentales sur l’inclusion et la justice sociale, sur l’identité, sur l’accès aux arts, sur le corps. Depuis que les balises du théâtre handicap ont été posées, le champ s’est dans étendu à plusieurs centres canadiens et a donné lieu à des alliances et à des collaborations artistiques d’envergure internationale qui, dans certains cas, ont du mal à continuer sur leur lancée.

Compte tenu de cette activité artistique soutenue et des initiatives nationales qui veulent appuyer et promouvoir ces principes et ces practices, nous vous invitons, dans le cadre de ce numéro, à examiner les divers moyens par lesquels les termes « handicap », « théâtre » et « performance » ont pu se provoquer les uns les autres, que ce soit à l’heure actuelle ou par le passé. Où, pourquoi et comment le théâtre et la performance handicap se sont-ils développés (ou non) au Canada? Quels moyens ont servi? Quels défis se sont présentés? Quels artistes, quelles compagnies, quelles politiques et pratiques ont pu appuyer leur évolution ou, au contraire, l’entraver? Quelles questions fondamentales posent le théâtre et la performance handicap à l’égard de la critique des performances, plus largement? Quels sont les effets sur les théories de performance à l’égard de la personnification, de l’espace, de l’affect et de l’intermédialité quand ces notions sont vues à travers le prisme des études sur le handicap? Comment  les chercheurs et les critiques associés aux études de performance ont-il imaginé (ou non) les personnes ayant un handicap dans leur public cible (or not)? Quels débats ont piqué l’intérêt des chercheurs et des praticiens? Bref, quelles questions sont au cœur des principales réflexions menées dans ce domaine en ce moment, et pourquoi?

Nous vous invitons à soumettre vos contributions sur ce thème d’ici le 1er août 2015. Les articles ne doivent pas compter plus de 7000 mots et doivent être présentés à interligne double et être mis en forme selon les normes MLA (voir le MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Edition, New York : Modern Language Association, 2008). Veuillez envoyer vos articles de même qu’une brève notice biographique à tric.rtac@utoronto.ca. Si vous avez besoin de précisions, vous pouvez vous adresser à Kirsty.Johnston@ubc.ca.

[1] For general policy/ La documentation associée à la stratégie :: http://canadacouncil.ca/council/research/find-research/2012/expanding-the-arts-deaf-and-disability-arts

[2] For quote/ Tiré du sommaire de la Stratégie :: http://canadacouncil.ca/~/media/files/research%20-%20en/deaf%20and%20disability%20arts%20access%20and%20equality%20strategy/executivesummaryexpandingtheartsdeafanddisabilityartsaccessandequalitystrategy.pdf?mw=1382

[3] Carrie Sandahl, who in a footnote credits disabled UK playwright Kaite O’Reilly with coining the term explains, “In the disability arts and activist communities, casting non-disabled actors as disabled characters is called pejoratively ‘cripping up,’ referencing the outdated practice of white actors ‘blacking up’ to play African American characters.” Sandahl, C. “Why Disability Identity Matters: From Dramaturgy to Casting in John Belluso’s Pyretown” in Text and Performance Quarterly 28.1 (2008): 236.

Dans une note de bas de page, Carrie Sandahl attribue l’origine de l’expression à Kaite O’Reilly, dramaturge britannique handicapée, et offre l’explication suivante : « Dans les cercles d’artistes et d’activistes ayant un handicap, quand nous voyons qu’un artiste sans handicap se fait attribuer le rôle d’un personnage handicapé, nous utilisons l’expression péjorative ‘cripping up’ (‘jouer l’estropié’), un renvoi au ‘blacking up’, cette pratique désuète qui voyait les acteurs noirs se noircir le visage pour interpréter un personnage afro-américain. » Sandahl, C., « Why Disability Identity Matters: From Dramaturgy to Casting in John Belluso’s Pyretown ». Text and Performance Quarterly 28.1 (2008) : 236 (traduction libre).

Talk at Cornell – 11•19•2013

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November 19, I’ll be talking about digital historiography and performance at Cornell as part of the New Directions in Media and Performance Studies Speakers Series. If you’re in the Ithaca area, stop by!

Details: https://events.cornell.edu/event/sarah_bay-cheng

Positions Announcement: York University – 2 Canada Research Chair

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York University in Toronto is currently searching for two Canada Research Chairs:

Interactive Information Visualization, Assistant/Associate

Digital Performance/Embedded Performance Systems, Assistant/Associate

Details are attached:

CRC Information Visualization Posting_EL

CRC Digital Performance Posting_EL