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Update on the MRDS CFP for Kalamazoo: Session 3, Liturgical Drama Performance: A Session in Memory of Fletcher Collins, Jr., is now full. Please do not submit any further abstract for that session. And session 1, Performance in German-Speaking Lands, is filling fast. Please submit your abstract ASAP if you would like to have it considered for that session. Thanks, Gloria Betcher ***************************** >The Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society (MRDS) will be sponsoring 4 >sessions at the International Medieval Congress in 2006 and co-sponsoring >a fifth session with MEDICA. We're hoping that you'll find something to >interest you in our varied assortment. Abstracts are now being accepted >for the following topics: > >1) Performance in German-Speaking Lands > >Recent scholarship on early German theater has focused on plays' >performative aspects exploring gesture, ritual, staging, and audience >engagement within local contexts. European colleagues draw on >Anglo-American theories of performance, but modify them in accordance with >the distinct performance traditions of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. >New approaches to the study of early theater in German-Speaking lands >warrant closer attention by American colleagues. > >2) What Theater Studies Brings to Medieval Studies > >Discussions of medieval theater history often focus primarily on text. >This panel considers ways in which interdisciplinary work in performance >history and the study of theater--its practice, language, communal >nature--enlivens and enriches the study of medieval history. > >3) Liturgical Drama Performance: A Session in Memory of Fletcher Collins, >Jr., >Fletcher Collins, Jr. (d. 6 May 2005), was crucial to spurring interest in >production of the larger repertoire of medieval music-dramas. His >_Production of Medieval Church Music-Drama_ challenged scholars to present >the liturgical repertoire as visual shows consistent with iconographic >evidence, while his edition of sixteen plays with music was a collection >of performable transcriptions intended to encourage others to solve >problems of transcription. This session focuses on production of >liturgical drama, its music, and the embedding of individual plays in the >liturgy. These matters have seen considerable development since they were >last discussed at Kalamazoo and now merit discussion in an >interdisciplinary memorial session. Session if filled. > >4) Performance in the Early Modern Household > >Among the most significant discoveries of the past decade is the wealth of >documentary evidence of dramatic performances in the great households of >late medieval and early modern England. This session will focus on the >plays, personnel, and performing spaces of these private entertainments. > >We are also co-sponsoring a session with MEDICA this year: > >(5) Jointly sponsored session organized by MEDICA: Performing Medicine on >the Early Page and Stage > >This session will add a new dimension to ongoing discussions of two >current areas of scholarly interest: the early body as metaphor and the >physicality of the stage. Papers will employ interdisciplinary approaches >to explore the performative aspects of early medicine and the medical >aspects of early drama: emphasis will be on doctors, doctoring, health and >disease as they are depicted in early texts and performances. MEDICA >representative Gerard NeCastro <[log in to unmask]> will accept abstracts >for this session. > > >MRDS welcomes papers on any aspects of performance suited to these general >topics. > >Please submit abstracts for topics 1-4 above by September 15th (sooner is >better) to Gloria Betcher at the address below. E-mail submissions are >preferred because we need to send any abstracts not accepted by MRDS to >the conference organizers for general sessions. If you send an abstract, >please remember to provide the following: >your name and affiliation, >a title for your paper, >your contact information (including office and home phone numbers, fax >number, and e-mail address), >an abstract cover sheet available at >http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/41cfp/forms.html and >your A/V or computer needs as required on the abstract cover sheet. >You can fill in the interactive abstract cover sheet online, save a copy, >and send it as an E-mail attachment. NOTE THAT WE MUST HAVE AN ABSTRACT >COVER SHEET TO PLACE YOUR PAPER IN A SESSION. > >We look forward to your submissions!