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Gloria J Betcher wrote:

> 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.
> *
> 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!
>
> Gloria Betcher

Sounds great, Gloria. Fiona Somerset and I are working on a joint
session MRDS/Lollard Soc for Leeds. We have a title and she is
circulating the Lollard Soc list. As soon as she gets the tentative
outline to me I will be asking you to send the call for papers to the
MRDS list. Both she and I are prepared to give papers so if there is a
crashing silence it won't matter too much!