Organizers for the following MRDS sponsored sessions at the International Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo (May 12-15, 2011) are still entertaining proposals from potential participants. Both are roundtables. Deadline: Sept 15, or as soon as possible!
Lighting the Flame: Teaching Early Drama in the Undergraduate Classroom – A Roundtable
Most students’ introduction to early drama, either medieval or early modern, occurs in the undergraduate classroom, often in a survey course. This session seeks to illuminate varied approaches and pedagogies by which we can excite in the next generation an interest in these texts and performances. Topics may treat issues of text and context, performance, use of technology and the web, adaptation and translation, the treatment of early drama in literature anthologies, and the challenge of keeping early non-Shakespearean drama in the curriculum. Discussions of medieval and early modern (non-Shakespearean), British and Continental drama are invited. Please send proposals to Gloria Betcher ([log in to unmask])
Follow up to Chester 2010: What did we learn? – A Round-table
In May of 2010, the University of Toronto hosted the Chester 2010 Performance Experiment and Symposium, in which, over three days, a cast of over 300 from over twenty institutions performed all twenty-three plays on pageant wagons at three viewing stations around Victoria College. The text was an adaptation/reconstruction of the 1572 version of the cycle, which Protestant preacher Christopher Goodman demanded be banned, because of the plays’ Catholic nature. The symposium also featured academic papers related to the Chester cycle. This round-table panel is an opportunity for us to discuss more fully how this performance experiment affected our understanding of the cycle, the 1572 context, and the nature of performing these plays in our time. Proposals for short presentations from those present are invited, as we would like to encourage varied viewpoints and discussion. Please send proposals to Carolyn Coulson-Grigsby ([log in to unmask]).
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Carolyn Coulson-Grigsby
MRDS Secretary/Treasurer
Assistant Professor of Theatre and Humanities
Shenandoah Conservatory
Shenandoah University
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