Standing Session

Drama, Theater, and Performance / Genres and Audiences

Kimberly Jew (University of Utah)
kimb@****.com (Log-in to reveal)

Judith Saunders (Contra Costa College)
judi@****.com (Log-in to reveal)

Drama has long served as a communal mirror to society, reflecting its habits, aesthetics, politics, and cultural norms. This session seeks to discuss the many ways in which drama reveals its intricate relationship to society. Papers for this roundtable session are welcomed that explore how drama supports, embodies, and critiques the society in which it was created; how theater arts, with its variety of tools, successfully conveys the complexities of such a relationship. Papers are also encouraged to consider the topic from the perspective of diverse places, time periods, and genres.

Drama has long served as a communal mirror to society, reflecting its habits, aesthetics, politics, and cultural norms. This session seeks to discuss the many ways in which drama reveals its intricate relationship to society. Papers for this roundtable session are welcomed that explore how drama supports, embodies, and critiques the society in which it was created; how theater arts, with its variety of tools, successfully conveys the complexities of such a relationship. Papers are also encouraged to consider the topic from the perspective of diverse places, time periods, and genres.

This year papers are also welcome that address the conference theme “Shifting Perspectives.” This theme resonates with drama’s role in expressing shifting ideologies, changing attitudes toward identity and shifting identities, experiments with dramatic practices and aesthetics, and shifts in cultural perspectives.