theatre and performance studies

MLA 2027 Panel: Beyond Emancipation? Stages of Protest, Resistance, and Agency for the 21st Century

updated: 
Monday, February 16, 2026 - 8:57am
Modern Language Assoc'at'on
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, March 20, 2026

How might theatre and performance come to confront the global rise of populism, while setting the stage for, and potentially provoking a reconceptualization of, emancipatory ways of being in the world? Please send 250-word abstracts and brief bios to Rüstem Ertuğ Altınay, University of Milan (ertug.altinay@unimi.it) and Sharon Lois Mazer, Auckland University of Technology (sharon.mazer@aut.ac.nz)

2026 Wenshan x TSA International Conference: Shakespeare Across Centuries: Reception, Resonance, and Reinvention

updated: 
Friday, February 13, 2026 - 12:12pm
Department of English, National Chengchi University & Taiwan Shakespeare Association
deadline for submissions: 
Tuesday, March 10, 2026

2026 Wenshan x TSA International Conference Call for Papers

 

Hosted by: NCCU Department of English, Taiwan Shakespeare Association

 

Date: November 29, 2026

Venue: National Chengchi University

 

Shakespeare Across Centuries:

Reception, Resonance, and Reinvention

 

Shakespeare’s works continue to inhabit what Stephen Greenblatt calls a “circulating

Call for Book Proposals - Rolling

updated: 
Monday, February 9, 2026 - 2:10pm
VoyGull Press
deadline for submissions: 
Thursday, December 31, 2026

Call for Book Proposals

VoyGull Press | Emerging Voices Series, Edited Volumes, Handbook Series

VoyGull Publishing Centre Ltd UK

Diamond Open Access Publisher in Social Sciences & Humanities

 

About VoyGull Press

VoyGull Press is the publishing imprint of VoyGull Publishing Centre Ltd, a UK-based academic publisher committed to democratizing scholarly knowledge. As a young and ambitious publisher, we are building a new model for academic publishing that is grounded in equity, accessibility, and intellectual rigour.

Conrad Adapted: Cinematic and Otherwise

updated: 
Saturday, February 7, 2026 - 2:31pm
Modern Language Association/Joseph Conrad Society of America
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, March 15, 2026

Papers, delivered in English, on adaptations of works by Joseph Conrad, in any form and language, including film, television, games, opera, theatre, musical compositions, and graphic novels. This is the planned guaranteed session for the Joseph Conrad Society of America Allied Organization at the Modern Language Association Convention in January 2027. Email 300 word proposals and a 100-word biography to Jana Giles, giles@ulm.edu. Deadline: March 15, 2026.

For further information and to see the call posted on the MLA website, see: https://mla.confex.com/mla/2027/webprogrampreliminary/index.html.

 

 

In a Conference Far, Far Away…Traversing Forms of the Folkloric

updated: 
Thursday, February 5, 2026 - 1:10pm
NYU Comparative Literature Graduate Conference
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, March 1, 2026

 In a Conference Far, Far Away…Traversing Forms of the Folkloric  (Graduate Student Conference)

 New York University, Department of Comparative Literature: Friday, May 1, 2026

 

‘A breeze in God’: The Spirituality of Music and Song

updated: 
Monday, February 2, 2026 - 3:30pm
Parthenope University Naples Italy
deadline for submissions: 
Thursday, April 30, 2026

‘A breeze in God’: The Spirituality of Music and Song

 

International Conference.

 

September 10th-11th 2026.

 

Parthenope University, Naples, Italy

 

Organised by Raffaella Antinucci (Parthenope), Adrian Grafe (Textes & Cultures research lab, Université d’Artois, France)

 

Disability Theatre and Performance Emerging Scholars Panel Call for Papers

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 1:00pm
Disability Theatre and Performance Focus Group at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, May 17, 2026

The American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS) and the Disability in Theatre and Performance focus group (DTaP) invite submissions of conference-length essays (8-10 pages) from current graduate students or early-career scholars, particularly those who have yet to present at a major conference. Accepted submissions will present at our emerging scholars joint debut panel during the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference held in Baltimore, MD from July 22nd-26th, 2026.

King’s College London & Shakespeare's Globe Postgraduate Conference 2026: Early Modern Networks

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 12:27pm
King's College London/Shakespeare's Globe
deadline for submissions: 
Tuesday, February 17, 2026

This year, we turn our attention to the intricate, invisible, but often tangible webs that bound the early modern world together. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were defined by a profound density of connection - a world of intense social binding, material circulation, and intellectual exchange. From the “knot intrinsicate” of Cleopatra’s demise to the conspiracy of rumours that entraps Othello, early modern drama is obsessed with the architecture of entanglement.

Monster Media Conference 2026

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 12:08pm
Julia Larsen / University of Edinburgh
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, March 15, 2026

 

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Desert, Then and Now

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 12:05pm
Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy
deadline for submissions: 
Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Frank Lloyd Wright began wintering in the Sonoran Desert in the late 1920s, where the region’s extreme climate and tectonic landscape shaped by sun, erosion, and wind profoundly influenced his thinking about architecture. How did Wright respond to the beautiful yet hostile desert environment?

Call for contributions: Audience Participation as Vernacular Practice

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 12:05pm
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama University of London
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, May 1, 2026

Call for contributions: Audience Participation as Vernacular Practice

 

We are seeking contributions for an edited volume on the subject of audience participation across performance forms and traditions, focusing on practices that evolve among audience communities, rather than being led by performance makers or artists.

 

This volume will be published by State University of New York Press as part of the series Studies in Vernacular Music.

 

Sensation: The Sounds, Visions, and Words of David Bowie

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 12:04pm
University of Agder
deadline for submissions: 
Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Call for papers

 

Sensation: The Sounds, Visions, and Words of David Bowie

 

Academic conference, University of Agder, Norway

29. – 30. September 2026

 

Violence in Early Modern English Drama: From Stage to Screen

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 11:37am
ESSE 2026
deadline for submissions: 
Saturday, January 31, 2026

ESSE 2026 conference, Santiago de Compostela (SPAIN)

31st August - 4st September 2026

Seminar 61.- Violence in Early Modern English Drama: From Stage to Screen

From the brutality of Titus Andronicus to the psychological torment of The Duchess of Malfi, early modern English drama is saturated with violence—performed or described, symbolic or spectacular. This seminar will explore how violence has functioned as a dramatic, cultural, and ideological force in early modern English theatre, and how its representations have evolved across time, including contemporary screen adaptations and TV series that borrow early modern tropes of violence, such as House of Cards or Game of Thrones.

CfP New issue: Essence & Critique: Journal of Literature and Drama Studies (ISSN: 2791-6553)

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 11:33am
ssence & Critique: Journal of Literature and Drama Studies
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, May 15, 2026

 

Essence & Critique: Journal of Literature and Drama Studies invites submissions for the New issue of the journal - a general issue on Literature and Drama Studies. 

Indexed by MLA and EBSCO databases.

Essence & Critique: Journal of Literature and Drama Studies is an open access peer-reviewed academic journal that serves as a forum for multi- and interdisciplinary discussions across Literature and Drama Studies, providing academicians, scholars, professionals and students with the opportunity to disseminate their research to a diverse audience of peers and professionals.

The second issue aims to cover literary and theatrical works in general.

Call for Papers ETKI: Journal of Literature, Theatre and Culture Studies (ISSN: 2822-3950)

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 11:26am
ETKI: Journal of Literature, Theatre and Culture Studies
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, May 15, 2026

Call for Papers

ETKI: Journal of Literature, Theatre and Culture Studies

ETKI: Journal of Literature, Theatre and Culture Studies invites submissions for the New issue of the journal - a general issue on literature, theatre and culture studies.

Embodied Aesthetics: The Body and Embodiment in the Arts and Arts-Based Research

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 9:48am
London Arts-Based Research Centre
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, April 26, 2026

Embodied Aesthetics:

The Body and Embodiment in the Arts and Arts-Based Research

(A Transdisciplinary Conference June 20-21, 2026)

 

When/Where:

June 20: at the Association of Jungian Analysts’ Centre in London and Online

June 21: Online only

 

Fees (for both attendees and presenters):
£180 (In person participation)
£100 (Online participation)

MLA 2027 Special Session Proposal: "Doing the Thing: Objects Scripting Action in Late Medieval England"

updated: 
Thursday, January 29, 2026 - 9:47am
Ryan A.M. Randle, Ph.D Candidate, Medieval Studies Program, Cornell University
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, March 8, 2026

Writing about a series of human-object relationships, Robin Bernstein employs the term “scriptive thing” to articulate how objects become things when they orient, choreograph, or compel human action. In one such case study, she analyzes a photograph of a woman posing with a racist caricature at the Hotel Exposition in New York’s Grand Central Palace, circa 1930. Using this photo, she further clarifies the nature of this particular subject-object relationship, stating that it is “neither an isolated woman and her ‘whys’ nor an isolated caricature and its textual ‘hows,’ but instead through a complex interaction between the two figures,” that the photo constructs race.

(Dossier) Shakespeare Between Text, Stage, and Criticism: (im)permanences

updated: 
Friday, January 23, 2026 - 4:18pm
Laura Ribeiro Araújo
deadline for submissions: 
Thursday, September 10, 2026

Academic Journal: Em Tese (ISSN 1982-0739)
Submission format: .doc or .docx, font 12, spacing 1,5, from 10 to 20 pages long.
Submission guidelines: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/emt/about/submissions 
Submission system: OJS 3.0
Journal homepage: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/emt/index
Questions: lauraribaraujo@gmail.com

Performance Between Persistent Post-Truths

updated: 
Friday, January 23, 2026 - 12:46pm
Daniel Dilliplane / Stetson University
deadline for submissions: 
Monday, March 16, 2026

In 2016, Oxford Dictionaries named “post-truth” its Word of the Year, marking a shift towards skepticism of facts and scientific institutions alongside the rising influence of emotion and opinion in shaping public knowledge. In the decade since, we have witnessed the further erosion of consensus truth as multiple constructions of the “real” proliferate throughout divergent media ecosystems, accelerated by emerging technologies and polarizing political orientations towards race, gender, class, and sexuality. 

Proposals Open on Circus History Topics and Circus Paper Student Prize

updated: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 - 1:39pm
Circus Historical Society
deadline for submissions: 
Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Circus Historical Society Convention 2026

The 2026 Circus Historical Society Convention will be held in Baraboo Wisconsin from June 10 – 13, 2026. Convention will conclude with Baraboo’s Big Top Parade. Registration and other information will be available soon. 

Call for Papers 

Proposals are now being accepted for Convention presentations on any subject related to circus history. We invite proposals for single speakers and groups. All proposals must be received using the online form by March 31, 2026. Visit https://circushistory.org/next-convention/ to submit your proposal today. 

2026 CHS Student Prize

Of Clay and Dust: A 6 Day Extensive Body Movement Workshop

updated: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 - 1:38pm
Centre for Comparative Literature, Bhasha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, in collaboration with Department of Yogic Art and Science, Vinaya Bhavana, Visva-Bharati
deadline for submissions: 
Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Centre for Comparative Literature, Bhasha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati,

in collaboration with

Department of Yogic Art and Science, Vinaya Bhavana, Visva-Bharati

presents

 

Of Clay and Dust

 

6 days extensive body movement workshop

 

Body awareness

Narrative based movements

Body conditioning

Introduction to Odissi with marshal arts like Mayurbhanj Chhau and Kalaripayattu

Introduction to basic Abhinaya

How to work with musicians and script

How to develop performance

 

Facilitated by Monami Nandy

 

February 16-21, 2026

Venue: Dhyana Kutir, Yoga Village Premises, Vinaya Bhavana, Visva-Bharati

 

Gender and Supernatural

updated: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 - 1:35pm
Early Modern Society
deadline for submissions: 
Saturday, February 28, 2026

Call for Papers 2026

Deadline: February 28th 2026

Theme: Gender and Supernatural

“You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.” Macbeth 1.3.46-47

Legacies of Performance: Inheriting Pasts & Imagining Futures

updated: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 - 1:30pm
University of California, Santa Barbara Department of Theater and Dance Graduate Symposium
deadline for submissions: 
Monday, February 16, 2026

Legacies of Performance: Inheriting Pasts & Imagining Futures

Graduate Student Symposium

 

Sponsored by the Department of Theater and Dance

University of California, Santa Barbara

 

April 18, 2026

 

“Every image of the past that is not recognised by the present as one of its own threatens to disappear irretrievably.” – Walter Benjamin, 1942

“I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.” – Audre Lorde, 1978

Cyborg Voices: Identity, Artistry, and Performance in the Age of AI

updated: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 - 1:26pm
Chloe Kirson-Jones
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, February 20, 2026

Call for Chapters for an edited volume titled: Cyborg Voices: Identity, Artistry, and Performance in the Age of AI

Editor: Chloe Kirson-Jones
Publisher: Jenny Stanford publishing distributed through Taylor and Francis/Routledge
Projected Publication: January 2027

 

Overview

How does the voice change when it becomes digital, disembodied, and co-created with machines?

Permanent Call: JEASA - Journal of the European Association for Studies of Australia

updated: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 - 1:25pm
European Association for Studies of Australia
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, May 31, 2026

JEASA - Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia - permanent call deadline for submissions: 31 May 2026; 30 September 2026 full name / name of organization: Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia contact email: marilena.parlati@unipd.it 

 

Scholarship at the End of the World: Approaches to the (post)Anthropocene in Theory and Practice

updated: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 - 10:59am
Theory Theater Performance, Indiana University, Bloomington
deadline for submissions: 
Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Abstract 

The “end of the world” names a methodological problem before it names an apocalypse: how do humanities scholars and artist-researchers think, make, and teach when climate disruption, extinction, extractive infrastructures, forced displacement, and slow violence reformat what counts as evidence, what counts as futurity, and what counts as responsibility? This conference convenes research and practice across film, theatre, performance, and allied arts to ask how (post)Anthropocene conditions are not only represented but produced, felt, and negotiated through aesthetic forms, production systems, embodied publics, and more-than-human milieus. 

Wooden O Symposium

updated: 
Friday, January 9, 2026 - 7:13pm
Southern Utah University-Utah Shakespeare Festival
deadline for submissions: 
Tuesday, March 31, 2026

August 3-5, 2026

Southern Utah University - Utah Shakespeare Festival

 

The Wooden O Symposium is a cross-disciplinary conference exploring the impact of Shakespeare's plays on culture and history, from his time to the present. This face-to-face conference aims to foster research in the field of Shakespeare Studies and to provide connections between academia and professional theatre productions through our partnership with the Utah Shakespeare Festival. The Wooden O Symposium limits participation to 25 presenters to ensure robust conversation and feedback as we strive to create a community of scholars engaged with the work of Shakespeare.

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