cfp.english.upenn.edu

Call For Papers
“FOUR-FOOTED ACTORS: LIVE ANIMALS ON THE STAGE”
12-14 December 2012,
University of Valencia, Spain

The aim of this conference is to explore the role of live animals on the stage, from the early modern era to the present time. Papers dealing with visual or textual representations of performing animals, typologies of animals in the theatre, the hybridisation of the drama with the circus, the zoo and the cinema, as well as the semiotic transfer of animal roles from the text to the stage are particularly welcome. Corollary topics may also include, but are not limited to:

- Animals and the birth of the mass-entertainment industry
- Animals and the cinema
- Animals and melodrama
- Animals and the opera
- Animals and pantomime
- Animals and deformity
- Monster & freak animals on the stage and/or the screen
- Symbolic animals and their filmic/theatrical representation
- Educability and animal training for the stage
- Sentience and animals as moral beings
- Anthropocentrism over non-human others
- Animal cruelty and speciesism on the stage
- Acting animals and spirituality
- Animal impersonators
- Hygiene and public safety measures and regulations in playhouses
- Stage mimicry
- Animal welfare and national identity
- Animal acting and stage scenery
- Performing animals and music
- Animals on the stage and Darwinism
- Domestic vs wild animals on the stage
- Animals on the stage and the animal rights movement (19th-20th centuries)
- Animal and gender roles on the stage
- Illustrations of performing animals
- Exhibition of animals on the stage

Contributions:

The deadline has been extended. Contributions are sought from researchers at any stage of their careers. Abstracts (300 words) in English or Spanish for 20-25-minute papers should be sent along with a short biographical note by 1 July 2012 to Ignacio.Ramos@uv.es Acceptance will be notified no later than 15 July 2012

Conference fees and registration: Speakers: 60 euros / Attendees: 20 euros

Organising committee:

Ignacio Ramos Gay, Miguel Teruel, Juan-Vicente Martínez Luciano, Jesús Tronch, Claude Benoit, Claudia Alonso

Department of French & Italian Philology
Department of English & German Philology

Conference venue:

Facultad de Filología, Traducción y Comunicación
Avenida Blasco Ibánez 32, Valencia, Spain