GET REAL: DOCUMENTARY THEATRE PAST AND PRESENT
(edited by Chris Megson and Alison Forsyth)=20

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Proposals are sought for a forthcoming edited book, provisionally titled =
Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present. This wide-ranging volume =
will provide a timely critical reassessment of documentary approaches to =
theatrical performance in the past and present. The broad digest of =
essays in the collection will answer and, as importantly, raise some =
provocative questions about the form's relationship to 'liveness', =
presence, and new technologies; its engagements with memory, identity, =
autobiography, and nationhood; the viability and resonance of =
documentary theatre in an era of infotainment, globalisation and =
postmodernity; its potential effects in terms of civic participation and =
interaction; its resistance to hegemonic structures of power in its =
articulation of specific local or marginalised concerns/voices; its past =
and potential contribution within the cultural and political spheres, =
and the ramifications of documentary methods on textuality and =
embodiment in performance as well as on directing and spectating =
practices.

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We have already received proposals for contributions on Anna Deavere =
Smith, the Living Newspaper, the theatre of testimony in South Africa, =
British verbatim theatre in the 1990s, dramatic documentations of war, =
new approaches to documentary theatre/performance in varied sites of =
cultural production, and the efficacy of the documentary mode in =
community theatre contexts. However, we would welcome further original =
and innovative proposals about documentary theatre - whether they focus =
on genre, companies who produce this type of work, more general =
discussions about documentary aesthetics on the stage, or particular =
playwrights/artists working with this form.

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In particular, we welcome proposals that focus on the following areas:

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The lynching plays of the early twentieth century

Emily Mann

The Tectonic Theatre Project

Joan Littlewood, Ewan MacColl and the Theatre Workshop

The Stoke Project/Work of the New Vic in Stoke during the 1960s and =
1970s

Non-Western theatres and their engagements with documentary modes of =
performance-making

The impact of documentary approaches on the practices of the actor =
and/or spectator.

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We would, of course, be pleased to discuss prospective contributions in =
other areas.

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The editors are currently holding discussions with a prominent =
international academic publisher with respect to securing a contract for =
publication. The deadline for abstracts is June 15 and these should be =
between 500 and 1000 words in length. The decision as to whether we =
will include the proposed chapter in the final volume will be made by =
mid July and respondents will be duly notified. =20

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Final chapters should be between 6000 words and follow the current MLA =
style-sheet. (Further details about house-style/date for submission will =
be forwarded to those whose abstracts are selected.) If you have =
particular queries/questions to ask the editors before submitting your =
proposal please address these to either one of the e-mail addresses =
below.

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Please send abstracts by June 15 2006 to:

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Chris.Megson_at_rhul.ac.uk or alf_at_aber.ac.uk

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Received on Mon May 15 2006 - 12:35:30 EDT