Call For Papers
Emerging Scholars Panel – Religion and Theatre Focus Group
The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) 2011 Conference

Chicago, August 11–14, 2011
Palmer House Hilton Hotel
"Performance Remains, Global Presence: Memory, Legacy, and Imagined Futures"

The Religion and Theatre Focus Group invites new scholars who have not yet presented at a major national conference to submit papers to its 2011 Emerging Scholars Panel. These papers will consider how religion and theatre correspond and interact, particularly in performative and global terms. "Religion" and "theatre" may both be conceived broadly, and can include spirituality, spiritual practice, religion as institution, and theology, as well as drama, performance, and performativity. The Religion and Theatre Focus Group is particularly interested in engaging such questions as: What does the phrase "religion and theatre" signify? What is its place in the academy and education? How might religion or spirituality as a way of knowing create new understandings of what it means to perform in and with a community?

The theme for the 2011 conference is "Performance Remains, Global Presence: Memory, Legacy, and Imagined Futures." Accordingly, while all submissions are encouraged, we recommend submitting papers which address the conference theme in some way. Essays might consider the relationships negotiated between religion, theatre, and temporality within performance. How might memory be preserved or reshaped when local, spiritual practices are considered in a global discourse? How has globalization affected the legacy of religion and theatre? How does spiritual performance constitute, challenge, or interact with notions of a past, a present, and a future? In what ways are religion and theatre forces that provide spaces which archive memory and predict possibilities?

For this conference, the Religion and Theatre Focus Group will only be accepting completed conference papers for consideration. Papers should be approximately 10 pages in length. Submissions will go through a blind vetting process; do not include your name or academic affiliation within the paper. Additionally, when submitting, include a 200-word abstract.

Please send your paper and abstract as a single Word document (with the abstract on the first page by itself) by JANUARY 05, 2011 to:

Allan Davis
Brigham Young University
allan.and.davis@gmail.com

Save the document file name in the following format: R&T ES [Title of your paper]. In the body of your email, include your name, affiliation, paper title, mailing address, phone number, email address, and short bio. Please specify what AV equipment you will require. You can find out more about ATHE at www.athe.org. We look forward to your submission!

Best regards,
Allan Davis
Graduate Student Representative
Religion and Theatre Focus Group, ATHE