"Making Time/Making Space: Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Drama"
International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, Michigan
12-15 May 2016

This session will examine how early drama produced time (or experiences of time) often through the strategic use of space. Recent work on temporality challenges us to think about time not as a singular structure, but as multiple, overlapping, simultaneous constructions. Theoretical work specifically related to theatre reminds us that performances do not merely represent time, but that they actually produce time(s), allowing spectators and actors to inhabit temporal spaces and to make meaning from those theatrical experiences. In the Middle Ages & Renaissance, not only did dramatic performances accomplish this, but so did other kinds of cultural performances, such as interactions with manuscripts, engagements with art objects, and devotional meditations. This panel takes an expansive approach to examining how early drama and performances made time(s), and to considering the cultural and social goals of those temporal constructions.

Please submit one-page abstracts and a completed Participant Information form (http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html#PIF) to Jill Stevenson at jillstevenson@gmail.com no later than September 15, 2015. This panel is sponsored by the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society. Feel free to contact Jill with questions about the session. For general information about the 2016 Medieval Congress, please visit: http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/index.html