August 4-6, 2025

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. 

We invite paper and panel proposals on any topic relating to Shakespeare and his plays, including:

• Literary Analysis & Theoretical Approaches
• Shakespeare and Adaptation
• Shakespeare in Performance
• Shakespeare and History, Culture, and Society
• Shakespeare and Rhetoric
• Shakespeare and the Arts
• Shakespeare and his Global Contemporaries 

We encourage papers and presentations speaking to the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2025 summer season: Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, and As You Like It. 

The deadline for proposals is March 31, 2025. Conference registration includes 1 ticket to Anthony and Cleopatra and 50% off any USF ticket from August 4-6 for you and your guests.

 Please include a 200-250-word abstract or session proposal (including individual abstracts) and the following information:

• name of presenter(s)
• participant category (faculty, graduate student, undergraduate, or independent scholar)
• college/university affiliation
• email address
• audio/visual requirements and any other special requests.

 All abstracts should be submitted through the following link: 2025 Wooden O Symposium Submission Form

For more information, please contact the conference co-organizers, Scott Knowles at scottknowles@suu.edu or Jessica Tvordi at tvordi@suu.edu