DEADLINE: April 5, 2026

The Black Theatre Association (BTA), a focus group of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), seeks essay submissions for the 29th Annual Debut Panel, to be held at the annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) from July 22 to July 26, 2026 in Baltimore, MD. BTA encourages assistant professors, contingent faculty, fellows, post-docs, and graduate students working on Black theatre and performance studies who have never presented at ATHE to apply. For the Debut Panel, BTA seeks thought-provoking investigations of Black cultural production, including those that span theatre history, performance studies, criticism, training, practice, pedagogy, activism, leadership, and politics. We encourage,  but do not require, that papers connect to the conference theme: 

Activating Imagination in/with Community 

What happens when we center collaboration not just as practice? 

What is possible through theatre and performance when we imagine with  collaboration at the center? 

ATHE 2026: Activating Imagination invites us to consider the co-constitutive relationship between theatre and community. See the complete conference theme description: https://www.athe.org/page/conference_call 

To apply for the BTA Debut Panel, please submit a 250-300 word abstract summarizing the main ideas of your research paper and complete the attached Google Form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdCm9Bt-pBWi3FB7OVhbpFReEDwOMJl.... The deadline for submissions is April 5, 2026. You will be informed of the panel’s decision by May 1, 2026.

Abstracts will be reviewed by a panel of Black theatre/performance studies scholars  and evaluated for originality, the quality of writing and research, and critical/theoretical application. Selected essays will receive feedback to help authors strengthen their work for the national conference presentation July 22-26 in Baltimore, MD. Feel free to contact BTA Debut Panel Coordinators/Graduate Student Reps Jasmeene Francois (jfrancois1@gradcenter.cuny.edu) and Paul Michael Thomson (pthomson@umass.edu) with any questions. 

NOTE: Accepted panelists must attend the conference and be a member of ATHE for the 2026-2027 academic year. 

Black Theatre Association Officers 2025-2026

Omiyẹmi (Artisia) Green, President
Lisa Biggs, Vice President/Conference Planner
Aviva Helena Neff, Secretary
Jordan Ealey & Kelli Crump,  Members at Large
Jasmeene Francois & Paul Michael Thomson, Graduate Student Representatives

Eunice S. Ferreira, Immediate Past President