HOPE
November 9–12, 2023
Omni Providence Hotel • Providence, Rhode Island

The American Society for Theatre Research has opened registration for its annual conference on the theme of ‘Hope’.

Themes discussed include:

1. Historicizing Hope/Learning from the Past
What were the hopes and dreams of the earliest theatre makers, and what forms did theatre take to express those hopes across time, across cultures, across the globe? Historiographical considerations might explore how our own understandings of hope have shaped histories of theatre and performance.

2. Manifestos and Hopes of the Future
What are your hopes for theatre? What challenges and issues must be addressed? What can we create if we are daring and willing to move away from the status quo? We seek big dreams with the force to inspire and fill our collective sails for the journey ahead.

3. Diasporic Dreams
We seek proposals about drama, theatre, and/or performances that examine the stories and cultures of people of color who journeyed or sailed over the past four hundred years. How do narratives and performances offer an insight into their hopes? How can we celebrate their movements as well as their aspirations?

4. Hope as Practice and/or Methodology
We invite conversations that highlight the potentiality imbued in the practice and method of hope, while still maintaining the tensions of a desired future borne of despair. How might we consider hope as an embodied praxis through performance rather than simply the appearance of hope in performance?

5. The Limits of Hope
Hope can exist as a step in a process of personal or societal transformation, beginning with catastrophe, involving mourning, and including feelings of hopelessness. We welcome engagements with any aspect or stage in this process.

The full programme can be browsed here.

Register for the conference on the ASTR website here.