IFTR Annual Conference 2024

University of the Philippines Diliman

Manila, Philippines

15 – 19 July 2024

CALL FOR PAPERS / ABSTRACT PROPOSALS

Our States of Emergency: Theatres and Performances of Tragedy

This conference invites a re-imagination of tragedy as a social experience and an aesthetic encounter that relates to but importantly exceeds classical, Aristotelian legacies. It welcomes revaluations of theatrical and performative forms—intercultural performances, melodramas, musicals and mega-musicals, avant-garde practices, and post-dramatic productions, to name a few—that depict the broad spectrum of human suffering. It offers an opportunity to re-examine how tragic moments constitute and, in turn, are constituted by the fields of theatre and performance studies. It seeks to encourage discussions on how tragedies come about on the stage, in artistic and social communities, in history and society, in cultural industries and organizations. It intends to bring together those who confront assorted tragedies in everyday life and those who make sense of the depths of the darkness where we may find ourselves situated, albeit to different, varying degrees. All in all, it hopes to locate the intersecting modes of survival and resistance, the creative means to imagine the world anew, as well as the sympathetic and sensitive modes of sharing, structuring, and saving the world from planetary destruction.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to:

• Spectacles of tragedy/tragic spectacles
• Staging and scripting tragedies
• Tragic conditions of theatre and performance making
• The politics of tragedies
• Confronting tragedies in everyday life
• Tragic histories of theatre and performance
• Embodied sufferings across cultures and communities
• Performing planetary catastrophes and environmental degradations
• Technological networks and circuits of tragedy
• Theorizations of tragedy as theatrical/performance genre
• National and global tragedies
• Forms of life-making amid and after tragedies
• Commemorating tragedies
• Theatres and performances of crisis
• Dramatizing tragic experiences
• The pandemic and other health emergencies in performance

Abstracts of between 200 and 250 words are invited for this conference from scholars, teachers, researchers, artists, and students of theatre arts, theatre studies, performance studies, and other related disciplines.

All abstracts should be submitted to Cambridge Core. Please do not send abstracts to the organizers. Please note that you will have to be a member of the IFTR to submit an abstract. To join the IFTR or renew your membership, please visit the Cambridge Core membership page.

Deadline for Submission of Abstracts: 2 February 2024

Conference Dates: 15 – 19 July 2024

Conference Venue: The University of the Philippines Diliman

Conference Co-Conveners:
Prof. Sir Anril P. Tiatco: sptiatco@up.edu.ph
Dr. Oscar T. Serquiña, Jr.: otserquina@up.edu.ph

Contact Email for Conference enquiries: iftrmanila2024.upd@up.edu.ph

Read more about the conference here.