University of Warwick
28 July – 1st August 2014

Introduction | Conference Theme | Call for Papers | New Scholars’ Forum | Working Groups

Introduction
We are delighted to invite you to the 2014 IFTR World Congress to be hosted by the School of Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies at the University of Warwick in the UK. The University of Warwick is located in the heart of England, next door to Stratford-Upon-Avon, birthplace of Shakespeare and home to the Royal Shakespeare Company. The conference itself will be held on the University of Warwick’s campus, at the centre of which will be Warwick Arts Centre, one of the largest performing and visual arts complexes in the UK outside of London. The campus is surrounded by lakes, woodland and the stunning Warwickshire countryside and provides a broad range of accommodation, lecture and performance spaces, as well as dining and leisure facilities.

Our Cultural Programme will reflect the breadth of performance in the region and will open with a performance by Motionhouse, the internationally acclaimed dance theatre company. The campus will be brought to life with a range of exciting cutting-edge performances and installations to take place throughout the week in the Studio Theatre and the Helen Martin Studio at Warwick Arts Centre, and in outdoor spaces across campus. We’ll be providing an ‘Open Mic’ programme for delegates and local artists to showcase work, are planning a theatrical ephemera, prints and second-hand book sale, are programming a ‘Stage on Screen’ film festival in the Warwick Arts Centre’s cinema, and have much more in store.

A diverse Social Programme will also be offered to delegates, enabling them to explore the wealth of attractions to be found in the Midlands. Events will include trips to nearby historic Kenilworth, Warwick and the Royal Spa town of Leamington; to historic houses such as Blenheim Palace and Chatsworth House; to Stratford-upon-Avon, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre; and to the vibrant cities of Birmingham and Coventry.

The Farewell Party and dinner will take place at a spectacular historic house, where delegates will have a drinks reception on the terrace and will be free to explore the grounds, which include a Grade 1 listed cathedral with almost a millennium of history. Delegates will have an exquisite three-course meal, will be treated to live music throughout the evening, and will have the opportunity to dance the night away or relax in the splendid public rooms of the house.
To find out more, please visit the IFTR Warwick World Congress 2014 website.

Please direct any questions you may have about the conference to: info@iftr2014warwick.org

Introduction | Conference Theme| Call for Papers | New Scholars’ Forum | Working Groups

Conference Theme
To speak of stratification is not merely to speak of layers and layering. In the earth sciences, stratification refers to the formation of identifiable layers of rock, each of which marks – and hence is embedded within – distinct periods of history. In archaeology and excavation, the fragments of culture are understood according to stratigraphic principles as well. Here too it is the actual layering of history that provides context and significance to cultural artefacts, not only with regard to the specific stratum in which the artefacts are lodged but also in the relation that strata have to each other. In the social sciences, stratification takes on an identifiably political but no less historical verve. It refers to the ordering of individuals, groups and institutions within socio-political hierarchies and global economies. Social stratification operates with historically constructed categories like nationality, citizenship, class, caste, race, ethnicity, religion, education, language, age, gender, and sexuality. Such categories regulate authority and power, access and mobility, privilege and entitlement, as well as labour, production and performance broadly defined. The arts are by no means exempt from these processes of historical, social, political and cultural stratification. Indeed, at the most basic level, one of the more provocative lines of inquiry that theatre historians might pursue can be distilled into the simple question: how is theatre stratified?

Simple though this question might appear to be, it invites inquiry not only into the multiple ways that theatre is layered outwardly but also into the multiple layers of theatre itself. It asks how theatre marks and is embedded within history, and how the theatre of one historical moment is positioned in relation to other moments or events of history. It asks how theatrical events are positioned in relation to each other, and how any given theatrical event is layered not only in terms of its aesthetic and ideological structures but also in terms of its spatial and temporal dynamics. It queries notions of high, low and middlebrow theatre. Moreover, to ask how theatre is stratified is to ask how theatre as an institution as well as theatre as a practice is positioned within functioning hierarchies of social, political, cultural and economic power. It is, in short, to ask about the kinds of layering not only in which theatre participates but which it produces as well. Stratification affects performance, and to ask how theatre is stratified is to query how stratification affects theatre’s performance. Asking how theatre is stratified is an invitation to consider how theatre might serve as a catalyst for rethinking the very hierarchies that regulate the present and foreseeable future of the institutions of theatre and scholarship:

• Market Values and Theatre Programs
• Performative Acts and the Hierarchies of Gender and Sexuality
• The Economies of Privilege and Performance
• Performance, Value and Aesthetic Categories
• Cultural Priorities and Theatrical Practice
• Theatre and Resisting a Stratified World
• Apprentice, Expert, Master: Hierarchies of Theatrical Training
• Political Orders and Performance Politics
• Performing Social Stratification
• Global Hierarchies in Theatre History
• Staging Racial and Ethnic Categories
• Audience, Spectatorship and Social Class
• Excavating Theatre History
• Theatres of Immigration, Mobility and Citizenship
• Theorising Stratification and Theatre
• Layers of History in Theatrical Performance
• Categories of Theatrical Labour
• Multi-layered Performances
• High-, Low- and Middlebrow Theatres
• Levels of Performative Experience
• Layering of Online Performance
• Levels of Queerness

Introduction | Conference Theme | Call for Papers | New Scholars’ Forum | Working Groups

Call for Papers
If you would like to submit a paper for consideration for one of the General Panels, the abstracts should respond to the theme of the conference above, which this year is Theatre and Stratification. General Panels are typically composed of three independently proposed papers that share some common aspect (theme, methodology, area of inquiry, geographical focus, etc.). The Conference Organisers make every effort to match papers into coherent panels chaired by scholars versed in the field, therefore it is very important that the abstract you submit clearly reflects the central topic and/or methodology of your paper.

The deadline for submissions is 15th January 2014. Abstracts must be submitted via the Cambridge Journals Online website, where you’ll first be prompted to join or renew your IFTR membership. For more information on this process visit the how to submit an abstract page. To find out more about the General Panels or to submit an abstract please visit:
call for papers pages.

Introduction | Conference Theme | Call for Papers | New Scholars’ Forum | Working Groups

New Scholars’ Forum
The New Scholars’ Forum, first organised in Canterbury in 1998, is a highlight of IFTR’s annual conferences. The Forum aims to give new scholars and especially doctoral students an opportunity to present their research in a supportive environment that also encourages lively debate. To this end, forum sessions will be chaired by an experienced academic and scheduled to avoid overlap with general conference panels so that all delegates can attend. The Forum also provides an excellent opportunity to make contacts with other new scholars.

Papers for this forum do not need to follow the specific themes given for the annual conferences, and while they are expected to be shorter than papers in regular sessions, the time allocated for response is longer. Each participating scholar will be given 10 minutes to present his/her paper to allow maximum discussion and feedback.

Students and early-career researchers wanting to present their work in the Forum are invited to send an abstract of no more than 300 words by 15th January 2014. Abstracts should be submitted via the Cambridge Journals Online website, where you’ll first be prompted to join or renew your IFTR membership. For more information on this process visit the how to submit an abstract page.

Abstracts should give a brief account of a research project and outline the methodology, sources and conceptual approach. Please state clearly that the paper is proposed for the New Scholars’ Forum. New Scholars may participate in the Forum a maximum of three times in different annual conferences, after which they should consider joining an IFTR working group and/or presenting a paper in one of the main panel sessions. To find out more about the New Scholars’ Forum, take a look at the forum pages on the IFTR Warwick website.

Introduction | Conference Theme | Call for Papers | New Scholars’ Forum | Working Groups

Working Groups
Working Groups lie at the heart of the Federation’s scholarly exchanges. The purpose of these on-going groups is to provide sustained scholarly dialogue and continuity of exchange over time. Meeting at the yearly conferences, but sometimes in between as well, the Working Groups generally develop a programme of research on the topic of their choice. Memberships are fluid, but a core of long-term members provide the critical continuity and ongoing developmental leadership. If you’d like further information about the Working Groups, please visit the relevant pages on the IFTR website.

The deadline for submissions for most Working Groups is 15th January 2014. Abstracts must be submitted via the Cambridge Journals Online website, where you’ll first be prompted to join or renew your IFTR membership. For more information on this process visit the how to submit an abstract page.

All Working Groups meeting at the University of Warwick are listed below. Their individual Calls for Papers can be found here the working groups page.

• African and Caribbean Theatre and Performance
• Arabic Theatre
• Asian Theatre
• Choreography and Corporeality
• Digital Humanities in Theatre Research
• Feminist Research
• Historiography
• Intermediality in Theatre and Performance
• Music Theatre
• Performance and Consciousness
• Performance and Disability
• Performance and Religion
• Performance as Research
• Performance in Public Places
• Political Performances
• Popular Entertainments
• Processus De Création. La Génétique De La Représentation
• Queer Futures
• Samuel Beckett
• Scenography
• The Theatrical Event
• Theatre Architecture
• Translation, Adaptation and Dramaturgy

For more information on the IFTR Warwick World Congress in 2014 please visit the conference website.