Myth: Memory and Methodology

For MATC’s 2013 meeting in St. Louis, the Theatre History Symposium invites proposals for papers on or around the theme of Myth.

Situated at the Gateway to the West, St. Louis invites an engagement with perhaps one of the most formative myths of our field: that of the West, as a monolith ideology, as imaginative fuel, as origin, occlusion, inspiration, and oppression. For example, in The Idea of Latin America, Walter Mignolo asserts that America was not discovered but invented. This “idea of the world,” he further argues, must be centralized and interrogated, rather than taken as a given, and used to reconfigure history (its archives as well as it repertoires), “to shift the geography, and the geo-politics of knowledge” (xix). On another note, in a 1999 essay for American Theatre entitled “What Myths May Come,” playwright Naomi Iizuka writes: “Let’s start here. Let’s say myth is memory. Let’s say making theatre is the act of remembering” (18).

Taking St. Louis, Mignolo, and Iizuka together, we ask the following questions. How might myth—as memory, practice, evidence—shift a “geo-politics of knowledge” in theatre history and historiography? How does direct engagement with myth in theatre history bear on, inform and challenge methodologies in our field, such as practice as research, ethnography, public scholarship? How do the politics of mythologies intersect with explicit and implicit notions and practices of socio-cultural hegemonies and alternatives within our field?

Possible topics might address these questions, or explore one or more of the following:
—Misrepresentations (or MYTHrepresentations) of iconic theatre artists, ensembles, or events.
—Confrontations of mythologies, geo-politics and ecologies in and around theatre history and theatre praxis.
—How sacred “truths,” inherited narratives, origin tales, and cultural stories shape theatre practice and in turn are reinforced, re-shaped, or dismantled by theatre historians. Inquiries into the genealogies of myths.
—Myth as right / rite / rights surrounding inter- and intra-cultural practice and/or Coloniality (post, neo, anti).
—Musicals as representations of myths of gender, nation, sexuality in America and abroad.
—The ways in which classical mythology has been re-imagined in later historical and cultural contexts.
—Discussions of falsehoods, lies, slander, and libel in the theatre and the subsequent commercial, legal, and artistic ramifications.
—The necessity of myth (e.g. myth as survival strategy in the arts or intersections of sustainability and myth-making).
—The creation of new myths within the theatre.

Please direct proposals and queries to the Theatre History Symposium co-chairs:
Dr. Chris Woodworth

University of North Carolina at Greensboro
cewoodwo@uncg.edu

Dr. Lisa Jackson-Schebetta
University of Pittsburgh
lisajschebetta@gmail.com

Please submit proposals via email in Word or Rich Text Format to both co-chairs, including the following:
—Your name, title (student, faculty, independent scholar), academic affiliation, and a brief biography.
—Your contact information (particularly email).
—The title and abstract for your paper. Please limit abstracts to 250 words.
—Any audiovisual elements you request for you presentation. We cannot always guarantee audiovisual support, but will endeavor to take requests into account. Late requests may not be honored.
—We also welcome proposals for full panels. Contact the co-chairs for more information.

All proposals must be received by October 15, 2012

Robert A. Schanke Award
The Robert A. Schanke Research Award is given annually to an untenured faculty presenter of the Theatre History Symposium and carries a cash award of $500 as well as consideration for publication in Theatre History Studies, the journal of the Mid-America Theatre Conference. To be eligible for the Schanke Award, candidates must submit full, conference-length versions of their paper to the co-chairs at the addresses above by February 15, 2013.