June 2016Survey Available for Adjunct InstructorsGreetings, I am writing to open the ATHE/ASTR adjunct survey to the the general public. If you are employed as an adjunct instructor in a theatre, performance or performance studies department please take this survey! If you know other adjunct instructors PLEASE share the link to the survey. The survey is anonymous and quick. If you are interested in doing a second, more detailed survey, let us know. If you do so, you will receive a free year long membership to either ATHE or ASTR. As President of ATHE, I want to hear your voice so we can advocate for theatre in higher education together. Best, Focus Group Meetings at ATHE 2016Though the draft schedule of the whole conference is available online, I wanted to draw your attention to the scheduling of this year’s focus group meetings on Thursday, August 11th—during the first two concurrent sessions of the conference, right before the ATHE Annual Awards Ceremony and Keynote. Learn more here. Professional Development Opportunities at ATHE 2016 — Apply Now!Are you tearing your hair out about assessment and need guidance from an ATHE colleague? Are you a pre-tenure or mid-career faculty member who would benefit from a mentor’s guidance as you ponder the next steps in your career? On Friday, Aug. 12, during the ATHE conference in Chicago, three workshops offering one-on-one mentoring on these topics will be open to conference attendees: "Theatre+Rubrics=Assessment,” organized by the ATHE PDC’s Assessment Subcommittee; and “Working Well I: A Professional Development Workshop for Pre-Tenure Faculty" and “Working Well II: A Professional Development Workshop for Mid-Career Faculty," organized by the American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS) in collaboration with the PDC. To ensure that the organizers can find the right mentor for each participant, conference attendees are asked to apply in advance for these workshops. Members interested in one of the "Working Well” sessions should apply by June 15, and applications for “Theatre+Rubrics=Assessment” are due on June 20. "Theatre+Rubrics=Assessment" (Fri. Aug. 12, 9:45 AM - 11:15 AM) is a hands-on working session that will build on the assessment pre-conference from ATHE 2014 and assessment workshops at ATHE 2015. During this session, mentors from the Assessment Subcommittee will work directly with participants to strengthen existing rubrics. The goals of the workshop are to provide constructive critique and feedback on existing rubrics and to share new ideas for best practices regarding the use of rubrics in the theatre classroom and in production. To request a spot in the workshop, please send an email to workshop coordinator Jane Duncan that describes your involvement with assessment at your institution, and attach at least one rubric that you have used to assess student learning in a theatre class or production. It would also be helpful to include a brief paragraph describing what was effective/ineffective about the rubric you have attached. Applications must be received by June 20 and attendees will be notified of their inclusion no later than July 15. Participants in "Working Well I: A Professional Development Workshop for Pre-Tenure Faculty” (Fri. Aug. 12, 8:15 AM - 9:45 AM) will work with mentors on topics such as negotiating the tenure process, navigating departmental and institutional folkways, balancing teaching/creative work/scholarship, and finding work/life balance. To request a spot in "Working Well I," send a current CV to Dr. Jim Cherry. In your email, please include your ideas on topics you would most like to address. Applications must be received by June 15 and attendees will be notified of their inclusion no later than July 1. In "Working Well II: A Professional Development Workshop for Mid-Career Faculty” (Fri. Aug. 12, 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM), participants will work with mentors on topics such as chairing a department for the first time, navigating the job market mid-career, shifting to new research interests, making the jump from faculty to administration, and fighting mid-career malaise. To request a spot in "Working Well II," send a current CV to Dr. Anne Fletcher. In your email, please include your ideas on the topics you would most like to address. Applications must be received by June 15 and attendees will be notified of their inclusion no later than July 1. The Theory & Criticism Focus Group is Pleased to Announce the Winner of its 2016 Graduate Student Essay Contest!The winner is Sara B. T. Thiel (University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign) for her essay "Performing Motherhood on the Stuart Stage: Queen Anna of Denmark and the Birth of Pregnancy Plays in Seventeenth-Century London Theatres" Honorable Mentions go to: Kelsey Laine Jacobson (University of Toronto) for her essay "Really Sell It To Me: Immersive Theatre as Ideal Community" Jonelle Walker (University of Maryland) for her essay "The Patriarchal Universal: Learning from the Failures of Gender Parity within the Open Theatre" Phillip Zapkin (West Virginia University) for his essay "Charles de Gaulle Airport: The Camp as Neoliberal Containment Site in Two Trojan Women Adaptations" The winning author receives a ATHE 2016 conference fee, the opportunity to present at a Theory & Criticism roundtable panel at ATHE 2016, a mentoring session with a senior scholar at ATHE 2016, a book of choice from Routledge, and a one-year subscription to a Routledge journal of choice. Exploding the Myths: Science, SuperScenes, and StanislavskyDates: Wed Aug. 10th 10am-5pm and 7-9pm, Thur. Aug. 11, 2016 10am-1pm. This workshop will take a fresh look at psychophysical action through active analysis for rehearsal and the use of archetypes and SuperScenes. Both teachers will offer relevant insights from contemporary neuroscience, psychology, physiology and other sciences as they reflect on the psychophysical instrument.
Brody's process of SuperScenes is her response to Stanislavsky's theory of physical action viewed through a neuroscientific lens and focusing on the physical play of archetype and primal action. Brody is the author of Acting, Archetype, and Neuroscience to be released in September, 2016 by Routledge Press. Her book The Actor's Business Plan: A Career Guide for the Acting Life by Jane Brody Release Date: Oct 22, 2015, Bloomsbury Press. Bloomsbury Press
Directing Program Calls for Proposals for Pre-Conference 2016: “Directors’ Work: Directing Alternatives to Psychological RealismATHE Directing Program Pre-Conference 2016 The Directing Program of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education invites proposals to be considered as part of Pre-Conference events organized around the theme "Directors' Work: Directing Alternatives to Psychological Realism." As educators, scholars, and artists, we work in a variety of formats, so we invite proposals for a variety of presentation formats, including (but not limited to) presentations, workshops, round-table discussions, panels, or performances. Following significant discussion and interest at the 2015 ATHE conference, the theme “Directors’ Work: Directing Alternatives to Psychological Realism” emerged. The 2016 Pre-Conference seeks to offer a venue for participants to share, question, and engage with strategies, methods, issues, and questions surrounding the work a director undertakes when approaching texts and productions that move beyond traditional psychological realism. These styles – whether they be in regard to Brecht, Beckett, devising, and others aesthetic modes – often require the director to approach a text differently, and this Pre-Conference seeks to explore those approaches. Questions and areas that might be considered include:
Interested participants should email 150-250 word abstracts that include the applicant’s name, rank, academic affiliation, address, telephone, email, presentation format (interactive demonstration, presentation, roundtable discussion, or workshop), title of presentation, and a brief description of the paper, panel or presentation. Please include any special technology needs in your abstract such as PowerPoint, audio or video. (Please note that technology accommodations can be extremely limited during the pre-conference.) Individual and co-presentation sessions will last approximately 50 minutes. Please send submissions electronically in PDF or Microsoft doc format to Directing Program conference planner Emily Rollie – erollie@gmail.com. Deadline for submissions: June 15, 2016. VASTA – Dynamic Dialogues and ConnectionsRegistration is heating up for the Chicago VASTA Conference Aug 8 to 11th, 2016! DePaul University is hosting "Dynamic Dialogues and Connections" right before the ATHE conference and the exciting line up of presenters is detailed on our website www.vasta.org. We are programming a number of sessions this year on leadership and encouraging a strong interconnection between fields. VASTA is all about collaboration among voice professionals and all members of the creative team in theatre as well as business, education, and the medical field. If you have any ideas for future conference sessions that would interconnect with your field, please feel free to get in touch with the incoming president, Betty Moulton at prez.elect@vasta.org. Check out all we have to offer you- we are an organization of teachers and coaches, with website resources that span many connections into other disciplines. Registration is Now OpenPlease check www.athe.org for the most up-to-date conference information.
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The impetus for this pre-conference resulted from the many ATHE members who have taken workshops with both Jane Drake Brody and Stephanie Daventry French over the years and wanted more in-depth experiences with the work. This workshop will aid in applying their advanced work to both rehearsal and training in a sequential process. Both authors are steeped in the late and active work of Stanislavsky and have devoted much research and writing to investigate Stanislavsky's theories within the context of modern science.
French combines Stanislavsky’s Psychophysical Action and Active Analysis with a host of other active and experimental theatre approaches to actor training, directing and devising. She is co-author of Experiencing Stanislavsky Today: Training and Rehearsal for the Psychophysical Actor by Stephanie Daventry French and Philip G. Bennett, Routledge Press. Release date December 24, 2015 US, December 24, 2015 England.