Call For Proposals: Theater and Performance Studies Workshop (2023-2024)

A YEAR IN VISUAL AND PERFORMANCE CULTURES

UChicago’s Theater and Performance Studies Workshop seeks project proposals for the 2023-2024 academic year. We are soliciting ongoing work from graduate students and faculty including scholarly writing, performances, and conference-style talks. While we anticipate holding some in-person workshops, we also strongly encourage contributors from beyond the University of Chicago to participate via Zoom.

We encourage proposals on theater and performance broadly. As workshop coordinators, we would like to support all theater and performance works of colleagues and peers at the university and in the broader art community. This year, we hope to provide space to work that particularly attends to the troubling practice of making and finding livable interstices amidst both global imperial and state sanctioned terror. This year, we are excited about work that considers performance and the environment, especially work on black and indigenous ecologies, queer and trans* studies, dance and movement criticism or practice, black studies, disability studies, material culture and history of performance or dance, practice-based research experiments, current or historical artists or artwork (but not limited to) in and around Chicago, science and technology studies, psychoanalysis and performance, intersections of visual art and performance, practice-based research experiments, and methodologically challenging or historically unconventional research. 

The Workshop aims to foster a community of colleagues and practitioners within and beyond the walls of UChicago. It is a time for close reading and close conversation—an opportunity to exchange good-faith feedback for work at any stage of production and across media and writing genres. We are eager to talk across methods, and welcome joint presenter-respondent submissions. Papers should typically not exceed 30 pages in length. At this stage, proposals need only include the following:

Provisional title and brief personal bio

Project type (paper, performance, etc.)

Short description of content and/or argument (500w max); if applicable, abstract

Preferred presentation date (Fall, Winter, or Spring quarters)

Preferred presentation format (on campus or over Zoom)

Any special technology, space, or materials requests

Please email your proposals to workshop coordinators Jamie Lee (jamienlee92@uchicago.edu) and Jennifer Williams (jhw26@uchicago.edu) by 11:59 pm (CST) on September 29th, 2023. Should you have any questions or accessibility concerns, please do not hesitate to email us. For announcements from the TAPS workshop, please visit our website. To stay in touch with our workshop, please subscribe to our list-serv.

We look forward to finding out what you’re working on!

Jamie & Jennifer