Beyond the 4th Wall:Aesthetic Distance and Community in the 21st Century

Theatre Department – University of Regina, April 23 – 25, 2004

We live in a world where imbedded notions of community are being challenged and revisioned; how do theatre and other performance models respond to destabilized definitions and shifting expectations?  What are the implications of aesthetic distance when the notion of community is destabilized?  What are the implications of creating theatre and nurturing audiences in general?  This conference explores the notion(s) of aesthetic distance and considers issues of community with a particular focus on (re)presentation, patronage and spectatorship.

Keynote address: Friday April 23, 8:00 p.m.: Rahul Varma (artistic director of Montreal’s Teesri Duniya Theatre)

Keynote performance: Saturday April 24, 8:00 p.m.
Byrna Barclay’s A Room With Five Walls – directed by Joey Tremblay

FEATURED PANELISTS INCLUDE: Rachel van Fossen (Playwright & Artistic Director, Black Workshop Theatre – Montreal), Daniel Brooks (Playwright, Actor & Artistic Director, Necessary Angel Theatre – Toronto), Michele Sereda (Actor & Artistic Director, Curtain Razors Inc. – Regina), Denise Clark (Choreographer, Actor & Co - Artistic Director, One Yellow Rabbit – Calgary), David Diamond (Playwright, Actor & Artistic Director, Headlines Theatre – Vancouver)

Proposals for panels, performances and abstracts for individual papers are now being sought and may address such issues as:
  Theories/practices/politics of aesthetic distance
  Community: definitions/challenges/relationships
  Aesthetic Distance: artists/voices/representations
  The role of scenography and production as agent for mediation or provocation
  Dramaturgical strategies for non-traditional process and performance

Please send proposals by November 15, 2003 to Wes.Pearce@uregina.ca.
Panel proposals must include all participants and should be limited to 4 participants.
All individual abstracts must be limited to 250 words and final presentations must be no more than 15 minutes in length.
Performance/workshop proposals must include a list of technical/space requirements.

Bulletin 27.2 / Newsletter 27.2