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theatre x performance 6 -10 April 2005 Centre for Performance Research University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK The Centre for Performance Research has announced a major international gathering to explore the future of theatre and performance as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations – 30+10 in Aberystwyth 6-10 April this year. The event presented in partnership with the University of Wales, Aberystwyth will include performances from British Muslim stand-up comedian SHAZIA MIRZA, controversial Australian performance artist STELARC, Welsh physical theatre company VOLCANO and Irish experimental dance company, IRISH MODERN DANCE THEATRE. Towards Tomorrow? will build upon and extend the dialogues and debates that CPR has forged throughout its long journey from research laboratory and theatre company to research centre. It will examine the often complex relation between performance and theatre with a programme that features many of the most radical thinkers and practitioners working in performance and theatre today. The gathering will include: · Performances – from Wales, Europe and beyond · Expositions – understanding the state of play · Workshops – drawing from the crucible of cutting-edge practice · Panels and Debates – to challenge and cultivate new directions · Interrogations and Enthusiasms – Strategic ‘open’ sessions · Feasts – where food becomes event · Excursions – taking advantage of our local landscape Key speakers include world-renowned scholars in theatre and performance studies such as: inter-cultural critic, Rustom Bharucha (India); Philip Auslander (USA) and Prof. Susan Melrose (UK), as well as one of the founder members of radical Royal National Theatre backed performance collective SHUNT, Mischa Twitchin. Speakers from outside theatre and performance include the philosopher Alphonso Lingis (USA), the cultural historian Marian Pastor Roces (Philippines), literary theorist, Prof. Steven Connor and the independent scholar and author of The Secret Life of Puppets, Victoria Nelson (USA). Some of the issues the gathering will get to grips with include: Temporalities: Then, Now, To Come · Then: Theoretical discourse has structured and transformed the environments of theatre and performance. Towards Tomorrow? provides a FORUM for both a critical reflection on performance and the nature of cultural theory and to assess its future both beyond and within the academy. · Now: The event of performance, its practice and presence will be explored. There will be opportunities for practitioners to interrogate theorists and for the statement of radical agendas and manifestos. · To Come: The development of the future of the field belongs to another GENERATION. This gathering will not determine such a future, but it will be determined to keep open all possible transformations, evolutions and revolutions that may be on their way. Towards Tomorrow? will explore the relation between theatre and performance, risk and failure, events and institutions to understand how the possibilities of performance might be considered? Including: · Is there a fractal structure (a finite area bounded by an infinite distance) to the discipline, its manifestation as practice and its future, as yet unknown, transformations? What are the issues of survival of a discipline and its practice, its organisations, and the relationship with the academy? · How does the spiritual aspect of performance – space, body, time and imagination – integrate and challenge both the formal and the theoretical articulations of work? Does such a consideration generate its own eschatology; if so what is the apocalypse of performance? Questions of tomorrow must also be concerned with generations, the potential of youth and the energy and vitality it will provide performance in the future. At the heart of Towards Tomorrow? is a desire to identify with the youthful curiosity and quest for multicultural theatre and performance training that drove the founder members of Cardiff Laboratory Theatre. Towards Tomorrow? will include Generation24 – CPR’s panel of young practitioners of the future, from schools and colleges in Wales and internationally, who will observe and intervene in the proceedings with the interruptive urgency of the future’s call. Towards Tomorrow? will also see the launch of CPR’s forthcoming anniversary publication Testimony from the Future, Evidence of the Past. A complementary publication is planned to reflect Towards Tomorrow?’s deliberations with a range of international contributions that seek to re-orient the discipline of performance and to demonstrate its increasing relevance in many areas of cultural studies, philosophy and the arts. Towards Tomorrow? has been curated by CPR’s Artistic Director, Professor Richard Gough and Executive Producer, Judie Christie. Towards Tomorrow? is open to theatre and performance scholars and scholars outside from related disciplines – especially those from English Studies, Cultural Studies and philosophy – as well as performance and theatre practitioners and those generally interested in the future of the fields. Further information on how to register can be obtained by contacting CPR on +44 (0) 1970 622133 or logging on to www.thecpr.org.uk FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS RELEASE AND TO REQUEST PHOTOGRAPHS OR OPPORTUNITIES TO INTERVIEW SPEAKERS AND ARTISTS Contact Antony Pickthall on 01970 621571 or e-mail aop@aber.ac.uk NOTES: About CPR The Centre for Performance Research (CPR) is a multi-faceted theatre organisation based in Wales and working internationally. The CPR produces innovative performance work; arranges workshops, conferences, lectures and master classes; collaborates and exchanges with theatre companies of international significance; publishes and distributes theatre books and runs a multicultural performance resource centre. CPR has presented major international artist in Wales, including: Key Speakers at TOWARDS TOMORROW? Philip Auslander (USA) Philip Auslander's primary discipline is Performance Studies. He has written on aesthetic and cultural performances as diverse as theatre, performance art, music, stand-up comedy, and courtroom procedures. His specific interests include performance theory, the relationship of performance to media and technology, and intellectual property. He is the author of four books and editor or co-editor of two collections. He is currently completing a book project entitled All the Young Dudes: Performing Glam Rock. In addition to his work on performance, Auslander contributes art criticism regularly to Art Forum, Art Papers, and PAJ. Rustom Bharucha (India) Internationally renowned author and activist, Rustom Bharucha is an independent writer, cultural critic, director and Dramaturge based in Calcutta. He is author of several books including Theatre and the World, The Question of Faith, In the Name of the Secular, The Politics of Cultural Practice and the forthcoming Rajasthan: An Oral History. Apart from directing classics like Woyzeck, Peer Gynt, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Maids, and most recently, Shakuntala, in different inter/intra-cultural contexts, he has conducted workshops with underprivileged communities like working children and agricultural labourers. A member of the international advisory council of the Prince Claus fund for culture and development, he remains committed to the translation of cultures across social and political differences. Alphonso Lingis (USA) Alphonso Lingis is Professor of Philosophy at Penn State University. His areas of specialization include phenomenology/existentialism, modern philosophy and ethics. His reviewers and critics have called Alphonso Lingis everything from a "poet in disguise" to a "brilliant philosopher." Paul Carter (UK/Australia) Paul Carter was born in Oxford, England 1951. He was educated at Oxford University, and worked and lived in Italy and Spain before coming to Australia in 1980. He is currently resident in Melbourne where he is a Professorial ARC Research Fellow at the Australian Centre at University of Melbourne (1994-8 & 1999-2003) Steven Connor (UK) Steven Connor is Professor of Modern Literature and Theory at Birkbeck College, London. He is a writer and broadcaster for radio and the author of books on Dickens, Beckett, Joyce and post-war British fiction, as well as of Postmodernist Culture (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989, 2nd edn 1996), Theory and Cultural Value (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) and The Book of Skin (London: Reaktion, 2003). Dragan Klaic (Serbia) Dragan Klaic teaches Arts and Cultural Policy at the University of Leiden and serves as a Permanent Fellow of Felix Meritis Foundation (Amsterdam). Educated in dramaturgy in Belgrade and with a doctorate in theater history and dramatic criticism from Yale University, Klaic has been lecturing widely in Europe and America, took part in numerous conferences and symposia and worked as theater critic, dramaturg, festival and production advisor, editor, researcher and trainer. Victoria Nelson (USA) Victoria Nelson is an independent scholar living in California. She has taught at the University of California at Berkeley, at the University of Hawaii, and was the Edelstein-Keller Writer in Residence at the University of Minnesota. The author of a travel memoir about Hawaii, an exploration of creativity, and a co-translator of Bruno Schulz's letters, she has also published many pieces of short fiction and essays and most recently the acclaimed, The Secret Life of Puppets. Patrice Pavis (France) Patrice Pavis, Professor of Theatre at Paris-VIII University, has written extensively and influentially on performance. He is currently giving the 2005 Leverhulme Lecture Series at the University of Kent. Jane Goodall (UK) Author of Artaud and the Gnostic Drama, and most recently, Performance and Evolution in the Age of Darwin, (2002 Routledge). Jane Goodall has held positions at several Australian Universities, teaching drama and performance, cultural history and history of science. She currently teaches in Humanities at the University of Western Sydney and is Research Director for the College of Arts, Education and Social Sciences. "Meticulously researched and wittily told, Goodall's history of the curious crossbreeding between popular entertainment and the protocols of bscience is a delightful read. Brilliantly rethinking the division between the arts and sciences, Goodall makes clear the mutant hybrids at the core of nineteenth century spectacles of performance and science. Performance and Evolution is an exhilarating revision of the histories of science and popular entertainment." Peggy Phelan, Ann O'Day Maples Chair in the Arts, Stanford University Freddie Rokem (Israel) Prof. Freddie Rokem is Dean of the Faculty of the Arts and Professor of Theatre Studies at Tel Aviv University. He has published articles in scholarly journals and chapters in books on European and Israeli theatre. David Williams (UK) David Williams is Professor of Theatre, Dartington College of Arts, Devon, England. Susan Melrose (UK) Susan Melrose, M ès L, DEA, Doctorat (Sorbonne Nlle) is Professor of Performance Arts at Middlesex University. She counts comparative performance studies, cultural diversity, interdisciplinarity and the discourses of practice among her research interests. Marian Pastor Roces (Philippines) Marian Pastor Roces is a critic and independent curator living in the Philippines. Published internationally, her writing is focused by her interest in clothes, cities, museums, the construction of minorities, and contemporary art that exercises scepticism about art and culture. Faith Wilding (USA) Faith Wilding is Associate Prof. and Chair of Performance Art at the Art Institute, Chicago. Wilding is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work addresses aspects of the somatic, psychic, and socio-political history of the body. Mischa Twitchin Mischa Twitchin is a founder-member of the London-based performance collective Shunt. While researching for a PhD on the Theatre of Death, Mischa also teaches at Goldsmiths College and at the Central School of Speech and Drama. ARTISTS Guillermo Gomez-Pena (Mexico/USA) & Emiko Lewis (Japan/USA) Performance artist and writer, he was born in Mexico and arrived in the US in 1978. Since then he has investigated border culture and trans-cultural identity. Through journalism, performance, radio, video, poetry and installations he has explored the relationship between Latinos and the US. Emiko Lewis is one of Guillermo’s collaborators with his La Pocha Nostra performance company. Guillermo will be joining the conference. Stelarc (Australia) Stelarc is an Australian artist who has performed extensively in Japan, Europe and the USA- including new music, dance festivals and experimental theatre. He has used medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, Virtual Reality systems and the Internet to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body. Volcano Theatre Company (Wales) Volcano is a Swansea-based international touring theatre company with a reputation for energetic, unpredictable and arresting theatre that combines strong visual impact, physical presence and intelligent text. They will perform a radical version of a time-worn classic, Rome & Juliet IMDT (Ireland) Ireland’s leading experimental dance company collaborating with choreographer, Thomas Lehmen. Shazia Mirza (UK) Now recognised as the UK's most prolific female Muslim stand-up, Shazia has taken inspiration from this unique perspective to create ground-breaking material which manages to cross both cultures. "Her laconic one-liners represent something quite unique in modern comedy" William Cook, The Guardian Booking Information for Towards Tomorrow? Full-Time Waged £195 Part-time/Practitioner £135 Student / Unwaged £70 Accommodation Accommodation is not included in the fee, CPR has reserved university accommodation at a preferential rate and will also provide a list of local B&B and hotel accommodation on request. Places for this event are limited and early booking is advised. Bookings can only be confirmed when we have received a completed booking form (or completed it with you over the telephone) with a deposit for £50. Meals & Refreshments Tea and coffee is included in the delegate fee, but not meals. Delegates can opt to attend the Towards Tomorrow? Dinner on Saturday 9th April at £20 person. University of Wales, Aberystwyth TOWARDS TOMORROW? will take place on the Penglais Campus, University of Wales, Aberystwyth - including Aberystwyth Arts Centre, the second largest in Wales. The campus is just outside central Aberystwyth, which is a characterful town located on the beautiful shores of Cardigan Bay, set in unspoiled surroundings away from the industrial and urban connurbations but with good road and rail links. The coastline to the north and south abounds in fine beaches, while inland there are expanses of rolling moorland, dissected by wooded valleys, with the mountains of Cader Idris and Snowdonia within easy reach. The campus is probably the most spectacularly situated of all British universities, enjoying panoramic views of the town of Aberystwyth, the adjoining coast and the Irish Sea. The town is well served by a selection of cafes, bistros and restaurants and the proximity of the town and campus means everything in Aberystwyth is within walking distance. Aberystwyth is served by good road and rail links. Approximate journey times : By train – 3 hours from Birmingham, 5 hours from London If you need any further help or advice with elements of the programme, schedule, accommodation options, travel or access information please contact CPR on +44 (0)1970 622133. Continuing the CPR tradition for high quality events staged in an individual way Throughout the event care is taken to forge links between people and ideas and to create formal and informal opportunities for people to exchange information about current and future projects. CPR’s long history of bringing together international performance practitioners and scholars in a potent spirit of debate/friendship, argument/opposition also serves as the occasion to highlight and focus work at the forefront of future developments in the field. 30 + 10: Throughout 2004/5 CPR will be celebrating 30 years of work and 10 years in Aberystwyth. To download a word version of this release please visit: www.thecpr.org.uk/press/towardstomorrowpr.doc Antony Pickthall Marketing & Development Director Centre for Performance Research (CPR) 6, Science Park, Aberystwyth, SY23 3AH Tel: +44 (0) 1970 621571 Fax: +44 (0) 1970 622132 E-mail: aop@aber.ac.uk www.thecpr.org.uk For the curious...opening up worlds of performance |
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Tuesday, January 25, 2005 |
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