CALL FOR PAPERS: “TELL YOUR STORY”

An Interdisciplinary Conference on August Wilson
and African American Theatre, Art, and Culture

MARCH 9-11, 2007
University of Maryland  

From March 9-11, 2007 , the University of Maryland 's David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora will collaborate with the American Theatre and Drama Society and the Black Theatre Network to present a national conference celebrating the work and legacy of African American playwright August Wilson (1945-2005). The theme for the conference was inspired by a memorial spoken at the dedication of Wilson 's theatre on Broadway, when a young playwright recalled that Wilson had urged him simply to “Tell your story.”

Our goal is to create a truly interdisciplinary forum. We invite participants to explore the art of storytelling in a variety of forms, from the narrative on the page, to the fable preserved in a painting or work of art, to the lives of those whose experiences have shaped our understanding of the African American and African diasporic experience. Wilson ignited passionate debates about the nature of black theatre during his lifetime, and those debates continue today.

We seek proposals from scholars, playwrights, performers, visual artists, musicians, dramaturgs, and others whose work intersects with the themes of the conference. We will accept both single paper proposals as well as panel proposals. Submissions may wish to address the following questions:

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER…

1. What is the impact of Wilson 's work on the visual arts and culture of the African American community? How does Wilson 's work speak particularly to other artistic fields outside of drama?

2. How does Wilson 's work comment on contemporary racial politics in American society? How does his expression on this issue relate to other African American playwrights or artists?

3 . What is Wilson 's artistic legacy? How have a subsequent generation of playwrights related or responded to Wilson 's work and what does their work tell us about his and vice versa?

4. What model does Wilson 's work create for artistic collaboration?  How does Wilson 's work provide a lens through which to study other disciplines?

 

5. How does Wilson 's work function in practice? What challenges does it created in production for actors, directors designers? What does his well- known wish to work with black director's impact contemporary productions of his work?

 

6. What has been the reception of Wilson 's work? How and why does his work reach cross-racially? Cross-culturally? What does this tell us about the experience of Wilson play?

 

7. How does history figure as a character in Wilson 's plays?  How have other African American artists, playwrights, and performers incorporated an awareness of history into their work and how does this relate to Wilson 's own practice? What can scholarship on African American history and life in other fields tell us about Wilson use of history in his dramaturgy?

8. Where does Wilson fit in the classroom and in the American canon? Where should he be taught and why?

 

9. Gender continues to be a significant question in discussions of Wilson 's work.  What does Wilson 's work tell us about gender representation past and present? What problems does Wilson 's depiction of gender raise for production? For scholarship? How have past directors and performers addressed this?  How will changing notions of black masculinity and femininity shape interpretations of Wilson 's plays in the future ?


10. What does Wilson 's dramaturgy tell us about the process of narrative and story telling? How does he use it as a dramaturgical devise? How can scholarship in fields outside of drama inform our understanding of Wilson 's narrative style? How has Wilson 's work changed our understanding of the “storytelling” process?  What are the implications for this change in fields outside of theatre and literature?

 

11. How does Wilson 's use of language comment on the power of black vernacular speech? How does Wilson 's use of language relate to current debates about African American speech and language style?

 

12. Wilson 's plays challenge performers and designers to infuse productions with cultural nuances, symbolism, and political/racial consciousness. How should performers and designers approach the opportunities and obstacles that Wilson 's scripts provide?

TYPES OF PANELS…

To accommodate the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, we invite a range of proposal styles, from roundtables to readings to more formal panel/paper presentations. We also invite participants to submit proposals for the “Tell Your Story JAM” – two special 1-hour sessions that can involve up to twelve participants who will each offer 5 minute performances, presentations, discussions of their work, etc. (alternately, a group of scholars or artists may submit a proposal for a slightly longer presentation). These “outside the box” sessions are intended to offer a more flexible format that might allow (for example) a playwright to share a scene of a new work, an artist to debut a new study, or a scholar to present a recent piece of research from a larger project. PLEASE NOTE: Proposals are welcome from graduate students as well as more advanced scholars. We will also host a GRADUATE DEBUT PANEL for students who have not previously presented their work at a major national conference. Please be sure to indicate if you would like your submission to be considered for this category .


TIPS FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS:

1. Completed (with all panel members assembled) as well as individual proposals may be submitted directly Dr. Heather S. Nathans at hnathans@umd.edu by November 1, 2006 . PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL TECHNOLOGY REQUESTS AND GRANT REQUESTS MUST ALSO BE SUBMITTED BY NOVEMBER 1. (Available equipment includes DVD, VCR, Power Point connections, and internet.)Abstracts (250 words—longer abstracts or full papers will not be read) must include paper title and contact information, and must specify any AV needs. (Proposals for the “Tell Your Story JAM” should be sure to identify the nature of the performance/presentation.)

2. Members of ATDS and BTA wishing to identify colleagues to create panels prior to the November 1 deadline are encouraged to use their groups' listserves to circulate questions or possible panel topics.

3. Presenters proposing programs outside of the traditional panel format are asked to be specific in their proposals concerning the structure and number of participants so we can plan for space/resource needs accordingly.

4. The Program Committee will notify applicants concerning accepted or rejected panels by Dec.1.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT THE DRISKELL CENTER WEBSITE AT WWW.DRISKELLCENTER.UMD.EDU . Please note that registration discounts will be given to ATDS and BTA members. If you are interested in joining ATDS or BTA, please visit the website at www.atds.org or www.athe.org for a membership application or contact ATDS President Dr. John Frick at jwf8f@virginia.edu or BTA President Dr. Harvey Young at Harvey@northwestern.edu

Questions? Please contact Dr. Heather S. Nathans at hnathans@umd.edu or review the information on the Driskell Center website ( driskellcenter@umd.edu ) for additional conference information.