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The Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society (MRDS) has issued a call for papers for four sessions to be held at the International Medieval Congress on the weekend of May 7-10, 2009 at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
The congress is an annual gathering of over 3,000 medieval studies scholars in. It features over 600 paper sessions, panel discussions, roundtables, workshops, and performances. The congress also hosts 90 business meetings and receptions sponsored by learned societies, associations and institutions. The exhibits hall will have nearly 70 exhibitors, including publishers, used book dealers and purveyors of medieval sundries. The congress lasts three and a half days, extending from Thursday morning until Sunday at noon.
One-paper proposals may be sent to the contact persons listed in the session descriptions below. The submission deadline is September 15, 2008, but the MRDS strongly encourages potential presenters to submit abstracts earlier.
A paper proposal must include an abstract of no more than 300 words and a completed Participant Information Form. The Participant Information Forms are available online either as a Microsoft Word form and as an interactive PDF file. Participant Information Form (Microsoft Word format) Participant Information Form (interactive PDF file)
Organizers of sponsored and special sessions are obliged to forward proposals that are not selected to the Congress Committee, so that the papers can be considered for General Sessions.
MRDS-Sponsored Sessions
1. Renaissance Medievalisms in Performance
As Chris Brooks suggests, the Renaissance inherited the Middle Ages both as a material presence and as a complex of ideas and feelings-both real and imaginary. This panel seeks papers that examine how Renaissance communities constructed, evaluated, mythologized, or re-imagined the Middle Ages through performance. Although dramatic texts offer us evidence of such cultural work, this panel also invites papers that identify and analyze “medievalisms” in staging practices, patronage, acting styles, design choices, and other theatrical elements. Papers that address non-English contexts are welcome.
Organizer: Jill Stevenson, Marymount Manhattan College, Theatre Dept, jstevenson@mmm.edu
2. Messengers & Advisors in Medieval Drama:
Medieval dramatic depictions of messengers and advisors invite scholarly inquiry into many areas, including power and gender dynamics between a speaker and his/her audience; the epistemological implications of the spoken and written word; notions of space and movement in performance; and physical and verbal interactions among the players, and between players and audience. Proposals examining English and continental drama are welcome.
Organizer: Frank Napolitano, Dept of English, University of Connecticut, Frank.Napolitano@uconn.com
3. “Strictly Academic?”: School and Learned Drama, Late-Medieval through Renaissance
Many surviving early dramatic texts were produced in learned monastic settings, by household chapel/choir school or grammar school masters, by university students, or by post-graduate scholars such as those of the Christian Terence movement (both on the Continent and in England). Thereafter, the famed “University Wits” pioneered the commercial drama of the Elizabethan era and performance in the law schools (Inns of Court) continued through the Renaissance. Accordingly, early school and learned drama had an enormous influence not just on the development of early theatre but on its very survival and existence. For that reason, recent discoveries and approaches warrant reexamination of the many traditions of academic drama.
Organizer: Bob Hornback, Dept of English, Oglethorpe U, rhornback@Oglethorpe.edu
4. The Material Culture of French Medieval Drama: In Memory of Graham Runnalls
As Alan Knight wrote in a review of one of Runnalls’ books, “Since the work of Petit de Julleville in the 1880s, no-one has contributed more to the study of medieval French theatre history than Graham Runnalls.” His work over more than thirty years ranged from editions of play texts to studies of manuscript typology and printing, and to his editorial work on archival materials about production and staging. His death in January 2008 at the age of 70 has been deeply felt by the Medieval Drama community, and it is fitting to honor him with this session.
Organizer: Mario Longtin, Dept. of French, University of Western Ontario. mlongtin@uwo.ca
Web Resources:
Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society
