ATDS Panel at 2019 International Symposium on the FTP
Please see CFP immediately below for the guaranteed ATDS panel at the 2019 International Symposium on the Federal Theatre Project, Oct. 17-19, in Toulouse, France, at Toulouse Jean Jaurès University. If interested, please send paper title and abstract (250-300 words), including academic affiliation and full contact information (email, snail mail, telephone) to Dorothy Chansky, dorothychansky@gmail.com by December 15th, 2018.
The full symposium description with CFP follows the call for the ATDS panel. If you believe your work fits the conference but not the ATDS panel, please apply directly to the symposium organizers.
ATDS Panel Theme – Health and The Federal Theatre Project
This panel invites papers that explore Federal Theatre Project endeavors (productions, individual scripts, community engagement) that addressed “health,” which can be understood in multiple ways. It might mean an individual public health problem (e.g., in the Living Newspaper Spirochete); it might apply to the “health” and well-being of the theatre industry; it might be construed as concerning what is arguably the unhealthy building that one could argue is the main character in One-Third of a Nation; it might suggest “unhealthy” practices (e.g., racism, or unsafe rehearsal environments) within individual FTP units.
Call for Proposals
Federal Theatre Project (1935-39): Context and Stakes
International Symposium
Histoire des Arts et des Représentations (HAR, EA 4414, Paris Nanterre), Cultures Anglo-Saxonnes (CAS, EA 820, Toulouse Jean Jaurès)
October 17-19, 2019
Toulouse, FRANCE
The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) stands as a singular undertaking in the history of the American theatre, unprecedented at its time and never repeated in the same form and scope. Run during its four-year existence (1935-1939) by playwright / dramaturg / director Hallie Flanagan, it was part of the cluster of relief measures implemented during the Great Depression by the Roosevelt administration and known collectively as the New Deal. The FTP was specifically sponsored under the umbrella program called the Works Progress Administration (WPA), directed by Harry Hopkins. It was Hopkins who appointed fellow Iowan Flanagan to her position.
The Toulouse international symposium aims to spotlight this crucial but lately little-studied episode in American theatre and cultural history. We welcome submissions not only from theatre scholars, but also from historians, or sociologists.
Possible broad approaches to the symposium theme include, but are not limited to:
- Sociopolitical and cultural examinations of any facet of the FTP
- Aesthetic considerations of any facet of the FTP
- Historiographic and epistemological approaches to any facet of the FTP
- Studies of the extended influence of the FTP outside / beyond the United States
Proposals dealing specifically with the Federal Theatre Project will be given first consideration, but we will also make every effort to accommodate some papers about other arts projects under the WPA aegis so long as these contribute to understanding the Federal Theatre Project.
Conference paper proposals should be sent by January 5, 2019 at the latest, to Émeline Jouve (emeline.jouve@gmail.com) and Géraldine Prévot (geraldine.prevot@gmail.com).They should include: a) an abstract (4,000 characters maximum); b) a short biographical sketch
Official languages: French and English.
Artistic events are being organized to coincide with the conference.
Elizabeth Osborne (Floriday State University, USA), Ilka Saal (Universität Erfurt, Germany) and Jean Kempf (Université Lyon 2, France) accepted our invitation to be give keynote lectures.
The conference will take place at Toulouse Jean-Jaures University (Oct, 17-18) and Théâtre de la Cité (Oct, 19).