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New edition of James Fisher’s The Theatre of Tony Kushner

James Fisher’s The Theatre of Tony Kushner is getting an updated and expanded second edition to be released in 2021. 

The Theatre of Tony Kushner, 2nd Edition Cover

In addition to receiving the 2007 Betty Jean Jones award from ATDS, James Fisher was also recently named a Fellow of American Theatre, College of Fellows of the American Theatre (2019) and awarded the Mary Settle Sharp Award for Teaching Excellence from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2018. He is the co-author, along with Felicia Hardison Londré, of The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater: Modernism, as well as the author of The Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings.

Member Publication – Githa Sowerby: Three Plays

Githa Sowerby: Three Plays

Rutherford and Son, A Man and Some Women, The Stepmother
Edited by J. Ellen Gainor
414 pages | $19.95 print | $13.95 eBook

This edition provides important historical contexts for Sowerby’s vivid domestic dramas that explore timely questions of capitalism, feminism, and personal freedom.

“This collection is a revelation. It brings a new awareness of the full range of Sowerby’s playwriting, including her groundbreaking play Rutherford and Son and two others that few will have encountered. Through J. Ellen Gainor’s skillful editing and expertise, the book also shows what riches can emerge when theatre scholars join forces with theatre makers to recover ‘neglected’ plays and illuminate their continued relevance to our own times. Here is an outstanding example of the vital role of performance in the recovery of ‘lost’ play texts.” — Kirsten E. Shepherd-Barr, University of Oxford
 

ATDS Election Slate for 2021

The American Theatre and Drama Society welcomes nominations for these governing body positions:

  • Vice President (2 years, followed by 2 years as President and 2 years on the Board)
  • Secretary (4 years)
  • Treasurer/Assistant Secretary (4 years)
  • International Secretary (4 years)
  • Graduate Representative (2 years)
  • Executive Board Members (4 years)

For more information about the responsibilities of these roles, visit https://www.atds.org/about/.

The nominations committee consists of Donatella Galella (chair), Andrew Gibb, Heather Nathans, Ariel Nereson, and Diego Villada. They will prepare a slate of candidates, but any ATDS member can nominate themselves, another member, or even non-members with the understanding that they would become members if elected. Keep in mind that ATDS is currently offering pay-what-you-can membership: https://www.atds.org/product/pay-what-you-can-membership/. The committee especially encourages nominations of BIPOC scholars and artists who work in/on theatre of the Americas.

Send nominations and self-nominations to Donatella Galella at galella@ucr.edu by February 1, 2021. Feel free to send questions and concerns as well. Please don’t hit reply all.

Nominees will be contacted and must confirm their willingness to serve prior to finalization of the election slate. Elections will be held in March 2021 via anonymous online polling and are open to all ATDS members. Newly elected officers will begin their terms following the annual meeting of the Society in August 2021.

ATDS Anti-Racism Workshops

At the ATDS Business Meeting in July the Board approved a proposal for ATDS to provide its members with the opportunity to learn together from leaders in our field in workshops centered on anti-racism. We are glad to announce two workshops will be offered for members only this fall.* These 90 minute workshops, described below, will be archived and available for a limited time window following the event on a password-protected page of the ATDS website. If you are an ATDS member, or plan to join by October 1, please review the workshop descriptions below and then click this link by Sept. 4th to provide your date preferences if you plan to attend either or both workshops (please do not respond to this email with date preferences).
 
For “Anti-Racist Approaches and Practices” with Dr. Koritha Mitchell:
 
Thursday, 10/1, from 3-4:30pm EST
Friday, 10/2 from 3-4:30pm EST
 
For “Agitating Whiteness from Where You Are” with Dr. Claire Syler:
 
Wednesday, 10/28, from 3-4:30pm EST
Friday, 10/30, from 3-4:30pm EST
 
Workshop Description: “Anti-Racist Approaches and Practices” with Dr. Koritha Mitchell
 
This workshop will center on discussion and application of Dr. Mitchell’s essay, “Identifying White Mediocrity and Know-Your-Place Aggression: A Practice of Self-Care” (attached here) as a way into anti-racist action in our professional settings.
 
Workshop Description: “Agitating Whiteness from Where You Are” with Dr. Claire Syler
 
Although all are welcome, this workshop is designed for white people who want to grapple with white privilege and actively practice anti-racism. Participants will join an affinity space dedicated to understanding whiteness at individual and systemic levels, and explore ways to identify, confront, and agitate whiteness from where they are.
 
Please contact ATDS Board Members Ariel Nereson (ariel.nereson@gmail.com) and Donatella Galella (galella@ucr.edu), who are coordinating these workshops on behalf of ATDS, with questions.
 
*If you are not yet an ATDS member, please consider joining us! We have transitioned to pay-what-you-can membership and you can join or renew here: https://www.atds.org/membership-shop/.
 
We hope many of you can join us for these workshops, and send each of you good wishes for a healthy and safe fall.
 
-Ariel and Donatella

2020 ATDS Award Winners

Congratulations to the 2020 American Theatre and Drama Society award winners!

Betty Jean Jones Award:  Dr. Brenda Murphy

Named for Betty Jean Jones, who was a highly respected and admired American Theatre and Drama teacher, this award honors individuals who have achieved excellence as college/university teachers and/or scholars and have served as mentors in the profession. It is our organization’s highest honor. Congratulations Dr. Murphy!

John  W. Frick Book Award: Dr. Julie Burelle

Encounters on Contested Lands: Indigenous Performances of Sovereignty and Nationhood in Quebec (Northwestern University Press)

Vera Mowry Roberts Award: Dr. Maya Cantu

“Beyond the Rue Pigalle: Recovering Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith as ‘Muse,’ Mentor and Maker of Transatlantic Musical Theatre,” Reframing the Musical: Race, Culture and Identity (ed. Sarah Whitfield), published by Red Globe Press/Springer Nature Ltd

Faculty Travel/Research Award: Dr. Dan Venning

“Eugene O’Neill’s First Pulitzer Prizes: A Centenary Research Project”–Archival Research: Tao House,

Contingent Faculty Travel/Research Award:  Dr. Danielle Rosvally

“Value and Worth: Shakespeare, Social Economies, and National Identity in New York’s Nineteenth Century” –archival research at The Hargrett Rare Books & Manuscripts Library at the University of Georgia. 

Publication Subvention Award: Dr. Dani Snyder-Young

“Privileged Spectatorship: Theatrical Interventions in White Supremacy,” to be published by Northwestern University Press –photo permissions

Graduate Student Travel/Research Award: Alexis Riley

“Patient Acts: Performance, Site, and the Making of Mad Memory”–research 

Emerging Scholars Award: Steven D. Cullen

“An Ex-cellent Disaster: Seeking Utopia Within the Dystopia of Mr. Burns” (to be presented at ATHE, day/time TBD)

Katie Johnson Recipient of NEH Fellowship

image of Katie Johnson
NEH Seal

Congratulations to Dr. Katie Johnson (Miami University) for receiving an NEH Fellowship Award of $6000 to complete work on her third book Racing the Great White Way: a Counter-History of Early 20th Century Broadway. This project examines interracial collaboration in theater in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, with analysis of performances staged on Broadway, in Harlem, in Greenwich, and in films

ATDS Supported Online Research Meetings for April 27-May 1

There is a new round of ATDS-supported online research sessions beginning on Monday, 4/27. For this week’s schedule and information on how to join us, please follow this LINK. 

If you’d like to volunteer to facilitate a session, that would be wonderful!  We’re so grateful to the many volunteers who have already joined us, and we’re excited to welcome more as we plan weeks seven and eight of this project.  

Theatre Survey – Performance and the Public Good CFP Extended

Due to the many challenges associated with COVID-19, Theatre Survey’s editorial team has decided to extend the deadline for its special theme issue focusing on “Performance and the Public Good” to September 1, 2020. Articles accepted for the issue will appear in the September 2021 issue.

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