Collaboration between disciplines and across borders presents a unique set of challenges even as it becomes ubiquitous in artistic and professional pursuits. Collaborative work also offers an opportunity to examine the ways in which politics implicitly and explicitly inform our practices. In addition to conference-style papers, the conference will feature workshops, performances, and other non-traditional methods of engaging in dialogues which address the personal/political/ cultural negotiations inherent in any collaboration, creative or otherwise. The Symposium will be concurrent with the university’s production of aPOEtheosis, a devised piece of theatre created by U.S. director Joe Brandesky, and Czech theatre artist Petr Matásek.

 

Keynote Speaker

Stephen Wangh studied with Jerzy Grotowski in 1967 and is the author of An Acrobat of the Heart and The Heart of Teaching. His playwriting credits include work as an Associate Writer for The Laramie Project, The People’s Temple, which won the Glickman Award for Best Play in the Bay Area, 2005, and many other collaborative works. Stephen has taught physical acting technique in the United States and Europe.

 

Special Guest

Petr Matásek is a Czech artist, set designer, director, and associate professor at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre at DAMU, in Prague.

 

The Symposium is sponsored by The Graduate Theatre Syndicate, The Department of Theatre, and The Performance/Politics Humanities Institute Working Group, Co-Conveners Harmony Bench (Dance), Ryan Skinner (Ethnomusicology), and Jennifer Schlueter (Theatre).

 

 

Symposium Schedule
All events will take place at the
Drake Performance and Event Center
1849 Cannon Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Directions and Parking

 

Friday, April 5th

3:45-4:15 Registration
Room 2038

4:15-4:30 Welcome

Dan Gray, Chair, Department of Theatre
Francesca Spedalieri, The Graduate Theatre Syndicate

Room 2038

4:30-5:15 A conversation with Petr Matásek
Moderated by Joe Brandesky

Room 2038

5:15-6pm KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Stephen Wangh

Room 2038

6:15- 7:15 Dinner

Stadium View Lounge
(Please RSVP here)

7:30 The Department of Theatre Presents: aPOEtheosis

Roy Bowen Theatre
(Please RSVP here) 

 

Saturday, April 6th

8:30-9:00 Breakfast/Registration

Room 2038

 

9:00-11:00 A Physical Theatre Workshop with Stephen Wangh

Harbor Room (1002)

(Limited Availability – up to 45 participants. Please RSVP here)

 

11:00-11:10 Break

 

11:10-12:25

Panel 1: Beyond the Classroom: Broadening Educational Horizons Through Collaboration

Room 2038

‘When Desire Conquers All Obstacles’: The Art, Techniques and Challenges in Reaching Underserved Youth Using Cleveland Public Theatre’s Student Theatre Enrichment Program
Meg Chamberlain, (MFA Acting, OSU)

 

Safe Spaces: the Pedagogy of Collaboration in the InterACT Classroom
Elizabeth Wellman (PhD Candidate Theatre, OSU)

 

Cognitive Studies and the Chekhov Technique: Crossing the Boundaries of Science and Spirit
Pamela Decker, (PhD Candidate Theatre, OSU) and Victoria Matsos, (MFA Acting, OSU)

 

12:25-1:10 Lunch

Room 2038

 

1:10-1:40

Performance and Talk Back

Collaboration across Culture: The South African/American Acting/Directing Exchange
Sifiso and Melonie Mazibuko (MFA Acting, OSU)

New Works Lab (Room 2060)

 

1:40 -2:30

Panel 2: Cultural Crosspollination: Collaboration as a Site for Aesthetic Synthesis

Room 2038

Critiquing Cosmopolitanism: Internationalizing Ethno-nationalism
Maureen Pritchard (PhD Candidate Anthropology, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies)

 

Transformation through Dialogue:  The Collaborative Tradition of Reshaping Narrative in Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses
Alaina Orchard (MA Theatre, OSU)

 

2:30-2:40 Break

 

2:40-4:10

Panel 3: Exploring Gender Performance in and through Collaboration

Room 107

Collaborative Choreographic Research as Feminist Praxis: The Touch Project
Kelly Klein (PhD Dance, OSU) 

 

The Gender Workshop
Jane Elliott (MFA Acting, OSU)

 

4:10-4:20 Break

 

4:20-5:35

Panel 4: The Politics of Collaboration in Generating New Work

Room 2038

Shedding Some Light: Uncovering The Creation Myth of The Neo-Futurists’ Inaugural Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind
Max Glenn (MA Theatre, OSU)

 

The Devising Process as a Contributing Factor to the Controversial Perceptions of Lloyd Newson's DV8 Physical Theatre
Jennifer Collins (PhD Candidate Theatre, OSU)

 

This Above All: The Collaboration Process Between Actors and Designers During a Devised Piece
Marni Balint (MFA Scenic Design, OSU)

 

5:35-5:45 Break

 

5:45-6:15 Closing Remarks

Jennifer Schlueter, PhD, OSU Theatre)
Geoff Wilson, Symposium Chair, The Graduate Theatre Syndicate

Room 2038