We invite proposals for 20-minute papers, full sessions, and workshops for the third Shakespearean Theatre Conference, to be held June 20-22, 2019 in Stratford, Ontario. 

While all approaches to Tudor-Stuart drama are welcome, we especially encourage proposals that respond to our broad theme of “festival and festivity.” How do we understand and perform festive, antic, celebratory, or bacchanal elements in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries? How did these plays draw on and contribute to early modern festive cultures, and how have historical changes to such cultures shifted the meaning of theatrical revelry? To what extent is the festive limited or invigorated by genre and convention? In what ways do cultural and theatrical festivals, including dedicated Shakespeare festivals and Shakespearean playhouses, influence and shape contemporary Shakespearean performance? What do the histories of these festivals have to tell us about changing responses to early modern drama, and what new directions seem promising?  

Plenary Speakers:
Farah Karim-Cooper (Shakespeare’s Globe)
M. J. Kidnie (Western University)
Paul Prescott (University of Warwick)

The conference is a joint venture of the University of Waterloo and the Stratford Festival, and will bring together scholars and practitioners to talk about how performance influences scholarship and vice versa. Paper sessions will be held at the University of Waterloo’s Stratford campus, with plays and special events hosted by the Stratford Festival.

Please send proposals to shakespeare@uwaterloo.ca by 1 February 1, 2019.

Kenneth Graham – Department of English, University of Waterloo
Alysia Kolentsis – Department of English, St. Jerome’s University
Lois Adamson – Director of Education, Stratford Festival