2009 ASTR Conference

I was invited to speak on this panel in two capacities: as the chair of our joint ASTR/ATHE committee on the National Research Council assessment of doctoral programs, and as a graduate dean. Especially in this latter role, I’ve been able to develop some overarching sense of what appears to be going on with [...]

ASTR Report
Conference on Doctoral Program in Theatre and Performance Studies
September 18-19, 2009 – University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
Faculty representing nearly 40 of the Ph.D. programs in Theatre and Performance Studies from the U.S. and Canada gathered for a landmark meeting at UIUC on the state of doctoral training. The conference was supported by the UIUC [...]

By Evan Darwin Winet
Before I start, I want to take a moment to thank Sonja and Tamara and the conference committee for inviting me to serve on this panel. I want to thank Jill Dolan specifically for suggesting that I should, after I had barraged my colleagues on the conference committee with a steady stream [...]

by Ric Knowles, University of Guelph
I’ve been asked to speak from a Canadian position, so I’ll start, as an epigraph, with a line by that great Canadian Neil Young sung on a recent album in his archetypally Canadian high-pitched whine: “there’s a bailout comin’ but it’s not for me.”
I want to be clear about what [...]

Dear ASTR conference attendees,
Welcome to our digital ‘preview’ of items open for bidding in the 2nd Annual ASTR Silent Auction. We are excited about the range of offerings, including signed books by top scholars in our field, theatre tickets, posters, rare playbills, and original artwork. Contributions from members of ASTR, publishers, and  theatre companies have been outstanding [...]

Five Stages of Early (pre-1950) Puerto Rican Theatre

Lowell Fiet, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras

Theatre in Puerto Rico reflects social tendencies that revolve around the syncretism apparent in all Caribbean cultures, with the creative impulses of inclusion and innovation, on the one hand, and the exclusion, rigidity, and violence of authoritarianism, on the [...]

Dear Colleagues:

You may have been hearing in the news recently about the particularly deep effects of the economic crisis in Puerto Rico (which led to widespread and sudden layoffs, which in turn led to a general walkout on Thursday, October 15) – and wondering how this may affect our time during the conference.
[...]