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From: Stefani Engelstein <[log in to unmask]>

Call for Papers
Renaissance Society of America
Toronto, 28-30 March 2003

A New Way to Play Old Texts:
Critical Practice and Renaissance Performance

The relationship between dramatic texts and theatrical presentations
remains one of the most contested issues in the criticism of Renaissance
performance. While dramatic texts would seem to offer one of our surest
routes into the study of premodern theatrical events, textuality itself
frequently acts as a formidable barrier to it. The dichotomy of "text
against performance," in Harry Berger's apt phrase, has been mobilized
both by stage-centered critics so as to re-prioritize performance, as well
as by those focused on the page in order to critique such a
prioritization: this dichotomy has been characterized as "incommensurate,"
"complementary," and at an "impasse," to name but a few. That the same
pair of terms affords such flexibility in critical arguments suggests that
their relation might be theorized more productively for critical practice
and Renaissance performance.

Proposals that address these and related performance issues are invited
for a session at the Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting in
Toronto, 28-30 March 2003. Preference will be given to proposals that
resist metaphorical uses of the term "performance"--the theater as a site
of Renaissance *cultural* performance, for instance--and that concentrate
instead on activities within theatrical spaces, especially those of plays.
Considerations of all European and non-European theater, whether
religious, popular, or royal, are welcome. Papers should give some scope
to the critical practice and/or theory of performance in the Renaissance.

Send paper abstracts of about 300 words, preferably by email attachment
(or cut-and-pasted), to Jonathan Walker: <[log in to unmask]>. Read papers
must not exceed twenty minutes. Please include with the proposal the title
of the paper, your institutional affiliation, and any audio-visual
requirements. To send print proposals, mail to:

Jonathan Walker
Department of English (M/C 162)
University of Illinois at Chicago
601 South Morgan Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607-7120, USA

Deadline for submissions is 8 May 2002. Email notifications will be sent
by 20 May.