--- Maureen Hawkins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
A *lot* of good stuff! Wow! This is Paula Pratt, here
in Morocco, just taking time enough away from grading
final papers and portfolios, to say that I will
probably want to quote from your email in the essay
attached to my current research project: basically, a
chamber theatre production based on (translated) texts
by Irish and Moroccan women writers. I've just re-read
_Translations_ and will probably write you, Maureen,
for more insights there. Just wanted to reflect on
past experience knowing Carol Banks back in the 1990's
when she was one of (if not the) first to do a thesis
on Irish women dramatists, when that topic was even
more obscure than now.
My daughter has her Master's degree in using "drama in
education," and what you say about drama not being
seen as "serious literature" just vindicates what
she's experienced when trying to convince teachers of
the creative uses they can make of theatre/drama in
the classroom. That's a bit off-topic here, but it
was, in part, her influence (she was then a university
undergrad) that caused me to explore the idea of doing
a readers' theatre production of Irish women's poetry
for my Ph.D. dissertation.
Back then (late 80's - early to mid-90's) panels on
Irish women writers might have had better attendance,
since they seemed to enjoy a bit of a "boom" phase and
token inclusion on conference panel lists. Since 1997,
when I came to Morocco, I've been mostly out of touch
with Irish studies in any formal way, but am on this
list because I need to be back in touch. I am going to
try my best to do something at the Sunderland
conference, since it's relatively close, and I need an
opportunity to give my project a dry run of sorts.
So, Maureen, do you think we may have met in the past
at ACIS or CAIS? Your name sounds familiar. Anyway, I
thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts; never apologize (to
me, at any rate) for being long, when it's this
worthwhile.
Paula Pratt
Asst. Prof. of Humanities
Al Akhawayn University
Ifrane, MOROCCO
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