Early Modern Theatre and Conversion
Early Modern Theatre and Conversion
A Folger Symposium
How did the crisis of conversion in the early modern world open up a space for dramatists and others to play with one of the key questions of their time? How, that is, did early modern theatre and other kinds of theatrical practice adopt, repurpose, transform, and multiply forms of religious conversion? Offered in partnership with the SSHRC-funded project, “Early Modern Conversions: Religions, Cultures, Cognitive Ecologies,” this symposium will convene members of that project with others, bringing together historians of theatre and historians of religious and political culture with theatrical practitioners, whose work will open other ways of understanding how theatre is able to “convert” conversion. Through discussion and workshop sessions, symposium participants will work across differences of discipline and archive in order to reach toward a greater understanding of the social creativity of theatre in an age of political and religious upheaval.
Schedule:
Thursday evening, Friday, and Saturday, November 17 – 19, 2016.
The symposium opens with an evening performance workshop, “Playing Conversion,” during which professional actors will stage themes that will resonate throughout the rest of the symposium. On Friday and Saturday, invited speakers will initiate discussion on a number of relevant topics.
Organizers: Professor Paul Yachnin and Dr. Stephen Wittek of McGill University represent the “Early Modern Conversions” project. They have developed this symposium in collaboration with Drs. Kathleen Lynch and Owen Williams of the Folger Institute.
Most sessions take place in the Folger Board Room
Thursday evening, 17 November 2016 (Paster Reading Room)
6:00 pm
- Welcome
- Kathleen Lynch, Folger Institute, and Paul Yachnin, McGill University
- Performance Workshop: “Playing Conversion”
- Amanda Kellock, Repercussion Theatre, Montreal
- Antoine Yared, Stratford Festival
- Shirine Babb
- Louis Butelli
7:30-8:30
- Opening Reception (Founders Room)
Friday, 18 November 2016
9:30 am
- Coffee and pastries (Tea Room, which is adjacent to the Board Room)
10:10
- Call to Order
- Owen Williams, Folger Institute
10:15
- Culture and Religion
- Chair: Christopher Hodgkins, English, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
- Jeffrey Shoulson, Judaic Studies, University of Connecticut
- Steven Mullaney, English, University of Michigan
11:45
- Lunch (provided in the Foulke Conference Room, 301 East Capitol Street, SE)
1:30
- Sexuality and Gender
- Chair: Kathryn Santos, English, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
- Mario DiGangi, English, The City University of New York
- Ulrike Strasser, History, University of California, San Diego
3:00
- Tea Break
3:30
- Cultural Exchange & Cognitive Transformation
- Chair: Stephanie Cavanaugh, Conversions Project, McGill University
- Jean Feerick, English, John Carroll University
- Coll Thrush, History, University of British Columbia
Saturday, 19 November 2016
9:30 am
- Coffee and Pastries (Folger Tea Room)
10:10
- Call to Order
- Stephen Wittek, McGill University
10:15
- Conversion & Islam
- Chair: Holly Pickett, English, Washington & Lee University
- Jane Hwang Degenhardt, English, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Bernadette Andrea, English, University of Texas, San Antonio
11:45 am
- Lunch on your own (suggestions provided in folders)
1:30
- Reformation & Conversion
- Chair: Torrance Kirby, Religious Studies, McGill University
- Peter Lake, History, Vanderbilt University
- David Kastan, English, Yale University
3:00
- Tea Break (Tea Room)
3:30
- Theatre & the Conversions of Things
- Chair: Bronwen Wilson, Art History, UCLA
- Helen Smith, English, University of York
- Julian Yates, English, University of Delaware
5:00
- Roundtable
Chair: Paul Yachnin
6:00
- Closing Reception (Paster Reading Room)
This reception is offered in conjunction with the Homecoming of the First Folios programming.