1st UTAD Conference
Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies
1 st UTAD Conference: Origins
Co-Organized by Turkish Society for Theatre Research (TSTR) and TED University, Ankara, Türkiye
14-15-16 September 2023
Venue: TED University, Ankara, Türkiye
Contact email: utadconference@gmail.com
Call for Papers
The origins of theatre are thought to be as old as humanity itself. Whether to imitate its surrounding environment, try to understand its own existence within the greater cosmology, surpass death by re-enacting past behaviours and events of humans, or simply have some fun, the theatre has been an indispensable part of meaning-making and human existence.
Ancient amphitheatres, medieval pageants, thrust stages in outdoor and indoor theatres, stages with proscenium arches, forum theatres, streets, town halls, town meadows, royal courts, houses of nobility and commoners, and many more conventional and unconventional outdoor and indoor venues, all have witnessed the origins of theatres and dramatic conventions that aimed at the edification and delight of their audiences.
Folk drama, Sanskrit drama, Chinese drama, Japanese No plays, rituals in Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Old Turkic heroic drama, ancient Greek comedy and tragedy, Roman comedy and tragedy, classicist drama, realist drama, symbolic drama, post-dramatic performances, all came into being either as a result of or as a reaction towards local or global historical circumstances, artistic movements, or technological innovations. Therefore, the study of the origins of theatres in Eastern, Western, Southern, or Northern locations of the world is not only a study of theatre history but of human history itself.
As part of the story of our origins, we as the Turkish Society for Theatre Research (TSTR) are looking forward to receiving abstracts for 20-minute papers for our inaugural conference on the following subjects (and/or their intersections):
• Origins of theatre
o Ancient
o Medieval
o Early Modern
o 18th century
o 19th century
o 20th century
o Contemporary
• Origins of theatre studies
o Department histories
• Originators of theatre, performance and/or theatre studies
o Performers o Directors
o Translators
o Academics
• The origins of theatre and
o Class
o Gender
o Race
o Ecology
o Posthuman studies
o Disability studies
• Translation/adaptation and the origins of theatre and/or theatre studies
• The origins of (re)interpretations of theatre in various media adaptations
o Film
o TV
o Animation
o Music
o New Media
Please send a 250-word abstract, a 100-word short bio to the Turkish Society for Theatre Research (TSTR) (utadconference@gmail.com) by 30 June 2023.
We are looking forward to receiving your paper proposals and hosting you in Ankara (14-16 September 2023), which has been home to the origins of the Republic of Türkiye, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2023, and the first Theatre Department established at Ankara University in 1958.
Selected papers will be published in a special issue in the ETKI Journal (e-ISSN: 2822-3950)