Asian Theatre Working Group calls for papers for IFTR 2025 conference. Deadline: 15 January 2025

IFTR’s Asian Theatre Working Group invites papers for working group meeting during the annual conference in Cologne in June 2025. We welcome submissions that follow the main conference themes: ekstasis, subversion and metamorphosis, as well as other propositions that align with the Asian Theatre Working Group’s mission.

In the Saitama Colloquium which takes place in March 2025, we focus on the topic of festivals and festas in the Asian theatre context. We think this could be a useful framework for scholars and practitioners in the Asian Theatre WG when they respond to the main Call for Papers for the IFTR 2025. Therefore, we welcome papers or other forms of reflections on theatre, festivals and theatre festivals in and out of Asia as public platforms where histories and memories are contested and negotiated locally, transregionally and transnationally.

Along the lines of the main conference theme, we encourage submissions that re-think festivals dramaturgically, historically and socio-politically. What is displaced by these festivals? Who is included and who is excluded? What is overturned and subverted by festival activities? How do festivals transform urban and rural Asia?  How do they rewrite histories and (re)contextualise local, regional or global stories? How do theatre and festivals negotiate public and private spaces? What kind of dramaturgies do they advance? For more inspiration, please refer to the main conference call.

Beyond the festival theme, we plan to allocate one or two working group sessions to discuss new topics that might emerge from the main conference theme or the submitted papers.

We hope to receive a wide range of proposals from historiographical, socio-political, intermedial, methodological, practical and other perspectives. We also welcome both individual papers and alternative proposals such as workshops, roundtable discussions or artist-led panels. If you’re proposing an alternative format, please indicate your technical needs and duration in the abstract.

Abstracts of 200-250 words along with 50-100 word bio can be submitted via the IFTR Cambridge Core portal.

Please note that you must renew your membership or become a member in order to submit: https://www.cambridge.org/core/membership/iftr  

The deadline for abstracts for working group papers is 15 January 2025. Make sure you choose Asian Theatre working group in the drop-down menu when you submit your abstract on Cambridge Core portal.

Individual papers / drafts between 1000 and 3000 words in length are to be distributed by 9 May 2025. For alternative formats, an outline will be due by the same date.

For information about the conference, please check the IFTR website. For updates about Asian Theatre Working Group, please visit https://iftr.org/working-groups/asian-theatre

Any enquiries about the working group can be sent to conveners
Dr Liyang Xia, Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo
Beri Juraic, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University
iftratwg@gmail.com