The S Word - Stanislavsky's Many Faces: Then and Now

16 October, 2024 by Stefan Aquilina | 0 comments

The S Word - Stanislavsky's Many Faces: Then and Now

Annual Symposium organised by The Stanislavsky Research Centre (Leeds/Malta) in collaboration with The Department of Theatre Studies (School of Performing Arts, University of Malta)

Dates:                         6-9 November 2025

 

Venue:                         Valletta Campus of the University of Malta, Valletta, Malta

 

Keynote speakers:       Prof. Andrei Malaev-Babel (FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training and International Demidov Association)

Prof. Frank Camilleri (University of Malta)

 

Benedetti Lecture:      Prof. Bella Merlin (University of California, Riverside)

 

Co-conveners:             Prof. Stefan Aquilina (University of Malta)

Prof. Paul Fryer (Stanislavsky Research Centre)

 

Following on from past successful editions of the Symposium, we are very pleased to announce the following Call for Papers/Presentations for the next major event of The S Word project.

 

Stanislavsky’s work touched so many areas of practice that simply referring to him as a ‘theatre-maker’ seems to be reductive. An actor skilled in character transformation; a highly creative director famous for compelling stage creations; a pedagogue and teacher of many performers; an experimenter who brought seismic shifts to the art of performance, in Russia and across continents; a theorist of acting and performance; book author; collaborator; public speaker; political figure; and scientist – these are among the many ‘faces’ which today we attribute to Stanislavsky. As its core, the symposium invites submissions tackling any of these or even other faces of Stanislavsky, either in isolation or in interaction with one another.

 

Moreover, in its subtitle of ‘Then and Now’, the symposium is offering a second prompt for further discussion. Proposals that tackle the ‘then’, i.e. which seek to unravel Stanislavsky’s own ideas, productions, methods of work, etc. are certainly welcome; so are other proposals which consider the ‘now’, or our own interpretations and applications of Stanislavsky in a markedly different, twenty-first-century performance context. In this way, the Symposium seeks to develop a dialogue between past and present, at a time when we are steadily moving forward into ever-more contemporary understandings of the System. The ‘now’ is also extended to the research methods used today to study a historical figure like Stanislavsky. While rigorous historical study will always be important, the Symposium asks what other methodologies can be used to extend our knowledge of Stanislavsky.

 

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

·         Stanislavsky’s many faces, their negotiation and interaction

·         Relatively obscure work, sources, or practices within Stanislavsky’s oeuvre  

·         Reappraising the System: how and why

·         Stanislavsky and his collaborators

·         Stanislavsky today – issues of international transmission, appropriation, and adaptation

·         Teaching Stanislavsky and pedagogical perspectives

·         Stanislavsky and contemporary performance (e.g. postdramatic theatre, digital performance, etc.)

·         Stanislavsky and contemporary concerns including gender, race, well-being, intimacy, etc.

·         Methodologies used in researching Stanislavsky today: history-based; practice-as-research; use of theory, etc.

·         Interdisciplinary connections with other fields, such as Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cultural Studies, Philosophy, History, etc.

·         Provocations that critique or offer a ‘risk-taking approach’ towards Stanislavsky.

 

We invite proposals for contributions in the following formats:

·         an individual conventional paper (20 minutes);

·         practice-as-research sessions/practical presentations (20 minutes);

·         practical/workshop sessions (40 minutes);

·         panel presentations (a minimum of three participants) (60 minutes).

 

In a first instance please send a short written proposal (no more than 300 words) to Prof. Stefan Aquilina (stefan.aquilina@um.edu.mt) and Prof. Paul Fryer (paul@paulfryer.me.uk), to arrive no later than 1 April 2025. Please include a short bionote.

 

Symposium papers and presentations will be considered for publication in the journal Stanislavski Studies, published by Taylor and Francis.

 

Registration for this event will open in Spring 2025.

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