The IFTR Music Theatre Working Group will be meeting at the IFTR conference in Belgrade, Serbia 9-13 July 2018.

CALL FOR PAPERS:
Music Theatre Working Group, International Federation for Theatre Research

IFTR 2018 Belgrade, Serbia
Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Arts, Belgrade Serbia
 9-13 July 2018

THEATRE AND MIGRATION
Theatre, Nation and Identity: Between Migration and Stasis

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The IFTR Music Theatre Working Group will be meeting at the IFTR conference in Belgrade, Serbia, 9-13 July 2018.

The aim of the Music Theatre working group is to discuss a broad range of methodological and theoretical perspectives on all kinds of music theatre, from opera and popular forms to contemporary experiments with new forms of music theatre. We are also interested in comprehending the role and function of music and sound in performance, in the broadest sense. The background for the working group is our perception of the need to find new ways to deal with a subject which is part of at least two disciplines – theatre studies and musicology – but which is not, in fact, at home in either field. What our approaches all have in common is that they start from a notion of music theatre as theatre, performance and experience, always dealing with the interplay between all of the senses.

In keeping with the conference theme of “Theatre, Nation and Identity: Between Migration and Stasis”, we invite existing and new WG members to submit papers on any aspect of music theatre (broadly understood to be musical theatre, opera, music and/in theatre) or music and sound in performance as they relate to the conference theme. Specifically, we welcome papers that address the ways in which music theatre engages with, or is entwined with, issues of movement, migration, borders and identity. Music / Sound have often been employed actively as markers of inclusion and exclusion, of demarcating personal and communal, including national, identities. Their use in music theatre and the migratory patterns of music in/to theatre engender curious questions of borders and bordering, ‘them’ and ‘us’; frequencies become appropriated and employed performatively to shape reality and experience. On the other hand, music and sound’s transpathic, contagious, and affective qualities can permeate and penetrate these borders, thereby enabling different understandings of identity and the body.

The WG thus welcomes papers on Musical Theatre, Opera or Music / Sound in Theatre that explore but not be limited to the following topics:

·         Musical, Sonic and Acoustic Migrations in Theatre and Performance

·         Music-Theatre, Nationhood and National Identity

·         Migrations of/in music theatre: Global, Regional, Local Movements

·         Music Theatre and (Post)Identity Politics

·         Acoustic Inclusion / Exclusion: Sound / Music and Political-Geographical Borders

·         Composing / Hearing the Self / Other (and the In-Between) in Music-Theatre

·         Music and the Affective

·         Transpathy and Emotional Contagion: Musical Movement as Infection

We also welcome papers on any aspect of music theatre though preference is for those that address the conference theme and listed topics.

Submission Procedures & Presentation Format

We welcome both new and existing WG members to join the WG sessions at the conference. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and are due 31 January 2018 and should submitted via Cambridge Core, https://www.cambridge.org/core/membership/iftr/. Do indicate that you are submitting an abstract to the Music Theatre Working Group. Please note that you will have to be a member of the IFTR in order to submit an abstract. Registration for membership can be done on the Cambridge Journals Online website listed above.

As the WG would like to utilize the given sessions for in-depth discussions, papers will be circulated prior to the conference among WG members who will be attending the conference only. As such, finalized papers are to be submitted by email to the convenors before 3 July 2018. Papers should be no more than 3,000 words.

At the WG meetings during the conference, only a short overview of each paper will be presented and the remaining time will be devoted to a discussion.

 

More information about the conference can be found at the IFTR website, http://www.iftr.org/conference. If you would like to find out more about the Music Theatre WG, please visit http://www.firt-iftr.org/working-groups/stage-forms/music-theatre/teamblog/listings/music-theatre

Bursaries
The IFTR offers financial assistance to scholars wishing to participate in its Annual Conference. These bursaries are awarded on the basis of merit, relevance to the conference or Working Group theme, and financial need. For information and instructions about bursaries, and to download the application form, please visit: https://www.iftr.org/conference/bursaries


Music Theatre Working Group Convenors:
Marcus Tan (marcus.tan@nie.edu.sg)
George Rodosthenous (g.rodosthenous@leeds.ac.uk)