Illinois Theatre

The Conference on Doctoral Programs in Theatre and Performance Studies

The Department of Theatre at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign will hold the first conference on doctoral programs in Theatre and Performance Studies. Held September 18-19th, 2009, the conference aims to bring together heads and chairs of PhD programs in North America to discuss the current state of their programs and the future of the field as a whole.  Featuring Dr. Thomas Postlewait as the keynote speaker, the conference will allow the participants to actively engage with each other on critical issues related to doctoral programs.

The conference will foster dialogue through small roundtable discussion groups on such topics as recruitment, training, curriculum, and job placement. Through this process we encourage participants to promote their program, learn from each other, reevaluate their assumptions, and continue to communicate both scholarly and personally after the conference.

The following sessions are open to the public:

Friday, September 18:

5:00-5:15pm Welcoming Remarks by Robert Graves, Dean, College of Fine and Applied Arts 

5:15-6:30pm Session 1 "The State of Doctoral Programs in Theatre and Performing Studies" 

TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE ROOM

Saturday, September 19:

8:30-9:30am Keynote Address: Thomas Postlewait (University of Washington) "Yet Another New Atlantis: A Sketch of Our Discipline."

Introduction: Peter Davis (UIUC)

LINCOLN CONFERENCE ROOM

All remaining sessions on Saturday are closed to the public. 

Please contact Esther Kim Lee, Chair of the MA/PHD Program at kim32@illinois with questions or comments.

Current attendees include:

Tamara Underiner, (Arizona State University: Theatre and Performance of the Americas)

Roger Bedard, (Arizona State University: Theatre for Youth)

Spencer Golub, (Brown University) 

Lesa Lockford, (Bowling Green State University)

David Savran, (The City University of New York)

Arnold Aronson, (Columbia University)

Haiping Yan, (Cornell University)

Les Wade, (Louisiana State University)

Ronald Wainscott, (Indiana University at Bloomington)

Karen Shimakawa, (New York University: Performance Studies)

Nan Smithner, (New York University: Educational Theatre)

Tracy Davis, (Northwestern University)

D. Soyini Madison, (Northwestern University: Performance Studies)

Harvey Young, (Northwestern University: Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama)

William F. Condee, (Ohio University)

Leslie Ferris, (Ohio State University)

Alice Rayner, (Stanford University)

Laurence Senelick, (Tufts University)

Catherine M. Cole, (University of California at Berkeley)

Lynette Hunter, (University of California at Davis)

Stephen Barker, (University of California at Irvine)

Emily Roxworthy, (University of California at San Diego)

Simon Williams, (University of California at Santa Barbara)

David Saltz, (University of Georgia)

Henry Bial, (University of Kansas)

Heather Nathans, (University of Maryland)

Michal Kobialka, (University of Minnesota)

M. Heather Carver, (University of Missouri at Columbia)

Attilio (Buck) Favorini, (University of Pittsburgh)

John Schmor, (University of Oregon)

Charlotte Canning, (University of Texas at Austin)

Odai Johnson, (University of Washington)

Mary Trotter, (University of Wisconsin at Madison)

James M. Thomas, (Wayne State University)

Jerry Wasserman, (University of British Columbia)

Stephen Johnson, (University of Toronto)