FallPerforum2011

Perforum Spring 2011

I hope you have had a productive and relaxing winter break! I know I have, and I’m ready (believe it or not) to return to the classroom for my spring classes soon.

I am sending this email to let you know that the call for NCA Performance Studies will be live (and open) on the NCA website this Monday, January 10th. You have until Wednesday, March 16th to submit your proposals – an extra month this year!!! I am pasting the call below. Please pass it to those who may be interested but are not on the listserve for whatever reason.

In the next month or so, I will send another message detailing the First Vice President’s call to serve New Orleans in some volunteer capacity the Wednesday before the conference and asking you how you might like to participate. I have some ideas (like reading and performing in schools), but I think many of you have volunteer experience you could share and ideas that will excite us all. I look forward to your feedback.

In the meantime, get started on your submissions. Here’s the call:

The Performance Studies Division invites proposals for papers, panel discussions, paper sessions, and performance sessions for the 97th annual National Communication Association Convention to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana from Thursday, November 17th until Sunday, November 20th. The convention theme is “Voice.” Inspired by the host city, we encourage submissions that value a multiplicity of voices and welcome creative interpretations on the theme. However, those submitting should not feel constrained by the theme. We encourage submissions on any topic deemed valuable to the performance studies community. All submissions, regardless of their relevance to theme, will be considered equally, but those that are thematic may be sent to the First Vice President’s “Convention Theme Team,” a panel of external evaluators who represent different perspectives and institutional types (e.g. from humanistic to social scientific, from Research 1 Institutions to Community Colleges, from NCA divisions to caucuses). This panel will make recommendations on additional programs to be slotted and attended by a broader audience. In sum, we hope that the New Orleans conference offers performance studies scholars and artists a venue to continue conversations already begun within the field as well as an opportunity to develop new connections across NCA.

Deadline for Submission: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2011 at 11:59pm PDT

Competitive Papers: Completed essays will be considered for the Debut and Contributed Papers sessions. Performance scripts will only be considered in the “paper” competition if they are accompanied by and contextualized through a discussion of the conceptual, theoretical, and/or methodological issues being evoked, enacted, critiqued, and/or investigated. To be considered for the Debut Papers session, authors may not have presented a paper previously at the national conference. When submitting a Debut paper, please stipulate “DEBUT paper” on the first page or it will be considered a Contributed Paper. Papers should include a title and 250-500 word abstract. Papers must be submitted online via NCA Submission Central. (Submitters needing assistance with the submission process can access “how-to” guides, sample submissions and other useful resources from the Convention Library on the convention web site or attend a “how-to” webinar.) To ensure blind review, please remove all author identification from the paper before uploading it for submission.

Contributed Performances: We invite completed performance scripts and sample video clips to be evaluated for participation on a “Contributed Performances” panel. To be considered for the contributed performance session, please clearly stipulate “Contributed Performance” on the first page of the script (so it will not be confused with the contributed paper competition). Submit both the performance script and the video sample to NCA Submission Central. Video clips should be in MPEG format and should not be longer than 3 minutes. The most complete submissions (script AND sample clip) will be given preference during review. This panel is designed for short (10-15 minute) solo or duo performances. Please see “panel discussion” below for information on how to submit longer performance work and “paper session” for how to submit multiple performances on a theme.

Paper/performance sessions: If you have a collection of papers on a theme, please submit your group as a paper session. If you have a group of performances around a theme, and want the titles of the individual performances to appear in the NCA program copy, please submit as a paper session.
Submitted proposals should include the following:

–A title
–A rationale of no more than 250 words
–Titles and abstracts for papers/performances
–A list of participants and their affiliations
–An abstract of no more than 75 words
–Scripts for performances (if available)

Panel Discussions/performances: Panel discussions are designed for roundtable conversations on a theme. We encourage submitters to think of “theme” in the broadest sense (e.g. a series of short performances around a topic or a series of talks around an issue). We encourage submitters to consider a full-length one-person show or a full cast show as a “theme.”
Submitted panel discussion proposals should include the following:

–A title
–A rationale of no more than 250 words
–A list of participants and their affiliations
–An abstract of no more than 75 words
–Scripts for performances

All audio-visual equipment requests must be submitted online with proposals. Please be as specific as possible about all equipment needed.
Please go to the NCA website at: www.natcom.org to view the full NCA call for papers for the 2011 National Convention to be held in New Orleans, LA Thursday, November 17-Sunday, November 20.

For additional information, please contact Dr. Tracy Stephenson Shaffer at tsteph3@lsu.edu

***Please note a few things about this call.

If we send a theme submission to be reviewed by the “Convention Theme Team,” performance studies colleagues will not review it. Please make sure to be clear, proofread and remove and/or clarify any performance specific jargon. To increase your chances of having the submission accepted, pretend you are writing it for a smart, non-performance communication colleague.

The sample video clip component on “Contributed Performances” is a new addition. We all know that a performance is more than a completed script. However, we also acknowledge that the clip removes the “blind” from “blind review.” Please be assured that more than one competent reviewer will carefully review each submission. We want our most thoughtful, creative, and provocative performances featured at the conference. I trust this community to select these in a professional way.

If you are submitting a performance panel as a paper session or as a panel discussion, be sure to clearly indicate in the abstract that the proposed session is 1) all papers, 2) all performance, or 3) a mix of presentational formats.

That’s it for now. Please send any questions you might have my way. I hope you have a great semester.

See you in New Orleans,
Tracy Stephenson Shaffer

Tracy Stephenson Shaffer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Performance Studies
Department of Communication Studies
Louisiana State University
225-578-6685
tsteph3@lsu.edu

If you are unable to attend NCA this year, please forward your votes to Division Chair, M. Heather Carver at carverh@missouri.edu by noon on November 12, 2010.

Performance Studies Division 2010 Election of Officers Ballot

Safe travels to San Francisco!

Performance Studies Division Sessions

perforumfall2010

The Performance Studies Division invites proposals for panel discussions, paper sessions, and performance sessions for the 96th annual National Communication Association Convention to be held in San Francisco, CA from Sunday November 14th until Wednesday, November 17th. The convention theme is “Building Bridges.” In light of the ethic of bridge building, we encourage submissions that showcase diversity in its broadest sense; diversity, in other words (and this is not meant to be a definitive or exhaustive list), of/in identity, ethnicity, generation/rank, institutional representation, etc. In order to make sure that the panel or session’s diversity is recognized by the reviewers, please include a note about this in the description and/or abstract. We also strongly encourage co-sponsored panels with other divisions in order to enact this year’s theme by demonstrating the strong “bridges” built in and through performance studies scholarship and performance.

Deadline for Submission: February 17.

Competitive Papers: Completed essays will be considered for the Debut and Contributed Papers sessions. Performance scripts will only be considered in the “paper” competition if they are accompanied by and contextualized through a discussion of the conceptual, theoretical, and/or methodological issues being evoked, enacted, critiqued, and/or investigated. To be considered for the Debut Papers session, authors may not have presented previously at the national conference. When submitting a Debut paper, please stipulate “DEBUT paper” on the first page or it will be considered as a Contributed Paper. Papers should include a title and 250-500 word abstract. Papers must be submitted online in one of the following formats: PDF (preferred), Microsoft Word, RTF. Compressed or Zip files will not be accepted. To ensure blind review, please remove all author identification from the paper before uploading it for submission.

Contributed Performances: We invite completed performance scripts to be evaluated for participation on a “Contributed Performances” panel. To be considered for the contributed performance session, please clearly stipulate “Contributed Performance” on the first page (so it will not be confused with the contributed paper competition). This panel is designed for short (10-15 minute) solo or duo performances. Please see “panel discussion” below for information on how to submit longer performance work and “paper session” for how to submit multiple performances on a theme.

Paper/performance sessions: If you have a collection of papers on a theme, please submit your group as a paper session. If you have a group of performances around a theme, and want the titles of the individual performances to appear in the NCA program copy, please submit as a paper session.

Submitted proposals should include the following:

–A title

–A rationale of no more than 250-words

–Titles and abstracts for papers/performances

–A list of participants and their affiliations

–An abstract of no more than 75 words for the convention program

–Scripts for performances (if available)

Panel Discussions/performances: Panel discussions are designed for roundtable conversations on a theme. Titles of individual presentations/performances do not appear in the program. We encourage submitters to think of “theme” in the broadest sense (e.g. a series of short performances around a topic or a series of talks around an issue). We encourage submitters to consider a full-length one-person show or a full cast show as a “theme.”

Submitted proposals should include the following:

–A title

–A rationale of no more than 250-words

–Titles and abstracts for positions/performances

–A list of participants and their affiliations

–An abstract of no more than 75 words for the convention program

–Scripts for performances

All audio-visual equipment requests must be submitted online with panel proposals. Please be as specific as possible about all equipment needed.

Need ideas? Consider submitting one or more of the following:

1. Sessions that bring performance scholars together with scholars from other divisions. These sessions could discuss/address a particular conceptual or theoretical question/issue, for example, or respond to a performance.

2. Several linked panels at the convention, focusing upon a theme and exploring that theme (e.g. a concept or theory, a cultural text or practice) both through papers as well as through performance

3. “Spotlight Sessions” featuring a local or regional theatre company or performance artist

4. Tributes to key figures in Performance Studies who have recently retired or soon will 5. Scholar to Scholar sessions featuring live or mediated interactive performance/installation (see the NCA full call for full description of Scholar to Scholar)

6. Please submit short course ideas to Dacia Charlesworth (Chair, Short Course Committee) at charlesd@ipfw.edu.

Please go to the NCA website at: www.natcom.org to view the full NCA call for papers for the 2010 National Convention to be held in San Francisco, CA Sunday, November 14-Wednesday, November 17.

For additional information, please contact Dr. Mindy Fenske at fenske@sc.edu