44th Mid-America Theatre Conference
March 7-10, 2024
The Pyle Center, UW-Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Access Featured Panel CFP
Click this link for a downloadable PDF of the CFP:
Accessibility Featured Panel CFP
The Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC) Accessibility Committee and editor of MATC’s peer-reviewed, online journal Theatre/Practice are seeking proposals for presentations or works in progress for a special, featured panel on the topic of access, broadly defined, for the 2024 conference in Madison, Wisconsin and subsequent publication in a Special Section of Theatre/Practice volume 14.
Proposals should be appropriate for the symposia covered in the Theatre/Practice publications guidelines: Practice/Production, Pedagogy, and Playwriting. While this special conference session will have limited time for presentations, we highly encourage the submission of proposals related to longer, non-traditional academic format including but not limited to: roundtable discussions, workshops (practical “hands-on” demonstrations), papers, installations, hybrid presentations, interactive theater, devised performances, performance for found space, scripts of various lengths, etc. Even if the work must be presented in an abbreviated fashion during the conference, the full length will be included in the journal publication.
Any topic involving access, inclusion, and equity in academic and professional theatres or theatre classrooms of any level is welcome. We particularly encourage work considering how issues of access relate to and are complicated by factors of race, ethnicity, nationality, or language; gender or sexuality; debility or disability; or class, wealth, or education. However, this is not an exhaustive list of access considerations, and any proposal engaging with the complex issues of accessibility and theatre or performance are welcome.
Potential questions to consider include: What does access mean for theatre artists and workers, theatre audiences, theatre teachers, theatre students, and all other participants in academic or professional theatre? How do issues of access create, limit, disrupt, or rebuild systems of power and community in and around theatre spaces? What accessibility methods are currently in use now, are currently neglected, or are possible with will and creativity? How does access relate to and engage with questions of representation in writing, casting, season selection, and other production practices? and Why does access matter in theatre’s past, present, and future?
Please refer any questions to MATC Accessibility Officer Katya Vrtis at access@matc.us or Theatre/Practice journal editor Karin Waidley at thr.practice.editor@matc.us.
Proposals can be submitted here.
Deadline for submissions: Friday, December 15, 2023.
The Mid-America Theatre Conference commits to advancing intersectional equity, inclusivity, and diversity; creating a conference that is welcoming and fully accessible; and to disrupting the ongoing damage of white supremacy within MATC and the broader academic and theatrical worlds. As part of this effort, we highly encourage a broad range of submissions by presenters or about theatre of historically disenfranchised and underrepresented populations, particularly those of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. To request specific conference accommodations, please contact our Accessibility Officer at access@matc.us. MATC prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind, including during all associated meetings, the annual conference sessions, and within publications. For MATC’s full statement on anti-racism, accessibility, and inclusivity please see our website at http://matc.us.