Practice / Production Symposium

45th Mid-America Theatre Conference

Practice/Production Call for Proposals

Deadline for Submissions: November 1, 2024

Submit your proposal here

The Practice/Production Symposium of the Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC) focuses on current and emerging challenges, opportunities, successes, and failures of practicing theater artists. It is especially interested in experiential knowledge produced through theatrical processes and practice: the doing, the experience, the how, and the what. Our Symposium theme is Intersections: of theory and practice, of identity and structure, of history and present, of activism and production, etc. 

We are seeking solo or collective proposals for presentations in formats including but not limited to:

• Papers– 20 minute essays
• Round-table discussions – 3-5 different individuals in a structured discussion about a particular topic 
• Pre-Organized panels – three to four 15 minute papers/presentations on a related topic
• Workshops, (practical demonstrations, hands-on practice explorations) –short form: approx 15 min demo/practice and 15 min discussion & q&a 
• Installations and (hybrid presentations) – explorations of theater and performance using physical or digital tools that can be interacted with asynchronously paired with a 30 minute discussion session
• Notes from the field– approx 15-20 min dramaturgical reports and discussions of performances and knowledge produced through the piece, optional 5 min of performance to anchor discussion

We especially encourage non-traditional formats that foster collaborative discussion, and non-tradition presenters such as directors, actors, choreographers, movement specialists, technicians, designers, playwrights, dramaturgs, stage managers, and spectators. 

Questions: 

1. What does theater look like that speaks to the present moment? What styles, what stories, what practices? 
2. How are you using dramaturgy as thinkers, artists, practitioners, and scholars to steward the stories of intimacy, community, oppression, privilege, and experience that we choose to produce?
3. How do you think beyond existing hierarchical structures to create spaces and stories that are more inclusive, supportive, and generative for our communities? What alternative structures do/could exist? How can we hold each other and our organizations accountable for supporting these perspectives?
4. What does it mean to engage performance studies in theatrical praxis and practice?
5. How do performance studies lenses impact your theatrical practices & productions?
6. What does it mean or look like to thoughtfully, generativity, and with expertise critique theater and production when there is a consistent return to nostalgic material from pedagogical or profit goals and new work is often underfunded?

Please submit proposals here by 11:59 pm on Friday, Nov 1, 2024

 Click this link for a downloadable PDF of the CFP:  MATC Practice Production 2025 CFP 

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.

Deadline for submissions: November 1, 2024 before 11:59pm PST.