¶ Dear readers,
¶ I realized, looking at previous posts leading up to the Annual Meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America—fondly referred to by those in the field as #ShakeAss—that I had forgot to post in advance of the meeting in New Orleans last year. That may well have been because it was one of my most busy and favorites. There were parades celebrating 400 years after Shakespeare’s death, many Pimm’s Cups in tucked-away bars with dear friends, a great deal of oysters, and a publication solicitation! This is not to mention a great seminar session, “Before Shakespeare,” hosted by Andy Kesson and Lucy Munro in advance of their Before Shakespeare initiative. There was simply no time to blog in all the excitement!
¶ This year looks to be equally stimulating and equally busy, with more lunch, coffee, and dinners scheduled than I can remember. Below are the workshops, seminars, and sessions I am most interested in this year. Many overlap, so there will be difficult decisions. For the full program schedule, check out the association’s website, here.
¶ I will be live-tweeting panels as I get to them via @ElizETavares, per usual. Do feel free to DM a question you’d like asked in any of the Q&A sessions!
¶ Hoping to see you in Atlanta,
¶ Elizabeth
Wednesday, 5 April
7:00 to 10:00PM
Play Reading: A Game of Chess
Regency Ballroom V, Lower Level 1
Sponsored by Shakespeare Bulletin. Open to all registrants for the Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting and their guests.
Thursday, 6 April
10:00 to 12:00 noon
Workshop: Adapting Shakespeare: Contemporary Theory and Practice
Grand Hall A, Lower Level 2
Leaders: Katherine Hennessey, American University of Kuwait and Paul Prescott, University of Warwick
Seminar: Race and the Materiality of Early Modern Performance
Spring Room, Lower Level 3
Leader: Miles P. Grier, Queens College, CUNY
Seminar: The Soundscapes of Renaissance Prose
Hanover Hall D, Lower Level 2
Leaders: Kate De Rycker, Newcastle University and Jennifer Richards, Newcastle University
Practicum: Typography and the Material Text
Hanover Hall A/B, Lower Level 2
Leader: Erika Boeckeler, Northeastern University, with the assisatnce of Jonathan P. Lamb, University of Kansas
An introduction to early modern typography and book production, with a discussion of how technical knowledge in this field can be used in advanced research. Open to all registrants of the Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting and their registered guests.
1:30 to 3:00PM
Panel Session: NextGenPlen
Centennial Ballroom III and IV, Lower Level 1
Session Organizers: Members of the NextGenPlen Committee for 2017
Chair: Wendy Wall, Northwestern University
Sara B. T. Thiel, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Performing Blackface Pregnancy at the Stuart Court: Queen Anna of Denmark and The Masque of Blackness
Rebecca L. Fall, Northwestern University
Nonsense and Rebellion
Amy Lidster, King’s College London
Shakespeare and the Implications of Paratextual Attribution
Kyle Grady, University of Michigan
Zora Neale Hurston and Humoral Theory: Comparing Racial Concepts from Early Modern England and Post-Abolition America
3:30 to 5:30PM
Seminar: Early Modern Technologies of Space and Place
Grand Hall A, Lower Level 2
Leaders: Laura Williamson-Ambrose, Saint Mary’s College and Gavin Hollis, Hunter College, CUNY
Seminar: Forgotten Histories
Spring Room, Lower Level 3
Leader: Marisa Cull, Randolph-Macon College
Seminar: John Marston: New Directions
Hanover Hall E, Lower Level 2
Leader: Martin Butler, University of Leeds
Seminar: Lost Plays and Their Contexts
Grand Hall C, Lower Level 2
Leaders: Roslyn Knutson, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, David McInnis, University of Melbourne and Matthew Steggle, Sheffield Hallam University
Friday, 7 April
9:00 to 10:30AM
Plenary Roundtable: Queer Natures: Bodies, Sexualities, Environments
Centennial Ballroom III and IV, Lower Level 1
Session Organizer: Karen Raber
Chair: Mario DiGangi, Lehman College, CUNY
Joseph Campana, Rice University
Love in a Time of Swarm
Karen Raber, University of Mississippi
Equeer
Vin Nardizzi, University of British Columbia
Fruits and Vegetables
Laurie Shannon, Northwestern University
“Nature’s Changing Course”: The Question of Sonnet 18
3:30 to 5:30PM
Workshop: Audience Engagement on the Shakespearean Stage
Hanover Hall A/B, Lower Level 2
Leaders: Pamela Allen Brown, University of Connecticut, Stamford and Nancy Selleck, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Seminar: Performance and the Paper Stage, 1640-1695
Spring Room, Lower Level 3
Leaders: Emma Lesley Depledge, Université de Fribourg and Rachel J. Willie, Liverpool John Moores University
Seminar: Shakespeare and Black America
Courtland Room, Lower Level 3
Leaders: Patricia Cahill, Emory University and Kim F. Hall, Barnard College
Seminar: Shakespeare, Memory, and Performance
Hanover Hall C, Lower Level 2
Leader: Lina Perkins, Wilder Connecticut College
9:00 to 11:30PM
Performance Screening: The Tempest
Centennial Ballroom IV, Lower Level 1
Directed by Gregory Doran for the Royal Shakespeare Company, in partnership with Intel and The Imaginarium and starring Simon Russell Beale (2016). Open to all registrants for the Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting and their registered guests.
Saturday, 8 April
9:00 to 10:30AM
Panel Session: Shared Archives, New Methods: Book History and Theater History
Centennial IV, Lower Level 1
Session Organizers: Claire Bourne and Tara Lyons
Chair: Lucy Munro, King’s College London
Tamara Atkin, Queen Mary, London
Remediating Sixteenth-Century Drama: Gismond of Salerne in Script and Print
Claire M. L. Bourne, Pennsylvania State University
Asides: Performance and Print
Tara L. Lyons, Illinois State University
Drama Collections: Archives of Performance to Print
W. B. Worthen, Barnard College
Machining Performance
Lori Humphrey Newcomb, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Plays, Ballads, and the Cycle of Remediation
Helen M. Ostovich, McMaster University
A Response
12:45 to 1:45PM
Interview: The Fortunes of the Moor
With playwrights Carlton and Barbara Molette
Regency V, Lower Level 1
Showing rare archival clips from a staging of their Othello sequel and discussing Black American theater. Open to all registrants for the Forty-Fifth Annual and their registered guests. Takeaway lunches will be available outside the Regency VI room.
2:00 to 3:30PM
Roundtable: Shakespeare and Archaeology: The Theatre to New Place
Centennial IV, Lower Level 1
Roundtable Organizer: Franklin Hildy
Moderator: Kate Giles
Paul Edmondson, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
New Place
Kate Giles, University of York
The Guild Hall at Stratford-on-Avon
Johanna Schmitz, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
The Rose Revealed Project
Franklin Hildy, University of Maryland
The Hope, the Theatre, and the Curtain
4:00 to 6:00PM
Film Screening: Hamlet : A Reinvention of the Tragedy with Puppets
Learning Center, Lower Level 1
Directed by Yuichi Abe and adapted by Harumo Sanazaki.
Seminar: Diversifying the Field of Shakespeare Performance
Courtland Room, Lower Level 3
Leaders: Ruben Espinosa, University of Texas, El Paso and Carla Della Gatta, University of Southern California
Seminar: Material Texts and Digital Interfaces
Hanover Hall F, Lower Level 2
Leader: Sarah Werner, Washington, DC
Seminar: Theatrical Historiography
Spring Room, Lower Level 3
Leaders: Richard Schoch, Queen’s University Belfast and Amanda Louise Eubanks Winkler, Syracuse University
9:30 to 10:30PM
Singalong: West Side Story
Centennial Ballroom IV, Lower Level 1
Open to all registrants for the Forty-Fifty Annual Meeting and their guests.
10:30PM to 1:00AM
The Dance
Centennial Ballroom III, Lower Level 1
With a cash bar. Sponsored by the SAA and the Malone Society. Tickets are available at the registration tables and at the door.