Call for Papers

Ancient Drama in Performance VII will coincide with the 2023 Randolph College Greek Play: Euripides’ Ion, an original-practices production.  The play and response to it will be part of a weekend of scholarly and practical exchanging of ideas on ancient theatre.  We are inviting proposals from scholars and practitioners of all levels for papers on topics to do with ancient drama in performance, including but not restricted to the staging, texts, design, repertory, personnel, and the social impact of plays in the ancient Greek and Roman world, as well as of plays as re-performed in the modern world.

Papers will be delivered in an outdoor Greek theatre (or a round indoor space if it rains), which means that papers that deal with original practices in some way would find a comfortable setting. Papers on Roman performance will be particularly welcome this time, since we will be hearing from the organizers of the NEH Summer Institute on The Performance of Roman Comedy, but all topics concerned with the plays as a practice are welcome.  Presenters who would like to demonstrate their performance ideas will be provided with student actors (with or without masks), with whom arrangements can be made prior to the meeting.  Papers are limited to 10 minutes (presentation without actors) and to 13 minutes (presentations with student actors).* Presenters should be aware that they will hear the sound of a drum when two minutes remain and will exit pursued by a Fury when time is out.

Please submit a 300-word† abstract to ancientdrama@randolphcollege.edu by 1 May 2023.

* Ten minutes is a perfect amount of time to present one idea very well and to tantalize an audience into wanting to know more from you when you meet later.

† 300 words exclusive of bibliography and so on.