W&L Hosts 17th National Symposium of Theater in Academe “Myth, Magic, and Madness” will feature a dynamic lineup of creative workshops, dramatic readings and staged productions March 21-22.
Washington and Lee University will welcome scholars and artists to campus for its 17th National Symposium of Theater in Academe on March 21-22.
The symposium is co-organized by Domnica Radulescu, founding director of the symposium and the Edwin A. Morris Professor of French and Comparative Literature at W&L, and Carolyn Wingrove-Moore, administrative assistant for W&L’s departments of computer science, data science and comparative literature.
The title of this year’s symposium is “Myth, Magic, Madness,” and will feature creative workshops and discussions, dramatic readings and stage productions of Tjaša Ferme’s “Bioadapted” and Radulescu’s “The Town with Very Nice People.” All events are free and open to the public and will be streamed online, with Thursday’s livestream available here and Friday’s livestream available here.
“This year’s National Symposium of Theater in Academe is heavily performative and interactive,” Radulescu said. “It will feature theater writing and acting workshops offered by Deb Margolin, award-winning playwright, performance artist and professor of theater at Yale University; a theater writing workshop on myth and magic by award-winning New York-based playwright Emma Goldman-Sherman; and a hybrid presentation combining performance, talk and workshop on the theme of mothers and goddesses by Carol Lee Campbell, award-winning playwright performer and scholar.”
“There will also be readings of two new plays by Margolin and Goldman-Sherman, and the culmination of the symposium will consist of two performances on Thursday and Friday night respectively: Tjaša Ferme’s ‘Bioadapted,’ which received rave reviews in New York, and my own award-winning play, ‘The Town with Very Nice People. An Immigrant Strident Operetta,’” Radulescu added.
Ferme’s “Bioadapted” will be performed on March 21 at 7 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons. This piece is a reenactment investigative documentary with actors portraying real people and scientists, paired with humorous and eerie fictional pieces about what our future might look like artificial intelligence propagates (AI) in unethical ways that don’t serve humankind. An EEG (electroencephalogram) headset generates BCI (brain-computer-interface) instructions for the movement of an actor wearing a haptic vest, while the audience puts a GPT-4 avatar on trial and interrogates it directly in real-time.
On March 22 at 6:30 p.m., the symposium will host an immersive workshop production of Radulescu’s recent play, “The Town with Very Nice People,” in the Center for Global Learning atrium. The workshop takes an iconoclastic look at immigration in America, romantic relationships and professional development against the backdrop of quasi-closed academic communities and bigoted citizens. The audience will follow Roxana, an immigrant academic and successful writer, in her journey through different places and situations that more often than not turn out to be closer to an American nightmare than the American dream, until she reinvents the town into a place of vibrant diversity. The award-winning play made its world premiere at the studio theater of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York City in October 2023. The symposium’s production of “The Town with Very Nice People” is sponsored by the Romanian Cultural Institute of New York, Immigrant Literature LLC, and W&L’s Office of the Provost.
The full program for the symposium can be found here.
This year’s symposium is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the College, the Glasgow Endowment, the Center for International Education, the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, the Office of the Provost, and the departments of computer science, physics and engineering, and cognitive and behavioral science.
Schedule of Events
Thursday, March 21
Hillel House, Multipurpose Room (Hillel 101)
11:30-11:45 a.m.: Official Opening of the Symposium | Welcome and opening remarks by Provost Lena Hill and Domnica Radulescu
11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. | Workshop: “Creative Writing Workshop for Any Reason at All,” Deb Margolin, playwright, actor and founding member of Split Britches Theater Company
Whether writing a play, an essay, a novel, a love letter, a nasty letter to the landlord or a blog post, the source of imagery and the channels to its freest expression are the same! This writing workshop offers exercises designed to bypass the inner critic, who is within us and outside of us at once, and support participants in seeking the source from which rich, resonant and original imagery comes, and can always come.
1:30-3 p.m. | Workshop: “Writing Myth, Magic and Madness,” Emma Goldman-Sherman, playwright and instructor at the Dramatists Guild Institute.
Goldman-Sherman will share their approach to specific free-writing methods and help participants connect with their deepest selves. By connecting curiosity and/or what we already love or care deeply about to myth, magic or madness, Goldman-Sherman will help participants find fresh pathways to inspire their writing. Several prompts will be provided to practice this method, and participants will share their writing with the group.
4-5 p.m. | “The Mother and Goddess Myth: Between Archetype and Ideal,” Carol Lee Campbell, award-winning writer, musician and adjunct professor
We’ve structured our world as though the model mom exists to provide care whenever we need her. In iconography and myth, the Mother may be extolled, but in reality, people’s experiences vary widely. Campbell will lead a discussion on the inner and outer spaces of an archetype. By exploring themes around motherhood through stagecraft we may glimpse reality and dreams.
7-8:30 p.m. | “Bioadapted,” Tjaša Ferme, award-winning actor, creator and director — Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons
This production employs texts about AI (Artificial Intelligence), some of which have been generated by GPT-3. “Bioadapted” is a reenactment investigative documentary with actors portraying real people and scientists, paired with humorous and eerie fictional pieces about what our future might look like If the AI propagates in unethical ways that don’t serve humankind. An EEG (electroencephalogram) headset generates BCI (brain-computer-interface) instructions for the movement of an actor wearing a haptic vest, while the audience puts a GPT-4 avatar on trial and interrogates it directly in real time.
Friday, March 22
Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons
11 a.m.-12 p.m. | Reading and Q&A: “Abraham’s Daughters,” Emma Goldman-Sherman
Based on the author’s travels, research and documentation of human rights abuses of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza during the first Intifada, this piece was a finalist for the Henley Rose Award and the Risk is This Festival at Cutting Ball. It has been presented by the Intersections International Arts Festival to foster cross-cultural dialogue, the Lady Liberty Festival to combat Islamophobia, the International Humans Rights Arts Festival at the Wild Project and elsewhere.
12:30-1:30 p.m. | Reading and Q&A: “This is Not a Time of Peace,” Deb Margolin
This story of love between a father and his daughter moves in concentric circles of turbulence: within a country, a marriage and the mind of one woman struggling to save her father from memories of his country’s betrayal while committing a betrayal of her own.
2-3 p.m. | Roundtable: “Can the Magic of Theater Save Our Souls?”
Domnica Radulescu will moderate a roundtable discussion with Carol Lee Campbell, Tjaša Ferme, Emma Goldman-Sherman, Deb Margolin and Rachel Tamarin, director.
6:30-8 p.m. | “The Town with Very Nice People,” Domnica Radulescu — Center for Global Learning Atrium
“The Town with Very Nice People” takes an iconoclastic look at immigration in America, romantic relationships and professional development against the backdrop of quasi-closed academic communities and bigoted citizens. The play invites audiences to follow the main character, the rebellious Roxana, an immigrant academic and successful writer in her journey through different places and situations that more often than not turn out to be closer to an American nightmare than the American dream, until she reinvents the town into a place of vibrant diversity. This is an immersive workshop production.
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