Winter Institute 2012: Performing Shanghai

January 5^th through 20^th

Hosted by Shanghai Theatre Academy and

Co-sponsored by Brown, NYU, Princeton & Yale Universities

Scholars, practitioners, and students from the US and China will be gathering in Shanghai to explore the physical, theoretical, and theatrical geographies of contemporary performance, and to contribute to this city's ongoing transformation, sharing experiences from other metropolises and other traditions. This event is not just about Shanghai. It's about the macrocosmic shifts and potentials coming to light here on this unusual stage.

Topics of lectures, seminars, and workshops will cover:

·         the creative process in the theatre

·         community culture

·         urban planning and event planning

·         intercultural performance

Faculty will include:

·         Rebecca Schneider (Chair, Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, Brown):A seminar on Feminist Theatre/Performance Studies and a lecture on Reenacting Historical Events

·         Other Brown faculty: Eric Ehn on Writing for Performance Across Media; Eng-Beng Lim on Lost in Translation: Asian American Texts in Intercultural Perspective; Kym Moore on Stage Movement: Presence in Performance; Michelle Bach-Coulibaly on Inner Necessities: Movement-Based Improvisation

·         Richard Schechner (University Professor, NYU; editor, TDR: The Drama Review, a Journal of Performance Studies) :a workshop on Rasabox and a lecture on Can Performance Studies Save the World？

·         Other NYU faculty: Angela Pietropinto on Acting Moliere

·         ill Dolan (Director, Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies and Professor, English and Theater, Princeton), and Stacy Wolf (Professor, Theater, Princeton) on Feminist Theatre/Performance Studies

·         James Bundy (Dean, Yale School of Drama; Artistic Director, Yale Repertory Theatre) a workshop  on Acting Checkhov

·         Other Yale faculty: Wendall Harrington on Projection Design; Catherine Sheehy on Comic Theories and How Dramaturges Work with Playwrights; Jessica Wolf on Alexander Technique

·         Wu Zhiqiang (General Architect, 2010 World Expo Park; Vice President, Tongji University) ：a lecture on Designing World Expo

·         Li Tiangang (Professor, Fudan University) ：a lecture on The Intercultural History of Shanghai

·         Ye Changhai (China's foremost scholar of the history of Chinese opera, Chair of STA's Academic Committee) a lecture on Chinese Opera Today and Beyond

·         Gong Baorong (Vice President of Shanghai Theatre Academy,Professor)Western Classics on Chinese Opera Stage

·         Guo Yu (Dean of STA's Chinese Opera College)：a lecture on Community Performative Culture.

·         Weng Minhua (Professor, Shanghai Normal University) a lecture on Chinese Female Performance :An Ancient Women’s Festival Revisited/Revived

Selected lectures and presentations will be published in the STA issue of TDR, to be edited by TDR Consortium Editor William Huizhu Sun.

During both weekends, STA will offer guided site-specific events:

·         A visit to two rural towns near Shanghai. 1. Jinze, an anthropologically experimental site recognized for its revival of and innovation in green living, where we will observe reconstructed ritual performances. 2. the canal town Zhujiazhao, where we will see performance art "Water Music," composed and designed by the world-renowned composer/conductor/director Tan Dun, including a talk with him.

·         A trip to the historical city of culture, Hangzhou, where we will see Beijing opera Oedipus Rex, and/or the Yue opera Hedda Gabler, with an all-female cast.

Scheduling will be flexible so as to provide opportunities for international and Chinese professors and students to share their experiences informally and explore possibilities for future joint projects and collaboration.