‘Against the Canon’: diversifying performer training
About this Event
March 10th, 18:15 - 20:15 GMT | Online Event
An international panel conversation about the diversification of contemporary performer training which builds on the recent publication of a special issue of ‘Against the Canon’ in Theatre, Dance and Performance Training 11:3 (Routledge, 2020).
Panellists will include three authors from the journal: Kaja Dunn and Sharrell Luckett (USA), and Kristine Landon-Smith (former artistic director of Tamasha). They will be joined by Abdul Shayek (artistic director of TARA) and Gail Babb (former member of Talawa Theatre and staff member at Goldsmiths).
Attendees will receive short films from each of the panel members introducing their practice to watch in advance of the panel discussion.
'Against the Canon', Special Issue, Theatre, Dance and Performer Training (11.3)
Guest editors Mark Evans and Cass Fleming
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rtdp20/current
Kaja Dunn, is an assistant professor and the Head of Acting at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Department of Theatre and affiliate faculty for Theatrical Intimacy Education, where she co-intiated the summit on Race and Intimacy at Princeton University. Kaja is is an actor, director, and activist. She has performed nationally and internationally in over 40 productions.
She has presented on issues of Equity and Diversity for Actor’s Equity as their racial consultant, The Women’s Theatre Festival, Blumenthal Performing Arts, MICHA, North Carolina Theatre Association (Keynote Panelist), Children’s Theatre Charlotte, Anti-Racism and Decolonization at University of London Goldsmiths, SETC and SETC Theatre Symposium, KCATF and The Association of Theatre in Higher Education, among other places. She is on the Executive Board of the Black Theatre Network . She teaches workshops and consults for universities and private corporations. She has published in the US and has a co-authored publication coming out for a new Arden Research Companion to Shakespeare and Contemporary Performance on Decolonizing Shakespeare in Performance. She was most recently interviewed in American Theatre Magazine around issues of Race and Theatre education.
Kristine Landon-Smith is a theatre practitioner and lecturer in higher education. Her work in industry and HE has included three years as Lecturer in Acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Australia; twenty-three years in a senior management role as Artistic Director of Tamasha, UK; four years as Senior Producer for BBC Radio Drama; and freelance appointments as a director and lecturer within industry and HE settings. A recognized leader in the Black/Global Majority sector in the UK, she focuses on artist training in headphone verbatim practice and intracultural theatre practice, the creation of new work with and from diasporic heritage artists, and the development of audiences for this work. She currently freelances as an educator and director in mainly the UK and Australia and her industry work has been focusing on applied theatre and her multi-lingual practice which explores how to bring different nationalities and languages together in existing texts.
Sharrell D. Luckett, PhD, is Associate Professor of Drama and Performance Studies and Director of the Weinberger Center for Drama and Playwriting at the University of Cincinnati. She is faculty collaborator with the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Her research is situated in acting/directing theory and cultural studies. Luckett is lead editor of the award-winning book Black Acting Methods: Critical Approaches (2017) and has authored/co-authored four other books. An accomplished theatre artist, she is also a director, playwright, actress, and dramaturg. Canonical works that she has staged include Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks and for colored girls… by Ntozake Shange. Luckett is founding Executive Director of the Black Acting Methods® Studio, an actor training program in performance theory and practice.
Image credit: Marymount Manhattan College