King Henry, from Henry VIII

Conference History

To celebrate the opening of the Blackfriars Playhouse in 2001, the American Shakespeare Center held a four-day conference for scholars of early modern drama. The event featured Andrew Gurr as the keynote speaker, short papers presented with the assistance of ASC actors, workshops on the Blackfriars stage, and a different play every evening (The Alchemist, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead). With the support of Mary Baldwin College, James Madison University, and the City of Staunton, for four days the Shenandoah Valley became the world's best place not only for those who love fall foliage, but also for those who teach, research, or produce Shakespeare on stage.

That first event was so successful that in October of 2003, we held the Second Blackfriars Conference - this time for five days. Five keynote lecturers - Andrew Gurr, Tina Packer, Tiffany Stern, Meredith Skura, and Stanley Wells - 60 short papers (many featuring ASC actors), eight workshops, a show every evening (The Knight of the Burning Pestle, King Lear, Much Ado about Nothing, and Tartuffe) and more than 200 attendees made the conference another great success. Response from event attendees was so overwhelmingly positive, a third conference was held in October 2005, and a fourth in October 2007.

The fifth Blackfriars Conference, "Inside Out/Outside In," took place October 21-25, 2009  and included activities daily Wednesday-Sunday.  We were honored to partner with Shakespeare's Globe in London in a celebration the work of Andrew Gurr, who served as one of our keynote speakers. Mary Baldwin College M.Litt/MFA students Tony Tambasco, Zachary Lyon Brown, and Sarah Lewis Klingbeil kept a live blog of conference events, so you can still review some of the conference highlights.

The seventh Blackfriars Conference will be held 23-27 October 2013. Find more information, as well as the call for papers, here. The deadline for abstract submission is May 31, 2013. 

Conference Format

The format of the Blackfriars Conference includes the following (all plenary unless otherwise indicated):

Key note sessions
o    Four throughout the conference
o    30-35 minute paper 
o    Q&A follows

Short paper sessions
o    One to four daily throughout the conference
o    four to six papers in each
o    papers employing actors to demonstrate a point limited to 13 minutes
o    papers not employing actors limited to 10 minutes
o    presenters exceeding their time limits will exit pursued by a bear
o    60-75 minutes total
o    Q&A follows

Round table sessions
o    two to four throughout the conference
o    sessions representing 10-12 abstracts which relate to the same topic or idea
o    presenters discuss their research and relate it to other presenters’
o    chaired by MBC faculty or ASC research staff
o    60-75 minute sessions
o    Q&A follows

Teaching/experiential sessions
o    two to eight throughout the conference
o    two to four interactive sessions meet simultaneously
o    leaders engage participants in theatrical/performance issues
o    leaders of sessions requiring the Blackfriars Stage should request specifically
o    45-75 minute sessions

NEW THIS YEAR Staging Sessions
o    four applicants address variants in folio/quarto stage directions
o    ASC actors work with applicants to demonstrate variants
o    formal responses follow

Contact Sarah Enloe for more information at sarahe@americanshakespearecenter.com

Lodging

For lodging options and to explore activities in the Shenandoah Valley, visit www.visitstaunton.com.

Read about Shakespeare's Globe's Conference in 2008 in this article (which first appeared in the Around the Globe magazine)

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