Lydia Nightingale, State University at Albany
Proposal Type
Film Screening and Discussion
Seeking
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking Specific Expertise
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
Related Topics
- Memory
- Oral History
- Public Engagement
Abstract
History on stage is a hot commodity nowadays, as evidenced by the recent success of historically-inspired plays and musicals on Broadway and beyond like Hamilton. Theatre has a way of making events from decades or even centuries ago intensely relatable to a modern audience. If done just right, it can not only entertain, but also instill a love of history and a desire to create more such provocative and informative art. Conversely, it can start a riot, or offend a government. What is it about history in live performance that drives people to such extremes? Furthermore, how should difficult or controversial historical narratives be handled in theatre?
Description
After a short presentation on the themes of history in theatre, I plan to screen the following: a clip of my own play Adele in Berlin, which deals with the rape of German women by Allied soldiers after WWII; a trailer for the rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; and a segment from another historical play (to be determined). I would then engage the attendees in a discussion about the challenges public historians face in making history entertaining, without sacrificing its integrity. My goal is to leave my fellow public historians with a better understanding of the effects of theatre on the field of public history, and get them thinking about how theatre can be used to both supplement and transform the way people perceive historical events and figures.
In terms of resources, I am seeking any sort of expertise on the background of history on the stage, or of theatre in general. I would like a few of these professionals to join me panel-style in the aforementioned discussion. I would also very much welcome any suggestions on expanding the proposal’s themes and objectives.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Lydia Nightingale, [email protected].
All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2018. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
A very interesting proposal. Instead of organizing the session as side-by-side academic presentation and video of performance, I wonder if you might “play” with this a bit more. I have seen some very effective sessions in recent years where presenters went back and forth between academic and embodied “performances”. You could go back and forth between presenting and peforming (video is great – but I have seen some FANTASTIC examples were people did a dramatic table reading of 2-3 minutes segments, using a couple local actors or even volunteers). This would make the structure of your session more alive – and challenge some of the assumptions about the “academic” paper and the “creative” performance and challenge the bifurcation.
I agree with Steven High’s comment. This is a great opportunity to do a creative session that breaks the mold. I would seek a way to align it with the conference theme of “Repair Work” also, which would be easy to do…
Ditto on the previous two comments – the “Film Screening & Discussion” format is intended to be a more focused showing of a full-length film, rather than clips as you’re thinking here, so I’d strongly urge you to think about a more experiential format, perhaps in collaboration with Rebekah Bryer’s proposal on “Theatre as Community.” It might be a bit more of a stretch, but Zachary Stock’s proposal on living history might fit here too. See my comments on those two proposal for more thoughts!
For additional presenters and/or contacts, you might connect with Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center, which has a BIG theater program. Nora Quinn runs it: https://constitutioncenter.org/livingnews/artistic-team