Programme
33rd Annual CDE Conference, Konstanz (Germany), 19-22 June 2025
New Stages for Sex, Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Theatre
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Thursday, 19 June |
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09.00–16.00 |
PhD forum (led by Clare Wallace & Chris Megson) |
Eštok, Tomáš: “Intersections Between Queer Theory and Leftist Politics in Anglophone Drama” Karaköse, Onur: “Dramatizing Mass Shootings on the Contemporary American Stage: Theater and the Public – Negotiation of a Nation in Crisis” Knijff, Alba: “Feminist Ontologies in 21st Century British Theatre” Manzella, Charlotte: “Temporalities in Contemporary British Climate Change Theatre” Polák, Ondřej: “Animatedness in Contemporary American Drama” Sutherland, Andrew: “The Virus as Future’s Ghost: Performing the undetectable status as hauntology of possible futures” Thomas, Jade: “The Playtext as (In)Visible Mediator: How Metadrama Negotiates Dramatic Representations of Blackness” Vass, Eszter: “Trauma and Metatheatre in Contemporary Anglophone Drama” Welton, Emma: “Camp Re/production: Queer-Feminist Performance in Austerity London (2014-2024)” Ye Chengyao: “Staging Real-Life Nazi Perpetrators: The Dramaturgies and Ethics of Holocaust Theatre” |
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14.00–18.00 |
Arrival and registration |
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18:00-19:00 |
Dinner |
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19.00–21.00 |
Welcome (Kerstin Schmidt, President of CDE) and “Charting New Stages: An Introduction” (Christina Wald & Leila Michelle Vaziri) |
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Keynote |
Lynette “Lennox” Goddard: “Acting Against Homophobia and Transphobia: Activism, Human Rights, and Solidarity in Black British LGBTIQ+ Performance” |
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Friday, 20 June |
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09.00–10.30 |
Panel I – Staging Queerness (chair: Ralph Poole) |
Stephen Greer: “Trigger Warnings, Self-Care and New Writing on the British Stage” Amy Terry: “Where Are All the Butches? The Liberating Potential of Illegibility in Queer Performance” Heidi Liedke & Sarah Busch: “’The system is failing, all of us’: Queering as (Re)directing in I, Joan (2022) and Birds and Bees (2023) by Charlie Josephine” |
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10.30–10.45 |
Coffee Break |
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10.45–12.15 |
Panel II – Queer Temporalities and Spaces (chair: Ondřej Pilný) |
Eva-Maria Windberger: “Complicating Queer Singaporean Theatre History: Ng Yi-Sheng’s Desert Blooms as Documentary Theatre” Aloysia Rousseau: “There’s nothing but delight and desire’: The Poetics and Politics of Pleasure in Charlie Josephine’s Cowbois” Benjamin Poore: “Exploding History: Queer Temporalities and Forging Queer Connections in Contemporary Playwriting” |
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12.30–13.30 |
Lunch |
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14.00–15.30 |
Panel III – Bodies and Sexuality (chair: tba) |
Ellen Grünkemeier: “Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance (2018): Performing an Intergenerational Dialogue About (Homo)Sexuality” Edyta Lorek-Jezinska: “‘Delicate, honest and raw’: Reclaiming Sexuality in the 2020s Plays by Disabled Playwrights” Sara Reimers: “Authentic Casting: Gender, Sexuality and Representation in Contemporary UK Theatre” |
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15.30–16.00 |
Coffee Break |
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16.00–17.30 |
Panel IV – Gender, Violence and Censorship (chair: Janine Hauthal) |
Lesego Chauke: “Of Dogs that Bark in the Night: Dramaturgies of Queering in Qondiswa James’ A Faint Patch of Light” Alex Watson & Kit Narey: “‘be it on the street or on the stage’: Situating the Politics of ‘the Stage’ in Recent Trans Performance” Elisabeth Knittelfelder: “Shifting the Conversation: Testifying Perpetrators in the Workshop Play #JustMen” |
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18.00–19.00 |
Dinner |
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20.00–21.00 |
Playwright in Conversation |
Charlie Josephine |
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Saturday, 21 June |
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09.00–10.00 |
Keynote |
Fintan Walsh: “Dances with death: Grief as a kind of movement” |
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10.00–10.30 |
Coffee Break |
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10.30–12.00 |
Panel V – Theatre and Trans* (chair: tba) |
Dorothee Birke & Sarah Back: „Transcending Gender, Transcending Genre: Embodied Selves in the Performances of Travis Alabanza and Kama La Mackerel” Elisabeth Massana: “’Dysphoria Mundi’: Raving Against Time in Charlie Josephine’s I, Joan.” Xavier Lemoine: “Trans Intersectional Poetics: Firebird Tattoo by Ty Defoe” |
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12.00–13.00 |
Lunch |
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13.00–14.30 |
Assembly of members
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15:00 |
Departure Hegne |
Train Departure 15.22 (arrival 15.35) |
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15.45–17.15 |
Roundtable “New Stages for Sex, Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Theatre: Practical Perspectives” (Spiegelhalle, Theater Konstanz) |
Lea Seiz, dramaturgical team Theater Konstanz Rachel Hann, Associate Professor of Performance and Design and Expert on Scenographics, Transness and Costume (Newcastle) Jennie Reznek and Mark Fleishman, Artistic Directors of Magnet Theatre (Cape Town) |
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17.30–18:30 |
Dinner (Konstanz) |
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19.00–c. 21.00
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Theatre performance (Konstanz, Münsterplatz)
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Open-air production of Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera by Theater Konstanz in cooperation with Bodensee Philharmonie (in German)
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Sunday, 22 June |
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09.00–10.00 |
Playwright in Conversation |
Stef Smith |
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10.00–10.30 |
Coffee Break |
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10.30–12.00 |
Panel VI – Feminist Stages (chair: tba) |
Hannah Greenstreet: “Staging the Politics of Desire in Ella Hickson’s The Writer (2018), Swive: Elizabeth (2019) and [Anna] (2019)” Clare Wallace: “Feminist Interventions: Gender Politics at the Abbey Theatre since 2016” Trish Reid: “Zinnie Harris: Disrupting the Inevitable Flow of Tragic Time” |
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12.00–12.30 |
Closing Remarks |
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12.30–13.30 |
Lunch |
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13.30 |
Departure |
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