TaPRA 2025 Applied and Social Theatre CFP
Deadline: Monday 10 March 2025
27-29 August 2025, University of Warwick
Theme: Ways Out: Power and Potencia in Applied Theatre Practices
In last year’s Applied and Social Theatre Working Group gathering, our discussions were often focussed on the material realities and the power relations that constitute our applied theatre ecologies. We discussed, time and again, the power wielded by donors, granting agencies and the like, that seek to define these ecologies by necessitating “tangible outcomes … [resulting in] the adoption of simplistic models of change, increased potential for self-censorship, and diminished attention to artistry and experimentation.” (Mullen 2018, p. 55) We discussed, also, the myriad acts of resistance, subversion, and care that are undertaken by groups and individuals to survive and flourish collectively in unfavourable conditions.
Building on these discussions, this year’s ASTWG invites critical reflections on the nature of power and the processes of navigating power in applied and social theatre practices that shape the potential of these practices to imagine and enact alternative futures. In our contemplations about power, we are inspired by the writings of Veronica Gago (2020) who, drawing from Spinoza, understands potencia as a different, affirmative form of power, in the context of feminist strikes. Potencia is a dynamic concept that “defines our power to do, to affect and be affected by others,” as opposed to “static, constituted power” over bodies and entities. (Loc 96) Potencia “is not the power of the state or centralized parties, but rather a power based on our collective capacity to do.” (Loc 102) It is a counter-power that embraces indeterminacy and privileges the insubordinate urge to displace the limits imposed by neoliberalism, imperialism, and patriarchy.
We ask: How do we understand potencia in the context of specific applied theatre practices? How are the horizons of possibility expanded, if we embrace indeterminate potencia?
In the context of potencia and power, we welcome discussions around the tensions between positive indeterminacy, emergent processes, and the demand for efficacy and measurable deliverables. We are interested in instances of practice that embody “anti-project sensibilities” – “long-term commitment to relationships between individuals and groups from which a variety of micro-responses then emerge” and that cannot be contained within the firm limits of projects (Thompson 2020, pp. 147).
We invite abstracts that relate to or are provoked by the above discussion and/or the following prompts:
- Embracing potencia as a practice of “the alternate”
- Dissonances between relational practices and project-based imperatives
- Reconciling relational practices and project-based imperatives
- Balancing funding needs and subversive desires
- Economies overtaking ecologies
- Navigating power
- Queering applied theatre practices
- Participatory pedagogies and potencia
- Rethinking facilitator-participant power relations in Applied Theatre practices
- Posthumanism in applied theatre practice
Works Cited
Gago, V. (2020). Feminist international: How to change everything. Verso Books. https://www.amazon.com/Feminist-International-How-Change-Everything-ebook/dp/B082S2XPDN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17CWNP5XBCFEL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4iIxqtoduRcsCJrWTMo7yA.6vI8UHTvUYMZr85597cb-1ZZF-tGznIiVIWHgtNPa1o&dib_tag=se&keywords=feminist+international+how+to+change+everything&qid=1737924477&sprefix=feminist+international%2Caps%2C84&sr=8-1
Mullen, M. (Ed.). (2019). Applied theatre : economies. Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Thompson, J. (2020). Editorial. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 25(2), 147–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2020.1738739
Submit your abstract here by 10 March 2025
How the TaPRA conference works:
Our conference has two types of sessions: whole group sessions for all delegates and parallel panels of papers, performances, and interventions streamed by “working group”. The working groups focus on specific research interests and disciplines and set their own themes for each conference. This is detailed in CFPs like this one. There is also an opportunity to exhibit practice research in a gallery.
A complete list of our 13 working groups is available here on the TaPRA website. Most delegates choose a working group that aligns with their interests and use this group as their base for the conference, attending most or all of their slots as the working groups meet multiple times. These sessions host presentations from long-standing members and new colleagues. However, you can attend sessions hosted by any other working group throughout the conference. The programme also includes open panels where attendees are encouraged to visit working groups sessions other than their own.
To speak, present, or perform TaPRA, you will need to identify your preferred working group and submit a proposal that speaks to their theme. You apply to one working group. You can also indicate that you are willing for your paper to be considered by other working groups.
Conference environment:
In addition to whole group sessions, working groups, and open panels. the Practice Gallery and publisher stalls are open for most of the conference, and there are more social events at various moments including the conference dinner.
Access:
The 2025 annual TaPRA conference at the University of Warwick will be a hybrid event, facilitating participation by online delegates alongside those attending in-person. Since our 2021 conference we have been able to experience benefits of online conferencing, such as increased opportunity for international presenters, lower financial costs to participate, and greater accessibility for those with caring responsibilities. The 2025 conference at Warwick aims to retain the wider opportunities for engagement that online platforms offer, whilst also maintaining a space for in-person engagement and social interaction.
Key dates:
- Applicants will receive decisions on their proposals on 11 April 2025
- Conference registration opens 12 May 2025
- Early bird registration closes on 30 June 2025
- Presenter registration deadline is 18 July 2025
- General registration closes 12 August 2025
Bursaries:
Each working group has one bursary available for postgraduate and early career researchers. The bursary includes free conference registration and £300 towards conference travel and accommodation, to be disbursed after the event on showing proof of spend. If you would like to be considered for a bursary, please tick the relevant box on the ‘Abstract Submission Form’, when submitting your abstract.
Please note: only one proposal may be submitted for a TaPRA event. It is not permitted to submit multiple proposals or submit the same proposal to several Calls for Participation. All presenters must be TaPRA members, i.e. registered for the event; this includes presentations given by Skype or other media broadcast even where the presenter may not physically attend the event venue.
