First – my thanks to all who’ve contributed to the work of ASTR over not just the past quarter, but throughout 2011, whether as an officer, committee member, or participant in the conference and our publications activities. Each of you has mattered, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with you over the coming year on the important work that we do.

 

ASTR Bylaw Change Motion: Members should shortly be receiving a motion via email from Secretary Marla Carlson to establish a Vice President for Publications and a Vice President for Awards; the current Vice President, as a result of this change, would become the Vice President for Conferences. This would be done without increasing the size of the Executive Committee, since the two new VPs would take the place of two “regular” members.

 

I strongly urge you to read this proposed change closely – and support it. It would ensure that the people overseeing these two important areas will always be full participants in the workings of the Executive Committee, and it also acknowledges their fiduciary responsibilities to ASTR. It has been serendipitous over the last two years that Susan Bennett, Chair of Publications, and Dorothy Chansky, immediate past Director of Fellowships and Awards, also happened to be elected members of the Executive Committee; it’s been invaluable to have them be a formal part of EC deliberations and action, and think it would be great to institutionalize this for our future work. We’ll take up the vote on this motion at our annual business meeting next November.

Annual Conference: The Montreal conference was a solid success, in terms of the quality of the work that was shared and in terms of attendance. (Over 530 people attended; current ASTR membership overall is 650-plus – a healthy number.) My great thanks to Program chair Nick Ridout, VP Stacy Wolf, and members of the 2011 Program and Conference Committees. The 2012 conference will be held Nov. 1-4 in Nashville at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown Hotel. Patricia Ybarra and Patrick Anderson, Program Committee co-chairs, are well underway with this, so please put the dates in your calendars.

 

The 2013 conference will be held Nov. 7-10 in Dallas, under the leadership of Program co-chairs Jonathan Chambers and Scott Magelssen. Dallas is geographically central, a hub city for American and Southwest, and economically competitive for conference sites (thanks to Nancy Erickson for her excellent research and great negotiation of our contract). Our conference hotel will be the Fairmont Dallas, located downtown between the Arts District and the West End (all walking distance). The West End is a center for restaurants and eateries and, for those who are interested, the Arts District includes, among others, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Museum, the Trammell-Crow Museum of Asian Art, the Wyly Theatre (home of the Dallas Theatre Center), the Winspear Opera House (home of the Dallas Opera), and Myerson Symphony Hall (home of the Dallas Symphony). Our location is also a short drive to the Undermain Theatre and the McKinney Arts Contemporary/Kitchen Dog Theatre, arguably the two major “alt” companies in town.

 

New Paradigms in Graduate Education: Chair Heather Nathans and her committee continue to use the responses to the NP questionnaire sent to the membership last summer to guide their thinking about how ASTR might serve the membership in terms of doctoral education, curriculum and program support, and employment. The committee’s work is having a significant impact for some of us in how we think about ASTR’s activities and goals. If you’d like more information about or want to participate in the work of NP, contact Heather at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Mike Sell and Charlotte McIvor continue to move forward in setting up one-day regional events for ASTR members; if you have an interest in having a one-day event in your area, contact Mike at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Charlotte at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Publications: Theatre Survey will move to three issues a year beginning in 2013; thanks to Susan Bennett, Leo Cabranese-Grant, and Cambridge UP for making this possible through the negotiation of our new contract last year. This will allow the TS editors to provide more opportunities for publication of worthy scholarship, and it will increase costs to ASTR by only $2 per subscription.

 

Be prepared for issues to appear in different months this year in preparation for the coming change: issue #1 will appear in April instead of May, and #2 in September instead of November. Nancy Erickson is also going through the membership directory to ensure that it is up to date and lists correct mailing addresses; you might check your ASTR membership listing online to be sure we have this right, and let Nancy know if it needs changing. If you don’t receive your copy of TS in a timely manner, contact Nancy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Website and on-line info: Charlotte McIvor is now ASTR Online editor, so please contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for questions and suggestions; she is taking over from Matt Omasta, who did a fine job of setting up and executing this position. Peter Davis, who created and for many years has been running the ASTR listserv, has handed management over to Shaun Franklin-Sewell, our webmaster. I want to thank Peter for his generous service, and Shaun for taking this on. This is a good step toward consolidating ASTR’s on-line activities.

 

Fellowships and Awards: Director Iris Smith Fischer has all F&A committees in place and they have begun doing their work for 2012. Web pages for the awards are fully updated. I strongly encourage members to take a good look at what is offered and to apply. In recent years we have been concerned about the low number of submissions for some of the categories, and are looking forward to address this, either through, e.g., better solicitation mechanisms or through rethinking the award categories themselves (as we have recently done in some cases). Related to this, immediate past Director Dorothy Chansky is heading up an Ad Hoc Committee on Application Solicitation for Fellowships and Awards, with members Iris Smith Fischer, Kirsten Pullen, and Mike Sell. The committee will review the awards, look at the numbers, and make a recommendation to the EC. Cambridge University Press is interested in sponsoring an award or panel at the conference, and this committee is charged with exploring how best to take advantage of CUP's generous offer. For questions about current Fellowships and Awards, contact Iris at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For questions or suggestions related to the work of the Ad Hoc committee, contact Dorothy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Fundraising: I encourage you all to consider a gift to ASTR, designated or undesignated, large or small – every bit helps and goes to very good use. We’re currently focusing two initiatives: Judith Sebesta and her committee are raising funds to support the Oscar G. Brockett Essay Prize, and Kirsten Pullen and her committee are doing the same for the Helen Krich Chinoy Dissertation Research Fellowships. Please contact Judy, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or Kirsten, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , if you'd like more information about these – and you can also just click on the “Donate” button on the website …

 

Nominations for 2012: John Lutterbie and his committee continue to build the slate for President, Vice President, and four Executive Committee members to take office in November, and it’s looking good. For questions, contact John at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

American Theatre Archive Project: Co-chairs Ken Cerniglia and Susan Brady and their committee have resubmitted the grant proposal to the National Endowment for the Arts for funding for this project. Questions raised in responses to our first proposal have been addressed, so we're hopeful of receiving a positive response from the NEA in April. ATAP continues to amass volunteers from the ranks of ASTR and affiliate organizations, and preliminary local team meetings are working on this project. If you're interested in being part of this project, please contact Ken, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or Susan, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

TLA: I wanted to be sure to note that the Theatre Library Association is celebrating its 75^th anniversary in 2012. A major benefit at Lincoln Center on October 12 in conjunction with its annual book awards will include tributes to TLA, as well as performances connected to the benefit theme, The Year 1937. TLA is offering a special anniversary contribution membership rate of $75. For more information, contact www.tla-online.org.

 

American Council of Learned Societies: A reminder that ACLS, of which ASTR is an organizational member, is the leading private institution supporting scholars in the humanities and related social sciences at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels. I have been happy to hear that a number of ASTR members have received grants from ACLS. This is a great resource and we should take advantage of it where possible. Information on specific awards and deadlines is available at acls.org.

 

 

 

 

Rhonda Blair is Professor of Theatre at Southern Methodist University. Recent publications include The Actor, Image, and Action: Acting and Cognitive Neuroscience (Routledge), articles in TDR: A Journal of Performance Studies and Theatre Topics, and she has edited a new edition of Richard Boleslavsky's Acting: The First Six Lessons: Documents from the American Laboratory Theatre (Routledge). She and John Lutterbie recently co-edited a special section of the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism on cognition, theatre, and performance.