Expanding the Canon: Period, Performance, and Pedagogy

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society (MRDS)

Organizer Name

Cameron Hunt McNabb, Frank M. Napolitano

Organizer Affiliation

Southeastern Univ., Radford Univ.

Presider Name

Frank M. Napolitano, Cameron Hunt McNabb

Paper Title 1

E. K. Chambers: Patron Saint of the Expanded Canon

Presenter 1 Name

Kurt Schreyer

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of Missouri-St. Louis

Paper Title 2

What the Accumulated Records Say about Performance Traditions in Early Suffolk

Presenter 2 Name

James Stokes

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Paper Title 3

Making the Case for "Appropriation"

Presenter 3 Name

Kathleen Ashley

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Southern Maine

Paper Title 4

Global Horizons: Expanding the Medieval Dramatic Canon

Presenter 4 Name

Jesse Njus

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Tisch School of the Arts, New York Univ.

Start Date

16-5-2015 10:00 AM

Session Location

Fetzer 2020

Description

Because of the resurgence of medieval drama scholarship, 2015 is a fitting point at which to reassess our notions of a “medieval drama canon.” Recent work has shown that medieval drama, like medieval literature in general, traverses multiple genres and historical periods. We also know that individual and communal audiences witnessed the drama in several sites, public and private. Moreover, the recent publications of several new “classroom” texts—in the forms of stand-alone editions and anthologies—show that instructors are moving beyond the traditional teaching texts, such as Mankind and the Towneley Second Shepherds Play, of the last several decades. This panel invites papers that reflect on the significance of our changing notions of period, performance, and pedagogy on medieval drama, as well as the benefits and limitations of “canonicity,” as it applies to our ever-changing field.

Cameron Hunt McNabb and Frank Napolitano