Today, I planned to go to an orientation session at the annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Unfortunately, the session got moved to an earlier time slot, which I found disorienting.
Perhaps it was all for the best, because instead I went to a discussion on publishing an article in an academic journal. Jennifer Parker-Starbuck was there from Theatre Journal, along with Lisa Brenner from Theatre Topics, and R. Darren Gobert from Modern Drama.
Prof. Gobert mentioned that he keeps a close eye on the number of downloads articles in Modern Drama get. He said an insightful article on A Raisin in the Sun will always get lots of hits. I asked him what other plays generate the most traffic, and he said The Importance of Being Earnest, A Doll House, and Hedda Gabler.
Later I went to a session called "Playwrights, Revelation, and Revolution." Leigh Kennicott spoke about August Wilson and John O'Connor delivered a paper on Howard Brenton. Howard Einsohn, who I met briefly at the Shaw in New York Conference a few years ago, talked about Androcles and the Lion, a play I rather enjoyed when I saw it last summer in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The last speaker in the session was Elaine Molinaro, who showed pictures of the production of Paul Claudel's The Tidings Brought to Mary that she directed for Culture Connection Theater. It looked great. I wish I could have seen it!
Tomorrow, I present my paper on Lord Byron. Looking forward to it!
