Coming in January

January is one of those months that seems to always feel longer than it really is, though this January I have so many things going on that I'm afraid it will fly by this year.

First up is the annual convention of the Modern Language Association, which begins tomorrow. I will not be traveling to Toronto this year, but I will be chairing an online panel on Shavian Family Resemblances.

The online session will apply the MLA Presidential Theme of Family Resemblances to the plays and critical writings of the dramatist Bernard Shaw. It will examine the fictional families in Shaw’s plays as well as the larger Anglo-Irish literary family of writers Shaw belonged to and resembled, even as he clashed with them.

In “‘People with unimproved minds’: Shavian Fathers and Resistance to the Ideal Paterfamilias,” Dibasi Roy will look at the early comedies of Shaw to examine the discursive construction of Late Victorian fatherhood, including how multidimensional aspects of masculinities intersect in varied and complex ways. 

Alice Clapie will examine resemblances among Shaw’s family of Irish writers in “Eugenic Laughter, Universal Laughter: Shaw’s Physiological Dramaturgy.” The paper will explore the uncomfortable notion of “eugenic laughter” in Shaw’s physiological dramaturgy, acknowledging the popularity of eugenics for social progress at the turn of the 20th century, when it was an important crux in the discussion of familial issues.

In the third paper, Dan Stuart will analyze the controversies behind Shaw’s most infamous family drama in “Reconsidering the Unpleasant: Victorian Morality and the Censorship of Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” The play, among Shaw’s most socially significant works, dealt with the then-controversial subject of prostitution, foregrounding the mitigating factors underlying the trade’s proliferation while exploring conflicting attitudes about gender roles and social mobility in Late Victorian society.

Later this month, American Renaissance Theater Company will be presenting Two by Four, two presentations of one-act plays at 124 Bank Street Theater. (If you're looking for the address of 124 Bank Street Theater, it is, in fact, 124 Bank Street.) Presentation A will include Mutual Bond by Mark Levine, Choose! by Bara Swain, Gators by Linda Kampley, and My Handiwork by Robert Kerr. Presentation B will include My Girl by Terri Campion, Eye of the Beholder by Kathryn Grant, The New Pasteur by Michael McGoldrick, and Into the Light by Marc Castle.

I'm directing Into the Light, which stars the author, Marc Castle, as a dead man who meets other departed souls in the afterlife, but not the ones he expected to find. It also features Terri Campion, Jeannie Dalton, and Ralph Pachoda. Today, I had a chance to check out the theater, which is run by HB Studio. It's a great space, and I look forward to having my directorial work there.

Presentation B will be going up January 23rd at 7pm, January 24th at 7pm, January 25th at 3pm, and January 27th at 7pm. Tickets are $25 for general admission. I hope you can come!