Performing Species: : What Can Animal Studies and Theatre/Performance Studies Teach Each Other?

This symposium explores theoretically productive intersections between two dynamic academic fields — Animal Studies and Theatre/Performance Studies — and their potential to expand understandings of a range of subjects that are a focus of current work in the Humanities and Social Sciences, including labor, gender, the body, affect, and ecology. Brief performances are accompanied by short presentations, opening into a discussion among the artists, scholars, and audience members. A reception and book signing follows, featuring Animal Acts: Performing Species Today, co-edited by Una Chaudhuri and Holly Hughes.

The NYU Animal Studies Initiative in collaboration with the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

Participants

Joseph Keckler Singer, Musician, Writer, and Interdisciplinary Artist

Kimberley Marra Professor of Theatre Arts and American Studies, Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre Arts, The University of Iowa

Ann Pellegrini Professor of Performance Studies, NYU Tisch School of the Arts; Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU

Erika Rundle Associate Professor, Theatre Arts and Gender Studies, Mount Holyoke College

Carmelita Tropicana Performance Artist, Playwright, and Actor

Deke Weaver Associate Professor of New Media, School of Art and Design, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Co-convened by

• Holly Hughes, Professor, Department of Theatre and Drama, University of Michigan

Convened by

• Una Chaudhuri, Director, XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement