PRESENTATIONS – CONFERENCE / SYMPOSIUM / WORKING GROUP
Presentations and Collaborations
2018 “The Value of the Wince: On the Blacked-up Face, and Not Re-Creating Juba’s Dance,” a paper invited for Playing with History: A Performance-Based Historiography Symposium, a conference organized by Marlis Schweitzer and Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, through York University. 12-13 October [Invited]
2017 “Jim Crow, the Circus, and the Fugitive Slave Refugee Crisis in 19th Century Toronto,” a paper invited for Bodies in Difference: Race and Performance in and Beyond North America, a conference organized by Katherine Zien, Myrna Wyatt-Selkirk, and Fiona Ritchie, through McGill University, April 20-22, 2017. [Invited]
2012 “Mrs Cowell Regrets: A Victorian View of the Canada West in 1860”; on panel Theatrical Crossroads: Canadian Performance Genealogies, Canadian Association for Theatre Research, University of Waterloo, May 2012
“Return to the Tyranny of Documents”; roundtable discussion, organizer and participant, Canadian Association for Theatre Research, University of Waterloo, May 2012
2011 “A Tyranny of Documents III: The Performing Arts Historian as Film Noir Detective,” seminar proposed, organized and chaired, Canadian Association for Theatre Research, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton NB, May 2011
2011 Co-Chair, session on “Professional Concerns,” Canadian Association for Theatre Research, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton NB, May 2011, with Jennifer Stephenson (Queen’s University)
2011 “Building Romulus and Ritual in the Wilderness of Canada West,” for Men of the Empire: Performing Masculinity in Nineteenth Century Canada, curated by Marlis Schweitzer, paper presented at the Canadian Association for Theatre Research, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton NB, May 2011
2009 Co-Chair, session on “Employment” at the Conference on Doctoral Programs in Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 18-19 September 2009, with Catherine Cole (UCBerkeley), and Henry Bial (UKansas)
2010 Participant, session on “Professional Concerns,” Canadian Association for Theatre Research, Concordia University, Montreal, May 2010
2007 “Report on the Death of Gilbert Pell: Final thoughts of an American blackface minstrel abroad,” presented at the annual conference of the American Studies Association, on the panel Performing Americanness Abroad, in Philadelphia, October 2007
2007 “The Re-Domestication of the Exhibition: A Visit to the Niagara Falls Museum, lately closed,” presented at the annual conference of the Association for Canadian Theatre Research, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, May 2007 (see publications)
2007 “A Tyranny of Documents II: Return of the Theatre Historian as Film Noir Detective,” panel proposed, organized and chaired, at annual meeting of Association for Canadian Theatre Research, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, May 2007
2006 “State of the Profession,” participant in panel presentation and discussion, at the annual conference of the Association for Canadian Theatre Research, York University, Toronto, May 2006
2006 “A Tyranny of Documents: The Theatre Historian as Film Noir Detective,” panel proposed, organized and chaired, at annual meeting of Association for Canadian Theatre Research, York University, May 2006
2006 “My Body in Plastic: A Tourist goes to Body Worlds in 2006–and 1853,” presented at the annual conference of the Association for Canadian Theatre Research, York University, Toronto, Ontario, May 2006 (see publications)
2006 “A Tyranny of Documents: The Theatre Historian as Film Noir Detective,” colloquium organizer, chair, and participant, 30 March 2006, Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto
2006 “Time and the Tom Show: Familiarity and Shorthand in the Performance Traditions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” paper given at the Festival of Original Theatre, University of Toronto, February 2006 (invited) (see publications)
2004 “The Portrayal of Gender and the Character of ‘Wench’ Dancing in Early Blackface Minstrelsy,” presented at the annual conference of the Society for Dance History Scholars, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, June 2004 (see publications)
2003 “Juba’s Dance: An Assessment of Newly Acquired Documentation,” presented at the annual conference of the Society for Dance History Scholars, Limerick, Ireland, June 2003 (see publications)
2002 “Bones of Juba: Historiography and the Body in the Search for William Henry Lane, Dancer,” presented at the first plenary session, annual conference of the American Society for Theatre Research, Philadelphia, November 2002 (see publications)
2002 Participation as speaker and panelist at symposium, Uncle Tom’s Cabin: 150 Years of Inspiration in Theater, at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, Connecticut, 9 March 2002 (invited)
1999 Participation as Editor of Theatre Research in Canada/ Recherches théâtrales au Canada, panel on electronic publication, sponsored by the Association for Canadian Theatre Research, at the annual conference of the Council of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Sherbrooke, 1999
1997 Participation as Editor of Theatre Research in Canada/ Recherches théâtrales au Canada, panel on the present state of Journal Publication in the Humanities, jointly sponsored by the Association for Canadian Theatre Research and Association for Canadian University Teachers of English, at the Learned Societies Congress, Memorial University, St John’s, Newfoundland, May 1997
1997 “Return of the Wild Men, or, ‘How Wrong Can One Historian Be?’: The Exhibition of Difference in Canada West in 1862,” presented at the annual conference of the Association for Canadian Theatre Research, Memorial University, St John’s, Newfoundland, May 1997
1997 “Past the Documents, To the Dance: The Witness to Juba in 1848,” presented at a conference on the Performance Text at the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, Toronto, April 1997 (see publications)
1997 “Always Already History: Notes on the Integration of History, Theory and Practice in Theatre Studies–and the Death of Michael Kirby,” presented at the Festival of Original Theatre, University of Toronto, March 1997 (invited)
1996 “Uncle Tom and The Wild Men of Borneo: The Exhibition of Race in Canada West during the American Civil War,” presented at the annual conference of the Association for Canadian Theatre Research, Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, May 1996 (see publications)
1996 “Myself and Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show: Notes on Early Film and the Technology of the Scrim,” presented at the Mid-America Theatre Conference, Chicago, March 1996
1996 “Disappearing Act: Master Juba and the Problem of Performance Biography,” presented at the Victoria and Albert/Birkbeck College Victorian Studies Seminar Series, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, February 1996 (invited)
1996 “A Talk to the Ecowise Project: Four Things I’d Like to Say About The Environmental Theatre Workshop,” presentation to the McMaster Eco-Research Program for Hamilton Harbour’s weekly lunchtime seminar series, McMaster University, March 1996 (invited)
1995 “‘Common Sense’ and the Limits of Interdisciplinarity; or, How did a nice little theatre workshop like you end up in a scientific project like this?”, presentation for the graduate seminar “Biology 730: Management of Aquatic Ecosystems and Resources,” taught by Dr. Patricia Chow-Fraser. Informal participant / Interdisciplinary consultant in the course. McMaster University, October 1995 (invited)
1995 “Translating the Tom Show: A Comparison of Edwin S. Porter’s 1903 Film and William Brady’s 1901 Stage Production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” presented at the conference Celebrating 1895 in Bradford, England, June 1995.
1995 “Uncle Tom in Middle Age: Uncle Tom’s Cabin on Stage and Screen at the Turn of the Century,” presentation to the Department of Drama, Manchester University, Manchester, England, February 1995 (invited)
1994 “Context to ETW: Theatre and the Environment,” presentation to the McMaster Eco-Research Program for Hamilton Harbour’s weekly lunchtime seminar series, McMaster University, March 1994 (invited)
1993 “Historical Dramaturgy and The Insect Play,” presentation to graduate seminar in Czech Drama, University of Toronto, October 1993 (returned October 1997), taught by Dr. Veronika Ambros (invited)
1989 “National Identity as revealed in the final list of entries for The Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre,” presented at the conference of the International Federation for Theatre Research, Stockholm, Sweden, May 1989
1987 “The Legitimization of Vaudeville: The History of the Victoria Theatre and Roof, 1904-1914,” presented at the International Federation for Theatre Research/ American Society for Theatre Research joint conference, New York City, November 1987
1984 “Julian Mitchell’s Choreographic Innovations,” presented at the conference for the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD), Hartford, Connecticut, October 1984
1983 “Spectacle in the Service of Satire: The First Five Ziegfeld Follies,” presented at the conference of the American Society for Theatre Research, New York City, November 1983
1982 “Design and Architecture of New York City’s Roof Gardens,” paper given at the conference of the American Society for Theatre Research, Providence, Rhode Island, November 1982
1982 “Toronto’s Winter Garden Theatre and the Roof Garden Phenomenon in New York City,” presented at the conference of the Association for Canadian Theatre History, Ottawa, May 1982
1982 “The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company’s Film of Joseph Jefferson’s Melodrama Rip Van Winkle(1896),” presented at the conference of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association, Louisville, Kentucky, April 1982
Presentations and Organization
2020 Co-Organizer, An Online Long-Table Gathering to think about Gatherings, a collaborative discussion around gathering, archiving and accessing the stuff (digital, printed, material) out of which Performance Histories are woven.’ CATR Conference Seminar, Seminar, August 2020.
2020 Advisory Committee, Preserving Performance in the Pacific Northwest: A Symposium, as Principal Investigator, Gatherings; co-hosted by the University of Victoria and the Royal BC Museum, February 20-21. Co-Convened by Alexandra (Sasha) Kovacs, Allana Lindgren.
2019 Advisory Committee, Considering Curation: A Symposium, as Principal Investigator, Gatherings; co-hosted by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the University of Toronto; convened by Seika Boye, Kelsey Jacobson, Jenn Cole.
2017-21 Co-Convenor, Performance History Working Group, Canadian Association for Theatre Research. Includes management of a website and ongoing discussions or problems presented by members of CATR.
2012-16 Program Committee, annual meeting of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research, as President of the Association (University of Calgary, 2016; University of Ottawa, 2015; Brock University, 2014; University of Victoria, 2013; University of Waterloo/Wilfred Laurier University, 2012).
2014 Co-Organizer with Natalie Alvarez (Brock University), Beatriz Pizano and Trevor Schwellnus (Aluna Theatre, Toronto); Working Group, “Performance as Treaty; the (En)treaty of Gesture”; “exploring the complex ways in which gestures, in their migration from body to body, and witness to witness, are instantiations of the “treaty” in the Americas.” Ten hours over five days during MANIFEST! Choreographing Social Movements in the Americas, the 2014 Montreal Encuentro, bi-annual Festival/Conference organized by the Hemispheric Institute.
2013-14 Program Committee, Nostos: Encounters with the Open Program, a residency by an international company, co-sponsored by the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, February 10-24.
2011-12 Program Committee, The Future of Cage: Credo, a conference celebrating the 100th Birthday of John Cage, co-sponsored by the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies and the Faculty of Music, 25-28 October 2012.
2009-10 Program Committee, Performance Studies International, Toronto, 10-13 June 2010, co-sponsored by York University and the Ontario College of Art and Design, with participation from the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto
2009-10 Steering Committee, Chester 2010: an International Conference and Festival, including performances of the Chester Cycle of medieval dramas, co-sponsored by Centre for the Performance Study of Early Theatre and the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto, May 2010.
2008 Co-sponsor, Organizing Committee, Carnival, A People’s Art and Taking Back the Streets, jointly held at York University and the University of Toronto, 30 July – 3 August (with Christopher Innes, York University)
2008 Convener, Principal Organizer, Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Performance, an interdisciplinary symposium. Organized at the University of Toronto, Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, co-sponsored by the Drama Centre, the Cinema Studies Institute, the Centre for the Study of the United States, the Faculty of Music, the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies, and the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office, and with support from the Jackman Humanities Institute and the Connaught Foundation, March
See <http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/~w3minstr/burntcork/index.html>
2002 Program Chair, Annual Conference, Association for Canadian Theatre Research/ Association de la recherche théâtrale au Canada, University of Toronto, May
1987 Program Chair, Annual Conference, Association for Canadian Theatre History/ Association histoire théâtrale au Canada, McMaster University (with R. W. Vince, McMaster University)
Stephen Johnson 