Conference Call for Papers
October 22th-October 23th, 2022
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan


Drama, Media, and Communication:
The 2022 NTU International Theatre Conference


Drama is a form of art employed by playwrights and stage directors to express their thoughts, feelings, aesthetic perspectives, or ideological positions; they always take into consideration how they can communicate their ideas to the audience through texts or performances. Communication derived from texts and performances relies on specific media, yet in a broader sense, drama itself is a medium.

Although the term "media" was not widely used to refer to vehicles that communicate information and messages until the 20th century, there had been various forms of media way before the widespread use of the term. Media generally include communication tools and technologies. Scripts, advertisements, leaflets/flyers, images, publications, and other vehicles with texts and pictures, as well as stage, theatre performers, dance, music, stage design, etc. are all drama media and have for a long time been instrumental in the communication of meaning in drama.

Nowadays, with the ever-changing technology and media landscape, electronic media and online video platforms, which follow the emergence of radio, television, film, and the Internet, are now sought after in mass communication. As a performing art that actively engages with the audience, drama also has to find new pathways in the face of new media. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, the practice of artists performing before the audience has been forced to be changed. In this post-pandemic era, media play a crucial role in the transformation of drama; to respond to the impact and foster innovation hinges on the performance capacity in traditional and modern theatre and also highlights the close relationship between drama and media.

Media's broad influence on drama can be seen in narrative approaches, the selection of themes, spatial and temporal elements, aesthetic form, staged authenticity, the way that the audience watches the play, publication and circulation, etc. In this case, what is worth our attention is how dramatic characteristics have been developed and how new definitions and discourses of drama are created through different media and communication cultures in different time periods.

This conference calls for papers related to the following topics:
1. Relationship between drama and media
2. Theatre theory and practice
3. Dramatic texts and drama transformation
4. Drama publishing and communication culture
5. Performance theory
6. Theatre design, technology, and media
7. Dramatic aesthetics
8. Contemporary thinking in drama

The 2022 NTU International Theatre Conference is organized by the Department of Drama and Theatre, National Taiwan University, and is scheduled to take place on Oct. 22 and 23, 2022 (Sat. & Sun.) We welcome submissions of papers related to any of the topics specified above. The papers must be written in Chinese or English. The abstract submission deadline is Feb. 10, 2022 (Thu.). Please attach the following documents in your submission: 1. Title of the paper; 2. Abstract (within 600 words for Chinese abstract and 350 words for English abstract); 3. Personal information (within 100 words); 4. Contact info. Please mail the documents to the dedicated mailbox of the conference: ntutheatre2022@gmail.com (Organizer: Associate Professor Chih-li Lin; contact person: Mr. Sander Lee.) The results of abstract review will be returned to the authors via email by the end of April 2022.