This year’s Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) 2025 Summer Virtual Conference (July 28 – Aug 1) is chock full of the inspiration and expertise of five of our very own Department of Theatre faculty presenting this year.
ATHE is an advocate for the field of theatre and performance in higher education and serves as an intellectual and artistic center for producing new knowledge about theatre and performance-related disciplines, cultivating vital alliances with other scholarly and creative disciplines, linking with professional and community-based theatres, and promoting access and equity.
This year’s online conference theme is: THE REAL, and as the website says: “A binary opposition between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ is ever more outdated and unnecessary. Theatre and performance have always been both real and representation. In a week-long virtual gathering in Summer 2025, ATHE 2025: The Real invites us to consider the real effects of a virtual conference.”
Here's a look at what our folks are contributing:
Sam Briggs, Assistant Professor, Theatre Teaching Area Head presented on the following panels:
- Games We Play: Games We Play is an embodied and participatory workshop that asks attendees to play, observe, and discuss games as an agent for pedagogy, social change, and transformation. Presenters and games vary and will be updated as they are confirmed.
- Real Talk: Developing Resilient and Sustainable Careers as Junior Faculty: In this interactive panel presentation, several new assistant professors in different regions of the US share experiences of navigating not only new institutions but also new and sometimes incongruous social, religious, political, and geographical environments with intentionality and open-mindedness.
Robert Scott Smith, Associate Professor, Actor Training Area Head presented on the following panel:
- Failure, Play, and Creative Risk: Defining 'Discomfort' as a Tool for Growth:This roundtable will interrogate “discomfort’ as a welcome and real collaborator in the creative process. Panelists will identify supportive tools, terms, theories, and best practices that (re)define “discomfort” as a real and constructive component of actor training, teaching, learning and performance. Intended for educators, scholars, and practitioners of Acting, Directing, Movement, and Voice, this session offers insights into advancing pedagogy by embracing discomfort as a real and meaningful partner in creative and learning processes.
Erin Farrell Speer, Assistant Professor, Musical Theatre Program Area Head presented on the following panel:
- Anything You Can Do: Exploring Gender in Golden Age Musical Theatre Performance: This roundtable session examines the portrayal and performance of gender in Golden Age musicals through the lenses of the time in which they were initially written and of our current cultural climate.
Robert Scott Smith, Associate Professor and Erin Farrell Speer, Assistant Professor presented on the following panel:
- The Real (Reel): How the Virtual Is Transforming the Actor's Craft: This panel presentation will address and engage attendees in conversation about the transformation of the actor's craft in the virtual world. From self-tape auditions to practical exercises and advice on how to set up your self-tape studio, this session will engage actors and educators of acting, voice, and movement in the larger discussion of the virtual advances in acting.
Alexandra Harbold, Associate Professor, Co-Head of Theatre Studies presented on the following panel:
- Directing Debut Panel: This is the annual Debut Panel, which highlights the work of graduate students and early career directors
Kimberly Jew, Associate Professor of Theatre and Ethnic Studies presented on the following panel:
- Globalizing Asia in/through Theater and Performance: This panel examines how "Globalizing Asia" challenges rigid boundaries in both theory and practice, encouraging dialogue across Asia studies, Asian diaspora studies, and Asian American studies.