Theatre & Performance Studies News
TOP STORY: Professor Nicolas Whybrow is Retiring
Professor Nicolas Whybrow is retiring early at the end of October 2020 owing to recent ill health. He is a long-time member of Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick, joining in February 2004. A former Head of School (2014-2017), Nicolas taught across a range of modules, most notably Performance and the Contemporary City and Live Art and Performance. In 2010 he won the Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence.
Nicolas played a leading role in the University’s research culture, being appointed as thematic lead for two of its GRPs, Sustainable Cities and Connecting Cultures. In 2017-2020 he was the PI on a 3-year AHRC-funded practice-as-research project entitled Sensing the City, which culminated in a multi-medial exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry and an edited book, Urban Sensographies (2021). Meanwhile, his book Contemporary Art Biennials in Europe: the Work of Art in the Complex City appeared in 2020.
Further details about Nicolas are available on his staff profile on the Theatre and Performance Studies website. Happily, he retains his connection to the University as Emeritus Professor.
Kenilworth's Talisman Theatre Partners with the African Women Playwrights Network
On 4 February 2021 the Leamington Observer reported that the Talisman Theatre in Kenilworth had reflected on its whiteness, and has reaffirmed its commitment to diversity. This commitment has included partnering with Dr Yvette Hutchison's African Women Playwrights Network so that it can begin to change its position as a venue which has 'a very white membership, choosing plays mainly about white people, by white authors, presented to a mainly white audience' (Leamington Observer).
Unsettled shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award
We are thrilled to announce that JC Niala's play Unsettled has been shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award for Black British playwrights. The play is published in Contemporary Plays by African Women and JC is a core member of the African Women Playwrights Network. Find out more about the award here: https://www.alfredfagonaward.co.uk/awards/2020-award/
JC Niala's play Unsettled wins the Alfred Fagon Award
Congratulations to JC Niala, a Research Fellow in Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick and a core member of the African Women Playwrights Network (AWPN). Her play Unsettled - published in the collection Contemporary Plays by African Women - has just been longlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award. https://www.alfredfagonaward.co.uk/awards/2020-award/
African Women Playwrights Network: Video Launch
In Summer 2020 the African Women Playwrights Network launched a video to describe the activities of the network and the rationale for it being founded. Take a look at the video here.