In general, those of us who are focused on drama, theatre in general, plays and playwrights in specific had the opportunity to attend a number of sessions addressing those subjects-- Unhappily they all were competing for attendance at the same time! E.g., On Thursday: Pinter, Brecht or Beckett—How do you choose? All would be extremely valuable. On Friday: Kafka or O’Neill? What is the Kafka “factor”? On Saturday: Pirandello, Medieval Literature, or Claudel? Ovid or Shakespeare? Marlowe or Dickens? Performance Histories, and so on. If all such grouped (to my mind anyway) compete in time we have to sacrifice a complete shared experience with all of the presenters, their topics, and all of us who have shared interests.
Is there not a way to structure sessions by discipline so that most of the sessions can be attended by those interested in that discipline? I don’t know. Perhaps titles like Theatre, or American Literature of the 20th Century, British Literature, The Drama of Asia, Theory and Criticism, Erotica, Women, Shakespeare, African or African American Literature, whatever. I am aware I may not be the first person to write this, but if so I strongly add my name to those who have.
Thanks.
John Camera