News & Notices
OISTAT Commissions meet in Shanghai
Fausto Viana's presentation on Local Festival Costumes in Brazil
Photo/Carl Walling
OISTAT's Research and Performance Design Commissions held a joint meeting March 25 to 28 hosted by Shanghai Theatre Academy in Shanghai, China. Sixteen OISTAT members representing Brazil, Bulgaria, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States traveled to Shanghai to join members from OISTAT China, as well as faculty and post-graduate students from Shanghai Theatre Academy.
During the symposium members of both commissions, along with scholars from China, presented their research. Presentations included Dr. Dorita Hannah's keynote "Critical Costume: Operating Between Local Encounters, Global Events and Our Daily Lives," Fausto Viana's presentation on local festival costumes in Brazil, Dr. Joslin McKinney's paper "Cultural Encounter and the Body of the Spectator," Henk van der Geest's presentation on cultural approaches to lighting practice, Ya Li's research titled "Earring Study in Yuan Dynasty of Ancient China," and Piroska.E.Kiss' presentation on a recent scenographic encounter during a production of Waiting for Godot in Haiti. During four days, 20 research presentations and workshops were shared.
OISTAT Headquarters updated the commissions about several updates that were recently made to the OISTAT website at commission meetings. The updates include recent revisions to the Performance Design Commission galleries and Research Commission archives. Currently, OISTAT Headquarters, along with OISTAT Commission Chairs, are developing the website with additional new galleries, databases, and networking tools.
During the Shanghai meetings, commission members discussed several website projects, which should increase the effectiveness of the new OISTAT website. The Research Commission updated its members on two ongoing projects: TESTing 2013 and a recommended publications database.
The 2013 Meeting Poster for OISTAT Performance Design and Research
Photo/Carl Walling
This September, the Research Commission will try out TESTing 2013 during World Stage Design 2013. TESTing 2013 will allow research practitioners an opportunity to experiment with performance design projects and explore theoretical models. The commission received 25; the peer-review jury will select 10 to 12 projects for final inclusion in World Stage Design 2013. Once selected, the TESTing 2013 research projects will transpire over five days, September 9 to 13. Presentations and lectures stemming from these projects will be open to WSD 2013 attendees.
In addition to the TESTing project, the Research Commission is developing a recommended theatre publications database which will include books, book chapters, and essays recommended by OISTAT members. OISTAT will host the database on its website for public access.
The next business meeting for OISTAT's Performance Design Commission and OISTAT Research Commission will be during World Stage Design 2013 in Cardiff, Wales. Any USITT members attending are welcome to come to the meetings. For more information about OISTAT, go to www.oistat.org.
For more about USITT – International Committee and the Institute's international activities, visit the Facebook page USITT – International Activities.
