2014 NoPassport theatre Conference: The Diasporic Imagination

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NoPassport and Louisiana State University Department of Theatre present:

8th annual NoPe - NoPassport Theatre Conference

DREAMING THE AMERICAS: THE DIASPORIC IMAGINATION

NoPassport and Louisiana State University Department of Theatre present a one-day theatre conference initiated and curated by Caridad Svich (2012 OBIE for Lifetime Achievement) and co-curated by Eric Mayer-Garcia (LSU) exploring the diasporic imagination, and in particular, the intersection of communities with origins in west Africa and the Caribbean, as it is reflected in new writing for the stage and live performance on March 29, 2014 from 9:30 AM-6:00 PM in  the Music and Dramatic Arts Building, located on the LSU Baton Rouge campus. This conference on the diasporic imagination will query the symbiosis of theatre/performance and diaspora. How does diaspora transfuse cultures, spaces, and voices across distances, borders, and history? As hosts for these intersections, what is it about theatre and performance that make them fertile soil for diaspora's retracing of origins and migrations within the imagination? What are the politics of remembering those who have left or have been displaced, and what happens with the vacuum their absence leaves behind?

The conference features a special US premiere performance of edited version of Caridad Svich’s Carthage/Cartagena from UK’s Signdance Collective International, Europe’s only international touring signdance theatre music company, directed by Beatriz Cabur. Among those moderating panels and taking part in the conference will be Lynn Manning (co-founder, Watts Village Theater Company) Oliver Mayer (faculty, USC), Otis Ramsey-Zoe (faculty, Howard University), Lillian Manzor (faculty, University of Miami), Christopher Oscar Peña (playwright), and a distinguished roster of artists & scholars from New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and across the US.

The conference will also feature the launch of several new titles from NoPassport Press, including collections by Rogelio Martinez and an anthology of short stories (in new translastions) from Latin America, Spain and Catalonia.

Conference One-Day Pass is $10.00 (for general admission and faculty), $5 for students with valid ID.

Register directly at http://www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2623

For more information about the conference schedule, please visit www.nopassport.org or contact NoPassportPress@aol.com

NoPassport was founded by playwright Caridad Svich in 2003 as a Pan-American theatre alliance & press devoted to action, advocacy, and change toward the fostering of cross-cultural diversity and difference in the arts with an emphasis on the embrace of the hemispheric spirit in US Latina/o and Latin-American theatre-making. www.caridadsvich.com/NoPassport.  Caridad Svich and NoPassport is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.