Transnational Alliances: Staging Hemispheric Performance Festivals in a Post-Pandemic World

“Transnational Alliances: Staging Hemispheric Performance Festivals in a Post-Pandemic World” examines the potential of co-creation and collaboration among artists, activists, and researchers from across the Americas in the context of re-emerging festivals—a context in which scholars and artists are grappling with the impact of the COVID crisis on performance as well as the environmental impact of performance on the planet. As performance events begin to re-emerge in hybrid in-person and virtual formats and nations reopen their borders, questions on the changing nature of performance and the changing nature of encounters are central to those engaged in hemispheric performance practice. This Mitacs project is a research creation endeavour that takes the Panamerican ROUTES/RUTAS Panamericanas Festival (an international multi-arts festival produced by Aluna Theatre in Toronto) as a site to explore new formats for mobilizing hemispheric performance knowledge in a (post-)pandemic landscape. The knowledge and exchange that results from this research will advance Aluna Theatre’s aims to connect communities across cultural and geographic differences through performance practices that address shared histories and current political realities.

Faculty Supervisor:

Laura Levin

Student:

Partner:

Aluna Theatre

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Arts, entertainment and recreation

University:

York University

Program: