As educational systems across the country devise new ways to engage learners and withstand the Recession, new spaces are created for regular engagement with the arts. Instructors continue to view their work as “artistic” and the study of the arts as “fundamental to education” despite increasing class sizes and decreasing theatre production budgets. Likewise, theatres and actors are increasingly seeking new ways to invigorate the profession, audiences, and the theater community by their involvement backstage, onstage, and in terms of production. The multicultural theatre of Hip Hop, and the re-visioned history of August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Lynn Nottage, for instance, are important tools for re-learning, renewing, and re-invigorating our artistic and classroom practices.

This conference invites the sharing of Best Practices to empower our artistic, economic, and educational engines. The BTN encourages panels, workshops, projects, and interdisciplinary papers that contemplate strategies for the survival of Black Theatre into the next generation. Proposals may broadly interpret the conference theme along (but not confined to) the following strands:
· Reshaping identity and performance on stage
· New Images in Theatre in the 21st Century and Beyond
· Cyber-Power/ Cyber-Practices
· Redefining the Power of Black Theatre
· Teaching Dramatic Literature that Engages Young People and Provides an Authentic Assessment
· Skills Building for the Next Generation of Artist Practitioners
· The Multicultural Theatre of HipHop
· Empowering Social and Creative Change
· Effective Models for Acting, Directing, Design, and Tech
· Effective Production Strategies during a Recession
· Black Theatre History as a Tool to Build Inclusive Classrooms and Curricula
· Emerging Models for Teaching Plays
· Powerful Partnerships in the Profession and the Academy
At the center of this conference is YOU. In times of few resources and limited artistic opportunities, the BTN anticipates that conference participants will find renewal in the communal sharing of scholarship that engages and practices that work.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE & DETAILS
Please submit an abstract of your paper, panel, or workshop (400 words or fewer) by March 31, 2010, to Dr. La Tanya L. Reese Rogers, Conference Committee Chair, at LReese@udc.edu for consideration.
Include in your abstract: your name; co-presenter’s name; full contact information, including phone number and e-mail address; institutional or theatre affiliation (graduate students should identify themselves to receive benefits); the title of the proposed presentation; room set-up requirements (if offering a workshop or lecture); A-V equipment needs; special needs, if any; and length of session (if offering a workshop). At the conference, all papers should be limited to 15 minutes.

Proposals and abstracts should be received on or before March 31, 2010. Accepted presenters will be notified by April 7, 2010. Submissions postmarked after the notification date will be considered for substitutions. All presenters are expected to register for the conference by June 30, 2010. Check the website for details by clicking the post's title.

Alternately, mail abstracts to:
Dr. La Tanya L. Reese Rogers
Black Theatre Network Conference Committee Chair
University of the District of Columbia: Department of English
4200 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008

Direct other questions about the conference to the on-site coordinators:
Prof. Kathryn Ervin [kervin@csusb. edu]
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Prof. Andre Harrington [aharring@csusb. edu]