The Lion and the Unicorn is sponsoring a special issue focused on “Children and Theatre.” Essay submission (15-20 pages or 4,500-6,000 words) are due by September 1, 2011. Among other topics, essays could focus on:

  • Professionally produced plays based on children’s books such as H. Savile Clarke’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1886), Frances Hodgson Burnett’s LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY (1888), Rutland Barrington’s THE WATER BABIES (1902), Marian De Forest’s LITTLE WOMEN (1912), or A. A. Milne’s TOAD OF TOAD HALL (1929)
  • Other kinds of dramatic productions linked to children: pantomimes, Punch and Judy shows, puppet shows, pageants
  • Private theatricals performed by or for children
  • Drama in the schools (rhetoric and performance, plays performed by students, creative dramatics)
  • Children’s plays for home or school production by authors such as Maria Edgeworth, Hannah More, Christian Felix Weisse, Madame de Genlis, or Arnaud Berquin
  • Child actors and child audiences
  • Children’s theatre companies such as Franklin Sargent’s Children’s Theatre, Alice Minnie Herts’s Children’s Educational Theatre, the Moscow Theatre of the Young Spectator, or the Grips Theatre in Berlin
  • Portrayals of child performers or children’s theatre in children’s literature by authors such as Noel Streatfeild, Jill Krementz, or Maurice Sendak
  • Theoretical or methodological studies of Children’s Theatre or Theatre for Young Audiences (What is it? How do we study it?)
  • Possible links between childhood studies and performance theory

Email your essay as a Word attachment to Dr. Marah Gubar at mjg4@pitt.edu by September 1, 2011. Accepted essays will appear in the Summer 2012 issue. Or, if you prefer, you can mail a hard copy to this address: 526 C.L., English Department, 4200 Fifth Avenue, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15260.

CFP – Special Issue of The Lion and the Unicorn: Children and Theatre