LSFRC is proud to announce the first of what we hope will be many associated events, “Stage the Future III: Third International Academic Conference on Science Fiction Theatre.” The conference will take place on 6-7th December 2019 in the Omnibus Theatre, London, and forms a part of “Talos III: Science Fiction Theatre Festival of London” (more on Talos III can be found here). Cyborphic, the theatre company producing the festival and the conference , is also asking for production proposals for “Talos III,” and we warmly encourage artists and writers to consider submitting proposals to one or both events. We at LSFRC are delighted to be able to assist in the organising of the first London-based installment of the groundbreaking “Stage the Future” conference series, and are particularly excited about the possibilities of engagement with a wider audience that the event offers. If you have any idea for an academic or para-academic event you would like to organise in association with LSFRC, please do not hesitate to get in touch by email.

Call for Papers

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Louise LePage, Lecturer in Theatre (University of York)

Following two successful conferences in the UK, at Royal Holloway, University of London and in Arizona, at Arizona State University, in 2014 and 2015 respectively, Stage the Future returns to the UK for its third conference on science fiction theatre on 6-7 December 2019. We welcome papers, panels, and performances that examine and explore the unique attributes live performance offers to science fiction and those that science fiction offers to live performance.

Science fiction and its related genres, fantasy and horror frequent contemporary stages and every year there seem to be more and more artistic productions of AI Theatre, cyborgs in theatre, VR and AR technologies on stage. The Internet Science Fiction Theatre Database lists several recent examples, and major UK theatre festivals such as Edinburgh Fringe and Vault Festival host several plays with sf elements, while genre-specific festival such as the Talos Sci-Fi theatre festival and the London Horror Festival also promote speculative fiction on stage.

In fact the conference is taking place in the same week as the third Talos: Science Fiction Theatre Festival of London (2-9 December 2019), so participants will have many opportunities to watch and discuss sci-fi performances during that week.

In addition to science fiction theatre, we welcome papers on sci-fi performance more broadly (sci-fi dance, immersive shows, VR theatre, AI theatre) and genre theatre more broadly (Afrofuturist performances, horror theatre, fantasy theatre.)

The conference welcomes proposals for papers, presentations, and performances from any discipline and theoretical perspective. Please send a title and a 200-300 word abstract (as a Word document) for a 15 minute paper or a reading / performance, along with your name, affiliation and 100 word biography to stagethefuture@gmail.com by 30 September 2019, specifying in the subject title of your email what you are proposing. Topics might include but are not limited to:

Post-Apocalyptic Theatre, Utopian Theatre, Dystopian Theatre
Afrofuturist Theatre, Queer Science Fiction
Cyberpunk Theatre, Steampunk Theatre (and other -punk dramas)
Political Science Fiction Theatre, Time Travel, Alternate History
Non-human and post-human characters, androids, metahumans
Space Opera and Science Fiction Opera
Ecological Science Fiction
Science Fiction and Dance
Theatrical Adaptations of Science Fiction
Contemporary Fantasy Theatre, Horror Theatre, Weird Theatre

The conference is organised by Dr Christos Callow Jr, Lecturer, University of Derby; Marita Arvaniti, PhD Candidate, University of Glasgow; the theatre company Cyborphic and the London Science Fiction Research Community.

@chriscallowjr
@excaliburedpan
@cyborphic
@talosfest
@LSFRC_
@stagethefuture