Sociology of Theatre and Performance Research Group
The Sociology of Theatre and Performance Research Group (STPRG), formed under the direction of Professor Maria Shevtsova in 2007, incorporates the only student-led research team in the Department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. Its remit is to study a wide range of performance forms and styles as integral aspects of sociocultural processes. The Group's conceptual foundations stem from Professor Shevtsova's path-breaking body of work in the sociology of theatre and performance, a discipline that she has been progressively developing and refining over the course of her extensive professional career, both as a scholar and a pedagogue. Interweaving analytical principles derived from such diverse fields of inquiry as sociology, history, historiography, anthropology, cultural theory, politics and semiotics, among others, the Sociology of Theatre and Performance Research Group seeks to address the study of theatre and performance from a truly interdisciplinary perspective.
Since its foundation, the STPRG has initiated a number of interdisciplinary research activities, both within Goldsmiths as well as on national and international levels. A central event organised by the postgraduate students of the Group is the annual postgraduate colloquium. It has attracted the participation of PhD students working across disciplines both in the UK and abroad. Past colloquia include Groups and Groupies (2007), Appropriating Space (2008), Producing Culture (2009), Bodies and Socio-Histories (2010), NOW, Legacies and Amnesia (2011) and the forthcoming The Politics of Practice (2012). Other projects under the auspices of the STPRG involve inter-university research seminars with students and scholars in Europe and the United States, including an ongoing collaboration with InterArts, the international research group led by Professor Erika Fischer-Lichte at the Freie Universität, Berlin. In November 2009, the STPRG worked at the invitation of Thomas Richards and Mario Biagini, Director and Associate Director of the Pontedera Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards, in Wroclaw, Poland. The latter was part of the programme of Richards and Biagini's Zero Budget Festival, supported by the Grotowski Institute, directed by Jaroslaw Fret. This was the Department of Theatre and Performance's first international initiative of its kind involving MA and PhD students, and early-career scholars.