General introduction/Presentation General

Volume 26.1-2 of Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches theatrales au Canada marks at least two significant conclusions. First, it brings to a close the process of transforming a national conference into a scholarly publication. Shifting Tides: Atlantic Canadian Theatre Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow was held at the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto in March of 2004. The event brought theatre scholars and students together with a large number of playwrights, directors, actors, designers, producers, and administrators from across Eastern Canada. For three days the participants shared academic papers, play readings, workshops, performances, and presentations (with a live video conference thrown in for good measure). In the process, a significant window was opened on an underexposed and under-appreciated region of dramatic and theatrical activity in this country. At the same time, I believe, the event succeeded in fostering an uncommon degree of interaction across disciplinary and professional borders too rarely challenged in the context of academic meetings. And, finally, Shifting Tides opened the doors (to extend the domestic metaphor) on multiple ongoing professional and artistic relationships. As one of the coordinators of the conference, I can attest to out gratification and, indeed, pride in all these accomplishments. My co-editors on this volume are, in fact, the same individuals with whom I collaborated in bringing the Shifting Tides Conference into reality: Natalie Alvarez (now of Brock University) and Michael Devine (of Acadia University). While Michael's obligations to his home institution in Nova Scotia ruade him a more distant participant as the conference approached, both these new scholars worked extensively on issues large and small, from the original conceptualization of the event through to the minutest detail of its realization. The same dedication has characterized their involvement in the editing of this volume, and they have repeatedly proven their insight, professionalism, and sense of rigour. The articles and Forum pieces that have been developed for this current issue of TRiC/RTaC all have their beginnings in the Shifting Tides Conference. Addressing a wide range of topics from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives, this collection of essays further demonstrates the diversity of theatrical interests and activity--practical, theoretical, and historical--that characterizes Atlantic Canada. Further, beyond the scholarly analyses and research documentation featured in these pages, the volume also captures additional, context-specific aspects of the conference. These include play extracts from many of the writers who gave staged readings, introductory and concluding comments from keynote presenters, and interviews with or illustrated presentations by guest theatrical companies. Indeed, in order to reflect the oral quality of the play readings, the play extracts have not been standardized into MLA formatting, but rather largely represent the individual textual voices of the individual playwrights. The result, we hope, will be more than a proceedings (as all articles and Forum pieces were thoroughly revised and peer assessed), but also more than a related body of traditional scholarly articles. Rather, we have attempted to make a substantial contribution to the existing literature on Atlantic Canadian theatre and drama while, at the same time, we have tried to capture some of the enthusiasm, variety, and interactive optimism of the event itself. The second conclusion that this volume represents relates to my role as editor. As I announced in the introduction to volume 25.1-2, with this current publication I finish my tenure as general editor and adopt, instead, the mantle of executive editor. Glen Nichols of the Universite de Moncton assumes the general editor responsibilities as of the next issue, 27.1, a single-issue of general interest articles. …

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