Dr. Meredith Conti Co-Edits New Anthology on Identity, Culture, and Science Performance

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Theatre Dr. Meredith Conti, who is celebrating the release of Identity, Culture, and the Science Performance Volume 2: From The Curious to the Quantum, as Anthology Co-Editor alongside Vivian Appler, Associate Professor of Performance Studies at the University of Georgia.

Per Bloomsbury Publishing, “Volume 2 of Identity, Culture, and the Science Performance investigates performances that illuminate the hidden recesses and inscrutable mysteries of the natural and human-made worlds."

Identity, Culture, and the Science Performance, Volume 1: From the Lab to the Streets was published in August, 2022.

 “While the first volume of this series prioritizes public, outward-facing, and activist work at the intersections of art and science, this volume considers performances of localized, concealed, inexplicable, or intimate phenomena, from the closed-door procedures of biomedical trials to the impacts of climate change.”

“The two volumes of Identity, Culture, and the Science Performance emerged from a multi-year working group Dr. Vivian Appler and I convened at the American Society for Theatre Research conferences,” Dr. Conti explained. “The working group’s conversations were centered on the intersections of science and performance, but many of our participants were particularly interested in exploring how ‘science performances’ established, confirmed, or rejected certain notions or expressions of identity and culture.

“Obviously, systemic racism, sexism, ableism, and other discriminatory ideologies are baked into the history of science and of the performing arts, but there are also many artists, humanities scholars, scientists, and activists who use science performances to resist these harmful histories, celebrate difference, and promote inclusivity,” she added.

“Both volumes feature scholarly essays, interviews with panels of interdisciplinary artists and scientists, and excerpts from creative works. The diversity of written and visual work included in the books was very intentional; we wanted both volumes to present a multitude of cultural approaches to thinking about and making science performances.”

Dr. Meredith Conti (she/her) is Associate Professor of Theatre at the University at Buffalo, SUNY (UB) and a historian of nineteenth-century theatre and popular culture in the United States and Britain. Her research variously explores the intersections of theatre and medicine; nineteenth- and early twentieth-century popular entertainment forms (including world fairs, vaudeville, Wild West shows, and fancy shooting exhibitions); gender and race in the Victorian period; and guns and gun violence in theatre.