University of Derby present

Performing the Contemporary

Thu 13 Nov, 2025

View Dates and Book

Thu 13th November, 10.00am
Price: PWYC
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Performing the Contemporary, offers a formal academic conference bringing together leading scholars, practitioners, and artists to examine how performance engages with — and shapes — the world around us.

Through a dynamic programme of conventional papers, performances, and recitals, the day will explore pressing societal and cultural themes including identity, trans/gender issues, race, and civic engagement.

This conference aims to create a vibrant space for critical exchange, creative experimentation, and interdisciplinary dialogue. By bringing together diverse voices and perspectives, we seek to explore how contemporary performance can both reflect and challenge our times.

Themes include: 

  • Arts in the community 
  • Diversity and performance 
  • REF IMPACT case studies and research  
  • Sustainability in and through and performance 
  • Immersive technologies and performance capture 
  • The social, political and cultural dimensions of the arts 
  • Arts as entertainment, arts as resistance, arts as dissent 

Venue

Derby Theatre, Studio and Café Bar

Overview

Time: 10am - 4pm
Performance duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Age guidance: 16+

Pricing

Standard: Pay What You Can (PWYC)

Schedule

Registration and Welcome

Chair: Dr Ben Harbisher

  • 10:30 – 10:50
    Dr Xristina Penna (University of Derby)
    Scenographic Contraptions: Practice-research Methodologies of Endurance and Duration in a Groundless Contemporary Performance Landscape

  • 10:50 – 11:10
    Dr Paula McCloskey (University of Derby)
    Performing Fiction-Ecologies as Co-Inquiries

  • 11:10 – 11:25 Q&A

Chair: Dr Ava Hunt

  • 11:30 – 11:50 (Online)
    Dr Dorothy Morrissey & Dr Fiona McDonagh (Mary Immaculate College, Limerick)
    The Third Space Potential of an Inter-Faculty Collaboration Involving Theatre Students and Student Teachers

  • 11:50 – 12:10 (Online)
    Anand K., Ph. D. Research Scholar, CMS College (Autonomous), Kottayam, Kerala, India
    Performing the Self: Exploring Identity through Digital and Immersive Theatre in the Classroom

  • 12:10 – 12:25 Q&A

Lunch Break

Chair: Dr Xristina Penna

  • 13:30 – 13:50
    Dr Peter Maber (Northeastern University London)
    “A New Life, A New World”: The Transformations of Migrant and Refugee Theatre-Making in the UK

  • 13:50 – 14:10
    Dr Rebecca Ora (rora) (University of Birmingham)
    *Still Waiting: Memory, Surrogation and Racial Culpability in Edgar Arceneaux’s Until Until Until…

  • 14:10 – 14:25 Q&A

Chair: Dr Paula McCloskey

  • 14:30 – 14:50
    Dr Richard Dawson (University of Derby)
    The Impact and Challenges of Working Through the Arts with Looked After Children and Young People

  • 14:50 – 15:10
    Alice Marshall (University of Derby)
    Tender Steps: Exploring Grief, Community, and Contemporary Performance

  • 15:10 – 15:25 Q&A

Final Remarks | End of Event

View Dates and Book

Thu 13th November, 10.00am
Price: PWYC