The world's leading academic conference that celebrates musical theatre in all its forms is being hosted by the University of Portsmouth this week.
The Song, Stage and Screen international conference, which takes place online from 29 June to 1 July, is an annual event at which academics from around the world present their research and lead discussions about musical theatre on stage and screen.
The theme for this year's virtual conference is "Pluralities: Performances, Practices and Participatory Cultures". It will explore a wide range of topics related to the impact of digital innovations on musical theatre and performance, audience engagement and artist participation.
The keynote speech will be given by Donatella Galella, Associate Professor of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production at the University of California, Riverside.
The Song, Stage and Screen Conference is closely connected to the academic journal Studies in Musical Theatre and papers presented at the conference are often developed into articles for the journal, which is the leading publication in its field.
We really are world leaders in musical theatre scholarship at the University of Portsmouth thanks to the conference. It is especially exciting that it is returning to its origins in Portsmouth this year.
Professor George Burrows, from the University of Portsmouth's School of Art, Design and Performance, created the conference and journal. He said: "We really are world leaders in musical theatre scholarship at the University of Portsmouth thanks to the conference. My expert colleagues Ben Macpherson and Phoebe Rumsey have designed and scheduled a fantastic programme for this year and it promises to be a really great event. It is especially exciting that it is returning to its origins in Portsmouth this year."
Each day runs from 3 to 8.30pm and free tickets can be booked at https://uni.port.ac.uk/SongStageandScreen
You can also join on Zoom - Meeting ID: 898 2240 7125 and Passcode: 086303
Since the inaugural conference was held, the University has grown its provision in musical theatre – both in teaching and research. The School of Art, Design and Performance entered in the UK Research Excellence Framework for the first time and, along with colleagues from other areas of The Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, returned a strong set of results, which were published last month.
The majority of the research was judged as internationally excellent and world leading and The Song, Stage and Screen conference represents Portsmouth's leadership in musical theatre research.
