TV

The Spanish Tragedy Symposium 2024


The Spanish Tragedy Poster

In academic year 2023-24, TV faculty Dr. Chelsea Phillips (Theater) and Dr. Alice Dailey (English) launched a year-long interdisciplinary exploration of Thomas Kyd’s seminal Renaissance revenge play, The Spanish Tragedy (1582).  This extended pedagogical, scholarly, and creative endeavor began with a combined undergraduate-graduate course taught in fall 2023 titled “Legacies of Revenge.”  It culminates in a , along with a coinciding scholarly symposium on April 19-20, 2024.  Through both academic study and performance, The Spanish Tragedy Project seeks to foster engagement with the play as at once an historical and contemporary artifact and to deepen our understanding of the play’s place in revenge discourses, which continue to proliferate in popular culture.

The Spanish Tragedy Symposium will take place April 19-20, 2024, on the Villanova campus.  Convening Friday afternoon, it will include Friday night's performance, keynotes by Dr. Richard Preiss (University of Utah) and Dr. Andrea Stevens (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), facilitated discussion among attendees about various components of the show and larger pedagogical project, introduction to the grant-funded web archive of production and teaching resources, a performance of student-authored Spanish Tragedy spinoffs, and a splendid reception.  Registration is open to students, scholars, theater practitioners, and early modern drama enthusiasts.  No advance preparation is required of attendees.  Lodging for the Symposium can be booked at  or a range of hotels in .  Rooms may become available at  on March 19.  Registered out-of-town attendees will be contacted in that event.

The Spanish Tragedy Symposium is sponsored by Office of the President of TV, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English, Department of Theater and Studio Art, and Honors Program.

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