October 1, 2013
The American Society for Theatre Research and the Oscar G. Brockett Center of Theatre History and Criticism are pleased to announce that Richard Schoch from Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland is the winner of the 2013 Oscar G. Brockett Essay Prize.
Schoch’s essay, "Inventing the Origins of Theatre History: The Modern Uses of Juba II’s theatriké historia,” was published in the Fall 2012 edition of the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism (edited by Scott Magelssen).
Kimberley Jannarone, chair of the Oscar G. Brockett Essay Prize committee for the society praised the study, noting, “Shoch’s essay takes on an important topic, debunking a somewhat romantic tendency to search for [historical] origins even [while] admitting the enterprise to be futile.”
Schoch is a historian whose research encompasses theatre historiography, Shakespeare in performance, and cultural history. He holds a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2011-2014), and is in the process of writing The History of British Theatre History from the Restoration to Modernism. Schoch has also been awarded fellowships from the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Harry Ransom Center.
Kim Marra, professor of theatre and director of graduate studies at the University of Iowa, received an honorable mention for her essay, “Riding, Scarring, Knowing: A Queerly Embodied Performance Historiography,” in the December 2012 issue of Theatre Journal (edited by Penny Farfan). Jannarone reported the committee members “were all drawn to and moved by” the essay.
Schoch and Marra will be acknowledged at the 2013 annual conference of the American Society for Theatre Research in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, November 9.
About the Prize
The Oscar G. Brockett Essay Prize is jointly awarded by the American Society for Theatre Research and the Oscar G. Brockett Center of Theatre History and Criticism at The University of Texas at Austin and recognizes the best essay written and published in a refereed scholarly journal or published by a scholarly press relating to any subject in theatre research.
About The Oscar G. Brockett Center
The Oscar G. Brockett Center of Theatre History and Criticism, launched by The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance, promotes excellence in theatre history scholarship, pedagogy, and community engagement.
About the American Society for Theatre Research
The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) is a U.S.-based professional organization that fosters scholarship on worldwide theatre and performance, both historical and contemporary.