Masks

Professor Oliver Gerland, member of the Masks review board, is co-organizing a session on intellectual property and performance for The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR.) Sure that many readers of, and contributors to, Masks will be interested in this opportunity, we are spreading the word. The conference will take place in Montreal from 17-20 November 2011. 250 word abstracts are requested by 30 May 2011. Click here to read the Call for Papers.

Following a brief hiatus last year, work on the second issue of Masks is currently underway. With a number of great papers in hand, the hope is to publish in early spring 2011 – so watch this space. For those interested in submitting work, please contact the Journal at maskseditor@gmail.com. In addition, Masks is currently soliciting papers for a third issue, with an anticipated early summer 2011 publication date, and a special edition focusing on law and television. The special edition, with publication planned for fall 2011, will be devoted to studies of television series and the portrayal of the law, particularly new dramas exploring developing legal themes. Click here to read the call for submissions.

The web address for the file is:

http://masksjournal.com/issues/Masks-Issue1-February2009.pdf

Please send all future editorially related email correspondence to the following email address:

maskseditor@gmail.com

Attention all, the first issue for Masks has now been posted to the website and can now be found under the tab on the left entitled “Masks Journal – Issues”.

Congratulations to everyone who made this first issue possible!

For all those awaiting the publication of the inaugural issue, rest assured. The Journal is currently undergoing a brief editorial change of the guard, following which the first issue shall be published. For those interested in submitting work to the Journal for the next issue please contact the Journal at maskseditor@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list, as the next Call for Submissions will quickly follow the release of the first issue.

The first meeting of Masks: the online journal of law and theatre will be held on Wednesday, September 17 at 12:30pm in Curtis Hall, Room 184. Masks is a peer-reviewed online journal focusing on the intersection of law and theatre. The agenda for the meeting includes:

• Meet and greet – familiar faces and new recruits
• 2008-09 editorial positions
• First issue progress
• Second issue call for papers
• Eating delicious snacks (provided by Masks)

Looking forward to seeing you there, and to meeting the new recruits!

The Masks “Power Play” will be held this evening, Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 7:00pm in the Telus Studio Theatre at the UBC Chan Centre. Please come out and get involved in some exciting Forum Theatre!

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The style of teaching in the typical law school classroom would be quite familiar to anyone who has seen a film or television program involving legal education. The professor assigns hundreds of pages of cases to be read for the next class. The majority of students arrive having completed only a tiny fraction of the readings, hoping that their luck will hold out and that one of their colleagues will be the day’s victim, interrogated by the professor on the finer points of reasoning in one of the assigned readings.

Gillian Calder, a professor of law at the University of Victoria, has another vision of the law school classroom. She is working to bring the work of Augusto Boal into the law school classroom, using theatrical techniques to improve law school teaching and learning. While law schools are generally very conservative and resistant to the radically different approaches proposed by Calder, she has run programs at the University of Victoria with great success, engaging both students and faculty in powerful and exciting new ways.

Calder will be presenting her work on both days of the Masks Conference, with a theoretical overview of the work given on June 17 to be followed by a hands-on workshop on June 18.

Registration for the Masks Conference is now open. You can find out more here.