IFTR World Congress 2026

What Theatre Does

6-10 July 2026

The University of Melbourne, Australia

Theatre, dance, and cultural performances all do things – they are, in themselves, ways of doing.

But are we happy to leave it there? Can we afford to?

Climate change, conflict, competition for resources, and the rise of polarising new technologies are leading to complex realignments of global political power and ideology.

This is impacting what kinds of performances are being made in the present, and how we should understand them historically. As academic experts and public thinkers, we are called upon to ask anew what theatre, dance and other cultural performances do, and to present answers that are compelling, persuasive and impactful.  

As a conference, What Theatre Does will not ask participants to frame their existing expertise around a novel theme or topic, but to interrogate and extend the basis on which they make claims about the performance practices they study.  

Which orthodoxies no longer hold? How much of our scholarship is wishful thinking? Are our methods and theories fit for purpose? 

What Theatre Does will ask these hard questions in service of rigour, not critique; imaginatively, not instrumentally.

It will provide an opportunity to celebrate disciplinary expertise, and to share fresh ways of discovering and articulating the distinctive character of performance in the world today. 

You know things about what theatre does that other people don’t. We warmly invite you to join us in Melbourne and tell us more!

The Call for Papers can be found here.

Launch of Call for Papers: 1 September

Membership registration opens: 1 October

Abstract submissions open: 1 November

Deadline for abstract submissions: 8 December

Notification of acceptance: 30 December

Abstract submission will be done on the Conference Website / Portal by clicking on the ‘Sign Up’ button. More information will be provided closer to the date. 

Please note that you have to be a IFTR member to submit an abstract or register for the conference. To join, click on ‘Join Us / Login’ above. 

Quelle: https://iftr.org/conference-2026/