"Thou art a scholar; speak to it."
—Hamlet
The Wooden O Symposium is a cross-disciplinary conference exploring Medieval through Early Modern Studies, through the text and performance of Shakespeare’s plays. Scholars from all disciplines are encouraged to submit papers that offer insights and new ideas springing from the era of William Shakespeare. His plays are replete with the language, thoughts, and arts of the Renaissance and Western culture and represent an inexhaustible source for creative ideas and research.
The symposium is hosted by Southern Utah University and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Scholars attending the conference will have the unique opportunity of immersing themselves in research, text, and performance in one of the most beautiful natural settings in the western United States.
For further information, call 435-865-8333 or email education@bard.org
JOIN THE WOODEN O SYMPOSIUM
All panels and presentations are open to the public. The schedule is available here: Wooden O Symposium Schedule.
Guests are welcome to join the panels virtually by registering for the Virtual Wooden O Symposium.
Call for Papers, 2021
The Wooden O Symposium invites panel and paper proposals on any topic related to the text and performance of Shakespeare’s plays. The conference seeks papers/panels that investigate our 2021 theme: Shakespeare’s Lost and Found. Topics could range from those seeking to find, the undiscovered and then discovered, the lost, the found, the reimagined, the newly explored, journeys, unearthings, uncoverings in the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. We welcome unique interpretations of this theme. This year’s symposium encourages papers and panels that speak to the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2021summer season: Pericles, Cymbeline, The Comedy of Errors, and Richard III.
The 2021 symposium will host a concurrent virtual and face-to-face conference August 10–12, 2021.
The deadline for proposals is May 1, 2021. Session chairs and individual presenters will be informed of acceptance no later than May 15. Please include 250-word abstracts or session proposals (including individual abstracts) and the following information:
• name of presenter(s)
• participant category (faculty, graduate student, undergraduate, or independent scholar)
• college/university affiliation
• mailing address
• email address
• audio/visual requirements and any other special requests.
Abstracts and proposals should be submitted using this form: Click Here
Journal of the Wooden O
The Journal of the Wooden O is a peer-reviewed academic publication focusing on all things Shakespeare. It is published annually by Southern Utah University Press in cooperation with the SUU Center for Shakespeare Studies and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Articles published in the the Journal of the Wooden O are indexed in the MLA International Bibliography and the World Shakespeare Bibliography and appear full-text in EBSCO Academic Search Premiere.
Selected papers from the annual Wooden O Symposium, as well as other submitted papers, are considered for publication.
Single copies may be purchased for $15 each. Libraries or individuals may subscribe to the journal for $15/year. Prices include shipping and handling.
For more information, including information about submission, please visit The Journal of the Wooden O webpage.
Top photo: The actor panel at the Wooden O Symposium.