2025 Digital Conference
Dramaturgy and Creative Infrastructure
To demystify the Digital Conference and its Call for Proposals, you'll find answers from our Digital Conference Coordinator, Margo Ascher.
Margo Ascher is a freelance dramaturg and critic. She studies Bread and Puppet and other radical theatres, Brecht and the Brechtians, and poor theatre. MFA University of Iowa, 2023; BA Michigan State University 2020.
What is the difference between LMDA’s In-Person and Digital Conferences?
Since 2023, LMDA has held two conferences: one digital gathering in the winter, and one in-person gathering in the summer. Both complement one another and build together on a joint conference theme.
The Digital Conference is shorter, contains more asynchronous content, and is readily available online. It is not merely a matinee to the In-Person Conference; rather, it’s an opportunity for us as an organization to expand our accessibility, reach broader audiences, and push the boundaries of what a conference is and can be.
The In-Person Conference offers panel discussions, interactive workshops, performances, individual presentations, and fun networking events. You can choose the conference that is most accessible to you and your institution or, better yet, both!
Who can attend and/or present?
You! Anyone with an active membership is welcome and encouraged to attend any and all events associated with the Digital Conference. Join LMDA, check your member status, or renew your membership by visiting the LMDA website.
We welcome emerging, mid-career, or seasoned theater scholars, artists, and practitioners from across North America. (Shout out to our Canada and Mexico members!) Educators, dramaturgs and dramaturgical-hyphenates, literary managers, producers, directors, choreographers, writers, filmmakers, librarians, and other creative partners are encouraged to attend and present in order to reflect how each of us are interconnected parts of our creative infrastructures.
Can I present at both conferences?
Yes! That said, we’d like to encourage presenters to use the Digital Conference as an opportunity to play with the form of their work in particular.
What changes about discussions when we are separated physically and temporally?
If you would like to explore across both conferences, please indicate so in your proposal.
What are the kinds of presentations, and how do they work?
Asynchronous presentations are pre-recorded sessions available to attendees to view on their own time. These are a great opportunity to push the boundaries of digital infrastructure: what does a session look like now— or tomorrow? How do we interact with an audience who isn’t in the same (digital) space and time?
Synchronous presentations are structured more similarly to a traditional conference presentation. Presenter(s) and attendees will gather in a Zoom room at a designated time where the artist, researcher, or panel will have a set amount of time to speak, and the audience will engage, ask questions, and give feedback as time and session type allow.
How soon do I need to apply to present at the Digital Conference?
- Digital Conference: Friday, December 20, 2024
- In-Person Conference: Friday, January 31, 2025
- Either/Both: Friday, December 20, 2024
Reminder— both applications are on the same form.