Vol. 6, No. 1, Summer 2007

Published by the Religion and Theatre Focus Group of the
Association for Theatre in Higher Education

This issue is a reprint of

Theatre and Religion 1

Published by the
Religion and Theatre Focus Group of the
Association for Theatre in Higher Education

No account of the uses of symbolism is complete without this recognition that the symbolic elements in life have a tendency to run wild, like the vegetation in a tropical forest.
—Alfred North Whitehead

This is the inaugural issue of Theatre and Religion. While this first publication had a long incubation, hopefully subsequent ones will appear with some regularity.

The publication of these essays will, I hope, inspire dialogue, research, and further exploration into the persistent questions pertaining to theatre and religion.

The link between theatre and religion is somewhat ambiguous and fraught with apprehension. The essays in this volume are the product of careful reflection and research into this delicate relationship. Religion, for this journal, means an exploration for evidences of the “humane,” the “other,” or the “transcendent” through dramatic performance, text, aesthetic moment, language act, ritual, or myth. There is no attempt to impose orthodoxy into the realm of theatre, but, instead, to uncover patterns of connectedness between these two fields of inquiry. Therefore, this publication seeks to avoid an aesthetic characterized by the fusion of theatre into religion [Santayana] or religion into theatre [Matthew Arnold]. Instead, these essays reflect a commitment to investigate the tensions, paradoxes and resolutions within a theatre and religion dialectic.

Future editions will, hopefully, continue the commitment to investigate these relationships within a broad range of theatrical and religious traditions.

—Lauren Friesen

Theatre and Religion is an occasional publication. Papers sponsored by the Religion and Theatre Forum Group of ATHE are eligible for publication. While there are no subscription sales, persons interested in receiving past, and possible future, issues should notify the editorial office.

Publishing Policy: All of the papers in this journal have been presented at Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) annual conventions. The Religion and Theatre Forum Executive Committee in responsible for planning the panels at the convention. The Editor and Editorial Board serve as a jury in the selection of papers from the ATHE panels sponsored by the Religion and Theatre Group.

Copyright 1992 By the Religion and Theatre Focus Group of The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)

Reprinted with Permission

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ISSN 1544-8762

© 2007 by the Religion and Theatre Focus Group of The Association for Theatre in Higher Education,
Debra Bruch, General Editor;
Heather A. Beasley, Publishing Editor