G020: Researching Performance in Digital Scholarship: Three Case Studies

Organizer(s)

• 

  Beng Choo Lim

  National University of Singapore, Singapore

Chair(s)

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  Beng Choo Lim

  National University of Singapore, Singapore

Paper Presenter(s)

• 

  Beng Choo Lim

  National University of Singapore, Singapore
• 

  Miguel Escobar Varela

  National University of Singapore, Singapore
• 

  Jaroslaw Kapuscinski

  Stanford University, United States

Session Abstract:

The objective of our panel is to introduce some of the current digital projects we have been working on, and to explore the potentials of digital tools in theater studies by sharing our experiences and research outcome. All three papers describe projects from different geopolitical areas and performance genres: Javanese theater in Indonesia, the noh theater of Japan, and Japanese theater studies in Singapore. These projects use digital technologies to facilitate specific use of information (large data or specific media component) in various interactive ways, expanding the scope of academic inquiry.

Miguel Escobar’s project on traditional Javanese theater combines geotemporal data with multimedia recordings to provide both the breadth and the specific examples necessary to examine the trends in the theatrical development trajectory. Noh and Intermedia is a joint project created by three musicologists from universities in Asia and the United States: Jarosław Kapuściński and François Rose are from Stanford University, and Takanori Fujita is from Kyoto City University of Arts. The first of its kind, the project explores the multiple ways researchers and students can engage with noh via the platform. Using two case studies pertaining to Singapore and contemporary Japanese traditional theater genres, Beng Choo Lim’s two projects on Japanese performances in Singapore and technology engagement of traditional performance genres illustrates how digital projects provide new perspectives from which answers to specific academic inquiry can be derived.

Presentations:

• Researching Japanese Performance with Digital Tools
  

  Paper Presenter: Beng Choo Lim – National University of Singapore
• Digital Tools for Tracing Historical Changes in Indonesian Theatre
  

  Paper Presenter: Miguel Escobar Varela – National University of Singapore
• Noh as Intermedia. A Web-based Publication and Research Environment
  

  Paper Presenter: Jaroslaw Kapuscinski – Stanford University