Comparative Drama Conference (CDC)

2026 Call for Papers

Abstract Submission Deadline: December 15, 2025 

Papers reporting on original investigations and critical analysis of research and developments in the field of drama and theatre are invited for the 48th Comparative Drama Conference, hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to be held July 9-11, 2026. Papers may be comparative across nationalities, periods and disciplines; and may deal with any issue in dramatic literature, criticism, theory, and performance, or any method of historiography, translation, or production. Papers should be 15 minutes in length, written for oral presentation, and accessible to a multi-disciplinary audience. Scholars and artists in all languages and literatures are invited to email a 250-word abstract in English to Ann M. Shanahan and Baron Kelly at cdc2026@theatre.wisc.eduby December 15, 2025. 

In addition to abstracts for papers, we are also inviting proposals for new plays for staged reading at the conference, also due by December 15, 2015.

For full details, see the CFP linked here. 

Please reach out with any questions to Ann Shanahan and Baron Kelly at cdc2026@theatre.wisc.edu.

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The Conference

The Comparative Drama Conference is an international, interdisciplinary conference founded by Dr. Karelisa Hartigan at the University of Florida in 1977. Every year, approximately 175 scholars are invited to present and discuss their work in the field of drama and 2 new plays receive a staged reading. The conference draws participants from the Humanities and the Arts, as well as other fields. The papers delivered range over the entire field of theatre research and production. Over the past 40 years, participants have come from 32 nations and all 50 states. Each year a distinguished theatre scholar or artist is invited to address the participants in the Keynote event.

From 2025-2030, the conference is hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Madison (UW-M) and the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in alternating years (2025, 2027, and 2029 in London, UK and 2026, 2028, and 2030 in Madison, WI, USA) and is co-directed by Baron Kelly and Ann M. Shanahan in Madison, and Nick Holden and Mark O’Thomas in London.