In 2012, Liminalities co-founder and editor Michael LeVan observed that "Given that so much performance scholarship and praxis relies on sound, image, movement, and duration, my question has been one of when, rather than if, digital modes and methods of performance will become common in the work of Performance Studies."† More recently, many in-person performances and productions were put on hold or—often tentatively—translated to use digital/virtual technologies and spaces during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, in late 2022, a majority of performances are in-person again. While the transition back to in-person performance might be welcome for many, the field of Performance Studies should not forget the lessons and methods we learned or honed as creators and performers of digital work(s) in 2020 and 2021. We hold that performance practitioners and theorists should think deeply about the possibilities that digital technologies can create for the interpretation and performance of literature.

Digital and networked interpretation of literature expands possibilities for intertextual referencing, allows for distance collaboration, alters the role of the performer, and can increase accessibility by reaching larger and diverse audiences. Digital adaptation/interpretation of literature also allows the performer(s) to showcase their best skillset(s), and can de-center the charisma on which an in-person performer might rely. Further, digital adaptation can be a cost effective means of production. Meanwhile, the expansion of audiences that digital performances can create brings the ethics of adaptation to the forefront, along with different modes of audience response and feedback. At the same time, digital performances of literature may trouble the waters of copyright law and challenge how far the fair use doctrine can extend in contemporary digital contexts.

This special issue of Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies aims to exemplify the meaning(s) and methods of digital interpretation and performance of literature, and also create opportunities for its production and reception as such. We intend to move beyond debates about liveness and ephemerality, along with the ontological questions about the essence of both digital mediation and performance. Instead, we consider digital performance of literature as any work that engages with the interpretation and performance of literature using digital media or digital/virtual interpretation in some way.

Authors are invited to submit proposals for works that use digital media to enhance our understanding of the complexity of methods, styles, and media that digital performance of literature encompasses. We encourage proposals for works that use a wide range of digital media to create or theorize about digital performance(s) of literature.

For example, works might use:

- audio

- video

- online media

- social media

- virtual reality

- augmented reality

- digital platforms

- hypertext

- digital images

- animation

- multiple media

- remix

- glitch

We are not accepting proposals for text-only essays, autoethnography performances, or straightforward video recordings of staged performances.

We encourage proposals that engage a wide range of methodological, cultural, and stylistic contexts. Our goal is to build upon and expand traditional understanding of performance of literature through the use of digital media. In addition to our emphasis on method and media, we also hope for submissions that reflect global experiences.

Authors should submit an extended abstract no later than January 6, 2023. Extended abstracts should be no more than 1,500 words (not including references). The extended abstract should highlight the theoretical and/or creative rationale of the proposed project, a description of the work (e.g., stylistic choices, use of digital media, chosen literature, proposed length), and an explanation of how the work will contribute to the focus of the special issue. Links to portfolios, videos, or other examples of the creators' digital work are welcome but not required. After final decisions on extended abstracts are made (no later than March 2023), creators invited to proceed will be given at least (4) months to complete the work.

For questions, please contact Dr. Lyndsay Michalik Gratch (legratch@syr.edu) and Dr. Patricia A. Suchy (psuchy@lsu.edu). Proposal submissions (i.e., extended abstracts) should be submitted to Dr. Lyndsay Michalik Gratch and Dr. Patricia A. Suchy by January 6, 2023.



† "The Digital Shoals: On Becoming and Sensation in Performance." Text and Performance Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 3, p. 210.