Youth and Performance: Perceptions of the Contemporary Child

Book excerpt: This publication is the outcome of the third International Theatre for Young Audiences Research (ITYARN) conference in conjunction with an ASSITEJ World Congress and Festival held in Warsaw, Poland in 2014. The ITYARN conferences' themes always give a very broad frame to invite researchers from different countries and with diverse Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) traditions as well as diverse academic cultures to contribute to an international exchange about TYA. While exiting, this exchange is always a challenge. How to talk about aesthetic experiences and concepts of childhood in an intercultural dialogue? This is not just a question of translation but also of culturally determined concepts of TYA. Last but not least are the academic attitudes and modes of (critical) discussion themselves, which are culturally informed and shaped by individual experiences. With this publication, ITYARN once again takes up this most interesting task of developing intercultural exchange about TYA. It offers space for a diversity of author contributions, and it invites readers with academic and/ or artistic backgrounds to look for new inspirations for his or her reflections on TYA.