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  • Editor's Introduction Spring 2013
  • Scott Magelssen

XXVII.2 is my sixth and final issue of Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism and marks the end of my three-year term as editor. While JDTC has seen several changes over the past six issues, I am pleased to say here that the commitment to publishing timely and rigorous theoretical studies of theatre and performance has been our steadfast and unchanging business throughout. In this space three years ago, I promised to be a custodian of the best and most dynamic work in dramatic theory and criticism, like my predecessors, while also steering the journal in some new directions—and I meant this both in terms of the scope and purview of the articles as well as in the ways in which they are delivered. Let me take a moment to share a brief and nonexhaustive account of what we've been up to.

First and foremost, I have been incredibly honored to work with dozens of high-caliber essays during my tenure as editor. The articles by our contributors have been exciting, enlightening, and pleasurable reads, and I have learned immensely from these scholars. Our articles have continued to bring prestige to the journal. I am proud to report that recently lauded essays include "The Living Theatre: A Brief History of a Bodily Metaphor" by Sarah Bay-Cheng and Amy Strahler Holzapfel (Fall 2010), which received honorable mention for the 2011 ASTR Oscar G. Brockett Essay Prize, and Lofton L. Durham's "Reconnecting Text to Context: The Ontology of 'French Medieval Drama' and the Case of the Istoire de la Destruction de Troie" (Spring 2011), which received honorable mention for the 2012 ASTR Gerald Kahan Scholar's Prize.

In the past six issues, JDTC has published several special sections presenting new work in emerging discourses. In Spring 2011, we featured a section called "Cognitive Science, Theatre and Performance: The State of the Field," brought together by Associate Editors Rhonda Blair and John Lutterbie. In the Fall 2011 issue, we featured a special praxis section of three essays, "William F. Cody/Buffalo Bill/Buffalo Bill's Wild West," edited and with an introduction by Associate Editor Rosemarie K. Bank. In Spring 2012, we included seven essays in a section called "Affect, Performance, Politics," edited and with an introduction by Erin Hurley and Sara Warner. In this issue, we are very pleased to include a special section entitled, "Witnessing History, Performing Trauma," which has been edited and introduced by Rebecca Rovit, and which includes work by several important scholars as well as a riveting piece by playwright and director Erik Ehn.

The look of the inside front cover has changed dramatically, not only with the new layout designed by Managing Editor Scott Knowles, but with the new editorial structure that appears there. This past fall JDTC convened an Editorial Board, which includes Henry Bial, Rhonda Blair, Marvin Carlson, Iris Smith Fischer, John Gronbeck-Tedesco, and Joseph R. Roach. The role of Consulting Editor, formerly held by Drs. Gronbeck-Tedesco and Fischer, has been folded into the new board. [End Page 6]

It has brought me great pleasure, as well, to oversee the return of the journal's Book Reviews section after a several-year hiatus. We relaunched the review section in the Fall 2011 issue, and appointed Elizabeth A. Osborne (Florida State University) as the new JDTC Book Review Editor. Beth has taken on the reins of the Book Review Section with rigor, expertise, and precision, and I am grateful to have her on the team.

The work of reading and vetting submissions still falls to our reviewers and to our roster of Associate Editors, whose generous service to the journal and to the profession has been greatly appreciated. This spring, we welcome a new Associate Editor to the ranks: Gene A. Plunka, a past contributor to the journal, is Dunavant Professor of English at the University of Memphis, where he teaches courses on modern and contemporary drama. Dr. Plunka has published more than sixty essays and book reviews on the modern theater, and his books include Peter Shaffer: Roles, Rites, and Rituals in the Theater, The Rites of Passage of Jean...

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