Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton swept the theatre awards season of 2016 for its inventive mix of hip hop, history, political relevance, and casting choices. In the avalanche of accolades that the show was awarded, the critical discourse is only starting to emerge that demonstrates how the show has pioneered many areas, yet does have weaknesses that underpin the framework of the musical. This panel seeks to evaluate the show, the ways it has resonated with audiences, and consider the critical conversation developing outside of traditional theatre scholars. Some possible topics to consider involve the show’s depiction of women, perspectives on U.S. History, casting coups and controversies, perspectives on race, political commentary, the use of varying methods of rap to define characters/time periods, social media campaigning, and its place in pop culture.

The conference is through the Northeast Modern Language Association and will take place April 12-15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Submissions are due: September 30, 2017

NeMLA uses a user-based system to process abstract submissions. Interested scholars should submit 250 word abstracts to Lindsay Bryde through the NeMLA website using the link below: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/16733

For questions about the new submission system, you can contact NeMLA web support here: websupport@nemla.org.

Questions specific to the panel can be sent to Lindsay.Bryde@gmail.com