Medievalists might be cringing or laughing until they cry soon, as a new play is in the works that takes a look at one of their most famous gatherings: the International Congress on Medieval Studies.
About seventy people got a first look at The Kalamazoo Diaries earlier this week in Toronto, Canada, when a reading of the play was staged in order to get audience feedback. The play is a sometimes serious, but often hilarious satire on what happens at International Congress on Medieval Studies, an annual conference that brings together up to 5000 medievalists to Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The Kalamazoo Diaries is written by Natalie Fingerhut, who attended her first congress in 2006 when she began working for University of Toronto Press. Natalie calls it “the most absurd experience she has ever had,” and found it ripe material to create a satirical take on the medievalist sub-culture.
Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net