Researcher biography
I’m an Australian theatre and cultural historian teaching and researching in the Drama program, currently working on an ARC DECRA-funded project about the origins of live performance subsidy in Australia between 1949 and 1975. In this work, as in my wider Australian Studies work, I’m particularly interested in what funded cultural output can tell us about national pre-occupations and anxieties. Along with this historical focus, I’m working on a book project about contemporary Australian mainstage theatre after the Kevin07 election, as well as the Australian component of a project on the cultural history of the Eurovision Song Contest outside Europe.
Books
Hay, Chris and Carleton, Stephen (2023). Contemporary Australian playwriting: re-visioning the nation on the mainstage. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003176138
Hay, Chris (2016). Knowledge, creativity and failure: a new pedagogical framework for creative arts. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-41066-1
Book Chapters
Hay, Chris and Carniel, Jessica (2023). Armchair researchers: modes of ethnographic research for understanding and experiencing the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurovision Song Contest as a cultural phenomenon: from concert halls to the halls of academia. (pp. 237-248) edited by Adam Dubin, Dean Vuletic and Antonio Obregón. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003188933-19
Hay, Chris and Carleton, Stephen (2022). Macabre children on the Australian stage: Angela Betzien’s cycle of crime plays. Theatre and the macabre. (pp. 95-112) edited by Meredith Conti and Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. Cardiff, Wales: University of Wales Press.
Landon-Smith, Kristine and Hay, Chris (2022). Empowering the somatically othered actor through multi-lingual improvisation in training. Stages of Reckoning: Antiracist and Decolonial Actor Training. (pp. 149-163) Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781003032076-12
Carleton, Stephen and Hay, Chris (2022). Australian biographical theater on the post-truth stage. Theater in a post-truth world: texts, politics, and performance. (pp. 135-154) edited by William C. Boles. London, United Kingdom: Methuen Drama / Bloomsbury Publishing. doi: 10.5040/9781350215887.ch-006
Hay, Chris (2020). Failure, fear, and alternate routes. Failure pedagogies: learning and unlearning what it means to fail. (pp. xi-xv) edited by Allison D. Carr and Laura R. Micciche. New York, NY, United States: Peter Lang.
Hay, Chris (2019). Pyjama Fandom: Watching Eurovision Down Under. Eurovision and Australia. (pp. 239-258) Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-20058-9_12
Carniel, Jessica and Hay, Chris (2019). Conclusion—Eurovision—Australia Decides. Eurovision and Australia. (pp. 259-279) Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-20058-9_13
Hay, Chris and Prior, Jacquelyn (2019). Introduction—“Good Evening, Europe—Good Morning, Australia!”. Eurovision and Australia. (pp. 1-14) Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-20058-9_1
Hay, Chris and Landon-Smith, Kristine (2018). The intracultural actor: embracing difference in theatre arts teaching. New directions in teaching theatre arts. (pp. 157-173) edited by Anne Fliotsos and Gail S. Medford. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-89767-7_10
Journal Articles
Hay, Chris, Shirley, David, Peters, Sarah and Yekanians, Soseh (2021). Mapping the terrain. Theatre Dance and Performance Training, 12 (3), 310-314. doi: 10.1080/19443927.2021.1973219
Hay, Chris (2021). The Guthrie report and its discontents. Australasian Drama Studies, 78 (78), 110-139.
Hay, Chris (2021). Philip Baxter: Man in Search of the Nuclear (St)age. Journal of Australian Studies, 45 (1), 94-107. doi: 10.1080/14443058.2020.1867224
Hay, Chris and Dixon, Robin (2021). “Until I know this sure uncertainty”: actor training and original practices. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 12 (1), 45-61. doi: 10.1080/19443927.2020.1778517
Carleton, Stephen and Hay, Chris (2020). ‘Global Weirding’: Australian absurdist cli-fi plays. Performance Research, 25 (2), 79-86. doi: 10.1080/13528165.2020.1752580
Hay, Chris (2017). "We are seeing what we saw before": the ghosts of student theatre. About Performance, 14/15, 213-225.
Hay, Christopher (2017). Black, White, and Red Faces: Race and Performance at NIDA. Australasian Drama Studies, 70, 57-85.
Hay, Chris and Kanafani, Billy (2017). Boos, tears, sweat, and toil: experiencing the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest Live. Popular Entertainment Studies, 8 (1), 57-73.
Hay, Chris (2015). The corpse corpses: non-professional performers and misperformance. Performance Paradigm, 11, 46-58.
Hay, Chris and Dixon, Robin (2015). The academic lives of student actors: conservatoire training as degree-level atudy. About Performance, 13, 115-136.
Hay, Chris (2014). V-Effekt: death, mortality, and the Melbourne International Arts Festival. Anthropology and Humanism, 39 (2), 174-183. doi: 10.1111/anhu.12055
Hay, Christopher (2012). "What is to count as knowledge": the Evolving Directing Program at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Australasian Drama Studies, 60, 194-207.
Conference Papers
Carleton, Stephen and Hay, Chris (2022). Contemporary Australian Playwriting - the Postcards Project. Travelling Together: the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies Conference 2022, Auckland, New Zealand, 6-9 December 2022.
Hay, Chris (2021). Re-visioning Comedy on the Australian Mainstage. Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Geelong, VIC Australia, 1-3 December 2021.
Hay, Chris and Carleton, Stephen (2021). Absurdism in the Anthropocene. Comparative Drama Conference, Orlando, FL United States, 14-16 October 2021.
Hay, Chris (2021). Subsidising a National Theatre Ecosystem: Australia's Shadow Canon. International Federation for Theatre Research, Galway, Ireland, 12-16 July 2021.
Hay, Chris (2021). Inventing Subsidy: The Guthrie Report and its Discontents. International Association for Australian Studies (InASA), Melbourne, VIC Australia, 8-10 February 2021.
Hay, Chris (2021). The Bildungsroman Goes to Acting School. Modern Language Association (MLA), Toronto, Canada, 7-10 January 2021.
Hay, Chris (2020). Hello, training: early misfires in Australian actor training. Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Sydney, Australia, 1-4 December 2020.
Hay, Chris (2020). Constructing a National Theatre Ecology: Australia and the Guthrie Report. International Federation for Theatre Research, Historiography WG online, July 2020.
Hay, Chris (2019). Top shielas: writing back to "Top Girls" from Julia Gillard's Australia. Comparative Drama Conference, Rollins College, Orlando FL, 2-4 April 2019.
Hay, Chris (2019). Watching Eurovision from Down Under: TV festivals and the tyranny of distance. Australasian Association for Drama, Performance and Theatre Studies, Launceston, TAS Australia, 25-28 June 2019.
Hay, Chris (2019). Philip Baxter: man in search of a nuclear (st)age. International Federation for Theatre Research, Shanghai, China, 8-12 July 2019.
Hay, Chris and Dixon, Robin (2018). "Until I know this sure uncertainty": actors, anxiety, and original practice. Australasian Association for Drama, Performance and Theatre Studies, Melbourne, VIC Australia , 26-29 June 2018.
Hay, Chris (2017). The Importance of Being Neutral: Challenging Belonging in Actor Training. Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Auckland University of Technology, June 2017.
Hay, Chris and Dixon, Robin (2017). On the Inside: Audience Belonging and "The Comedy of Errors". Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Auckland University of Technology, June 2017.
Hay, Chris and Dixon, Robin (2016). The Avant-Garde Within the Institution. Ten Questions About the Australian Avant-Garde, Sydney, Australia, November 2016.
Hay, Chris (2016). Resistance is Fertile: Failure as productive in the drama classroom. Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Toowoomba,QLD, Australia, June 2016.
Hay, Chris (2015). Code Clashes in Drama Education. International Symposium on Performance Science, Kyoto, Japan, September 2015.
Hay, Chris (2013). Written on the Floor: Shared Theatre Space as Palimpsest. Performance Studies international, Stanford, CA, United States, June 2013.
Hay, Chris (2012). Strategising to Survive — an Australian conservatoire's experience. Performance Studies international, Leeds, United Kingdom, June 2012.
Hay, Chris (2012). NIDA Goes To Berlin. Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, July 2012.
Hay, Chris (2011). Learning to Inhabit the Chair: Knowledge in the NIDA Directing Program. Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Monash University, July 2011.
Hay, Chris (2011). Melbourne is a Place Where Nothing Ever Happens. Death Down Under Conference, University of Sydney, June 2011.
Hay, Chris (2011). What is to count as knowledge?: The Evolving Directing Program at NIDA. Knowledge/Culture/Social Change International Conference, University of Western Sydney, November 2011.
Hay, Chris and McGillivray, Glen (2011). Picturing Success: Imaging Collaborative Networks Amongst NIDA Directing Graduates. AusStage Symposium, Geelong, VIC, Australia, September 2011.
Hay, Chris (2010). “Edgy, rockin’ student-theatre": Emergent Directors and the Avant-Garde. Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, June 2010.