With this issue, TDR is published by Cambridge University Press. All of us at TDR are very enthusiastic about the move. CUP will expand access to TDR, especially in the global south. We will find not only new readers but also new scholars and artists. The “broad spectrum” of performance studies — which is the basis of TDR — will be fully engaged and further developed. If you are new to TDR, please get to know us and submit your work to us. “As performance” is TDR’s through line. Engage the world, perform it, write about it, and send your writing to TDR.
From 1981 (25:1, T89) through 2020 (64:4, T248) The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press published TDR. That’s a total of 159 issues. As we move into a new era, I thank Nick Lindsay, MIT’s Director of Journals, and Rachel Besen, the Journals Production and Publishing Technology Manager, and their team, for all the help they’ve given to TDR. We’ve worked together cooperatively and productively for many years. So why leave after such a long and fruitful partnership? It’s not that we are unhappy with MIT, but that we feel we can progress with Cambridge toward our goal of expanding and diversifying our readership and the range of voices published in TDR.
Not only will CUP’s global reach move us forward, but the ability of its journals staff to propel TDR into the digital future even while guaranteeing and enhancing our presence in print will ensure that our voices — and yours — will continue to be heard. I, and TDR’s other editors, look forward particularly to continuing our work with Holly O’Neill, Commissioning Editor, Humanities and Social Sciences Journals, at Cambridge. From the time TDR Contributing Editor Carol Martin introduced us to her, on through more than a year of negotiating, Holly has been a strong, positive force. She will help me, and TDR’s other editors, explore and fulfill TDR’s big possibilities.
Paradoxically perhaps, I want TDR to remain the same but also to develop. Change always involves risk, but risk often opens to growth. Performance studies is an evolving field. TDR will not only change with the field, but do our utmost to lead.
I am proud to take this opportunity, personally and on behalf of Cambridge University Press, to welcome TDR to our family of field-leading journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We at CUP are delighted that TDR, the world’s premier performance studies journal, has chosen to join our publishing program. Our goal is to support TDR as it continues to fourish by expanding its reach globally to new audiences and authors, while building on TDR’s strong history of excellence, innovation, and originality.
On a personal note, I am very much looking forward to continuing my work with Richard Schechner and his team, and am excited about where this new TDR/Cambridge relationship can take us in the field, and around the world. As Richard is so fond of saying — onward!
