1 Volume 26. 1-2 of Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada marks at least two significant conclusions. First, it brings to a close the process of transforming a national conference into a scholarly publication. Shifting Tides: Atlantic Canadian Theatre Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow was held at the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto in March of 2004. The event brought theatre scholars and students together with a large number of playwrights, directors, actors, designers, producers, and administrators from across Eastern Canada. For three days the participants shared academic papers, play readings, workshops, performances, and presentations (with a live video conference thrown in for good measure). In the process, a significant window was opened on an underexposed and under-appreciated region of dramatic and theatrical activity in this country. At the same time, I believe, the event succeeded in fostering an uncommon degree of interaction across disciplinary and professional borders too rarely challenged in the context of academic meetings. And, finally, Shifting Tides opened the doors (to extend the domestic metaphor) on multiple ongoing professional and artistic relationships. As one of the coordinators of the conference, I can attest to our gratification and, indeed, pride in all these accomplishments.

2 My co-editors on this volume are, in fact, the same individuals with whom I collaborated in bringing the Shifting Tides Conference into reality: Natalie Alvarez (now of Brock University) and Michael Devine (of Acadia University). While Michael’s obligations to his home institution in Nova Scotia made him a more distant participant as the conference approached, both these new scholars worked extensively on issues large and small, from the original conceptualization of the event through to the minutest detail of its realization. The same dedication has characterized their involvement in the editing of this volume, and they have repeatedly proven their insight, professionalism, and sense of rigour.

3 The articles and Forum pieces that have been developed for this current issue of TRiC/RTaC all have their beginnings in the Shifting Tides Conference. Addressing a wide range of topics from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives, this collection of essays further demonstrates the diversity of theatrical interests and activity—practical, theoretical, and historical—that characterizes Atlantic Canada. Further, beyond the scholarly analyses and research documentation featured in these pages, the volume also captures additional, context-specific aspects of the conference. These include play extracts from many of the writers who gave staged readings, introductory and concluding comments from keynote presenters, and interviews with or illustrated presentations by guest theatrical companies. Indeed, in order to reflect the "oral" quality of the play readings, the play extracts have not been standardized into MLA formatting, but rather largely represent the individual textual "voices" of the individual playwrights. The result, we hope, will be more than a "proceedings" (as all articles and Forum pieces were thoroughly revised and peer assessed), but also more than a related body of traditional scholarly articles. Rather, we have attempted to make a substantial contribution to the existing literature on Atlantic Canadian theatre and drama while, at the same time, we have tried to capture some of the enthusiasm, variety, and interactive optimism of the event itself.

4 The second conclusion that this volume represents relates to my role as editor. As I announced in the introduction to volume 25.1-2, with this current publication I finish my tenure as general editor and adopt, instead, the mantle of executive editor. Glen Nichols of the Université de Moncton assumes the general editor responsibilities as of the next issue, 27.1, a single-issue of general interest articles. This will be followed shortly thereafter by a theme issue on Theatre and Religion guest-edited by Moira Day and Mary Ann Beavis, both of the University of Saskatchewan. Both of these issues are in the final stages of completion. This current volume, thus, also brings to an end an unprecedented succession of double-issue compilations—and, with it, the journal’s concerted effort to bring itself into current year publication. Following the distribution of the two aforementioned single-issue editions over the next months, TRiC/RTaC will, this autumn, enter its 2007 publication year as a thoroughly redesigned and re-imagined periodical. It is an understatement to say this will be a much anticipated accomplishment, in no small part brought about by a tireless group of office personnel, past and present: Jennifer Gardiner, Rebecca Burton, Jennifer Heywood-Jackson, Birgit Schreyer Duarte, and Barry Freeman. Each has excelled in her or his own, unique manner, and I cannot begin to adequately express my gratitude for their contributions. Similarly, the support I have received from Richard Plant, as executive editor, and Stephen Johnson, as chair of the journal’s Management Board, has been crucial. I am and will remain perpetually in their debt. From my exchanges with Glen Nichols over the past few months during the editorial transition (and, for that matter, during the many years, in multiple capacities, since he and I studied theory together at the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama too long ago, now, to comfortably recall), I am completely confident that he will do an excellent job in the journal’s central role, and I look forward to our future endeavours.

5 It has been quite a ride these past five years: exciting, horizon-expanding, challenging, at times frustrating, at many, many others deeply satisfying. In particular, I would like to thank all the remarkable contributors with whom I have had the pleasure and the privilege to correspond and collaborate. The journal, ultimately, belongs to you. We will continue to do our best to honour your trust and foster your investment.

Bruce Barton, Editor

Comments, questions, and suggestions can be sent to the editor at tric.rtac@utoronto.ca.