Acting Commons^™

Say “Yes And” To Improv: It’S Good For Your Brain, Anthony F. Tresca

The Macksey Journal

Everyone improvises from the moment life begins, but few know what exactly happens when you improvise. Neuroscience shows the biological basis, and thus, the universality and practical application of improvisation. This recent research on the subject of improv shows why—for centuries—humans have been drawn to improv. The paper begins by offering historical antecedents to contemporary improvisation; then, moves on to discuss the rich history of American improvisation and the move towards integrating spontaneity into improvisational performances. Through close analysis of what makes something spontaneous, the effects of spontaneity on individuals have shown the “naturalness” of improv and its ...

Composing The Performance Of Ōto Shōgo’S The Water Station, Vishnupad Barve

Masters Theses

This written portion of my thesis documents my process as a director in composing the Performance of Ōto Shōgo’s The Water Station in collaboration with a creative team of designers, dramaturgs, stage managers and performers.

I share with the reader my processes toward fostering cohesion and collaboration among a team while composing a theatrical experience that departs from many theatrical conventions. I discuss significant learnings from several areas of dramaturgical and performance research that dovetail within the performance: aesthetics of divestiture, dramaturgy of simultaneity and composition of psychophysical score, and how I used this research to support the communication ...

"Yes And": Exploring And Heightening The Positive Psychology In Improvisation, Bridget Erica Elam

Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects

This capstone contains a brief introduction to positive psychology and the art of improvisation, including a review of the literature that supports improvisation’s potential well-being effects. Also included in this capstone is a description of an exploratory study on improvisation and well-being. In this study, positive and negative affect, resilience, loneliness, and perceived life satisfaction was measured among a group of actors and improvisers from all over the United States. The study also features qualitative data, collected from the same participants, coded for positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment (PERMA) in order to consider whether working without a ...

Exploring The Expression And Interpretation Of Emotions Through The Use Of Full-Face Theatrical Masks, Piers D. Ibbotson

Organizational Aesthetics

This paper describes an activity making use of theatrical masks, which demonstrates the way in which the emotional response to the expression on a masked actor’s face, is constructed by the interplay of at least three elements. Analysis of the activity suggests that the meaning of a masked actor’s performance is co-created between the protagonist, the antagonist and the audience. The activity demonstrates that an observer may see and respond to expressions on another’s face that are the projections of the observer alone. The interpretation of the inner emotional state, intention, and meaning of the emotions of ...

Kinesthetic Language: A Dialect Of Kinesics, Terrill Suzanne Corletto

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Human communication requires the disciplines regarding physical fitness, codified language, and the performing arts to overlap, and exist symbiotically. Within the realm of artistic performance, the three disciplines working together deliver a deliberate message in a way unique to performing artists. The general tendency to compartmentalize sports, communication, and the performing arts into their pigeonhole categories of Kinesiology, Linguistics, and Theatre Arts is impractical, particularly for performing artists simply because all of the disciplines are mutually dependent in the context of all kinesthetic communications.

The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss several concepts and the ways in ...

Aligning Assessments With Course Outcomes, Carol Damgen, Carol L. Damgen

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This reflection is based on an educational assignment from my Oral Interpretation of Literature course at California State University, San Bernardino, May 2019.

A consistent focus and goal for me as an educator is to align assessments with course outcomes.

The learning outcome for this class session focused on the cognitive approach- “students will develop the skills to communicate an oral interpretation of literature to an audience with believability, dramatic action and honesty.”

The intention of this class period was for my students to clearly understand the difference between acting, reading and oral interpretation. Oral Interpretation is a type of ...

Planning An Effective Class Session, Carol Damgen, Carol L. Damgen

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This reflection is based on an educational assignment from my Intro to Theatre course at California State University, San Bernardino, April 2019.

As an educator, I am always interested in combining new techniques with tried and true approaches. My hope is twofold- enhance my students learning and keep me inspired.

The concept of a beginning, middle and end in all classes, provides structure for your students and keeps the pedagogy focused.

I incorporated the “I do, we do, you do” approach to support a well-balanced framework for the class period. This technique is a creative take on a beginning, middle ...

Developing And Using Grading Guides, Checklists, And Rubrics, Carol Damgen, Carol L. Damgen

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This reflection is based on an educational assignment from my Intro to Theatre Arts course at California State University, San Bernardino, May 2019.

Providing students guidance when taking on a new assignment is essential. This direction may be achieved through a variety of sources: lectures, videos, examples of past students work, rubrics etc.

One approach, which may benefit the learner in the immediate and have a lasting impression, is teaching students to use the grading tool at hand (rubric/checklist) to improve assignments.

Following an example you have provided, the instructor will work with their students to use either a ...

Providing Useful Feedback, Carol Damgen, Carol L. Damgen

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This reflection is based on an educational assignment from my Oral Interpretation of Literature course at California State University, San Bernardino, April 2019.

Assessment is an essential part of education. However, assessment shouldn’t necessarily come from only one source-the teacher. I believe students benefit from receiving feedback from not only their instructor, but from their peers and lastly from themselves. This layered reflection allows one to learn from what others feel about their work. It is essential to have a second eye if we are to grow as learners.

This multi-perspective view allows the student to offer critical analysis ...

Black Expressions Of Dillard University How One Historically Black College Pioneered African American Arts, Makenzee Brown

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The proposed public history project, Within These Walls (WTW), will be one component of a larger exhibit produced by Dillard University’s, Library Archives and Special Collections entitled The Star Burns Bright: History of Dillard’s Theatrical and Musical Arts, Faculty and Students. WTW will focus on Dillard’s historic African American faculty, students and alumni who became prominent painters, musicians, writers, actors and directors among them Adella Gautier, Randolph Edmonds, Ted Shine Frederick Hall, Theodore Gilliam, and Brenda Osbey. This exhibit will also highlight the many art programs, across genres, offered at the university between 1935 and 1970. This ...

Theatre Crawl: A Series Of Community Engagement Projects, Anna Rich

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis will focus on Theatre Crawl, a devised and immersive theatre experience grounded in the techniques of drama therapy. Beginning as a creative outlet for drama therapy graduate students at Lesley University, Theatre Crawl has provided performance opportunities for students to exercise the creative and theatrical skills which initially brought many of them to the field of drama therapy. From April 2018 to January 2020, four Theatre Crawl events have been facilitated. All events originated from the belief that providing opportunities for drama therapists to engage in personal art-making is an essential practice for the field of drama therapy ...

Musical Ability And Accent Imitation, Maria Murljacic

Honors Scholar Theses

This study investigates the intersection of musical ability and accent imitation, more specifically defining what factors cause a relationship between the two. The study was run on 50 participants, who each completed an accent imitation ability assessment, a musical ability assessment, and an articulation ability assessment. The scores for the accent imitation portion were rated by anonymous online raters. Each participant filled out a questionnaire on prior musical experience and were either classified as a musician or non-musician. The analysis found that those in the musician group performed better on the musical ability, articulation, and accent ability assessment than non-musicians ...

Savoring The Moon: Japanese Prints Of The Floating World, Madison Dalton

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Guided by the Director of the Madison Art Collection and Lisanby Museum, Virginia Soenksen,I served as the Curatorial Assistant for the Lisanby Museum’s forthcoming exhibition Savoring the Moon: Japanese Prints of the Floating World. The exhibition will highlight the Madison ArtCollection’s impressive Japanese woodblock prints in the ukiyo-e style. Ukiyo-e translates to“pictures of the floating world.” This style proliferated in Japan during the Edo period (1603 - 1868) and Meiji period (1868 - 1912), with visual themes that ranged from flora and fauna, Japanese ceremonies, kabuki actors, mythology, courtesans, and cultural pastimes. The estate of Charles Alvin Lisanby ...

Touch As Bond: Exploring The Use Of Contact Improvisation In An Ensemble Process, J Travis Cooper

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This document serves as a contextual and reflective essay detailing the work done on J Travis Cooper’s Honors Capstone Project, Touch as Bond: Exploring the use of Contact Improvisation in an ensemble process. It is a process focused creative project exploring the potential of Contact Improvisation [CI] as a tool for ensemble development and content creation in a theatrical production. Contact Improvisation is a dance practice created by Steve Paxton and other collaborators in the 1970s. The form demands dancers improvise movements while in contact with each other, creating spontaneous lifts and requiring the ability to adapt to a ...

Exploring A Qualitative Approach To Arts Advocacy And Evaluation, Lycette C. Belisle

Undergraduate Theses

The quantitative impact of the arts has become an increasingly important factor in determining the overall value of a project, and is often used to determine acceptance of submissions, public recognition and funding disbursement. This project evaluates current understandings of how the arts function within society, popular methods for determining the value of the arts and explores how qualitative reasoning can be utilized to communicate the value of supporting artistic endeavors. While placing a numerical value on the arts based on data collection can be important, this project will aim to evaluate the implications of relying so heavily on facts ...

Putting It Together: Musical Theatre As An Academic Discipline, Madison Finney

Honors College Theses

Musical Theatre is an art form that integrates singing, acting, dancing, and production for the purposes of storytelling. It is an artistic field that is extremely interdisciplinary, and it draws upon many different areas of knowledge for performance and education. Additionally, Musical Theatre has evolved into a viable academic field of study. It incorporates artistry and academic analysis as a way to enhance performance and higher education. This paper will use Practice as Research theory, creativity theory, and disciplinary discourse theory to explore the ways Musical Theatre successfully functions as an art form and an academic discipline.

An Actor's Process In Bridging The Gap Between First-Generation And Multi-Generational African-American Identities., Mutiyat O. Ade-Salu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reflects my process assimilating into the role of Chelle in the production of Detroit '67 at the University of Louisville. Although there have been instances of actors crossing lines of gender, nationality, race, and even sexuality, to perform roles in contemporary theatre, discussion about generational differences is almost non-existent. Through historical research, first-hand interviews, and conventional acting methods, I explore the world of my role, searching for spirituality, authenticity, and identity. Additionally, I explain my use of The WAY Method ®, a process I began creating in 2014 to help actors be clear with who they are before empathizing ...

Good Grief: An Analysis Of The Character Development Of Tonya In August Wilson’S King Hedley Ii Through The Lens Of “The Five Stages Of Grief”., Kala Ross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An actor who is portraying a grieving character can also grieve simultaneously about the character’s given circumstances, which affects the character development and mental health of the actor. This thesis assesses how the character Tonya, in August Wilson’s King Hedley II, engages with grief as an African American woman and offers a process for the actor to engage and disengage with loss. “Good Grief” will unpack Constantin Stanislavski’s system of acting, focusing on the Magic “If” and the given circumstances, while also introducing the “Five Stages of Grief” coined by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Through the scholarship of theatre ...

Peter And The Starcatcher: Creating The Character Of Peter Pan Via Rehearsal, Script Analysis, And Personal Journals, Delaney Jackson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Theatre, as an art, does an incredible job at making stage life look as organic as the lives we lead on a daily basis. That’s thanks in part to a methodical rehearsal process that the public rarely has a chance to see.

My goal with this creative project was to give the general public an opportunity to join myself and the rest of the cast of UNO’s Peter and the Starcatcher on a journey through our rehearsal process via journal keeping and character analysis before presenting the show on April 15, 2020.

Unfortunately, we had to give a ...

Flipping The Script: Gabriela Silang’S Legacy Through Stagecraft, Leeann Francisco

Humanities & Cultural Studies | Senior Theses

Flipping the Script: Gabriela Silang’s Legacy through Stagecraft is a chronicle of the scriptwriting and staging process for Bannuar, a historical adaptation about the life of Gabriela Silang (1731-1763) produced by Dominican University of California’s (DUC) Filipino student club (Kapamilya) for their annual Pilipino Cultural Night (PCN). The 9th annual show was scheduled for April 5, 2020. Due to the limitations of stagecraft, implications of COVID-19, and shelter-in-place orders, the scriptwriters made executive decisions on what to omit or adapt to create a well-rounded script.

In this chronicle, scriptwriters’ choices in character development and musical elements in the ...