Digital Commons Network^™

Where's My Compass? Navigating Uncertainty With Business Planning Tools For Performing Arts Graduates - A Teaching Case Study, Steven Sparling

Journal of Arts Entrepreneurship Education

This teaching case study looks at the phenomenon of musical theatre students graduating in spring 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down both their graduation showcase opportunities and the majority of the audition and work opportunities that would normally be available to graduate performers. In both cases presented, the actors set up small businesses-- in bookkeeping and video production, respectively-- that allowed them to generate income to keep themselves afloat while preserving their primary identity as artists despite challenging market conditions. The accompanying Instructor's Manual uses SWOT Analysis and the Ansoff Matrix as tools to assist students in analyzing the …

The Village On The Stage: Dramaturgies Of Modernity In African Concert Dance, Margit N. Edwards

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation, The Village on the Stage: Dramaturgies of Modernity in African Concert Dance, analyzes the underlying theatrical logic in African concert dance through a dramaturgical model I call the village on the stage. The village on the stage dramaturgy has had multiple iterations over the 20^th and 21^st centuries both across the African continent and the African diaspora. Commonly presented within the world-dance market as neo-traditional African dance, the village on the stage refers to a set of practices of staging traditional dance and music of Africa and the African diaspora and serves as a …

Tightrope Walking: Balancing Theatre Teachers’ Academic Freedom Of Expression With The Implementation Of Florida’S Stop Woke Act And Don’T Say Gay Bill, Kimberly Adams

Barry Law Review

Florida’s Individual Freedom Act (IFA) and Education Equality Act (EEA), better known as the Stop Woke Act and the Don’t Say Gay bill, respectively, are contentious topics in the United States today. One side argues that parents have the ultimate right to choose what their child learns and how a teacher should deliver that instruction while believing that lessons that address systemic racism divide children and make them feel uncomfortable. The other side argues that our students will be unprepared when they graduate high school to contribute to our multi-racial society and will suffer from a limited worldview. From the …

Community As A Force Of Action In Lorraine Hansberry's "Les Blancs", Lily Jensen

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

This paper explores Hansberry’s philosophy of community in her 1970 play, Les Blancs. The paper analyzes Hansberry’s use of complex characterization in this text to show the wide reach of the colonial power structure and to show what is required of a community to push for effective action. The paper also analyzes the National Theatre’s 2016 production of Les Blancs, and how this production incorporates and enhances Hansberry’s philosophy of community through the characteristics afforded through theatre as a medium.

We Who Are Not As Others: Costuming The Godspell Ensemble As Historical Circus Performers, Anderson Palmer

Theatre Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper examines the Bible as well as circus history and American history to determine the most effective way to design costumes for the musical Godspell by John-Michael Tebelak for a modern audience. The aim of all of this research is to re-center Tebelak’s original inspiration: The Feast of Fools by Harvey Gallagher Cox. Over the years since the premiere of Godspell in 1970, it has become heavily associated with hippies rather than clowns, despite the importance of clowns and clowning to the play’s inception.

Taking inspiration from primary research of circus performers, religious iconography, and early 20^th century …

Manifesting The End Of Amerikkkan Theatre: Black Theatre’S Healing Power To Eradicate Anti-Blackness, R'Myni Watson

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the potential of Black Theatre as a catalyst for healing anti-Blackness within American theatre. Acknowledging the limitations of systemic change, this study advocates for incremental shifts within communities to combat ingrained racial biases through narrative change and theatrical exploration. Grounded in the theory of Black Theatre's energy force, Nommo, the study proposes the framework of Acknowledge, Dismantle, Re-Educate to address and eradicate anti-Blackness. Through directing the production of Blood at the Root, incorporating Black Theatre methodologies atop eurocentric foundations, this research documents the healing experienced by participants and audiences. Key findings reveal increased community engagement, support, awareness, …

Beyond “Muscular Blueprints”: Sarah Ruhl And Access Intimacy In Dramatic Writing, Taylor Steck

All Theses

Sarah Ruhl, as a contemporary American playwright, has established her career with a signature style of poetic playfulness. By blending poetry with playwriting, engaging with both poetic and theatrical constraints, Ruhl’s stage directions emerge as open-ended opportunities for staging. This essay approaches Ruhl through a disability studies reading to consider the ways in which her dramatic style invites new questions on playwriting and accessibility in theatre. This attention to accessibility is informed by disability studies writer and activist, Mia Mingus, and her notion of “access intimacy.” As Mingus’ access intimacy articulates access in terms of building community, this essay uses …

Suspension Of The Scoundrel: Applying Mental Health Strategies To The Acting Process., Nicholas Wills

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the benefits of having mental health resources, practices and/or coordinators on set or available to help mitigate the mental health challenges that actors may face when portraying complex characters or engaging in emotional experiences while acting, are examined. Actors are required to fully immerse themselves into characters to ensure a full embodiment of the role being played. Without appropriate measures in place to address the actors’ feelings, emotions, and psychological state before, during, and after a production, the actor stands the risk of absorbing the impact of the character with no strategy for how to address the …

‘Faults To Make Us Men’: Shakespeare In The Prison System, Hannah Boyle

Honors Projects

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the positive impact of Shakespeare in prison programs on incarcerated individuals, utilizing empirical data, anecdotal evidence, and scholarly insights. It underscores the educational benefits of engaging with literature and performance arts within prison settings, as well as the various social-emotional learning opportunities, especially the ability to reduce recidivism rates and enhance incarcerated individuals' quality of life.

Drawing on the experience and narrative of many practitioners of theatre in prison and Shakespeare in prisons programs, this paper works to show Shakespeare's unique capacity to connect incarcerated populations with those who have gone through the …

The 15th Theatre: A Kentucky State Theatre Proposal, Holly N. Kissel

Undergraduate Theses

The 15th Theatre project proposes a strategic and programmatic plan for a Kentucky state theatre, driven by the mission to uphold Kentucky voices within a professional theatre. This proposed theatre company strives to become a quintessential meeting place for all Kentuckians to explore their history, create new Kentucky-based work, and represent the authentic experience of the diverse regions of the state, from the large population centers of Louisville to the mountainous Appalachia. Reflecting on the current struggles facing regional and professional theatre companies across the country in the post-pandemic entertainment economy, the strategic planning of this theatre outlines the necessity …

Winonan, Winona State University

The Winonan - 2020s

This issue of the Winonan, the Winona State University student newspaper, was published on April 17, 2024.

Creating Consent Based Spaces In The Performing Arts, Laura Rikard

SC Upstate Research Symposium

In 1849 when Duke Saxe Meiningen created the role of the modern director in theatre he created an authoritarian model for creative power over production that would be replicated for the next one hundred and fifty years in the performing arts. This leadership model led to a performing arts industry reliant on performances being obedient and not fostering environments where creative collaboration can thrive. It created confusion between what it means to say, “yes” from a point of view of survival and not from a place of consent. For true collaboration to thrive in the product and process oriented spaces …

Arts Integration In The Middle School Mathematics Classroom, Cameron Willis

Honors Projects

In this project, we explore the question "How can arts integration techniques be used in the middle school mathematics classroom to heighten student engagement and interest while also developing deeper conceptual understanding?" Through completing a lesson study over incorporating structured improvisation into a simple probability unit, seventh grade students were able to share their thoughts and feelings about using theatre to teach mathematics.

Ordinary Days (April 10-13, 2024), Lindenwood University

Student Theatre Programs

Event program for Ordinary Days (April 10-13, 2024), Lindenwood University.

To view the photos from this production of Ordinary Days, please click here.

Clements Drama Production Materials: Finding Aid, Bethany Latham

Finding Aids

This collection (cataloged on Bib #2712213) contains playbills, printed programs, costume sketches, fabric swatches, and other materials related to plays performed by JSU’s Department of Theatre and Film (formerly the Drama Department). The materials were compiled by Dr. Lewis Frederick Clements, Distinguished Professor of Theatre & Film at JSU. Most of the materials were donated to the Library upon Dr. Clements’ retirement in 2023, with a few additional items donated in 2024.

Onnagata, Femininity, And Cross-Dressing In Narukami: A Look Into Gender In Kabuki, Mary Hughes

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This paper explores the gender dynamics within Kabuki theatre through the examination of the play Narukami. Kabuki is a theatre style that was originated by women, but it quickly excluded them in favor of using men to portray female characters. This study delves into the relevance of these female characters to modern non-male identifying performers and challenges the traditional casting norms. Looking to the onnagata role, which is the role of a male actor playing a woman onstage, the paper examines how gender is represented within the existing practice of Kabuki. For example, the character of Teama in Narukami is …

Fuentes Dramatúrgicas Que Inspiran Al Cine: La Orestiada, De Esquilo, Y Macbeth, De Shakespeare, Javier J. González Martínez

Teatro: Revista de Estudios Escénicos / A Journal of Theater Studies

Los casos de argumentos originariamente creados para el teatro que han sido trasladados al cine son ya cuantiosos. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el funcionamiento de determinados elementos dramatúrgicos en obras teatrales y fílmicas relacionadas. El resultado posibilita la reflexión sobre las distintas formas de adaptación y propicia el aprendizaje de mecanismos que faciliten la aceptación de determinados recursos. El corpus elegido está formado por películas basadas en dos grandes clásicos teatrales: La Orestiada, de Esquilo, y Macbeth, de Shakespeare. Para la primera se analizará The Black Pirate (El pirata negro, 1926), The Last …

The Winter's Tale (February 21-24, 2024), William Shakespeare

Student Theatre Programs

Event program for The Winter's Tale (February 21-24, 2024).

To view the photos from this production of The Winter's Tale, please click here.

Winonan, Winona State University

The Winonan - 2020s

This issue of the Winonan, the Winona State University student newspaper, was published on January 24, 2024.

Introduction To Theatre Oer Course, Carmen R. Meyers

Open Educational Resources

Study of theatre and performance throughout history and across cultures including an examination of European, Carribean, and North and South American theatrical styles and genres.

This course is organized for a hybrid/asynchronous format. Our class meets on-campus every week for 75 minutes and the other 75 minutes will be completed asynchronously with weekly learning modules on Blackboard.

The first half of the course focuses on the history of theatre from Ancient Greece through Modern Realism. The second half of the course, students engage in the procedures of professional theatre artists through writing and refining a dramatic text; enacting a performance; …

Thtr 101-002: Living Theatre, Emily Edwards

Humanities Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Thtr 212-002: From Page To Stage, Courtney Self

Humanities Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Thtr 220-001: Wind Ensemble, Nicholas Santoro

Humanities Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Thtr 217-002: Improvisational Theater, Long-Form, Louis Kornfeld

Humanities Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Thtr 315-002: Theatre History Ii, Emily Edwards

Humanities Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Thtr 365-002: Principles Of Playwriting, Diana Lobontiu

Humanities Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Thtr 411-002: Directing For The Camera, Rodeney Reyes

Humanities Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Red Curtain Rivalry, Amy Lytle

Playwriting (MFA) Theses

Two community theaters in the same city are accidentally putting on the same musical at the same time due to a publishing company's error. The members of the dueling troupes have to untangle the mess--the show must go on, of course! Between big misunderstandings, a few shenanigans (or hijinks, as some may say), and a lot of lessons learned, watch as each company battles to win the Red Curtain Rivalry and prove themselves the best production of "A Doll's House: The Musical!" that the community theatre community has ever seen.

Scenic Design For Molière’S The Misanthrope, Alina Michelle Cannon

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This document is an account of the design process from the initial reading of the script, design, and production meetings with the director and the production team, through to the execution of the design for The Misanthrope by Molière. This production was produced by West Virginia University’s School of Theatre & Dance during the Fall 2023 semester, presented in the Gladys G. Davis Theater at the Canady Creative Arts Center in Morgantown, WV.

The Merit Of Adaptation: An Exploration Of Adaptation In Regard To Sophocles’ Theban Plays And The Role Of Antigone Within The Story, Hogan T. Holt

Theses and Dissertations

The creation of an adaptation is extremely challenging and time-consuming, but with the right tools and inspiration, that task of creation can be eased. By looking at three different adaptations of the Theban plays, the goal of creating a new adaptation of this series of plays can be achieved. At the same time, this adaptation can achieve a goal of highlighting an important character from the original set of plays, Antigone, and give her a role that elevates her to the main protagonist across all three plays, thus allowing the Theban plays to become a more feminine piece that works …