Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Defending Eulalie, Mimi Ayers

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Romance, Politics And Minor Art: A Nomadology Of Inamoramento De Orlando And Star Wars, Andrea Privitera

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

While existing theories of romance (in particular, those formulated by Northrop Frye and Fredric Jameson) accurately characterize this literary mode as a highly politicized example of art, this thesis contends that the political nature of romance is broader and more complex than discussed so far. In order to offer a new and comprehensive political theory of romance, this work proposes a comparison between two historically and culturally diverse examples of romance, that is Matteo Maria Boiardo’s chivalric poem Inamoramento de Orlando and George Lucas’ space opera film Star Wars. By reading Boiardo and Lucas’ texts via Gilles Deleuze and …

Bright Half Life Assistant Director, Charles Lawver

Honors Thesis

My Theatre Arts thesis project was working as an assistant director (AD) on the play “Bright Half Life,” alongside my director/professor, Dana Resnick. This play ran from August 29 through September 1 at the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester in the Strub Theatre at LMU. For this project I was expected to perform a number of duties and responsibilities. The other assistant director and I were present at every production meeting, rehearsal, and performance to assist our director in establishing, creating, and guiding her vision for the play into life. We all met with the designers for the show’s …

Building My Director’S Toolbox: For Scab And Beyond, Rebecca Whitney Klein

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The research question forming the basis of this project was “What can I learn about directing and who I am as a director by researching the processes of others and applying aspects of them to a production of Sheila Callaghan’s Scab?” For my research, I first learned as much as possible about the processes of several professional directors, by means of personal interviews and secondary research. I selected directors who I had worked with previously and wished to learn more from, whose methods I believed would be useful as I directed a production of Scab, and/or on whose methods …

Linda Collazo: A Bronx Aria, Jose A. Giralt

Capstones

This video project follows Linda Collazo, a mezzo-soprano from the Bronx, as she prepares for various performances during fall of 2018. She describes the training in vocals, music, and acting she undergoes in order to break into the highly competitive field of operatic singers.

https://giraltjschool.exposure.co/linda-collazo-a-bronx-aria

The Challenges And Limitations Of Adapting Mozart's Così Fan Tutte For A Small University Setting, Christopher Lovely

Dissertations

In this dissertation, challenges and limitations related to presenting Così fan tutte within a small university setting are conveyed, as well as offering innovative ideas to create a manageable presentation. I recall my personal experience as Korepititor/Vocal Coach for The University of Southern Mississippi’s 2014 production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. This document presents topics on the various workings of an opera production: pre-rehearsal preparation, language issues, rehearsal preparation, selection of singers, and production issues. It offers practical solutions to overcome various challenges a small university may encounter. Smaller university opera programs were surveyed regarding their adaptations of …

Did Hollywood Take Theatre "By Hook Or By Crook?", Catherine S. Wright

MSU Graduate Theses

Hollywood and Theatre have been partners in producing entertainment for over 100 years. The relationship was fruitful for both parties, but Hollywood moguls and playwrights battled over ownership of the work and crafting of its creative nucleus, story and character. Theatre was the dominant entertainment right before the rise of motion pictures. Once Hollywood’s talkies closed the curtain on silent films, playwrights had a high creative worth to movie makers. In the cinema, story and dialogue were essential for its survival and growth. Playwrights were courted by the Hollywood studio heads but were not offered equal partnership as they were …

Charting The Terrain Of Latina/O/X Theater In Chicago, Priscilla M. Page

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a rich tapestry of Latina/o/x theater in Chicago. Through in-depth interviews, I use first-voice narratives to construct four decades of Latina/o/x theater history with the artists who were founding directors and/or members of these companies: Latino Chicago, Latino Experimental Theater Company, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, and Urban Theater Company. My aim with this project is to listen carefully to Latina/o/x artists in Chicago so that I can play a role in amplifying their voices as they articulate their experiences in this Midwestern city they call home. I organized my findings into three chapters and have kept the artists’ …

Bridging Contradictions: Socialist Actresses And Star Culture In East Germany, Victoria Rizo Lenshyn

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that multiple stakeholders in East Germany (GDR)—the fans, artists, and state— adapted the star phenomenon to help validate GDR socialist culture at home and abroad, and to bridge seemingly contradictory elements within the dualistic context of the global Cold War: the individual and collective, the ordinary and extraordinary, idealism and reality, the past and present, tradition and progress, East and West. As public figures, GDR stars offered audiences multiple points of identification and helped the enlarged working class navigate its new dominant social position in GDR social life. Officially, stars offered an engaging performance of …

Adapting For A New Audience: Ta'zieh-Between Two Rivers, Nikoo Mamdoohi

Masters Theses

This thesis is the written portion of my experience as a director, staging an adaptation of the traditional Iranian theater form, Ta’zieh, for my thesis project. I start with a brief description of our adapted performance, followed by the inspirations that led to the creation of the piece. I then trace the evolution of the idea from the initial stage to the final performance. I describe the adaptation process in three sections, the story, form, and practice. In each section, in a comparative manner, I write about the ways in which Ta’zieh is traditionally done and elaborate on our decisions …

Interpreting Dreams: Directing An Immersive Adaptation Of Strindberg's A Dream Play, Mary-Corinne Miller

Masters Theses

This written portion of my thesis documents how I, as director, conceptualized, devised and staged an immersive adaptation of August Strindberg’s A Dream Play, with the support of a large team of collaborators including: assistant directors, dramaturgs, designers, stage managers, and actors. In this document I attempt to synthesize the discoveries I made in this process regarding the challenges and experience of directing immersive theater, including the importance of giving up directorial control and relying on my collaborators as partners in the creation of the production.

I begin with an introduction to the research I conducted into the field of …

Play In The Woods: The Role Of The Dramaturg In Facilitating A Holistic, Slow Theater-Making Process, Claudia Nolan

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I document the ideas behind and my process for Play in the Woods, an experiment in slow theater-making that serves as a model for how dramaturgs can facilitate sustainable, holistic methods of performance. This model is grounded in feminist theater practices and the aesthetic of poor theater. In creating the performance of Play in the Woods, I as dramaturg invited participants to serve as co-creators, individually crafting pieces that examined fairytales and the role those stories have played on their lives. The performance was held out of doors at the Amethyst Brook Conservation Area on …

Queer Temporality And Aesthetics In Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge: A Dramaturgical Exploration Of The Play At Umass Amherst, Gaven D. Trinidad

Masters Theses

This master’s thesis documents the dramaturgical exploration of the spring 2018 University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Theater’s production of gender non-conforming performance artist Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge. The thesis is separated into two parts. The first half focuses on my dramaturgical analysis of Mac’s play and its exploration of queer temporality and queer embodiment, asserting the importance of queer aesthetics in American drama and its vital role in shaping the future of LGBTQIA+ politics in the United States. The second half includes reflections on rehearsal processes and performances, giving readers and fellow artists examples of the potential …

Motion As Music: Hypermetrical Schemas In Eighteenth-Century Contredanses, Alison N. Stevens

Masters Theses

An important part of the recent growth in scholarship on meter focuses on reconstructing 18th-century listening practices. Danuta Mirka (2009) studies contemporary accounts of meter in theory treatises to build a model of 18th-century metric listening, while Stefan Love (2016) takes a corpus studies approach, arguing that surveying repertoire provides a more accurate view of meter than 18th-century theorists. But despite the known debt that much 18th-century art music owes to dance and dance music, Mirka and Love only briefly mention dance. In touching so lightly on dance, these and other authors overlook the more fundamental connection between meter and …

Theatre And The Overwhelming Question: Why Make Theatre In These Times?, Mónica Valeria Sánchez

Theatre & Dance ETDs

The following essay communicates my journey as a longtime theatre artist as I have navigated my way through the discipline, and towards the craft of playwriting. My intention to study in the program was soon escalated by an existential turning point subsequent to the neoliberal agenda that gained momentum pre, post, and during the election of 2016. This thesis is in response to the question, "Why make theatre now?" I approach this query through the themes and the characters in my plays; through a socio-cultural-historic lens, and via an examination of the creative process as it relates to the metaphysics …

Strange Fruit: Black Female Body Politics In Contemporary American Culture, Eleanor Kipping

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s was an organized effort by and for Black American populations to receive equal treatment by law. Its legacy has much reason to be celebrated: not only for its accomplishments and successes in unifying the Black community but also in bringing issues of segregation, violence, and racial discrimination to the forefront of the public’s attention. The decade was a pivotal point in contemporary race relations, and served as an apex in attempts to bridge America’s past and what America is striving to become. Today however, the social and political climate …

Ansiedades Épico-Criollas Y El Mecenazgo De Indias En El Arauco Domado De Pedro De Oña, Andrea L. Fernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Among the characteristics of epic poetry are the topic of war, love encounters, heroism of exemplary individuals, and the narration of events contemporary to the audience to reinforce a collective historical identity. Arauco domado by Pedro de Oña, born in Angol (modern Chile), reiterates these traditional expectations with its protagonist, characters, setting, and latter theatrical representations within the viceregal context. The poem was made possible by the sponsorship of García Hurtado de Mendoza y Manrique, IV Marquis of Cañete and Viceroy of Peru. If the title of “espíritu cesarino novelo” [Caesar’s new spirit] (V.76.3) corresponds to the patron, Pedro de …

“Are They Supposed To Be Heugin?": Negotiating Race, Nation, And Representation In Korean Musical Theatre, Ji Hyon Yuh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines contemporary Korean musical theatre as a form of popular culture that has served an important role in reflecting and establishing personal and national identity in Korea, especially as it intersects with the global and local manifestations of race and racial ideologies. I argue that musical theatre has served an important political and economic role, since its beginning as a cultural weapon in the height of the Cold War to more contemporary examples in which Korean musicals serve as a tool to brand Korea as an advanced nation in the world. To make a case for this relationship …

African American Performers In Stalin’S Soviet Union: Between Political Promise And Racial Propaganda, Christopher E. Silsby

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the first half of the twentieth century, a significant number of African Americans left the United States for the promise of racial and economic equality in the supposedly class-less society of a post-Revolution Soviet Union. This dissertation uses a series of interrelated case studies to contextualize the theatrical work of Paul Robeson, jazz dancer Henry Scott, actor Wayland Rudd, and the 1955-56 international tour of Porgy and Bess within the overlapping social, political, and aesthetic landscapes of African American and Soviet performance in Moscow during the rise and height of Stalinism.

Starting with an overview of race in the …

Realism Revisited: An Exploration Of Ibsen's A Doll's House And Hedda Gabler In Contemporary Contexts, Kristin E. Shoffner

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is an exploration in creating TheatreUNO’s production of A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler. The goal of directing the production of A Doll’s House and in performance of Hedda Gabler in repertory was to walk the fine line of honoring the original intentions of the playwright while simultaneously making the performances accessible to a contemporary audience. This thesis will include an in-depth look at the process of both productions, analysis, research and production materials. A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler ran in repertory at The University of New Orleans April 12-28 2018.

Story & Style: Pursuing Excellence On The Academic Stage, Ryan M. Decker

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is a brief view of the 2017-2018 production of Marco Ramirez’s contemporary play The Royale, as produced by Theatre UNO, the theatre production arm of the University of New Orleans’ Department of Film & Theatre. This thesis will include initial responses, analysis, interpretation, production synthesis and communication, and reflection with conclusions on performance, directing, and pedagogy in academic theatre. This thesis is supported by documentation of the production process, including a scored script. The play was performed in New Orleans, Louisiana at the University of New Orleans Performing Arts Center’s Robert E. Nims Theatre, November 9-19, …

Rediscovering The Interpersonal: Models Of Networked Communication In New Media Performance, Alicia Champlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the themes of human perception and participation within the contemporary paradigm and relates the hallmarks of the major paradigm shift which occurred in the mid-20th century from a structural view of the world to a systems view. In this context, the author’s creative practice is described, outlining a methodology for working with the communication networks and interpersonal feedback loops that help to define our relationships to each other and to media since that paradigm shift. This research is framed within a larger field of inquiry into the impact of contemporary New Media Art as we experience it. …

Are Unicorns Extinct In The Modern World?: Directing Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie In 2017, Jon Cole Wimpee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What follows is a description of my process directing The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.

I’ve made an effort to track the journey I undertook starting from my earliest encounter with the play and the selection of the story as a thesis project. This document contains my initial script analysis, notes from design meeting collaborations, casting decisions, general research approaches, the rehearsal process, performance insights, and evaluations after completion. This document will also provide, intermittently, additional reflections on my critical attitudes towards this play and production, as well as self-assessments related to notable lessons, successes, failures, and discoveries pertinent to …

The Fault In Our Stars: A Director's Process On Life Is A Dream, Jeremiah Dean Albers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following is a journal and reflection on my process as adaptor and director of the play Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. It is equal parts self-evaluation and creative travelogue. The chapters include an Introduction, and The Production Process, and related appendices.

Property, Postsocialism, And Post-Yugoslav Identity: A Feminist Communication Performance Ethnography, Jennifer Zenovich

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes how women in the postsocialist former Yugoslavia perform gender in the transition from socialism to capitalism by considering their material and symbolic relationships to property. Using performance ethnography to theorize the relational, embodied, and discursive ways in which identity has been mobilized in the former Yugoslavia, the central question is how insights from the postsocialist world can critique notions of the individual as well as global capital. Through the prism of postsocialist and postcolonial feminist theory and performance studies, I focus on three contexts: women’s feminized labor as sustaining the tourism industry in Montenegro, my rape and …

Brooklyn Bedroom: An Ethnodrama On Female Sexuality, Third World Feminism And Performance Ethnography, Ayshia Stephenson

Doctoral Dissertations

Brooklyn Bedroom is a performance that interrogates societal perceptions of race and sexuality. I have utilized the writing of the performance as my method; the performance is an act of Third World feminist resistance and liberation. Storytelling is the type of research preferred by many black female playwrights. A type of qualitative inquiry, ethnodramatic work forms a bridge between individual stories and social issues affecting society with the goal of socio-political change. The source of reality for this ethnodrama is the Rose family, their history was a catalyst for the writing of Brooklyn Bedroom. I have explored their stories to …

Kiskeyanas Valientes En Este Espacio: Dominican Women Writers And The Spaces Of Contemporary American Literature, Isabel R. Espinal

Doctoral Dissertations

We can learn and gain a lot by putting Dominican women writers at the center of our attention. Yet they rarely have that place. This dissertation looks at Dominican women authors who have lived and written in the United States —Josefina Báez, Marianela Medrano, Yrene Santos, Aurora Arias, Nelly Rosario, Annecy Báez, Ana Maurine Lara, Raquel Cepeda— and how they fit within the spaces of contemporary American society, and more broadly within world flows of peoples and cultural productions. I draw on the theories and methodologies of Gloria Anzaldúa and her generation of feminists of color, as well as subsequent …

The Lily's Revenge: Staging Love And Community In The Style Of The Ridiculous, Jennifer Onopa

Masters Theses

This written portion of my thesis documents my process as a director in staging Taylor Mac’s play The Lily’s Revenge in collaboration with a creative team of designers, dramaturgs, and performers.

I share with the reader my processes toward fostering cohesion and collaboration among a team while working on a complex play that departs from many theatrical conventions. I discuss significant learnings from several areas of dramaturgical and performance research that dovetail within the play: queer performance practice, Theater of the Ridiculous, and Noh theater, and how I used this research to support the communication with my design collaborators to …

Asian American Heritage Seeking: Personal Narrative Performances Of Ancestral Return, Porntip Israsena Twishime

Masters Theses

Asian American belongings, migration patterns, and transnational identities are largely constructed in the United States as static, unidirectional, and invisible. Asian Americans complicate these constructions through the practice of ancestral return. In this thesis, “ancestral return” is constituted through one’s participation in a university study abroad program to a specific place to where one traces her heritage. I use “return” not necessarily to account for a form of reverse migration; rather “return” here names the multiple, sometimes contradictory kinds of return, including “return” to a place that one has not yet been. This project examines how Asian American identities are …

Irish Dance In The State Of Utah: A History, India Eve Henrichsen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis summarizes the history of Irish dance in Utah. Over the past 35 years, from its beginning in 1983 to today in 2018, Irish dance schools have multiplied in Utah and evolved following international trends. The first school of Irish dance in Utah was started by Maureen McTeggart Hall at the request of Harold Gottfredsen in 1983. Five years later, in 1988, Brigham Young University established an Irish dance instruction program. Following the first television broadcast of Riverdance from Dublin in 1994, the interest in Irish dance increased exponentially. The number of schools has grown, new schools have emerged …