Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Successful Post-Covid Theatre Recruitment And Retention Practices, Biliana Stoytcheva-Horissian, Kevork Horissian, Aaron Scully, Shawna Mefferd Kelty

Faculty Conference Papers and Presentations

In the past several years and especially after the COVID-19 outbreak, recruiting and retaining students has become more challenging than ever before. Even before the pandemic, there has been an increased pressure for colleges and universities to be able to demonstrate tangible educational benefits. This has been especially valid for liberal arts institutions and theatre programs since they are considered to be “less practical and useful.” Often students and their parents focus more on securing jobs rather than exploring interests and passions and seem unable to see the connection between theatre education and other careers.

The panel of presenters brings …

Lemebel En 18/O. Todos Somos Estallido: Utopía, Temporalidad Y Revolución, Fernando A. Blanco

Faculty Contributions to Books

This article discuss the spectral return of the Lemebel's image during the social unrest of october 2019 in Chile. The social imaginary icons displayed during the civil strikes and manifestations converge on Lemebel's signifier, linking utopia, revolution and social change, the three pillars of his literary and performative work.

Twelve Angry Men: A Twenty-First Century Reflection Of Race, Art, And Incarceration, Mackenzie A. Gross

Honors Theses

Twelve Angry Men: A Twenty-First Century Reflection of Race, Art and Incarceration is a Comparative and Digital Humanities Honors Thesis concentrating on Africana Studies, theatre, sociology and legal studies to demonstrate the importance of investing in incarcerated communities through theatre and education.

In Chapter I, I critique the loss of identity attached to incarceration, and introduce the foundation for Black bodies individuals being discriminated against in the prosecution system. I analyze the “Punishment vs Progress” mentality, and introduce current educational programs in place in prisons. I elaborate on the details of our production, as well as the makeup of actors. …

"Taming Of The Shrew(S)": Explorations Of Gender And Power In Directing An Original Adaptation Of William Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew, Katharine Cognard-Black

Honors Theses

In Fall 2021, I directed my own adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, entitled “Taming of the Shrew(s).” This project served as both the creative portion of my honors thesis as well as a Senior Showcase within the Bucknell Department of Theatre & Dance. From a young age, I have been fascinated by the malleability of Shakespeare’s plays, and having acted in and seen multiple productions of The Taming of the Shrew, my project began with a desire to take on the gendered complexities of this so-called “problem play.” The Taming of the Shrew is problematic in its sexist …

Virtual Black Boxes: Building Theater Sets In Virtual Reality, Mark Wardecker, Bretto White, Timothy Stonesifer

Bucknell University Digital Scholarship Conference

Unlike literature or plastic arts, theatre and performance are artistic forms that demand embodiment. In a recent Latin American Theater class, we introduced students to important 20th century Latin American theatrical texts and performance art in order to consider thematic and aesthetic components relating to issues such as nation-building, violence, language, identity, gender, sexuality, immigration, and memory. Further, we considered how the works we read have been performed, and how we might stage them ourselves, concluding with staging scenes in order to bring together our theoretical studies with embodied practice and enable students to engage corporeally with works that are …

Radical Black Drama-As-Theory: The Black Feminist Dramatic On The Protracted Event-Horizon, Jaye Austin Williams

Faculty Journal Articles

In this essay, I elaborate my present project, grounded in what I call drama theory, the critical theoretical dimensions of dramatic writing, and address the deeply troubling intramural tensions across Black Studies, between those who read blackness, and black cultural production, through largely futurist, celebratory lenses; and those who apply a structural analysis to blackness as the site against, upon, and through which the world coheres its soci(et)al apparatuses and machinations. I situate myself within the latter constellation, and sample here two plays by Suzan-Lori Parks to demonstrate how I translate the analyses of antiblack violence by black feminist …

Splitting Hair: Reviving The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical In The 1970s, Bryan M. Vandevender

Faculty Journal Articles

When Hair premiered on Broadway in 1968, the musical garnered attention

for its reflection the current cultural moment. Critics acknowledged

this congruence of form, content, and zeitgeist as the production’s greatest

asset. This alignment with the Vietnam era proved a liability nine

years later when Hair received its first Broadway revival, particularly

when the musical’s authors replaced many of the libretto’s cultural references

with allusions to the 1970s, further illuminating the musical’s

inherently time-bound qualities.

“La Frida No Envejeció, Yo Soy La Frida Envejecida”. La Ultima Performance De Pedro Lemebel, Fernando A. Blanco

Faculty Journal Articles

A partir de su último encuentro con Pedro Lemebel, el articulista lee la proxémica de dicha cita como un epígrafe performático que permite ordenar de manera comprensiva y especulativa la producción transmedial de Lemebel (crónica, novela y performance). Se concluye que, en sus distintas acciones, los textos de Lemebel funcionan como herramientas de un operador de la historia cultural chilena a través de la manipulación de los signos del cuerpo homosexual.

“Why (Not) Philosophy Of Stand-Up Comedy?”, Sheila Lintott

Faculty Contributions to Books

Stand-up comedy has been largely ignored by analytic philosophers of art, including those interested in comedy and humor. This is somewhat surprising, given the immense popularity of stand-up comedy and the rock star status enjoyed by some comedians today. I suspect that philosophers are just as likely to enjoy stand-up comedy as anyone else; in some cases (i.e. for some philosophers and some comedians), probably more likely. Here I offer some reasons philosophers of art should take the time to consider stand-up comedy and possible explanation for why philosophers of art have paid far less attention to stand-up comedy than …

Superiority In Humor Theory, Sheila Lintott

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article, I consider the standard interpretation of the superiority theory of humor attributed to Plato, Aristotle, and Hobbes, according to which the theory allegedly places feelings of superiority at the center of humor and comic amusement. The view that feelings of superiority are at the heart of all comic amusement is wildly implausible. Therefore textual evidence for the interpretation of Plato, Aristotle, or Hobbes as offering the superiority theory as an essentialist theory of humor is worth careful consideration. Through textual analysis I argue that not one of these three philosophers defends an essentialist theory of comic amusement. …

Staging (Within) Violence: A Conversation With Frank Wilderson And Jaye Austin Williams, Jaye Austin Williams

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

From Anti-Theater To Anti-Theatricality, Logan Connors

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Theater's Many Enemies, Logan Connors

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Double Take Project: Using Applied Theatre For Campus Climate Change, Christina M. Cody

Honors Theses

Despite research gathered in the Campus Climate Report, I believe that it underrepresented the student experience of the social scene. The document primarily served as an identification tool for four major problems on campus: binge drinking, sexual assault, diversity, and disengagement in the classroom. Double Take Project also identifies similar issues however, this project uses theatrical techniques to gather the anecdotal reality of the student perspective. Double Take Project expands beyond the Campus Climate Report to inspire dialogue in a variety of student-to-student interactions and, more importantly, the project seeks action and solution plans.

The social scene dominates our culture …

'Listen, Rama’S Wife!’: Maithil Women’S Perspectives And Practices In The Festival Of Sāmā-Cakevā, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

As a female-only festival in a significantly gender-segregated society, sāmā cakevā provides a window into Maithil women’s understandings of their society and the sacred, cultural subjectivities, moral frameworks, and projects of self-construction. The festival reminds us that to read male-female relations under patriarchal social formations as a dichotomy between the empowered and the disempowered ignores the porous boundaries between the two in which negotiations and tradeoffs create a symbiotic reliance. Specifically, the festival names two oppositional camps—the male world of law and the female world of relationships—and then creates a male character, the brother, who moves between the two, loyal …