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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Healing Process : Finding Oneself Through Character., Jody-Ann Peta-Gay Henry Aug 2014

The Healing Process : Finding Oneself Through Character., Jody-Ann Peta-Gay Henry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines my journey as an artist. It chronicles my beginning as an actor and the development of my skills and gift as a performer and educator. It also represents how theatre has been a major part of my self-discovery and continues to foster my growth and development. I describe how I fell in love with theatre, and what inspired me to pursue a career as an actor. I highlight my life changing experience at the University of Louisville, where I was challenged not only as an actor, but also as an individual. I discuss my most challenging experience …


Telling Tales As Oral Performance: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Storytelling In Ireland, Scotland And Southern Appalachia, Annalee Tull May 2014

Telling Tales As Oral Performance: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Storytelling In Ireland, Scotland And Southern Appalachia, Annalee Tull

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I sought to link, through this paper, cultural performances of identity through storytelling in Ireland, Scotland, and southern Appalachia. I evaluated storytelling practices, whether it was a public or private performance, using symbolic interactionism, dramatist theory, narrative paradigm, and performance theory. The author studied abroad in Ireland and Scotland through the East Tennessee State University Appalachian, Scottish, and Irish Studies Program and experienced an array of stories. She then evaluated her own experiences with storytelling from growing up in southern Appalachia and visited the International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. The research is rooted in grounded theory from ethnographies, with …


Aerial Arial : A Lesson In Strength And Stamina., Ashley Elizabeth Smith May 2014

Aerial Arial : A Lesson In Strength And Stamina., Ashley Elizabeth Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis serves to argue the importance of skills related to strength and stamina in the field of theatre performance, particularly in regards to engaging young audiences by applying physical spectacle to classical theatre works. This thesis explores the physical theatre theories of Tadashi Suzuki, Mary Overlie, Rudolf Laban, and the theatrical style of Commedia dell’Arte as applied to my role as Ariel in The Tempest. It also reflects on the use of aerial silks in the same Shakespearean production, serving to prove that the skills required for such a strenuous physical activity are useful for actors as they attempt …


Walking To My Death : An Actor's Journey., David Elliot Galloway 1987- May 2014

Walking To My Death : An Actor's Journey., David Elliot Galloway 1987-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the fall of 2011, I began a course of graduate theatrical training at the University of Louisville. Over my three years of study, I have developed a process for the creation of a well-rounded and emotionally interesting character. I call my process three-dimensional acting. This process is composed of: a keen and in-depth study of and adherence to the text, careful and thorough voice work, and well-rehearsed and executed physicality. This study shows, through its application to the character of Matthew Poncelet, in Dead Man Walking, that my process is succeeds in creating a character of emotional complexity that …


Not Dead At All, Martin Becerra May 2014

Not Dead At All, Martin Becerra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Not Dead At All is a nontraditional thesis, a creative product, the result of a combination of media production and social research. This paper is an attempt to explain the creative and production process behind the creation of an original media content, using the social research as a tool to increase the likeability of our characters and therefore increase the show’s chances of success.


The Tempest Defending Prospera : The Ideation Of Spiritual Lineage And Practice In Performance For An Afro-Haitian American Actor., Iva-Kristi Maria Papailler May 2014

The Tempest Defending Prospera : The Ideation Of Spiritual Lineage And Practice In Performance For An Afro-Haitian American Actor., Iva-Kristi Maria Papailler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Imagine: William Shakespeare’s final hero, Prospero and all of his beautiful and majestic White, Italian maleness played by an Afro-Haitian American actress. Something changes. No longer does the audience see a traditional view of the character onstage. The audience sees a woman of African descent delivering lines written for a man of European descent. They may or may not question what they are seeing: certainly, I the actor, must. My Blackness brings an ancestral line to the production that makes a variety of traditional African religions part of Prospera’s spiritual lineage. My Blackness and gender also imbue Prospera with a …


Digesting Modern Acting Theory For Young Performers, Brandon Yagel Jan 2014

Digesting Modern Acting Theory For Young Performers, Brandon Yagel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An actor seeking to improve his craft can find numerous sources containing countless tips and techniques on the art of acting. However, the majority of these books target the adult actor often leaving young performers struggling to understand complex acting theory. With the goals of creating a nurturing learning environment and quality performance work within a compact rehearsal schedule, this thesis project created and evaluated a new synthesis of modern acting theory for directors to use when working with young performers. This technique adapted and coalesced several perspectives on foundational acting theory-specifically looking at the use of a character's wants …


The Art Of The Technical Director, Victoria Oakes Jan 2014

The Art Of The Technical Director, Victoria Oakes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The theatrical scenic design process does not end at a picture on paper or with the presentation of a scale model. The design must be translated to the stage. There are a myriad of questions to be answered and decisions regarding construction style, process, material choices, structure, safety, etc. that must be made in order to fully realize the design. In a common, contemporary American production hierarchy, the person that is most often responsible for this translation process is the technical director. Often, the technical director is stereotyped as solely a craftsman or a technician following a set of pre-established …


Halloween Horror Nights And/Or Visceral Theatre, Patrick Braillard Jan 2014

Halloween Horror Nights And/Or Visceral Theatre, Patrick Braillard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Visceral [vis-er-uh l] -adj 1. of, relating to, or affecting the viscera 2. characterized by intuition or instinct rather than intellect ("visceral," def. 1-2) The above words speak to define far more than merely the word "visceral." They speak to also embody and classify a previously untitled form of theatre. Visceral Theatre: A form of theatre that uses the instinctual awareness of the audience- the audiences' perception of popular culture, societal contexts both historical and geographical, as well as their instinctual-physical aversion to danger- to cause physiological and emotional responses through the overstimulation of the senses in a non-tactile attack. …


To Better Understand The Theater Of The Middle Ages By An In-Depth Study Of The Old Testament Plays Of The York Cycle Of Corpus Christi Plays, Carole Casey Jan 2014

To Better Understand The Theater Of The Middle Ages By An In-Depth Study Of The Old Testament Plays Of The York Cycle Of Corpus Christi Plays, Carole Casey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scholastic texts on theater move from the Greeks and Romans to the theater of Shakespeare's time with little or no acknowledgment of the Middle Ages. From the late thirteenth century until the reformation an active community theater known as the mystery plays existed throughout much of Europe. The York Corpus Christi Cycle was part of that movement. The play was produced by the guilds of York under the supervision of the chamber of commerce with the Church monitoring the theology and morals. Performed yearly on the Feast Day of Corpus Christi, the subject of the play was the salvation of …


Eye For The Gap: Frenzy, Liberty, And The Nietszchean Chorus In Conor Mcpherson's The Weir And Shining City, Frances Krieg Jan 2014

Eye For The Gap: Frenzy, Liberty, And The Nietszchean Chorus In Conor Mcpherson's The Weir And Shining City, Frances Krieg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study situates The Weir and Shining City by Conor McPherson as embodying elements of Dionysian aesthetics as elucidated by Friedrich Nietzsche. Working through the lenses of Samuel Beckett’s linguistic philosophy and the premium of theater as established by Nietzsche, Artaud, and Brecht, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate how McPherson pierces the boundaries of language in drama by establishing his audience as chorus. Background information on Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy and McPherson’s own comments on the plays are included with the research on the plays themselves. This work articulates the chorus itself but also the choral, …