Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Beyond The Mortal Coil: The Culture Of Ghost Belief And Storytelling In The Modern-Day Theatre, A.P. Anderson

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Laramie Project Lighting Design, Jay Foster-Grover

Honors Theses

After establishing a concept and an internal image of the lighting environment for The Laramie Project came the process of creating a lighting plot, hanging and focusing the plot, and programming ques. This stage occupied the two weeks before the show opened, because before this point, the director had not solidified blocking choices or done run-thrus. The goal of this stage was to evaluate the resources available to me and the way that they could best be used to create the looks I wanted, followed by precise implementation of those resources. This process also involved collaborating with and responding to …

Scattered Swirls: Understanding A Fragmented Past Through Embodied Knowledge, Maxine Patronik

Honors Theses

For my Senior Dance Project, which represents the culminating work of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program, I created a work of choreography with a chosen cast of five dancers and explored the vast theme of memory. The choreographic process helped me narrow down and identify the specific theme I wanted to explore, namely, the relationship of memory to the physical and moving body. As the piece developed and as I drew more experience from working with my dancers, I became particularly interested in the body as a repository of truth and how the body sustains truthful knowledge over …

Sonder: Locating The Unessentialized Self In Movement Practices, Joel Walsham

Honors Theses

This research will contend with the ever-present endeavor in many models of contemporary dance practices to ‘be yourself’ – to seek out an illusive core of your being, and engage with your essential self. Through a survey of cultural studies and social identity that includes the contributions of Judith Butler, Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, Todd Reeser, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, the idea of an essential self will be challenged, throwing into question the dominant conception of self used in contemporary dance practices. Through a brief review of two historical conceptions of self in dance, that of Isadora Duncan and the post-modern …

Dichotomy: A Creative Exercise In Theming Artistic And Emotional Dance Around Scientific Fitness Principles, John P. Davenport

Honors Theses

The creative dance work entitled Dichotomy investigated the following research question: is it possible to choreograph an artistic dance work that is firmly related to exercise science principles yet can still evoke an emotional response from the audience? This concert dance was performed in the Fall 2016 Studio 115 Dance Concert in Hattiesburg, MS by three Repertory Dance Company members. This paper seeks to explore the relationship between modern dance and exercise programming, to describe the methodology implemented to generate movement from exercise programming and testing, and to investigate the emotional response that the audience had to the work based …

Books And Bodies: A Collaborative Process Between Dance And Literature, Sarah Dexter Givens

Honors Theses

This senior choreographic project, Reading Response #6, was created and performed in the fall of 2016 in collaboration with five dancers, one apprentice, and the choreographer. The project was a collaboration of dance with literature by Emily Dickinson, Leo Tolstoy, Richard Wilbur, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, and Walt Whitman. The final product was performed in the Studio 115 Dance Concert in the University of Southern Mississippi’s Theatre and Dance Building in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This paper investigates the relationship between dance and literature and explores methods of integration between the two art forms.

Autobiography And Authenticity: Writing Are You Sure?: Experiences Of A Gay Foster Youth, Zachary A. Clein

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of authenticity in autobiographical writing, then apply what has been discovered to the author’s own autobiographical play. Researching for the project involved reviewing various forms of autobiographical writing performed on the stage (including The Normal Heart, a straight play/ non-musical production, a musical, From Foster Care to Fabulous, and a “memory play” The Glass Menagerie). One thing became clear after reviewing these pieces of literature: emotional authenticity, not fact, was the driving force. This stems from the inherent power autobiographical writing possesses to inform audiences on important topics, which allows …

Impulse Graduating Presentation Of Erzsi Bernath, Erszebet Bernath

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Western Michigan University’S Department Of Dance Marketing Plan, Cassandra Hartline

Honors Theses

The following report constitutes the formal marketing plan for the department of dance at Western Michigan University. This plan is intended to synthesize all of the marketing related information pertinent to Western’s dance department and provide easy one step access to this material at any time. The other purpose of this plan is to dictate the primary objectives the department is looking to accomplish through implementation of marketing tactics.

The first primary objective includes increasing visibility of the department of dance as a whole to both our primary and secondary target audiences; the second objective is to create innovative marketing …

Haunted Houses: A Directorial Exploration Of Expressionism, Jose Martinez-Chavarria

Honors Theses

The purpose of “Haunted Houses: A Directorial Exploration of Expressions” is to demonstrate the effectiveness of my directorial skills in staging a drama on stage with both an objective and subjective reality. The play Haunted Houses by Kathryn Schultz-Miller served as the chosen work whose staging would implement the common expressionist staging strategies of abstraction, simple and flexible blocking, nonrealistic lighting and a strong emphasis on visuals and stage images. The following thesis provides a detail directorial book containing the blocking, scenery, props and creative concepts used in this original production that allows it to be recreated if desired. A …

Devising From A Distance: A Study Of The Difference In Process, Composition, And Audience Response Between In-Person And Digitally-Mediated Choreographic Collaborations, Kathryn Butler

Honors Theses

This paper argues that dance devising shares a value system with that of the digital age, justifying the use of a virtual choreographic site to facilitate geographically distributed collaborations. The presence of technology in our social lives, working environments, and creative practices is steadily increasing. Before we passively let technology digitize and make virtual the choreographic process, or before we expedite this seemingly inevitable trajectory, we need to know what the consequences and opportunities might be. Through use of a controlled empirical investigation, this study analyzed the process experience, composition, and post-performance audience response between in-person and remote choreographic collaborations. …