Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Costume Design For A Midsummer Night’S Dream, Phyllis Vancleave

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The procedures taken in designing and constructing the costumes for Western Kentucky University’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was presented on November 13-19, 1979, were examined in retrospect to (1) the approach (2) the process and construction and (3) the evaluation. In establishing an approach for the production, considerations presented were title implications, thematic concept, historical periods, character sources, and the director’s notes. Solutions arrived at comprised a style suggestion, design/plot emphasis, color organization, texture contrasts, and line direction. In developing the design process and construction procedures, steps outlined were the preparations prior to designing, the organization …

Balance, Symmetry, And Order In As You Like It, Lois Stacy Creed

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although many critics have commented on various aspects of balance, symmetry, and order in Shakespeare’s As You like It, others have given the impression that the play uses a carefree series of episodes to give the audience lighthearted entertainment. Few, if any have discussed the extent to which these elements are exemplified through the remarkable skill and craftsmanship of the playwright. The coordination of these elements shows that the work is not, as it frequently has been considered, a simple romance, but is rather a superlative exemplification of Shakespeare’s remarkable artistry. Through the use of various devices, Shakespeare constructs for …

Performance Attitudes Toward Read Or Imagined Events In “Scenes Of Passion And Despair” By Joyce Carol Oates, Bruce Creed

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The object of this study is to examine the diction of “Scenes of Passion and Despair” by Joyce Carol Oates in an attempt to discover performative attitudes for the interpreter. The discussion centers on the theme of illusion and reality as it manifests itself in the story. Because this theme superimposes itself on diction, it becomes necessary to examine words in detail, searching for the manner in which words are used to create a certain degree of reality for each character of the story. The discovery of these realities reassures the interpreter that his is a faithful rendering of one …

Isolation In The Dramas Of T.S. Eliot, Jean Conway

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

T.S. Eliot is a monumental figure in literature. He distinguished himself as a poet in his youth, as a critic in his middle age, and as a dramatist in his later years. Because of the vitality of Eliot’s early literary works, his dramas are frequently bypassed by critics when discussing the major themes that interested him as an artist. The purpose this study is to examine thoroughly Eliot’s position on isolation and alienation as revealed in his seven plays: Sweeney Agonistes (1926), The Rock (1934), Murder in the Cathedral (1935), The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1949), The Confidential …

An Analysis Of The Themes Of Guilt And Atonement In The Writings Of Tennessee Williams, James Curry

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The themes of guilt and atonement have been analyzed in selected writings of Tennessee Williams. Research concerning these two themes has been developed simultaneously with Williams’s concept of the universe and man. Many of Williams’s characters seek a form of atonement or purification for their guilt which has arisen due to their “incompleteness and unnatural desires.” Williams’s basic concept concerning the universe is that it is fragmented, a universe not completed by its Creator. Consequently, Williams envisions man and his nature to be likewise incomplete. It is this incompletion in man which causes him to have “unnatural desires,” labeled as …

The Theatrical Innovations Of Charles Laughton, Gary Joseph Jones

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In most journalistic studies the film career of Charles Laughton overshadows his theatrical activities to the extent that the reader is hardly aware of the importance of his theatrical innovations to the theater of our time. The more commercial side of Laughton’s career was publicized while his artistic efforts, as characterized by the innovations, were frequently forgotten. More people remember him as the man who played Captain Bligh in the movies than as the man who worked with Bertolt Brecht, created the First Drama Quartette and developed a new American art form, Readers’ Theatre.

The rationale of this study is …