Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Ceremony Of Carols, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2012-2013 Exceptions Rule: No Compromise

Described as one of Britain’s most musical choreographers, Alston has used works by a diverse range of composers to explore how choreography can animate the spirit of music. Featured in this program will be the American premiere of Alston’s most recent work, A Ceremony of Carols, choreographed to Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece for voice and harp. The music will be performed live by an all-female choir conducted by Montclair State’s Heather J. Buchanan, accompanied by harpist André Tarantiles. Also included will be Alston’s Roughcut and Unfinished Business, set to the music of Steve Reich and Mozart, respectively.

L.A. Dance Project, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2012-2013 Exceptions Rule: No Compromise

Through his work with the New York City Ballet and on the film Black Swan, choreographer Benjamin Millepied is redefining dance for the 21st century. This program will feature a new work by Millepied, with a score by composer Nico Muhly and visual design by noted New York painter Christopher Wool. The company will also revive Merce Cunningham’s controversial 1964 Winterbranch, a movement exploration of falling bodies set to a two-note score by La Monte Young, and William Forsythe’s Quintett, a 1993 study in loss and hope to avant-garde composer Gavin Bryar’s looping composition “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.”

Shanghai Quartet With Jan Vogler, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2012-2013 Exceptions Rule: No Compromise

Through two dynamic programs, the Shanghai Quartet celebrates their 30th anniversary by demonstrating the amazing breadth of repertoire that has become the group’s hallmark. In the fall, the group collaborates with cellist Jan Vogler to perform Franz Schubert’s breathtaking String Quartet in C Major. In the spring, internationally renowned soprano Ying Huang joins the Quartet in performing Chinasong, a spectacular mix of traditional and popular Chinese folk music written and arranged by Shanghai Quartet violinist Yi-Wen Jiang. Together, both programs represent the special east-meets-west style that has become the touchstone of the Shanghai Quartet’s illustrious career.

I'Ll Never See The Stars Again, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2012-2013 Exceptions Rule: No Compromise

Six singers and five instrumentalists tell the story of a group of Italian refugees in a series of vignettes expressing the comedy of love and the despair of betrayal. The musicians of ARTEK have built a reputation for the vitality of their spirited performances of baroque music. In I’ll Never See the Stars Again, the lush music of Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries is re-imagined as a theater piece staged by Martin Platt, founding artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.In an extremely entertaining fashion, ARTEK proves the journey is just as important as the destination.

Fairy Tales Redux: Jon Scieszka’S Revitalization Of A Genre For The 21st Century Kid.”, Laura Nicosia, James Nicosia

Department of English Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Dog Days, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2012-2013 Exceptions Rule: No Compromise

What does it mean to follow your instincts? Featuring world class vocal talent, Dog Days is a darkly comedic new opera brought to life through David T. Little’s inventive combination of classical and contemporary music elements. Based on the short story by Judy Budnitz, this world premiere investigates what happens when a working-class American family – and the “dog” appearing at their front door – is pitted against an apocalyptic scenario in the not-too-distant future. Featuring musical direction from Alan Pierson (artistic director for Alarm Will Sound and the Brooklyn Philharmonic), Dog Days was created in collaboration with librettist Royce …

Gender-Based Perceptions Of The 2001 Anthrax Attacks: Implications For Outreach And Preparedness, Christopher Salvatore, Brian J. Gorman

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Extensive research dealing with gender-based perceptions of fear of crime has generally found that women express greater levels of fear compared to men. Further, studies have found that women engage in more self-protective behaviors in response to fear of crime, as well as have different levels of confidence in government efficacy relative to men. The majority of these studies have focused on violent and property crime; little research has focused on gender-based perceptions of the threat of bioterrorism. Using data from a national survey conducted by ABC News / Washington Post, this study contrasted perceptions of safety and fear in …

Virtue Ethics, Care Ethics, And "The Good Life Of Teaching", Marissa Silverman

John J. Cali School of Music Scholarship and Creative Works

In "The Good Life of Teaching: An Ethics of Professional Practice," Chris Higgins (2011) reminds people that "self-interest and altruism, personal freedom and social roles, and practical wisdom and personhood" have been ancient philosophical topics that remain vitally important in the practice of contemporary teaching and learning. One of the most fundamental questions Higgins raises is this: "How do we reconcile self-regard and concern for others?" Higgins echoes John Dewey's concern for "balancing the distinctive capacity of an individual with his social service." In other words, and educationally speaking: What does it mean to live "the good life" as an …

The Frida Kahlo Self-Portraits : The Objectification Of Self As A Symbol And Statement, Diane Zimbaldi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Even with the vast analysis done on the work of Frida Kahlo, little attention has been paid to both the artist’s probable abuse as a child and her intentional abortions as an adult. This study chooses to incorporate these findings to reexamine six of her famous self-portraits, Self Portrait on the Borderline of Mexico and the United States, My Birth, Henry Ford Hospital, Self Portrait with Monkey, What I saw in the Water and The Two Fridas to uncover a new perspective. Scrutiny of the artist’s words, combined with historical fact dispels the current myth that Kahlo’s painting was done …

Tracking The Basic Writer, Timothy Donohue

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Since the 1970s, composition teachers and theorists have been advocating the term “basic writer” to give a space and voice to underprepared students entering college by providing them with basic skills remediation. Despite the various pedagogical approaches to these classes that have been established and put into practice over the years, there is still large disagreement among educators on how to best prepare these students for entrance into the mainstream college environment.

This study begins by examining the history of the basic writing movement, acknowledging key figures and the salient ideas of their works. A broad overview is given to …

The Experiences Of Music Therapists With Mental Illness Working With Clients With Similar Diagnoses, Adam Makofske

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This phenomenological research study examined music therapists’ experiences of working with clients when both are diagnosed with a mental illness. The following research questions were addressed:

What is the experience like for music therapists with psychiatric illnesses to treat clients who have the same or similar diagnoses? What are the specific challenges regarding the therapeutic dynamics in this unique situation?

How is the countertransference defined, experienced and handled by the music therapist, including the specific role of the music and its impact on the therapy process?

In person, phenomenological interviews were conducted with three participants, each self-identified as having been …

Public And Private Space In Assia Djebar’S L 'Amour, La Fantasia And Ombre Sultane : Giving Voice To The Silenced History Of Algerian Women, Chedia Ayari

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

No abstract provided.

2011-2012 Season Brochure, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2011-2012 Expose of Global Creativity

No abstract provided.

Shanghai Quartet, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2011-2012 Expose of Global Creativity

Ever since Franz Josef Haydn developed the modern version of a string quartet in the mid-18th century, the most daring and innovative practitioners of the art form has to be Béla Bartók. In this special double program, the Shanghai Quartet flexes its musical muscles by performing the complete Bartók quartet cycle. Written over a 30-year span, Bartók’s six quartets stand as a sonic biography of one of the 20th century’s most enigmatic and essential composers.

Connections And Disconnections Between Academic Writing Theory And Writing In The Business World, Shannon N. Fanning

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Although not all college students will become professional writers, many, if not all, will need to learn to write professionally. The ability to write well is an essential skill in any profession, and while few would dispute the importance of being able to write well, the ways in which one’s academic writing experiences inform her ability to write successfully in professional settings remain a mystery to many.

My thesis begins with a discussion of attempts made to bridge academic and business writing and a review of the history of efforts made by advocates of professional and workplace writing instruction and …

The Problem Of Moral Statements In Historical Writing, Alexandra Katherine Perry

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Bernard Williams (1985) begins his skeptical look at the history of ethical theory with a reminder of where it began, with Socrates’ question, "how should one live?" (pg. 1). This question is relevant to historians, who ask a similar question, “how did people live?” in their own work, To wonder “how one should live” or to make statements about the ways in which people have lived is to rely on the work of historians. The question of what historians can know about the past, however, is a very philosophical question, and it is dependent on our views about such things …

Linden Hills And The Women Of Brewster Place : Race, Class, And Gender Seen Through The Gothic, Nicole Marie Riotto

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Gloria Naylor uses Gothic elements in two of her novels, Linden Hills and The Women of Brewster Place, to highlight struggles and fears of the black communities of these texts. In each, the characters try to navigate through a white, patriarchal world, which causes them to struggle economically, emotionally, and socially. Throughout reading these texts, it is clear that Naylor uses the sins of the father, the absent mother/fear of motherhood, and religion versus the state/science, all Gothic elements, to show how these characters are put in the position of other and how they respond to occupying that space.

Each …

The Illusion Of Influence : Gender And Class Conflict In Three Gothic Works By Louisa May Alcott, Katie Elizabeth Dowson

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In “The Illusion of Influence: Gender and Class Conflict in Three Gothic Works by Louisa May Alcott,” the works A Modern Mephistopheles, A Long, Fatal Love Chase, and Behind a Mask are analyzed as representative works of Alcott’s gothic fiction in terms of how they reflect the changes that were taking place in mid-nineteenth century America, as society developed from a sentimental culture to one that was theatrical. In Chapter One, I focus on the ways in which Alcott’s gothic heroines embody a blend of sentimentality and theatricality and how each looses or gains influence over others as a result …

The "Stamp" Of Black Science Fiction In The Works Of Octavia Butler, And The White Sf Of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Liamog Seamus Drislane

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Among other things, science fiction is a tool for imagining futures. SF authors take what they currently understand about science, couple it with their understanding of human nature, and spin stories that inform, encourage, or warn us about what might be possible. In this sense SF functions in a role adjacent to scientific inquiry, acting as a mouthpiece for the potential revealed or made accessible by developing technology. What can sometimes go unsaid in conversations about SF is that science fiction, like science itself, does not exist in a vacuum removed from cultural scripts and problems. When written by white …

Captain Cook's Writing Assignment, Leonard F. Grant Iii

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Captain James Cook is one of the greatest mariners and explorers the world has ever known. The writing he did on his first voyage around the world both preserved the histories of the Pacific Ocean cultures he encountered and commenced their colonization by the British Empire. Despite his limited educational background, Cook was able to achieve such fame by learning maritime skills and writing skills through literacy sponsorship and cognitive apprenticeship. When he was selected by London’s Royal Society to lead an expedition to the Pacific Ocean and around the world, it gave him a complex set of instructions that …

The Politics Of Writing In The Works Of Cicero And Ovid, Caroline Ann Kyzek

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The period between the Late Republic and Early Empire of Ancient Rome was a period of instability which involved civil wars and politicians vying for power. As a result, the literature of this period was changing as well. The two works I have chosen to examine are Cicero’s Second Philippic and Book I of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria or The Art of Love. The reason I have chosen these two is that they are on opposite spectrums in the period of transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. As one form of government was replacing the other, writing was …

The Bean Field Quandary : Environmental Ethics In Emerson And Thoreau, Nicole Elaine Wittenburg

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis discusses Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau and their oppositional environmental perspectives. Specifically, the analysis focuses on Emerson’s Nature, “Self-Reliance,” “The Transcendentalism” “Circles”, and “Hamatreya,” and Thoreau’s Walden and The Maine Woods. In these texts, Emerson conveys a predominantly anthropocentric viewpoint throughout his writings, while Thoreau’s view is ecocentric. In addition, both of their works contain contradictions regarding the environment. At times, Emerson speaks of nature as subservient to mankind but then shifts his tone to that of reverential awe for nature. Thoreau is conflicted by humanity’s impact on the environment, promoting vegetarianism but then renouncing farming. …

Fame, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2011-2012 Expose of Global Creativity

In the world premiere of FAME, an international company of six performers will strive to reach moments of fame as viewed through numerous pop culture filters and reference points. Utilizing an extremely physical and sensual performance style, truths are told and fragile secrets revealed as the audience strives to interpret the difference between what is seen… and what is perceived. Director/writer Lee Sher and dancer/choreographer Saar Harari joined the Israeli military at age 18, as is required of all citizens. After their service, both entered upon a life in the performing arts, bringing their intense focus and drive along with …

Gardenia, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2011-2012 Expose of Global Creativity

Inspired by Yo soy así, a penetrating film regarding the closing of a transvestite cabaret in Barcelona, actress Vanessa Van Durme has collected a group of her transsexual and transvestite friends to explore a riveting set of circumstances…the life of a performer, the struggle of one’s true identity, the voyeuristic nature of our modern world. In a groundbreaking American premiere, directors Alain Platel and Frank Van Laecke present a story of the essential truths that can be found within illusion: Gardenia.Based on the real experiences of the cast, this most intimate of tales goes deep into the turbulent lives of …

Vertical Road, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2011-2012 Expose of Global Creativity

Akram Khan uses his body as a voice, one that strives to speak clearly in a chaotic world. Recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Artist Award by the International Society for the Performing Arts, Khan blends eastern and western traditions (including those of his ancestral home, Bangladesh) into a vibrant expression of our shared humanity that obliterates the borders of both genre and geography.Vertical Road (The Age Critics’ Award for Best New Work, 2010) aims to change the direction of our stream of consciousness. This transcendent production is a meditation on humanity’s constant struggle between gravity and grace, drawing inspiration from …

The Power Of Love, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2011-2012 Expose of Global Creativity

The Power of Love is an amorous stroll through some of the most beautiful English love songs of the 17th century, with Ellen Hargis and Paul O’Dette’s masterful interpretations of works by English composers Nicholas Lanier, Henry Lawes and John Wilson. The pop hits of their time, these tales portray heroes and lovers as they tangle with the trials, triumphs and tribulations of eternal love. Set your passions afire with this delightful program celebrating the undeniable force of the human heart.Friends and colleagues for over 25 years, Ellen Hargis and Paul O’Dette bring an irrepressible spirit of drama, vivid musical …

Puerto Rico Nació En Mi: Tales From The Diaspora, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2011-2012 Expose of Global Creativity

Grammy-nominated saxophonist Miguel Zenón and an array of supporting talent present a world premiere song cycle reflecting the myriad ways in which Puertoriqqueños define their identity. No matter the location - be it New York, New Jersey or countless places around the world - those that have emigrated from La Isla del Encanto (The Enchanted Isle) have a story to tell, and all would do well to listen.Over the past ten years, Miguel Zenón has blazed an incendiary trail across the jazz pantheon by consistently challenging the established notions of what jazz can be. His fusion of Puerto Rican “plena” …

Story/Time, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2011-2012 Expose of Global Creativity

Director and choreographer Bill T. Jones – whose major honors include a MacArthur “Genius” Award, the Kennedy Center Honors and two Tony Awards for Best Choreography – returns to the stage in a spellbinding new work. Story/Time finds Jones engaging in the beloved form of storytelling, offering glancing takes on ideas, feelings and impressions from his life. Inspired by John Cage’s Indeterminacy, a performance of ninety one-minute stories, Jones creates a landscape of dance, music, and his own stories, arranged by chance procedure. In previously celebrated works such as A Quarreling Pair and Blind Date, the brilliance of Bill T. …

Confessing Without Regret: An Israeli Film Genre, Livia Alexander

Department of Art and Design Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

La Censure Ressentie : Une Enquête Sur Les Effets Tangibles De La Censure Dans La Littérature Française Entre Le Seizième Et Le Dix-Neuvième Siècle, Jeffrey D. Indiveri-Gant

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Written in French, this thesis examines literary censorship in France from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. Specifically, the thesis centers on the tangible manifestations of censorship imposed on authors and literary works during this time period. Across four case studies, the tangibility—that is, an effect of censorship that can be observed, quantified, or otherwise measured—is determined through exploration of specific examples of censorship.

To add to the existing discourse on literary censorship during the time period in question, the idea of censorship itself is also further scrutinized. Through this line of inquiry, a generic idea of censorship is refined …