Playwriting Commons^™

Destabilize (Achtung) Baby: Performance Text, Phenomenon, And Writing As A Condition For Radicalizing An Historically Bourgeois Artform, Jeremy Kadetsky

Theatre Thesis - Written Thesis

The author seeks to define the preconditions for creating performance text that has the possibility to not only create exciting compelling performance; but also has the affordance to radically change the way in which dramatic theatre is produced. In creating their own dramaturgy, Jeremy Kadetsky draws inspiration from the post-structural linguistic writings of Jacques Derrida and Julia Kristeva; the queer theory espoused by Jack Halberstam and Sarah Ahmed; and the written and realized work of contemporary American playwrights Suzan-Lori Parks, Sibyl Kempson, and Agnes Borinsky. Ultimately, they find a working criteria for writing in a way that promotes fecundity, jouissance, …

The Theatre Of Math: The Stage As A Tool For Abstract Math Education, Blaine Hudak

Honors Projects

So often in the education of Mathematics does instruction solely consist of the lecture. While this can be an effective method of communicating the ideas of math, it leaves much to be desired in gathering the interest and intrigue of those who have not dedicated their lives to the study of the subject. Theatre, by contrast, is a tool that has been used in the past as means of teaching complicated and difficult to understand moral and emotional subjects. While Theatre and Mathematics have been used in combination many times in the past, it is most often done in the …

Beneath The Surface: A Memory Play On Asperger's Syndrome, Conner Case

Senior Honors Theses

While academic, formal research proves to give readers an intellectual understanding of Asperger’s syndrome, this thesis serves as an approach to understanding the psychology of an Aspie on an emotional level. Through both research from peer-reviewed studies and the personal perception of an Aspie writer, a playwright develops a script inspired by the psychological aspects of Tennessee Williams’ memory play, The Glass Menagerie, to create an informative, yet engaging story about an Aspie protagonist. The playwright seeks to express that Aspies, despite their stereotypically cold exteriors, are emotionally complex individuals beneath the surface.

La Résistance: An Original Screenplay, Luke Griffin

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

La Résistance is an original screenplay set in 1944 France, focused on a protective young woman struggling to keep her resistance group united and alive as they hunt, and are hunted by, a cold, calculating Milice captain. This first draft explores the ideological divide within the French Resistance alongside the more abstract ideas of why someone fights and what they do when they lose sight of what they fought for to begin with.

Selections From & The Process Of Creating "My Blue Scarf: The Story Of Ruth, A New Play", Abigail Jane Ayulo

Honors Projects

My Blue Scarf: The Story of Ruth, A New Play, provides an adaptation of the Hebrew Book of Ruth that is focused on minority and female voices and experiences. It employs Hebrew poetic verse forms to pay homage to the story’s origins. This style contributes to diversity of voices in English-speaking theatre outside of Western poetics. My Blue Scarf shares a well- known and multicultural story to contribute to the diversity of contemporary American theatre and promote conversation about cross-cultural relationships in a time of division and prejudice. This project consists of eight selected scenes from the larger play and …

Rained In: An Original Musical, Naomi Krizner

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This musical confronts the perception of mental illness in an allegorical story that recounts an encounter between Tate, an estranged man inhabiting a cave who is taunted by two demons, and Emsley, a young girl brimming with innocence and curiosity.

Limboland: A One-Act Play About Death, For Kids, Megan Huggins

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

LimboLand: A One-Act Play about Death, for kids

Megan Huggins

Thesis Director: James Al-Shamma, Ph.D

Thesis Committee: Shawn Knight, Jessica Mueller

A loose adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem Inferno, LimboLand uses Alighieri’s model of the nine circles of Hell to illustrate the five stages of grief. In a script designed for theatre for young audiences, Dante, a young child, travels through different rooms as he attempts to cope with and understand his sister’s death. Dante follows Virgil, an older child, who knows a lot about the afterlife system without understanding any of it. The play includes an appendix …

Diamonds And Toads: An Adaptation Of Charles Perrault’S Les Fées, Jessi Pitts

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

An American Southwest full length adaptation of Charles Perrault’s Les Fées for the stage. The lives of Fanny, Rose, and their mother are changed when Rose is given a blessing by a fairy: whenever she speaks, diamonds fall from her lips. But the softness of a throat stands no choice against the sharp edges of a diamond. Diamonds and Toads explores a dysfunctional family, what it means to be a good person, and the obsession a child has to gain the approval of their parents.

#Parlezvousfemme - A One-Woman Show, Victoria G. Lindbergh

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

#parlezvousfemme is a one-woman show set in 2018 that reimagines the lives of several infamous French women. Each character approaches modern life differently based on her given circumstances and reveals several universal truths about being a woman in today’s society. The famous military leader Joan of Arc is a 19-year-old youtuber criticizing the far-right for using her as their symbol, while revolutionary Olympe de Gouges is a modern-day women’s rights activist. Marie Antoinette is a housewife being interviewed by Vogue and scientist Marie Curie hosts a PBS telethon and addresses the lack of women in science. Designer Coco Chanel is …

Creating A Happy Ending For Socially Relevant Television, John Thomas Cunha

Senior Honors Projects

Television is accessible to millions from the comfort of their own homes and shapes the way we view the world. It has the power to bring people together, but often presents diversity with a strong emphasis on labels. Characters are defined by the one trait that, to the majority of viewers, is unrelatable. This maintains the separation of “us” and “them,” isolating those in the minority. Representation is essential for progress, but it’s more than just including diversity. Instead of dwelling on differences and indulging in stereotypes, characters should all treat each other equally.

The focal TV show of this …

Digging Into Playwriting, Gleason Holt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this thesis was to write an original play and detail the writing process. Themes dealt with in Jane (or, Dug In) are family, coping with grief, survivor’s guilt, and exploration (both literal and personal). In addition to the full script, this thesis explores the inspirations for the play and its title. The play’s genre is analyzed, and reasoning is given for this selection. Included are omitted scenes from the latest draft to offer additional insight into the playwright’s previous versions. A reading of the third draft was presented and detailed in this thesis. A section about future …

A Cycle Of Farewells, Kailey E. Carpenter

Senior Theses and Projects

A two-act play that explores the influence of society on the individual. In a town where suicide is not frowned upon, by highly encouraged and honored, characters must find their place amongst the crowd, grappling with the ideas of agency, choice, and individualization.

Inspired by works such as Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” and Peter Weir’s 1998 satirical dramedy The Truman Show, the play idealizes a society that not only encourages their citizens to monitor one another, but also internalizes the idea that someone is always watching. There is a particular sense of loneliness that comes from being in amongst a …

Three Damn Letters, Katherine Ammon

Honors Program Theses

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal disease that destroys a patient's motor neurons. In the play Three Damn Letters, a sarcastic woman must accept her own ALS diagnosis while also balancing her relationships with her father, husband, and son. This seriocomedic play explores themes of family roles, disability, love, and death.

"V Is For Violin" - An Original Playscript, Brittany Taylor

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As and MFA playwrighting candidate, I was given the opportunity to witness a fully realized production of my work. For this academic opportunity I chose the "V is for Violin." I will discuss the genesis of the idea, the evolution of the play, research conducted, and what I learned in the production process of the show.