Theatre History Commons^™

Romeo & Juliet

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2012 performance of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy about two young lovers from feuding families and how their relationship and deaths reconcile their families.

The Glass Menagerie Program [2012], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2012-2013 Season

By Tennessee Williams

Directed by Thomas Power

This production was a Participating entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF).

The Brilliance Of The Servant Without Qualities, Daniel Sack

Daniel Sack

Spring Awakening, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012-2013 Season

Based on Frank Wedekind’s groundbreaking and controversial play (once banned in Germany), Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s brilliant rock score and searingly emotional book take the story of sexual awakening, youth revolt, and self-discovery into a new century. It’s 1891, and grown-ups hold all the cards. Headstrong Melchior and naive Wendla stumble into each others’ arms, passionate and curious, while anxious Moritz struggles to live up to the stringent expectations of society. With only each other for guidance, this group of young men and women travel the fraught and rocky path of adolescence, discovering their bodies, their minds, and themselves …

A Celtic Invocation: Cétnad Naíse, Ernst F. Tonsing

e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies

Very little has been written about the baffling text of the Celtic invocation, the Cétnad nAíse, for the reason that it is abstruse, and the allusions in it resist sure explication. Despite the obstacles to interpreting the Cétnad nAíse, however, a close examination of the poem can yield some clues as to its sources, purpose, and, perhaps, authorship. To do this, the lines of the prayer will be treated in three groups: the four "invocations," the "petitions," and the "I am" sayings. It can be concluded that, contrary to some analysts, the content of the poem is derived …

Waiting For Godot

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2012 performance of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

Waiting for Gadot is the story of two men and their conversations as they wait for someone named Gadot, who never arrives.

But Not Destroyed: The Story Of Calvin Fairbank

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2012 performance of But Not Destroyed: The Story of Calvin Fairbank by William Gebby.

But Not Destroyed tells the story of Calvin Fairbank who was among forty-four persons imprisoned in the Kentucky State Penitentiary for the crime of helping African-Americans escape from slavery.

Performed by the Taylor Touring Company.

You Can't Take It With You Program, University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2012-2013 Season

By George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart

Directed by Wil Kilroy

This production was a Participating entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF).

Bawds, Babes, And Breeches: Regendering Theater After The English Restoration, Laura Larson

History Theses

Restoration England (1660~1720) was a raucous time for theater-making. After an 18- year Puritanical ban on the theater, and with the restoration of the worldly Charles II to the throne, English theater underwent a pivotal rebirth. At this time, women were allowed to act on the public stage for the first time, an event carrying enormous implications for gender roles. This paper argues that actresses posed a threat to the patriarchal hierarchy that was in place at this time. Their unique position in professional theater and unusual access to a public voice not available to the rest of women enabled …

The Fight Master, Fall 2012, Vol. 34 Issue 2, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

Noises Off, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012-2013 Season

Michael Frayn's Noises Off takes a fond look at the follies of theatre folk, whose susceptibility to out-of-control egos, memory loss, and passionate affairs turn every performance into a high-risk adventure. This play-within-a-play captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of Nothing On in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance, and a performance towards the end of a debilitating run. Frayne gives us a window into the inner workings of theatre behind the scenes, progressing from flubbed lines and missed cues in the dress rehearsal to mounting friction between cast members in the final performance. Brimming with slapstick comedy, Noises …

8 Program, University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2012-2013 Season

A New Play by Dustin Lance Black

Directed by Wil Kilroy

Intended For The Stage?: Samson Agonistes In Performance, Timothy Burbery

Timothy J. Burbery

The year 2000 marked the centenary of an important but overlooked milestone in Milton studies, namely the first staging of Samson Agonistes, by William Poel, in 1900. While many scholars may be aware of isolated productions of the tragedy, the extent and variety of its stage history is perhaps less well-known. The work was successful as a dramatic reading throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, yet it had never been attempted on the boards until Poel’s landmark production. That event ushered in a range of performances throughout the twentieth century, and nearly every decade saw several dramatizations. At least fifteen …

Something's Afoot: A New Murder Mystery Musical, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012 Summer Theatre

Something's Afoot is a murder mystery musical that spoofs detective stories, mainly the works of Agatha Christie, and especially her detective novel And Then There Were None (a.k.a. Ten Little Indians). The play involves a group of people who are invited to the lake estate of Lord Dudley Rancour, When the wealthy lord is found dead, it's a race against the clock to find out whodunnit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something%27s_Afoot

Barefoot In The Park, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012 Summer Theatre

What happens when two very different people fall in love? Paul likes to wear his gloves in the winter and Corie wants to walk barefoot in the park. Mix in the crazy neighbors upstairs, Victor Velasco, who "wears Japanese kimonos and sleeps on rugs" and Corie's mother who "wears a hairnet and sleeps on a board" and expect some complications. Set in 1963, Barefoot in the Park captures the tension between the freedom of the burgeoning 60's and the conventions of the waning 50's. Corie and Victor are pre-hippies, attuned to their libidos and their desire for freedom and adventure. …

Circle Mirror Transformation, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012 Summer Theatre

A sharply funny new play by emerging playwright Annie Baker, Circle Mirror Transformation follows five people through a summer of "creative drama" in their small town's adult acting class. Led by their bohemian acting coach, the five experiment with harmless theatre games that unexpectedly lead to poignant discoveries about themselves and each other. At turns, surprisingly funny and subtly insightful, this revealing play reminds us why theatre is the most human of all arts.

Jared Brown, Jared Brown

Jared Brown

Noises Off

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2012 performance of Noises Off by Michael Frayn.

Noises Off is a farce involving the small cast of a play and how their offstage drama impacts their onstage drama.

Playing Devil's Advocate: The Attractive Shakespearean Villain, Jonathan Montgomery Green

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The characters of William Shakespeare have spawned countless words of critical interpretation inspired by the playwright's aptitude for fashioning intricate and conflicted figures. As a master character craftsman, Shakespeare is consistent in creating fascinatingly deep characters, and many of them have even gone so far as to generate entire literary archetypes. From the contemplative Prince Hamlet to the despicable yet charming John Falstaff, Shakespeare's characters remain eternal representatives of what any good character should be: interesting, provocative, and complicated.

However, among the playwright's most hypnotic figures are his villains, those characters whom audiences should by all counts detest but cannot …

Prolific Playwrights: Clifford Odets And Lillian Hellman Expose The Thirties, Samantha L. Paradis

Honors College

Clifford Odets and Lillian Hellman were two of the most influential playwrights of the 1930s, which was a decade of economic instability and political unrest in the United States. Odets began his career in 1935 with his workers’ theatre smash hit Waiting for Lefty. Hellman’s career took off with the premiere of her drama The Children’s Hour. Both playwrights generated controversy with their plays through the emphasis of Popular Front values. They were influenced by the political, social, and economic conditions in the 1930s. An in-depth analysis of their plays reveals how the interrelationship between playwright and society …

Power And Relationships In The Plays Of Neil Labute: Directing And Performing In Some Girl(S), Mary Peyton Griffith

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the major works of Neil LaBute's career as a playwright and screenwriter, including the criticism he has received on theatrical and literary levels. The themes most prevalent in the thesis are the use of power and manipulation in the relationships between LaBute's characters and the ongoing maturation of his characters that coincides with the maturation of his work. The second section of the thesis follows the production, directing, and acting in LaBute's play Some Girl(s).

King's Theatre Queens: Three Successful Women In The Early Classical Era, Ashley Mchugh

2012 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

In the early Classical era, three particular women are accredited with encompassing the vocal style and techniques of the timeframe: Madame Gertrud Mara, Brigida Giorgi Banti, and Mrs. Elizabeth Billington. They were of different nationalities, statuses, educational backgrounds, vocal qualities, and performance strengths. However, they were all frequently associated with similar repertoire, critics and audiences, and companies- especially the King's Theatre in London.

The Fight Master, Spring 2012, Vol. 34 Issue 1, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

Hedda Gabler Program [2012], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2011-2012 Season

By Henrik Ibsen

Directed by William Steele

This production was a Participating entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF).

The Evocation Of The Physical, Metaphysical, And Sonic Landscapes In Samuel Beckett's Short Dramatic Works, Theresa A. Incampo

Senior Theses and Projects

A historical analysis of the playwright’s theatrical spaces including the concept of temporality, which is central to the subsequent elements within the physical, metaphysical and sonic landscapes. The choice to focus on the philosophy of phenomenology centers on the notion that these short dramatic works present the theatrical landscape as the conscious character perceives it to be. The perceptual experience is explained by Maurice Merleau-Ponty as the relationship between the body and the world and the way as to which the self-limited interior space of the mind interacts with the limitless exterior space that surrounds it.

Dance 2012: Spotlight, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2011-2012 Season

No abstract provided.

The Drowsy Chaperone Program [2012], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2011-2012 Season

Music and Lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison

Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar

Directed by Assunta Kent

Musical Direction by Edward Reichert

This production was a Participating entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF).

Eurydice Program [2012], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2011-2012 Season

By Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Meghan Brodie

This production was a Participating entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF).

"Speak To Me In Vernacular, Doctor": Translating And Adapting Tirso De Molina's El Amor Médico For The Stage, Sarah A. Brew

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Considered one of the greatest playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age, Tirso de Molina (1580?-1648) lived something of a double life, alternating—much like the characters in his plays—between two separate and often conflicting lives. Though Tirso, whose real name was Gabriel Téllez, spent the greater portion of his life in the church as a Mercedarian friar, his dramatic output as a playwright was prodigious in scope. Fewer than 90 of his plays survive today, and only a handful have been translated into English. This M.F.A. thesis therefore presents the first-ever English-language translation and adaptation of one of Tirso’s plays, El …

A Dull Enigma: Historians' Analysis Of Gilbert And Sullivan's Impact On The Development Of The American Musical, Andrew Vorder Bruegge

College of Visual and Performing Arts Faculty Publications

Historians of musical theatre have been ambivalent when assessing the historical significance of Gilbert and Sullivan upon the development of the American musical. Historical narratives typically jump from The Black Crook to Friml, with only passing reference to G&S (and Offenbach, and Strauss). Gilbert and Sullivan (encouraged by D’Oyly Carte), however, anticipated not only most of the formal elements, but also many of the creative/production processes of the American musical genre. The shows that we associate with the “Golden Era” of the American musical theatre contain many components that G&S devised three score years earlier. Historians should acknowledge the importance …