Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

Eclipse; A Master Of Fine Arts Thesis, Sally Durbin

Theses

As I went through the process of designing costumes for Eclipsed, I took a journey to another continent, and place in time. In writing this thesis, I attempted to emphasize how history and psychology informed the costuming of characters who portrayed the remarkable people in Liberia, whose story is told through Eclipsed.

Escape From Amherst: Emily Dickinson’S Life Of Freedom, Maria Whitcomb

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Through Escape from Amherst: Emily Dickinson’s Life of Freedom, I endeavored to create an immersive art song recital experience through which I explored the character of Emily Dickinson, hopefully rendering her ambiguous, iconic character somewhat more comprehensive to modern day audiences. Enclosed in the following chapters, please find the formal research I performed in examining Emily Dickinson’s character, an explanation of my own artistic journey, the program that I distributed to audiences during the concert (containing analyses of the Emily Dickinson texts that I performed), stage directions illustrating actor/singer intention and movement onstage, and lastly an explanation of my …

Dance Of Light And Loss, Clark Lunberry

English Faculty Research and Scholarship

On a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon in the Ogikubo district of western Tokyo, in the dark basement of Saburo Teshigawara's dance studio and performance space known as Karas Apparatus, an audience gathered to see the dancer's newest solo performance, Fool. The uncurtained stage in the small theatre was empty and unlit, the stage itself far larger, perhaps three times larger than that tight space reserved for those attending the event. What lights there were faintly illuminated only the slightly raised rows of cushions upon which the forty of us in the audience took our seats, waiting for the performance …

Nature And Notation: Steps Towards A New Dance Ontology, Madelyn Sher

Theses and Dissertations

None

Choral Theatre, Albert Joseph Wolfe Jr.

Dissertations

Jamaica gained its independence from Great Britain in 1962, after some 300 years of colonization. Prior to Independence, the standard arts education curriculum was decidedly British and Western European. That which was labeled Caribbean or Jamaican “folk” by the British was deemed inferior and was not taught, demonstrated, or performed in formal settings. Thus, generations of Jamaicans never observed or imagined a Caribbean aesthetic in the visual and performing arts. Instead, pre-Independence Jamaicans were taught British and Western European music and performed it the “British” way.

Today, Jamaicans boast a number of artistic developments that are instantly recognized across the …

Oh, The Hypocrisy! Or, A Dramaturgical Analysis Of Moliere's Tartuffe, Amelia Maxfield

Theses and Dissertations

In approaching Tartuffe from a dramaturgical standpoint, one must consider the relevancy of the production and how the production team is able to translate the message of an antiquated play to a modem audience. In our case, the solution was to set the play in 1926 Paris instead of the original 1669 Paris. From there, I conducted research on the two periods, discovered the pivotal factors that connected them, and further connected those issues to today’s world. After consulting scholarly articles concerning French history and literature, I compiled a Dramaturgy Casebook that contains information and analyses crucial to understanding the …

Classical Masculinity In Shakespeare’S Antony And Cleopatra, Timothy N. Grams

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis uses the formula of classical masculinity to examine Marc Antony’s value as a Roman man in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Examining Antony’s history as a Roman hero, I distinguish how his reputation is destroyed through his romantic involvement with Cleopatra. Furthermore, I consider the divine representations of Cleopatra and Octavian Caesar as they oppose each other, and how Antony’s role within their conflict defines his value as a classical Roman man. I then deliberate his sexual fetishism for the matriarch pharaoh, and how their relationship functions as sadomasochistic, defining Antony as the masochist and Cleopatra as the …

An Actor’S Approach To Claire In Proof By David Auburn, Kathryn Patterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The areas of study in the Proof thesis contain research on the play, the playwright, and the acting style utilized in the performance and character analysis. The acting style in this process focuses on the actor’s creative work in preparation of portraying a female character. This character is a controlling woman that is unable to manipulate others. By using relaxation techniques involving the Alexander Technique, the actor was able to transition into the character with honest emotions and motives. Finding similarities to the character by using personal relationships gave the actor the ability to discover connections with the character in …

The Process Of Empathetic Bonding With Berniece Charles., Candice Renee Handy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rehearsal process of theatre art entails several steps leading up to performance. Traditionally, the ensemble will discuss together what is needed to produce the theatrical piece, the director will work with each scene individually, and eventually the ensemble will be able to perform the entire piece, with only polishing left to do before performance. This process varies depending on the type of genre that will be performed. The rehearsal process to produce plays that are written with realistic settings and plot lines often, but not always, involve these steps. In order for this process to be productive, as an …

Presence And The Actor's Craft., Casey Richard Moulton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to establish that Presence is essential to an actor’s craft. This thesis makes considerable mention of my own work on Naomi Iizuka’s Polaroid Stories, playing the part of SKINHEADboy, as well as making mention of the theoreticians and practitioners of Acting who have dealt with the subject of Presence. The parallels I draw between actor training and the sources from outside of the field of Acting feed not only into an understanding of how consequential Presence is for the actor, but also how Presence can affect the lives human beings. This thesis also contains …

Love On - The Life Of A Suicide Survivor: A Performance Autoethnographic Study, Patricia R. Wheeler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide touches the lives of millions of people each year in this country alone, yet conversations about suicide loss and survival after a loss remain taboo and often do not happen. The story I performed for this performance autoethnographic study centers on my life as a survivor of suicide. It provides a starting point for dialog regarding trauma, grief, and suicide loss. The narrative was constructed directly following the sudden death of my father, which had a direct effect on my ability to produce artistic work. The development, staging and performance of the story were altered to account for the …

Somewhere Between Hell's Kitchen And Illyria: An Actor's Utopia, Guadalupe Campos

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of my statement of artistry, and documentation of artistic materials and thesis related performances.

Lovable Rogue: The Shenanigans Of Sir Toby Belch In William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", William Clark Rogers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis documents and explores the actor’s approach to and discovery of the values, methods and motivations of Sir Toby Belch in the Fall 2015 University Theatre production of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” In addition, the author’s second thesis role was as Andrew Makepeace Ladd III in A. R. Gurney’s, “Love Letters” produced and performed in Kimpel Hall Studio during Spring 2016. The thesis also includes a personal statement of artistry, programs for the thesis related performances, a headshot, resume, production photos and a link to the actor’s website.

From Duke To D: The Range Of An Actor In Classical And Contemporary Characters, Damian Oscar Dena

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains my statement of artistry along with photos and materials from both productions Twelfth Night and Mother F**Ker with the Hat. Also included are links to my website and current copies of my headshot and resume.

The Passionate Actor, Britney Nichole Walker-Merritte

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of materials documenting my thesis performances as well as a statement of artistry, a copy of my current headshot, and resume and a link to my website.

Yiddish Diction In Singing, Carrie Suzanne Schuster-Wachsberger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The standard for classical singers in the United States to be trained in the singing diction of the German, Italian, and English languages. This sung diction varies from the spoken diction for those languages and is therefore important for singers to study in classes dedicated to singing language pronunciation. Literature is also available for the instruction in the singing diction of numerous other languages including Latin, Spanish, Czech, Russian, and Hebrew. While there is a vast scope of languages represented by vocal diction guides, there is no available singing diction guide for Yiddish songs, despite the spectrum of classical vocal …

Theater Education: Thinking Outside Of The Black Box, Raheve Gray

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A 2005 report by the Rand Corporation concluded that "Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill" (Smith). A 2012 report from the National Endowment for the Arts mirrored these findings, stating that “Students who have arts-rich experiences in school do better across-the-board academically, they also become more active and engaged citizens, voting, volunteering, and generally participating at higher rates than their peers” (Garelick 1). The above statements speak to the mounting evidence that arts in education provide extensive benefits for students fortunate enough to have them as part of …

Collaborative Writing For Commercial Musical Theatre, Alexandra Grill-Childers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Collaborative writing has produced some of the world’s most important work for the stage, especially in the field of multidisciplinary theatre, which includes musical theatre, operetta, spectacle theatre, circus, ballet, and any other form of theatre employing multiple modes of performance (i.e. music, dance, acting, mime, etc.). Without collaborative writing teams, we would retain little of the multidisciplinary theatrical repertoire that has been produced in the past 120 years.

I argue that although the solo creative genius holds a position of great esteem in Western culture, creative collaboration has long been a more reliable, if less romantic, approach to the …

Rhinestones In The Desert: The Rise And Fall Of The Las Vegas Showgirl And The Productions That Shaped Her, Diane Marie Palm

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Showgirls are a cultural icon that is linked intrinsically with Las Vegas, where the image of a showgirl is prevalent and often ubiquitous. This thesis will look at the showgirl in Las Vegas and a brief history of the how she came to be, as represented by Donn Arden’s Jubilee!. This will include a discussion of the specific people and elements that contributed to the presentation of the showgirl: Donn Arden, who created the Las Vegas showgirl spectaculars, Company Manager Ffolliott “Fluff” LeCoque, scenic designer Ray Klausen and costume designers Bob Mackie and Pete Menefee.

This is a necessary thesis …

Kimmo Hakola's Diamond Street And Loco: A Performance Guide, Erin Elizabeth Vander Wyst

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Kimmo Hakola (b.1958) has emerged in the past two decades as one of Finland’s leading contemporary composers. His numerous clarinet and bass clarinet works include a clarinet concerto, five chamber works with various instrumentations, a work for solo clarinet, a work for solo bass clarinet, and a work for solo clarinet and pedal bass drum (the clarinetist performs both the clarinet and bass drum parts). While this relatively large output featuring the clarinet family may be a result of Hakola’s personal interests, it may also be the result of a friendship with virtuoso clarinetist Kari Kriikku (b. 1960). This document …