Playwriting Commons^™

The Irish Dracula: A Melodrama In Five Acts, James Doan

Humanities and Politics Faculty Book and Book Chapters

While working on the first volume in the project, The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013) I decided to try my hand at adapting the novel Dracula to a more literal Irish context. Set in London and Co. Sligo in 1888, it constitutes a prequel to the novel. The play, entitled The Irish Dracula: A Melodrama in Five Acts, received two initial readings: the first with the Irish Theatre of Florida in August 2012 and the second at the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS) West meeting in Park City, Utah, in October 2012. …

Suzan-Lori Parks: Essays On The Plays And Other Works Edited By Philip C. Kolin (Review), Jocelyn Buckner

Theatre Faculty Articles and Research

The anthology Suzan-Lori Parks: Essays on the Plays and Other Works offers new perspectives to the growing body of scholarship about Parks’s artistic achievements. The text features a contextualizing preface and twelve new essays about her plays, novel, and screenplays. It also contains two new interviews, one with Parks herself and another with her longtime friend and collaborator, director Liz Diamond, as well as a timeline featuring major productions of her works from her first play reading in 1984, to projects anticipated for future production on stage and screen. While Parks’s works, and works on Parks are widely anthologized in …

Framing Anorexia : A Play Script And Multidimensional Investigation Of Anorexia : A Play And Critical Essay, Louise Helfgott

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores anorexia nervosa in young people. It comprises two components: a play script, "Frames", about 16-year-old Elizabeth who is combating the disorder, her troubled friend Ben, and their families, and a critical essay that reviews qualitative and quantitative literature about anorexia and contextualises the play in relation to selected narratives, plays and films. In my field research, I interviewed a number of professionals working in the field of anorexia and the essay also discusses their views and insights.

Few plays deal with anorexia in an in-depth manner to explore the onset and development of the illness. "Frames" addresses …

Lenore: Poe And Baudelaire At Play, Carolyn Martha Fado

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Senior Independent Study Project is a postmodern play inspired by the work of the nineteenth-century poets Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Baudelaire. The scholar Lenore loses her grasp on reality as she studies the work of these two poets and she becomes lost in an imaginary world. This project is collaborative; music composition major Cara Haxo wrote a song cycle based on parts of the script. The play is preceded by a critical introduction.

The Snow Globe, Sara Crawford

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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.

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.

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.

The Lab Report, Volume 06, Issue 03, Todd Ristau

Lab Reports

• Rebecca Osborne's Monologue Performed in Manhattan
• Student Spotlight: Willett, Suzanne
• Guest Profile: Scott Bradley
• JAW Festival features Elizabeth Heffron
• The Girl With Her Hands in the Sand at NYI Fringe Festival
• War Bride by Samantha Macher
• Open Call for Submissions
• From the Director: Your Public Profile

Mind The Gap: An Analysis Of The Function Of Love In The Works Of Tom Stoppard And C.S. Lewis., Jacqueline C. Lawler

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Writers C.S. Lewis and Tom Stoppard, though philosophically different, both write about love that embodies the natural law. The natural law can be defined as law that is inherent in man and can be discerned by reason rather than by revelation. Both writers use their observational style in order to reason their way to nearly identical laws of love. Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, Arcadia, Rock ‘n’ Roll and The Real Thing will be analyzed using the framework of C.S. Lewis’s book, The Four Loves.

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.

My Dear Watson: A Musical Interpretation Of Sherlock Holmes’S Friendship With Dr. John Watson, Jami-Leigh C. Bartschi

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson is complicated and certainly untraditional. Some theorize that Holmes is merely using Watson while Watson desperately seeks his affection. Others theorize that they have an unrequited homosexual relationship. However, it is Holmes’ unemotional nature paired with Watson’s fierce loyalty and admiration that creates a new and unique type of relationship. Many would define friendship as an emotional bond, but with Holmes, this is impossible. That does not mean, however, that he is incapable of deeply caring for Watson. It means that the relationship looks different than the traditional friendship. Watson and Holmes’ …

The Lab Report, Volume 05, Issue 12, Todd Ristau

Lab Reports

• Decision Height produced as Hollins Senior Thesis
• Student Spotlight: Meredith Levy
• Report from the Iowa New Play Festival
• To The New Girl Read in Chicago
• May Graduate: Samantha Macher
• The Weatherman Project Read at Seattle Rep Writers Group Showcase
• May Graduate: Kris Knutsen Marushy
• May Graduate: Maura Campbell
• May Graduate: Neeley Gossett
• May Readings at SkyPilot Feature Hollins Playwrights
• May Graduate: Brandon DuMonde
• Dirty Pictures by Jeri Weiss Part of Asphalt Jungle Shorts in Ontario
• Purge by Jeri Weiss Produced at Studio 81
• If You Plan It, He Will Come by Neeley Gossett Produced by Working Title Playwrights
• From the …

Stingray : An Exploration Into The Art And Craft Of Playwriting, Samantha Liguori

HIM 1990-2015

Cloud Nine by Carol Churchill is a good example of non-linear play structure. Episodic plays are part of an even more disjointed time structure. There are both many different locations and characters in an episodic play; it is similar to a film script for that matter. Onstage, this was a revolution; how can a person be in one city and then the next shortly after? This was the rule of continuity that episodic structure broke. Bertolt Brecht did this throughout his movement in epic theatre, and traces of this structure can also be found as early back as Medieval plays. …

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.

The Development And Debut Of Adam Esquenazi Douglas' Play "Murder And The English Gentleman", Adam Esquenazi Douglas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the development process of the creation of a new playscript, "Murder and the English Gentleman", an adaptation of the short story "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime" by Oscar Wilde. The play is a wild, comedy-of-manners presented in classic Wildean 19th century drawing room style. The document details the process of getting this script from short story to script to stage. Also included are some of the play's most significant drafts, the original short story by Wilde, production and rehearsal journals, and production photos. The play was presented by the University of Arkansas' Boar's …

Exploring The Morality Of Arthur Miller And Elia Kazan To Show How It Affected Their Work, Friendship And Society, Dale D. Parry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to explore the moral convictions, or the lack of same, in the personal character of Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan and to show how those convictions affected not only their work and personal friendship but society as well. They first met in 1946 when Harold Clurman of the Group Theater passed to Kazan a Miller play that he had read entitled All My Sons. With the success of the play, the two became fast friends and collaborators in profession and ideology. Each had in common the Great Depression, problem fathers, marital instability and Communism. …

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).

A 21st Century Love Letter, Rachel Nagelberg

SPECS journal of art and culture

No abstract provided.

The Lab Report, Volume 05, Issue 08, Todd Ristau

Lab Reports

• Darlene Fedele Teaching at Ferrum College
• We Have Achieved Our Fundraising Goal!
• Guest Profile: Lisa Schlesinger
• Guest Profile: Brett Neveu
• Formation of the New Works Advisory Board
• Plane Talk at SkyPilot Features Hollins Playwrights
• Shifting Gears by Jeri Weiss at Fronkensteen
• Young Actors Studio Commissions Samantha Macher
• Hollins Playwright Wins Monologue Competition
• The Muse Factory by Robert Plowman Workshopped
• Clinton Johnston Directs Night of the Iguana
• Sandbox Radio Features Work by Elizabeth Heffron
• Short Plays at SkyPilot Include Hollins Playwrights
• From the Director: Who's a Starving Artist?