Theatre History Commons^™

Revolutionizing The Stage: The Impact Of The Revolving Stage In 'Hamilton', Amanda L. Padilla

Publications and Research

This research delves into the captivating features of the revolving stage in the Broadway musical "Hamilton," examining both its significance in modern theater for the American Revolution, dynamically mirroring the ever-evolving political landscapes of the time. Focusing on design and engineering, the study sheds light on the motor-driven control of the central pivot point, enabling a unique 360-degree view that significantly heightens audience immersion. The research underscores the stage's role in enhancing visual clarity, unraveling complex scenes, and enriching the comprehension of choreography and narratives. Beyond its narrative function, the revolving stage plays a pivotal role in shaping the visual …

Mapping The Theaters Of Brooklyn's Past (1825-1925): A Gis Project, Elena Shefsky

Publications and Research

Despite its rich performance culture, Brooklyn remains underrepresented in theater history, eclipsed in fame by the well-known theaters of Manhattan. One of the most populous areas in America, Brooklyn has been an artistic home to actors, playwrights, directors, and impresarios for centuries. That said, there is a dearth of accessible information and scholarship on Brooklyn theaters. My objective was to update an ongoing mapping project, The City Performs, to include information and images of theater buildings from Brooklyn. The project is an interactive, open-source digital map that uses ArcGIS software to georeference data about NYC theaters. I collected data …

No Sex For Me: Female Influence And Power Through The Lens Of Hrotsvitha, Madison Patoto

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

No Sex for Me: Female Influence and Power Through the Lens of Hrotsvitha

Madison Patoto

Male playwrights dominated the theatre world until Hrotsvitha, a German nun and playwright, broke the silence of The Dark Ages. She adapted the works of the ancient Roman playwright, Terence, with a more favorable depiction of faith and women. In the midst of a patriarchal world, Hrotsvitha explored the theme of sexuality through strong female characters who gained power and influence in a world that degraded them and considered them impotent. This essay dives into the main differences between Terence’s Roman secular views and Hrotsvitha’s …

Proud Of Your Boy: Toxic Masculinity, Boyhood, And The American Musical, Aaron J. Wood

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project traces the cultural historiography of the phrase "boys will be boys" and examines the pattern of white male excusal it embodies through a case-study based survey of onstage depictions of boyhood in musical theatre. I argue that the generational idea of manhood as aggressive, competitive, and violent is continually reasserted through our passive acceptance of white boy violence. This dissertation looks to the musicals Newsies, West Side Story, Heathers, and Dear Evan Hansen as case studies for exploring the cultural lineage of the phrase “boys will be boys.” Like the works of Aaron Thomas, Raymond …

I Was Crazy Once: An Examination Of Elizabethan Insanity In Shakespeare’S Work, Hope L. Kobus

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

William Shakespeare wrote numerous works, diving into the common motifs of love, revenge, power, but most importantly, madness. While Elizabethan audiences were more accustomed to seeing madness as a ploy for comedy, Shakespeare changed the appeal through shows such as King Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth. He presents the power and ambition of women, as well as the failings of the upper-class, but he disguised them through the idea of insanity. At a time when the public had little understanding of mental health, it was easy to blame madness on gender, social status, and even the supernatural. Through …

Historian-For-A-Day, Elyse Singer

Open Educational Resources

Each student will select a class session in which to present a brief (1-2 minute) "fun fact" based on their own research that relates to the time/place being studied. It should be something that is of interest to you, and (hopefully) to the whole class – cultural, political, sociological, scientific, medical…. For example, for the class on Roman Tragedy, the factoid might be about what a citizen in ancient Roman ate for supper! Originality counts.

Due on date of presentation: A one-paragraph description of the fun fact, in your own words, and cite at least one source--that is not Wikipedia. …

Everybody

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Performed September 14-17, 2023 at the Mitchell Theatre.

Everybody is a modern adaptation of the 15th-century morality play Everyman. The story follows a character named Everybody, who is summoned by Death to embark on a journey to account for their life and choices before God. As Everybody seeks companionship for this final journey, they encounter personifications of abstract concepts like Friendship, Kinship, Stuff, Mind, and Love. The play uses a unique casting lottery system, where roles are assigned randomly at each performance, symbolizing the unpredictability of death. Through …

Staging Nature: Performing Environmental Crises In War, Housing, And Labor, 1935–1990, Erik Barrett Wallenberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Staging Nature” examines how theater was used as a means for expressing environmental concerns in moments of environmental crisis in the United States. I begin with The Federal Theatre Project’s national tour of a performance addressing the metabolic rift in the divide between the city and country with a focus on the devastation of farmland in the Dust Bowl in the late 1930s. At the heart of the dissertation are three theater groups that start in the 1960s during the rise of the modern environmental movement. Chapters on Bread and Puppet Theater show that they make a name for themselves …

Perceived Phantoms: A Phenomenological Observation Of Spirituality In Atsumori, Nicholas C. Gilomen

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The paper examines the performance and embodiment of spirituality in Japanese Noh Drama during the Muromachi era from 1336 CE to 1573 CE. It also observes the art form from a modern perspective. Specifically, this research examines the classic Noh Drama play Atsumori by Zeami Motokiyo through the phenomenological lens. Phenomenology is a qualitative study that focuses on the perceptions of the human consciousness, and it allows me to examine the impact of subjective experiences on a person’s sense of truth. This paper examines the spirituality present through the various religious influences that went into the development of Noh Drama …

Palestine Without Borders: A Study Of Arab And Western Voices In Theater, Bassem Mohsen Ahmed El-Sayed Ahmed Ibrahim

Theses and Dissertations

Theater has always been perceived as a way to link different cultures together and bring them under one large domain. Regardless, the genre does not give the needed attention to works written in certain regions that may otherwise fall outside the consensus. One good example is Palestine and any works that deal with it as a setting. The first thing that comes to mind whenever the word “Palestine” is brought up is almost always of a political nature, having to do with the Palestinians’ national conflict with Israel. This thesis undertakes to amend this by probing into plays written by …

Transnational Ritual Poetics Of Blackness In Performance, Nina A. Mercer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I investigate transnational ritual poetics of Blackness through a historical, cultural, and spatial lens, centering my exploration on the recurrence of circles, the crossroads, and waterways. I show how these formal poetics activate Africana cosmologies, cosmogonies, and mythologies dramaturgically by centering contemporary New York City performance works that bring together dance, theatre, and music. I contextualize NYC performance case studies in relation to performance practices in contemporary Salvador da Bahia. I am particularly interested in how the recurrence of circles, the crossroads, and water as formal poetics catalyze interventions along contested water-ways and landscapes marked by Black …

Smokebox: Writing Into Embarrassment, Julia Storch

Theatre & Dance ETDs

Engaging with theoretical concepts and dramaturgical tools, this essay follows my journey through The Dramatic Writing MFA program at the University of New Mexico, focusing on the production of my thesis play, Smokebox. In Part I, I give the background and development of my journey as a playwright, exploring the obstacles I faced and overcame through my engagement with coursework and staged readings. I map out the development of Smokebox, from its humble beginnings as a class assignment, to its transformation through workshop, and finally its realization through an intense rehearsal and production process. In Part II, I …

Sweat Equity: Lynn Nottage's Radical Dialectic Of Deindustrialization, Jocelyn L. Buckner

Theatre Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"Lynn Nottage has devoted her career to researching and telling stories of Black individuals and communities with expressed interest in laborers, advocating for their agency, humanity, and legacy. In her second Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Sweat, Nottage dramatizes more recent US history, illuminating the lives of workers marginalized by the deindustrialization of the Rust Belt in the early 2000s. Sweat is emblematic of Nottage's sustained effort to deploy playwriting as activism and stand in solidarity with those whose stories she chooses to tell. As a constant theme in her works, Lynn Nottage's stories align with marginalized workers' efforts and histories, …

Royal Authority And Erotic Desires: Marlowe's Views On Kingship In Dido, Queen Of Carthage, And Edward Ii, Jared Lambert

Honors Theses

Royal authority and erotic desires: Marlowe's views on kingship in Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Edward II focuses on the works of Christopher Marlowe and how they correlate to his perceptions of the Elizabethan court. This essay is meant to serve as one potential interpretation of both the public and personal life of Christopher Marlowe. Though there is little concrete information on Marlowe's life, it is a fact that he was working for the Elizabethan court in some capacity as an informant and potential provocateur against Catholics in England.

Jefferson Barracks Post Theater: A Place For People To Gather, John Granicke

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Jefferson Barracks Military Post had a rich and extensive history during its 120 years as an active military installation. The Post Theater was just one aspect of everyday life at Jefferson Barracks. This project is part of a collection of historic research blogs about Jefferson Barracks done in collaboration with St. Louis County Parks. The blogs will soon be available to view on the Jefferson Barracks County Park website.

The story of the Jefferson Barracks Post Theater begins with the Old Post Theater, which was built during World War I. From 1933 to 1944, four more post theaters were …

Creating A Play Using Noh And The Stanislavski Method, John Alex Nunnery

Merge

No abstract provided.

The Abolitionist Spectator: Resistant Readings Of Punishment, Rehabilitation, And Reform At The Louisiana State Penitentiary, Kathryn Marie Morris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

For the majority of the twenty-first century, Louisiana has been the global leader in rates of incarceration. Despite its prevalence, many people encounter prisons and punishment only through representations in movies, television, and the news, remaining distant from the actual processes of punishment and prisons built in remote areas. The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, however, is unique in the number of opportunities it presents for the public to enter the prison for large-scale events like the famous Angola Prison Rodeo, select drama club performances, or to visit the Angola Prison Museum. These opportunities are often read cynically, as moments …

Acting In Good Faith, Tanya Dean

Articles

No abstract provided.

Macbeth

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

Performed February 24-26 & March 3-5 2023 at the Mitchell Theatre.

Macbeth is a tragedy that delves into themes of ambition, power, and guilt. The play follows the rise and fall of Macbeth, a Scottish nobleman, who is driven by a prophecy from three witches and the manipulative encouragement of his wife, Lady Macbeth. After murdering King Duncan to seize the throne, Macbeth's reign is marked by paranoia and tyranny, leading to further bloodshed and his eventual downfall. The play explores the psychological effects of ambition and the moral …

Theater & Identity At Gettysburg College, Spring 1971, Jamie A. Riches

CAFE Symposium 2023

In 1971, the country was still in the process of extreme social upheaval and transformation brought on by the 1960s, and that included small, secluded communities like Gettysburg College. In the Owl & Nightingale Society, the school's theater program, many students found ways to express and explore themselves creatively and personally. Both historically and currently, theater tends to draw in queer people, and can be a comfortable and interesting way to embrace your identity and learn to build and work with communities. These are things queer people often didn't--and still don't--have access to in their everyday lives, making theater a …