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Neighborhood 3: Requisition Of Doom Program, University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2017-2018 Season

A Play by Jennifer Haley

Director: Dana Wieluns Legawiec

Last Train To Nibroc Program, University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2017-2018 Season

by Arlene Hutton

Directed by Andrew Harris

2017 - 2018 Season Brochure, Otterbein University Department Of Theatre And Dance

Theatre and Dance Annual Brochures

Annual promotional piece of the upcoming season's shows.

Persistence Of Memory: Revision, Nostalgia, And Resistance In Contemporary American Drama, Sinan Gul

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the usages of memory in contemporary American drama. Analyzing selected mainstream and alternative dramatic texts, The Persistence of Memory is a study of personal and communal reflections of the past within contemporary plays. The introduction provides examples from modern plays, major terms, and vital concepts for memory studies and locates their merits in dramatic texts. The first chapter makes a critique of family plays, which uses historical elements to indicate a revisionist yearning for the past as well as the American Dream. Similarly, the second chapter contains business plays, which implement a heavy feeling of nostalgia …

Theatre For Social Change: Histories & Applications, Samantha J. Hageman

Theater Summer Fellows

Theater is not only an art form, but also a method of communication and community-building. My research investigates how theater can be used to create social change. I study approaches to using theater as a vehicle for social change and a tool to communicate diverse perspectives and cultivate empathy. My work focuses on a history of theater for social change, examples of theater for social change including plays and performance pieces, and ways of both creating and teaching theater for social change. My project culminates in an annotated bibliography, a research paper, an original theater for social change monologue, and …

They're Playing Our Song, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2017 Summer Theatre

They're Playing Our Song is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlisch.

In a story based on the real-life relationship of Hamlisch and Sager, a wisecracking composer finds a new, offbeat lyricist, but initially the match is not one made in heaven. The two undergo a series of trials and overcome a number of hurdles before finding true love by the final curtain.

Playing God: The Bible On The Broadway Stage By Henry Bial (Review), Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Nervous Salomes: New York Salomania And The Neurological Condition Of Modernité, Margaret K. Araneo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In January 1907, New York City had its first major encounter with the figure of Salome. Appearing on three large stages in the city simultaneously, the archetype of the dancing girl quickly became an object of controversy. Her appearance at the Metropolitan Opera House in its staging of Strauss’s Salome resulted in public debate and the ultimate closure of the performance by the Met’s Board of Directors. The event brought attention to the Salome archetype’s already contested character. Salome arrived in the United States from Europe where she had been the subject of a quarter century of debates about how …

Theatre Translation As Historiography: Projections Of Greek Self-Identity Through English Translations During The European Crisis, Maria Mytilinaki

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project focuses on theatre translation from Modern Greek into English through the examination of three plays translated in the early years of the ongoing Greek crisis (2012-2014). Currently Greek culture is received internationally through two important frames of reference: Hellenism, the admiration for the ancient Greek spirit, and the more recent negative associations with modern Greece provoked by the Eurozone crisis. The three translations I examine challenge these dual external projections onto Greek culture by promoting a more nuanced image that recontextualizes the Greek past. In their capacity to travel between cultures, often in bilingual iterations, these theatrical translations …

"Propaganda For Democracy": The Vexed History Of The Federal Theatre Project, Karen E. Gellen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My thesis explores and analyzes the Federal Theater Project’s cultural and political impact during the Depression, as well as the contested legacy of this unique experiment in government-sponsored, broadly accessible cultural expression. Part of the New Deal’s Works Projects Administration, the FTP aimed to provide jobs for playwrights, actors, designers, stagehands, and other theater professionals on relief in the stark period from 1935 to 1939. But the project became a nationwide political and artistic flashpoint, spurring fierce debate over the leadership, politics and impact of this “people’s theater.” The FTP gave professional theater an unprecedented reach into working-class and black …

My Fair Lady, Otterbein University Department Of Theatre And Dance

2017 Summer Theatre

My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a lady. The original Broadway, London and film versions all starred Rex Harrison.

My Fair Lady. (2017, July 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:22, September 1, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=My_Fair_Lady&oldid=789985734

The Second Pen, Nicholas D. Brennan

Theses and Dissertations

"The Second Pen" evaluates the historical relevancy of prevalent monikers for William Shakespeare-- namely, "The Bard," "Swan of Avon," and "Upstart Crow." While Brennan finds the general concept of the moniker to encapsulate Shakespeare's current historical legacy, he equally finds the aforementioned monikers to misrepresent this. Brennan offers "The Second Pen" as a moniker for Shakespeare that redresses the distortions of the others. He concentrates his defense of its relevancy around a defense of William Shakespeare as the "second pen" which Ben Jonson's 1605 Sejanus quarto names as a collaborator in the writing of a preceding stage version of the …

The Force Of Seduction: The Use Of Rape Narratives In The Plays Of Aphra Behn, Caitlyn Piccirillo

Theses and Dissertations

The English Restoration’s heightened interest in sexuality promoted the use of rape narratives on the stage. Aphra Behn, the first woman to earn her living as a playwright, used these narratives in her work (specifically in The Rover and The City Heiress) as a means of social critique.

"Hippie Acid Freak Drag Queens:" Situating The Cockettes Within An Art Historical Context, Scott Dow

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis situates the Cockettes – a performance group rarely referenced in art historical discourse - within Bay Area performance art, second-wave feminist art, and the Gay Liberation Movement. Contextualizing the Cockettes within their contemporary art movements provides a new understanding of the group and emphasizes their significance to art history.

2017 Otterbein Summer Theatre Season Brochure, Otterbein University Department Of Theatre And Dance

Theatre and Dance Annual Brochures

Annual promotional piece of the upcoming season's shows.

Finding A New Home In Harlem: Alice Childress And The Committee For The Negro In The Arts, Judith E. Smith

American Studies Faculty Publication Series

Alice Childress’s performing career in the 1940s was primarily associated with the American Negro Theater, a collectively run professional theater company with a mission to nurture black talent and create compelling theater for Harlem audiences; as Childress would later comment, “We thought we were Harlem’s theater.” ANT made use of all available resources to accomplish this mission; producing plays written by black and white playwrights, hiring white teachers, and accepting white actors and technicians committed to its goals.

Finding The Shakespeare In Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet: A Comparison Of Plot And Character In The Seventeenth-Century English Play And The Nineteenth-Century French Opera, Bonita Elissa Bunt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although the 17th century play Hamlet by William Shakespeare was originally performed in English, its popularity grew throughout Europe, entering France’s robust theatre tradition around the turn of the 19th century. Multiple versions of the translated play became available and the story began to take on French characteristics as it was adapted for French audiences. By the time Hamlet was set by librettists Michel Carré and Jules Barbier and composer Ambroise Thomas, the story had morphed somewhat from the original Shakespeare. Much of the story was condensed and the ending was significantly changed. Originally successful after its 1868 premiere, the …

The Matchmaker

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s performance of The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder.

Performed April 28-30 and May 5-7, 2017 at the Mitchell Theatre.

Before the world fell in love with "Hello, Dolly!", Thornton Wilder’s uproarious play "The Matchmaker" introduced Ms. Dolly Gallagher Levi: a cunning, crafty, and thoroughly modern woman who knows a good catch when she sees one. When the wealthy Horace Vandergelder hires matchmaker Ms. Levi to find him a wife, Dolly doesn't need to look far to find his perfect mate. While Dolly is “arranging things” for Mr. Vandergelder, the young, hopeless romantics of Yonkers reap the …

The Female Writer And Her Female Characters: A Coming Of Age Story, Stephanie N. Grilo

Theatre & Dance ETDs

In this essay, I review my growth and learning as a playwright in this MFA program. I position my play, Red Dirt, within the context of psychoanalysis and feminist theory as a study of the behavioral patterns that emerge when female melancholia and violent masculinity collide. I examine the praxis of my writing and research methodologies, as well as the technical, thematic, and academic aspects of my writing practice.

An In-Depth Look At The Original Production Of Ordo Virtutum By Hildegard Of Bingen, Marie Phillips

Undergraduate Research Conference

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a German abbess in medieval times. She has been a saint of the Catholic church only since 2012, but she was a genius of her time. A woman of many talents, she was a composer, a theologian, an early scientist, writer, and so on. In her lifetime, she only wrote one play, Ordo Virtutum (or The Order of the Virtues), which was performed in 1152. This project sought to seek as much information as possible on why she created this play and its place in the history of theatre.

"We Are Family": The Influences Of American Culture On The Representation Of Family In Modern American Drama, Deandre C. Short

Student Scholar Showcase

The dramatic works that subject usually deals with the family unit reflect a particular issue in American culture—politically or socially. American playwrights often use their work to challenge popular ideologies and values embedded into American society. Often modern American drama incorporates political, social, and cultural issues as a means to develop the relationship between the family unit. The familial relationship(s) in modern American drama are influenced by the political, social, and cultural environments in the United States.

The Fight Master, Spring 2017, Vol. 39 Issue 1, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

Not The Truth We Seek: The Story Of A Mime, Fierce Women, Proposals, & Pro Wrestling, Steven Meeker Jr.

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

THE SPARK

I have always believed that the best theater comes from a very real and sometimes very painful place. My parents were undergoing a brutal and very open separation and then divorce throughout my junior and senior year of high school. In the middle of the constant war zone that was our home, my brother and I would simply go from one room to the other with our heads down and as quick as possible. The only day we would linger in the living room would be Mondays. On Monday nights, my brother and I owned the living room …

Fairies That Fouetté And Princesses That Promenade: Examining The Allure Of The Fairytale Ballet Through Petipa’S Sleeping Beauty, Caeli L. Koizumi

Dance Department Best Student Papers

No abstract provided.

The Aesthetic And Philosophical Integration Of Parkour With Bartenieff Release-Based Modern Dance, Rhett Spongberg

Dance Department Best Student Papers

No abstract provided.

Cross(Ing) The Line: Leadership In Devised Theatre, Monica Furman

Honors Papers and Posters

“Traditional" (Western) theatre focuses on the relationship between the playwright and the director. Devised theatre is a reaction to the dominant ideology; it is ensemble-created original work. A group of artists collaborate and create a play with no script and, sometimes, no initial theme or message. They use various different art forms as well as interviews and narratives to create a theatrical experience.

Remapping Emotion And Desire: Same-Sex Romance In Ah Cheng's "The King Of Chess", Yanjie Wang

Asian and Asian American Studies Faculty Works

This article examines the representation of emotion and desire in Ah Cheng's The King of Chess (Qi wang). The interpretation of The King of Chess has been oriented toward an allegorical reading that revolves around grand cultural concepts, such as aesthetics, Taoist tradition, cultural consciousness, and national identity. In this paradigm of reading, the literary text has largely become a footnote of the master narrative of China's cultural reconstruction of the 1980s. Following the recent interpretative turn of this story from cultural to existential and from allegorical to corporeal, the article extends to yet another domain, that of emotion, intimacy, …

Damn Yankees, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2016-2017 Season

The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. It is based on Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.

Two Unknown Essays By Craig On The Production Of Shakespeare's Plays, Patrick Le Boeuf

Mime Journal

In the 1920s and 1930s, Craig drafted two essays on Shakespeare, neither of which was completed nor published. Although they cannot be ranked among Craig’s most inspired writings, these two unfinished essays are of great interest, as they show that Craig, then in his fifties-sixties, was walking on a thin line dividing two most contrasted landscapes: on the one hand he was more attracted than ever to forms of radical modernity, on the other hand he was at risk of indulging in gratuitously archaeological reconstitutions, while being aware of that danger.

Dreaming Of Light: On Edward Gordon Craig, Peter Sellars

Mime Journal

Sellars reflects on Craig’s legacy, emphasizing Craig’s focus on “making theatre out of light,” and casting Craig as “John the Baptist to Bob Wilson.” Sellars highlights the importance of Craig’s “keeping the dream space open,” but he also criticizes Craig for not traveling to experience the predominantly Asian cultures whose performance traditions he appropriated. Craig and Sellars have a shared interest in the functions of Baroque opera in socially cataclysmic times; Sellars speaks about the influence of Craig upon his stagings of Purcell and the St. Matthew Passion (first staged in 2010). Sellars celebrates Craig’s attempt to rescue the voice …