Digital Commons Network^™

It Takes A Village: Bringing Zora Neale Hurston Home, Deborah Dickey, Casey Wooster

The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature

No abstract provided.

Utilizing Recommendation Systems To Achieve More Personalized Themed Experiences, Bryan P. Mcgowan

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Digital platforms such as Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube demonstrate the effectiveness of recommendation systems to personalize content and drive revenue, yet themed attractions have historically offered limited personalization. This thesis explores how recommendation systems can enhance adaptive themed experiences, focusing on branching narratives and dynamic environments that respond to guest behavior. Research from literature relevant to recommendation systems, along with analyses of successful attractions and digital experiences, informed the creative solutions developed for The Nexus. In this immersive walkthrough attraction, guests pass through a magical portal into a multiverse that adapts to their preferences and actions. This research shows how …

Expanding The World Of Themed Entertainment Through Choice-Based Narratives: How Video Game Design Principles Inspire Immersion In Attractions, Layla R. Mccarthy

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Within most traditional theme park attractions, guest interaction does not directly impact the unfolding of the narrative. While there are many examples of encouraged interaction, guests still lack agency. Within this research, the goal is to develop a hypothetical theme park attraction (titled The Library of Worlds) where guests will be met with various choices that influence the trajectory of the story. Drawing inspiration from non-linear storytelling and interactive gaming, this study explores integration of choice-based narratives into themed entertainment, questioning the ways in which agency can enhance immersion and connection within attractions – as well as what elements …

Live Content: Turning Guests Into Co-Creators Of Gamified Attractions, Brittany Mcchesney

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Based on an in-depth exploratory literature review, this thesis proposes to assess how a live content team might interact with the lifecycle of a gamified theme park attraction. To offer unique and memorable experiences to Guests, there has been an increase in the development of theme park attractions that are “gamified,” in that Guests can interface with some interactive game element or experience. This is especially pertinent with the development of video-game-focused lands and attractions, such as Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan, Hollywood, and soon to be Epic Universe in Orlando, FL. Attractions can incorporate gamification in a …

Macabre Therapeutics: An Exploration Into The Cathartic Nature Of Splatter Utilizing The Saw Franchise As Corpus, Rosalind E. Rohrbaugh

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This project positions splatter (a subgenre of horror films that centralizes gore) as applicable for sociopolitical critique and emotional catharsis, disrupting the narrative of splatter as a solely shock-based enterprise. The project utilizes the Saw franchise as a corpus, which reignited audience interest in extreme horror in 2004, rejuvenating splatter film releases since their stagnancy throughout the 1990s. This research seeks to answer why Saw captured the attention of audiences and returned the splatter subgenre to the 21st century, utilizing psychoanalytical film analysis, sociopolitical analysis, semiotics, content analysis, and archival research as methodology and drawing on Aristotle’s Catharsis and Rhetorical …

Sketching Towards Character: An Actor's Process Of Reclaiming The Mind-Body Connection, Lauren E. Schulke

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The human body is capable of incredible things. It completes vital functions autonomically, can instinctively protect us from harm, helps us sense, process, and respond to the world we inhabit, and can even heal itself when necessary. But what happens when an actor, who is dependent on their body to express their artistry, has lost awareness of their material? With the help of this thesis and the crafting of a personal methodology, I have developed a process that works towards healing this fracture and encourages the initial crafting of character through embodiment.

This thesis details the evolution of a personal …

Of Fate And Fear: An Interactive Narrative Approach To Experiential Horror, David A. Brescia

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis examines the nature of guest interactivity in themed entertainment, considering best practices when approaching the creation of an interactive theme park offering with the belief that narrative interactivity and guest agency increases the potential for meaningful, memorable, and engaging entertainment experiences. Taking both established literature and existing offerings into consideration, this thesis presents an original creative narrative design concept for a Halloween haunt event overlay, titled Fear the Unknown, that enhances the guest experience with an emphasis on interactivity and agency. This creative work is presented specifically from the point of view of the show writing discipline, consisting …

Fluidity In Structure: Balancing Form And Freedom, Tyler Stevens

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

In our postmodern society, there is a natural urge to want to decentralize the metanarratives that make up the standards and structures of defined aesthetics within the theatre landscape. This urge poses a potential threat to the authenticity of the dramatic context, encouraging performers to create narratives outside of the text. This led me to investigate how theatre artists can strike a balance between creative exploration and authenticity of context, of form and freedom. In seeking a way to engage with the effects of postmodernism in the theatre, I follow Hans-Theis Lehmann’s Postdramatic Theatre to a dead end and must …

Not Just Playing Pretend: Story Drama As Queer And Humanist Praxis, Julia Veiga

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

While conventional story time typically involves passive listening and enforced stillness, Story Drama transforms the storytelling experience into a participatory process where children use their voices, bodies, and imaginations to shape the narrative collaboratively. Indeed, Story Drama, combined with queer and humanist learning theory, fosters an inclusive, student-centered environment where youth practice critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-realization. Using the techniques of Story Drama transforms storytelling into a tool for cultivating socially engaged, independent learners, encouraging critical thinking and activism by nurturing empathy, community awareness, and creative agency from an early age.

This thesis explores the reimagining of traditional storytelling practices …

Designing Immersive Educational Experiences: An Exploration Of Animal Attractions And Exhibits To Create A National Park Themed Experience, Sarah G. Merrill

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis analyzes the disconnect between immersive environmental storytelling and conservation education at animal attractions. How can designers create immersive educational experiences that engage audiences? Can environmental narrative practices be applied in a new way to develop effective conservation and wildlife education? A literature review assists in defining immersion, discovering the evolution of Modern Zoo design as an immersive experience, and evaluating conversation education in animal facilities. When combined with educational techniques, immersive habitat design improves guest engagement and informal conservation learning outcomes in zoos and animal-related experiences. Using Scott Lukas’ theming and immersion modes, three attractions are analyzed as …

Drag In Theme Parks: An Application Of Queer Theory And Intergroup Contact Theory, Corey D. Clancy

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The intent of this paper is to evaluate whether the artistic expression of Drag can be understood and appreciated by its critics when employed at Theme Parks. This will be accomplished through the lenses and applications of Queer Theory and Intergroup Contact Theory by researching what the art of Drag is, defining its different expressions, interviewing members of the Drag community, and creating clear guidelines and “Criteria for Drag in Theme Parks.”

With such passionate feelings on Drag in culture today, this research will aim to take subjectivity out of the matter and focus objectively on the impacts that Drag …

Just Breathe: Demystifying Breath In Theatre Performance And Pedagogy, Gabriella Headley

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Breathing is an involuntary reflex that happens every day, usually without any extra effort or consideration. Often as actors we are instructed to “just breathe” in a scene, but what does that really mean when breathing is something that is already done subconsciously? Since beginning graduate training, I have realized how imperative breath is in our work as performers, and how it is the cornerstone of everything: the voice, the body, the text, and how it acts as the connecting force between the performers and the audience. How can actors, educators, and directors expand their vocabulary and use breath as …

Perezhivanie In Practice: Exploring Affective Memory And Imagination Through The Stanislavski System, Paige E. Mason

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis explores the enduring significance of The Stanislavski System in modern American actor training, addressing why it remains essential over a century after its creation by Konstantin Stanislavski. While studying the history of how The Stanislavski System was introduced and adapted in America, I identified a fundamental divide that shaped actor training: Lee Strasberg emphasized affective memory to generate emotion, while Stella Adler advocated for imagination to connect with character. Their public dispute has had a lasting impact on American theatre pedagogy, often leaving actors caught between methodologies without a clear understanding of the System’s original intent. At the …

Roleing In & Out Of Character, Dominique E. Marshall

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis explores different methods for an actor to safely get in and out of character. There is a myriad of methodologies for actors to get into their roles, but not much public information on how actors should get out of character. My research navigates how to release a role, or ‘de-roleing,’ along with what actors need in preparation for taking on a role, or ‘pre-roleing.’ The risks of not having an efficient pre-roleing and de-roleing method are emphasized. Using a combination of ideas brought on by Augusto Boal, Susana Bloch, Suzanne Dieckman, and others, I explore methods to de-role …

Screen Time On Stage: The Effect Of Internet And The Smartphone On The Actor, Nathan A. Olmeda

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis examines the potential link between an actor’s cell phone use and their work in the rehearsal process. Using Paula Thomson and S. Victoria Jaque’s Creativity and the Performing Artist and Nichola Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, I analyze the neural networks of the brain that are engaged in acting and their functions to develop a greater understanding of their association to behaviors and emotional responses that may impact the actor in the rehearsal/performance space. Furthermore, I investigate the emergence of smartphone use within the cultural zeitgeist and its effect on the …

The Coffee Corner Project: Creating Rehearsal Community Through The Café Space, Jacob Romeo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The ensemble is the heart of any rehearsal process, and a sense of community as an ensemble is enriched more in the moments between rehearsing than in the rehearsal room itself. Approaching the ensemble from this perspective, this thesis examines how this connection can be strengthened or deepened by observing the history of the coffee shop social space. I implemented this lens of community into the rehearsal process by constructing a pared-down cafe space adjacent to the rehearsal room that elevated coffee beyond its “grab and go” forms into an enriching sensory experience where the cast and creative team were …

Application Of Multi-Branching Narratives And Cooperative Gaming For Theme Park Rides, Jon Bryan Salvador

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis examines the opportunities to combine video game concepts such as branching narrative games and cooperative games with interactive theme park rides or attractions. With the state of the contemporary themed entertainment industry explicitly defining the guest’s role to the context of the ride or attraction’s storyworld, there is a need to reassess the conventional forms of theme park ride interactivity to create a more dynamic narrative, gameplay experience, and guest or audience engagement. Through a brief analysis of relevant themed experience and video game references, this research proposes a cooperative theme park ride that utilizes a modified version …

Beyond The Script: How Theatre Shapes Motivation In Second Language Acquisition, Amaya B. Gattis

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Motivation is considered a significant factor in second language acquisition, potentially affecting language learners' language acquisition ability (Dörnyei, 1998). This study explored the impact of participating in a theatre experience on language learners’ motivation to learn English during a classroom experience. The main objective of this research was to assess the influence of performing in a short play on adult multilingual learners’ motivation to learn English. A mixed-methodology research design was employed to measure reported motivation levels and observe language development using a pre- and post-treatment questionnaire, field observation, and a semi-structured post-treatment interview model for data collection. The results …

Ucf Pegasus Plan - 2nd Grade - Immigration, Emily T. Yackel, Elizabeth Logan, Hannah Schwarz, Mckinzi Johnson, Katie Molloy, Victoria Kingstone

Pegasus Plans: Social Studies Unit Plans for Florida Teachers

During this unit, students will learn about the history and symbols associated with immigration throughout the 1800s to modern times. Students will interact and explore with different pieces of literature and technologies dealing with Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and other countries’ cultural influences. Materials such as virtual tours, AR apps and arts integration will be used throughout this unit plan.

Ucf Libraries Programming Report, 2023-2024, Kasey Bennett, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Documents

No abstract provided.

University Of Central Florida Undergraduate Catalog, 2024 - 2025, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Empowering English-Language Learners Through Acting, Translanguaging, And Collaborative Devising, Natasha L. Yannacanedo

Journal of English Learner Education

The author explores the transformative potential of using acting, translanguaging, and collaborative devising as tools for linguistic and personal development among English Language Learners (ELLs). Through a reflective narrative of teaching Acting I to ELL students, the paper delves into the challenges and successes encountered in integrating acting, translanguaging, and devising into the curriculum. Emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between acting and language learning, the author discusses how expressive language development, vocabulary acquisition, and enhanced pronunciation skills were cultivated. Additionally, the paper considers the role of translanguaging in creating a supportive and inclusive learning environment, where students' linguistic diversity is celebrated …

Doctor Who?: Norms, Care, And Autonomy In The Attitudes Of Medical Students Towards Ai Pre And Post Chatgpt, Andrew Prahl, Kevin Tong Weng Jin

Human-Machine Communication

This study adopts the combined TAM-TPB model to investigate attitudes and expectations of machines at a pre-career stage. We study how future doctors (medical students) expect to interact with future AI machinery, what AI usage norms will develop, and beliefs about human and machine autonomy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Wave one occurred six-months prior to the public release of ChatGPT; wave two occurred in the 6 months following. Three themes emerged: AI is tomorrow, wishing for the AI ouvrier, and human contrasts. Two differences were noted pre- versus post-ChatGPT: (1) participants began to view machinery instead of themselves as the …

Seamus Deane, Siân White

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

James, Giorgio, And Georges, Koen Peeters

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

The Bloomsday Book’S Fortunes In Its Native Land, Brian W. Shaffer

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

This Seamus, Too, Is Famous, Cyraina Johnson-Roullier

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

Coterie And Crowd: Modernists’ Engagement With The Theatre, Stephanie Pocock Boeninger

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

Amateur Minstrel Shows And Blackface Amusements At The University Of Florida In The Jim Crow Era, Myles Sullivan

Florida Historical Quarterly

In the spring of 1914, the University of Florida's (UF) studentrun newspaper, The Florida Alligator, heralded "one of the biggest attractions of the spring season" with the front page headline "Heah Dey Kum! Dat Minstrel Show." As a theatrical performance style that had gained widespread popularity in the United States in the early 1800s, minstrel shows were often delivered with this imagined faux speech of rural African Americans. Its defining feature was culturally deemed white individuals "blacking up" their faces with burnt cork in visually cued racial caricatures acted out in music, song, and dance. Indeed, when subsequently reviewing the …

A Year-Round Playground Twenty-Seven Hours From Broadway: Re-Assessing Jacksonville's Legacy As An "Almost Hollywood, David Morton

Florida Historical Quarterly

"Attention Producers who contemplate sending companies South this winter ... We furnish the need of the visiting producer. Props, locations, studios, stage space, expert help, autos, electricians, property rnen, cameramen, high-grade extra help, carpenters, we do expert developing and printing ... Public cooperation is a feature of this city: A year-round playground 27 hours from Broadway."