Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Tha 3555 : Acting In Performance, Theatre

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

Tha 2801g : Musical Theatre On Film, Theatre

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

A Return To The Wild West: Missouri’S Heightened Standard Under The Known Third Person Exception, Liz Eastlund

Missouri Law Review

Picture this: a crowded saloon packed with patrons enjoying food, drinks, and each other’s company—for the Western movie lover, the imagery is familiar. While establishments like saloons were essential social centers of the West in the later years of the nineteenth century, violence from brawls took the lives of many. Lawmen were tasked with keeping the peace and tracking down dangerous outlaws on the American frontier. Despite the existence of these fabled sheriffs, revolvers and alcohol were a lethal combination that led to dangerous gun battles between community members.

Un©Ertainty And Dis©Omfort, Richard H. Chused

Articles & Chapters

This essay explores creative works that produce powerful reactions of discernment, hostility, or deep uncertainty from mysterious forms of "blankness." They all use silence or similarly ineffable qualities to challenge the thoughtfulness and tolerance of audience members. They force us to understand that creativity sometimes manifests itself in strange and bizarre ways that test not only our viewing tolerance, but also our traditional notions of creativity and of intellectual property boundary lines. It is like forcing fully sensory-enabled people to think about creativity in ways that may mimic a small fragment of the daily experience of those with limited sight …

Preventing Unjust Enrichment And Copyright Opportunism: An Equitable Interpretation Of Section 103(A), Pamela Samuelson, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

A stealth issue in many close copyright fair use cases is the potential invalidity of second comers’ copyrights under 17 U.S.C. § 103(a) if the secondary use is ultimately held to infringe the derivative work right. Section 103(a) of the Copyright Act says, in effect, that no copyright exists in any part of a derivative work in which the first work’s expression was “used unlawfully.” Courts have largely ignored § 103(a). But recent cases, such as Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith (2023), have raised the profile of § 103(a). This Article traces the origins, history, …

Dance-Related Fractures Occur In The Upper And Lower Extremities At Similar Rates: An Analysis Of The 2004-2023 National Electronic Injury Surveillance System Database, Senah E. Stephens, Joshua F. Edwards, Lisa K. Cannada

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Introduction

In the United States, 21% of adolescents participate in dance. Dancers are susceptible to injuries, particularly of the lower extremity, due to extreme positioning, dynamic overload, and repetitive movements.

Objectives

(1) to report the prevalence and describe demographic characteristics of dance-related fractures and (2) to analyze variables associated with disposition status.

Methods

The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database, published by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, was used to investigate dance-related fractures diagnosed in a sample of 100 emergency departments over 20 years. Descriptive statistics and demographic variables were analyzed using chi square tests. Age was analyzed …

Guía Para Padres Y Familias, 2025-2026, Illinois State University, Dean Of Students Office, Parent And Family Services

Parent and Family Guide

Campus guide prepared by the Illinois State University Dean of Students Office's Parent and Family Services Department

Stop Suffering For Your Art, Amanda Bryers

Theses and Dissertations

What does the process look like for an actor to disconnect from a circumstance that they take on during the course of a rehearsal or performance? And how does this disconnection process affect the actor’s mental, physical, and emotional health? This project consists of interviews of CSU student actors about their personal experiences in letting go of imaginary circumstances immediately following a performance, rehearsal, or actor’s exercise. The purpose of this project is to determine whether or not actor’s training provides sufficient tools for an actor to disconnect. Interviewees detailed their own personal methods, as well as whether or not …

Understanding Urban Cultural Festivals As Social Infrastructure, Bernadette Quinn

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

This paper is concerned with the role that urban cultural festivals play in enhancing the quality and vitality of social life. It acknowledges that their reputation has become tarnished in recent years and that festivals now frequently feature in debates because they are charged with inciting tensions, exclusions and contestations. However, of note here is that cities tend to narrowly conceive of festivals as temporarily bounded moments of commodifiable spectacle. The fact that festivals function, on an ongoing manner, as embedded, sustained practices capable of supporting urban social living in numerous ordinary ways is rarely acknowledged, much less prioritised. This …

Scenic Design For Jen Silverman’S Phoebe In Winter, Jess A. Ford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This document is a narrative of the Scenic Design process for Jen Silverman’s Phoebe in Winter, designed by Jess Ford. The process includes a detailed summary and analysis of the script, the stages in the creation of the design, the final design, build, technical rehearsals, and the final product. This production was produced by West Virginia University’s School of Theatre & Dance during the Fall 2024 semester, presented in the Gladys G. Davis Theater at the Canady Creative Arts Center in Morgantown, WV.

Commissioning And Recording Project Of New Works For Saxophone Focused On Promoting Mexican Composers And Educating Future Commissioning Saxophonists, Andres Efrain Santana

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This document chronicles my process of commissioning and recording five new works by Mexican composers. To contextualize this experience, I provide a brief introduction of Mexican contemporary music history, an overview of second-hand accounts of the commissioning process, my personal experience of this process, and my assessment of the impact these works could have on the classical saxophone repertoire. As I have reflected on my own experience with historical and contemporary accounts of the commissioning process, it has become clear that personal connections between composers and performers and the patronage or funding linked to those relationships are just as important …

Apostrophes And Archimedes, Evan J. Clough

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis explores how digital collage and printmaking can be used to develop images through acts of subjective response, intentional and unintentional acts of appropriation, and parodic re-use and comparison pushed to absurd extremes. It looks at the history of creating art for parodic re-use and examines “Pataphysics”, developed by and for art appropriation of pattern, form, and process. These concepts are explained and related to visual artwork that was made for the thesis exhibition Apostrophes and Archimedes Cast Shadow Puppets. The exhibition invites viewers to experience the phenomenon of observation, automatic transformation, and creation using multiple modalities of exaggerated …

One, Two, Unemployment’S Coming For You: How Slasher Films Reflect Societal Fears, Arwen G. Hansen

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

Analysing Visitors’ Emotions, Testing The Dramma Model, And Using Reflective Practice For Guided Walk Development, Jane Webb

Plymouth Business School Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between visitor engagement, aura, nostalgia, and emotion in guided walks, demonstrating how these concepts influence the tourism experience. The study advances understanding by offering a pragmatic insight into visitor emotions during co-creation. To achieve the aims, a study of Facebook posts was performed to understand the ties between current and former residents of Torbay. The research's significance stems from its comprehensive examination of visitors' emotional and subjective well-being (DRAMMA) during guided walks. The work assessed contributed to the DRAMMA Model, encompassing detachment, recovery, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation. The methodological approach follows an interpretative route, …