Digital Commons Network^™

Echoes Of Becoming - K. Morrell, Kole K. Morrell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

I work sculpturally, exploring presence, transformation, and emotional weight that is not inherently visible. My forms are recognizable yet unsettled, existing between familiarity and distortion. Meaning is not fixed or declared, it reveals itself slowly through texture, material, and time spent in observation.

I approach making as a form of therapeutic ritual. Through touch, I shape and alter the material, imbuing it with the story of emotions I want to convey to the viewer. I am most connected to the work in its “in-between” states, when the form is still shifting and unresolved. In these moments, it mirrors my own …

Beyond The Dice Roll: Investigating Character Creation In A Pokemon-Inspired D&D Game, Alberto S. Rendon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

For this study of Pokémon Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) I study gameplay as a way to capture how players use character creation and performance in role-playing games as a form of social identity expression. I provide a rich description of how players construct a game persona and relate it to their social identity.By engaging in an ethnographic study wherein I analyze the players’ game character, their style of play, the decisions they make during the game, and the small group dynamic that emerges as a result, I want to show how mixing these two fandoms can promote ways for players …

Jerry Day, Daniel Holzmna

Student Theses

The life and times of California's oldest erotic bakery.

Temporality Waters: Connecting People To The Brays Bayou Through Memory, Culture, And Identity Experiences In Houston, Texas, Khulda Aamir Obaid

Landscape Architecture Theses

Communities across Texas face increasing hydrological pressures from natural climate variability, changing precipitation patterns, and rapid urban growth. Although directly attributing extreme precipitation events to anthropogenic climate change is complicated by internal variability and observational limitations (de Vries et al., 2023; Griffin et al., 2024; IPCC, 2021; National Academies, 2016), cities such as Houston are preparing for more frequent and intense storms. Historical floods—including Tropical Storm Allison, the Memorial Day and Tax Day floods, and Hurricane Harvey—have exposed the limits of Houston’s predominantly hard-infrastructure flood management. The Brays Bayou watershed, particularly the Meyerland neighborhood, shows heightened vulnerability, where impervious surfaces, …

Here’S To Screaming And Healing: An Exploration Of Women’S Intergenerational Experienced Trauma Through Performance, Bellah Noelle Crawford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains a glimpse into the inner workings of my process as an actor in approaching the role of Hecuba in The Trojan Women, the application of process in performance, script analysis, and the relevancy of the play’s thematic content as it relates to my artistry, womanhood, and our modern world. Additionally, I will offer insight into the creation of my one person show – Mr. Sandman. I will discuss the inspiration that curated the play, how it finds societal relevancy, and the performative aspect of cultivating a solo theatrical piece. It includes the lineage between both productions and …

Peaks Island Star : May 2026, Vol. 46, Issue 5, Service Agencies Of The Island

Peaks Island Star, 2026

The Peaks Island Star is the newsletter of the island's service agencies and other community news.

Burmese Marionette Puppet In The May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection, Haley Dozier

Department of Anthropology

This report provides a detailed description and attribution of a Burmese marionette puppet in the May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection at Loyola University Chicago. It includes information about the puppet itself as well as the art and formation of Burmese marionette theater.

Vinicio Meza And The Bassoon: A Study Of The Costa Rican Composer’S Chamber Music And Episodios For Bassoon And Orchestra, Bryan Valderrama Vega

Dissertations

Vinicio Meza (b.1968) has had a significant impact on Costa Rican bassoon music, contributing over sixty chamber works featuring the instrument and a work for bassoon and orchestra. Despite his successful career and professional recognition, only a small number of his compositions have been the subject of academic study, offering a mere glimpse of the composer’s artistry. The present dissertation responds to this gap by utilizing Meza’s bassoon works as a vehicle to delve into his life and artistic production, following a qualitative approach to answer questions about his career and musical style, the historical and compositional particularities of his …

Observation And Reflection Of Neighborhood And Community 2026: 48219 Beyond The Zip Code, Justin Darragh, Adhithi Keerthana Athikumar, Muaaz Akhtar, Dania Zeidan, Nathaniel Edwards, Trina Alimi, Jonah Brand, Beatrice White

Patient Education Projects

No abstract provided.

Wildflower Season: A Semi-Somnolescent Retrospective, Connor Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I came to graduate school under the impression that I would be working on my own. I believed the process of playwriting to be an individualistic pursuit, where my plays came from my mind and my mind alone. Instead, through the process of writing my thesis play, Wildflower Season, and its subsequent production as part of the ArkType New Play Festival, I discovered that writing a play was a collective endeavor, and that one of the great pleasures the theatre has to offer is creating it with a group of other people.

Silent Sky: Exploring The Universe Of Theatre Through A Directorial Lens, Sarah Behrend-Wilcox

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis documents the directorial process of a production of Lauren Gunderson’s Silent Sky, produced by the University of Arkansas Department of Theatre. This document follows the director’s journey from initial script analysis through closing night, with an emphasis on the successes and challenges found in mounting this fully realized, artistically unified production. The central argument of this thesis is that through careful documentation of a single production, it is possible to identify both successful strategies and areas for growth in the collaborative process. This thesis is organized in four chapters: The Big Bang, The Matter, The Dark Matter, and …

“Blessed Solace”: Playing The Stoically Vulnerable Marmee, Marjorie Joann Gast

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I will explain my journey bringing a well-known literary character, Marmee March from Little Women: The Broadway Musical, to life on stage. This thesis will also discuss the development of my original one-person show Pearl, its drafts and iterations, and the intended future expansion of the piece. Finally, I will include my statement of artistry, production programs, posters, and photographs; website link, headshot, and resume.

Through The Looking-Glass: A Process Of Trust And Discovery, Selena Mykenzie Gordon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the process of joy, trust, and discovery I have cultivated as a professional actor and its application in various productions. I will examine my role as Sabine in Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers at TheatreSquared in Fall of 2025, as well as the role of Alice in my One Person Show, titled Curiouser, developed in Spring of 2024. Included in this document is my artistic statement, my one-person show script, production posters and programs, production photos, website link, headshot and resume, my character analysis of Sabine, One-Person Show class writing prompts, and proof of permission for use …

Rationalizing The Despicable: Creating Talthybius In Euripides’ The Trojan Women, P Rob Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A reflection on my personal work and development as an actor and performer over the three years of this program, specifically focusing on the work of creating the character of Talthybius in Euripides’ The Trojan Women.

The Reliance On Children In Atomic Bomb Literature, Chenyeng Vang

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores the conventions of children’s literature, or what children embody in literature, and how it functions within atomic bomb literature in three ways: filling the gap of the unreliability of language, pushing past binaries through its queerness, and universalizing messages of peace to focus on a broad vision of a better future. Analysis involves atomic bomb literature written within the first five decades of the bombings, from 1945 to 1995. This research additionally seeks to answer the question: why children’s stories? This paper concludes that the dependence on children within atomic bomb literature hinges upon constructions of children …

Illinois State University, One Hundred And Sixty-Seventh Annual Commencement, May 2026, Illinois State Universtiy

Commencement Programs

Illinois State University

One Hundred and Sixty-Seventh Annual Commencement

May 2026

2026 May, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for May of 2026.

Not Just Monetary: Arts And Humanities Scholars’ Perspectives On The Costs Of Open Access Publishing, Lindsey Skaggs, Rachel Scott, Colby Cilento

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Bibliometric and survey-based studies have documented different open access (OA) publishing practices among scholars across academic disciplines. This article reports on interviews conducted with arts and humanities scholars from the United States and explores how OA intersects with their research and publication practices. Beyond the considerable financial costs of OA publishing, findings demonstrate that arts and humanities scholars contend with opportunity, reputational, equity, and time costs as they consider and engage with OA publishing. The authors discuss the implications of these costs for librarians who facilitate the dissemination, discovery, and preservation of arts and humanities scholarship.

From Mono To Object: A Contextual Evolution Of R&B And Soul Vocal Production Techniques With Emphasis On Object-Based Audio In Dolby Atmos, Samuel W. Slape

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The human voice is the central element in much of recorded commercial music, and in R&B it serves as the primary vehicle of expression. Across the evolution of reproduction formats, including mono, stereo, surround, and Dolby Atmos, engineers have adapted strategies to preserve vocal clarity while exploring new spatial possibilities. This thesis examines how these shifts in technology and perception have shaped vocal production, using R&B as a lens for the relationship between format and artistic practice. Psychoacoustics provides a foundation for understanding how listeners perceive localization, masking, and vocal prominence. Analytical approaches are introduced to distinguish direct and indirect …

The Incredible Is, Justin L. Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Incredible Is is a full-length philosophical play in two acts that follows Self — a man whose body contains the visible cosmos — as he travels existence with his companion Cosmic Cat in search of his creator, the "Ultimate Personifier." Along the way he encounters personified abstractions including You, Them, We, Power, Pleasure and Pain, Creator and Destroyer, and falls in love with Magic. When his obsession with finding his maker leads him to break the Rules and plunge the universe into chaos, God resets reality and Self at last confronts the Ultimate Personifier — only to discover a …

Accessible Theatre In The Face Of Transition: A Collaborator's Journey Through Sarah Ruhl's Orlando, Ty R. Robbins

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the various types of accessibility observed in practice during a production of Orlando by Sarah Ruhl at the University of New Orleans. Throughout

the chapters to come, I will focus on gathering theatrical dramaturgy, my process as a company

actor, the successes and setbacks of accessibility in theatre, and reflections from community

artists on how they view accessibility in the workplace. I will evaluate my findings and those of

fellow theatre makers to outline the strengths and weaknesses of accessibility in relation to

collaboration in theatre, an art form that is continually given a cold shoulder in …

The History And Legacy Of The Monterey Jazz Festival, Ana Mendez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Monterey Jazz Festival holds a strong legacy in the world of jazz. Nestled in the Monterey Bay area, the festival's musical lineups entertain locals and travelers from around the world each year. Topics that are discussed within this paper are the inception of the festival, Monterey before the festival, Monterey Jazz Festival co-founders, Jimmy Lyons and Ralph Gleason, major works of art debuts at the festival including The Real Ambassadors, the international influence at the festival, the educational endeavors of the Monterey Jazz Education Team, and the 2025 rebranding of "Monterey Jazz".

Somatic Healing And Social Choreography For Peacebuilding: Since When Did Efforts For World Peace Become A Cheesey Notion . . . ? . . . A Public Space Performance Ritual, Reese Johanson

Senior Honors Theses

Somatic practice in performance can transform culture, politics, and society. Dismantling social systems that spread systemic trauma can be achieved by repatterning our social choreography, replacing old systems with mutual aid and community support.

This paper touches upon a decade of personal and communal somatic practice and research. I experienced and witnessed a universal struggle between humans and the oppressive forces embedded in societal norms and was driven to restructure these norms in honor of self and the world through art. The “Since when…?” project culminated in 7 research laboratories where participants engaged in open and guided forms of somatic …

Staging Collapse: Anita Berber’S Cocaine And Morphium As Disability Aesthetic Performance, Blair Summers

Theses

This thesis examines Anita Berber’s performances Cocaine and Morphium within the cultural climate of Weimar Germany, where the body became closely tied to ideals of health, productivity, and national renewal. Through the framework of disability aesthetics as defined by Tobin Siebers, this study argues that Berber transforms addiction, collapse, and bodily decay into a visual and affective language of artistic and political critique. Rather than present the body as disciplined or morally ideal, Berber stages instability, excess, and death through gesture, costume, set design, and music. In doing so, she reimagines the stigmatized female body as a site of agency …

Integrating Embodied Expertise Into Dress History Academia Through Practice-Led Actualistic Recreations: A New Methodology And Test Thereof, Rowan Paramour

Theses

This thesis examines the usage of practice-led methodology for historic dress recreation projects and how to implement and objectively analyze the findings from such research in an academically rigorous fashion. In section one, I examine the distinction between different types of recreation practices, the establishment of embodied practice within historic dress research, address concerns centering practice-led methodology, and develop a methodology for practice-led historic dress recreation projects and rubric for assessment of that methodology. In section two, I fully test the methodology and rubric by utilizing it in my own recreation and present this process using the methodology’s proposed deliverables …

The Invisible Toll: Black College Women And The Intersection Of Academic Stress, Rest Deficiency And Exhaustion At Clemson University, Jomya Ford

All Theses

Leisure has been an under-explored aspect of Black women’s lives in higher education, particularly within predominantly white institutions (PWIs), where limited culturally relevant opportunities and racialized isolation shape daily experiences. Constraints around rest, rooted in racism and gendered expectations, continue to influence how Black college women navigate academic pressure, deficiency narratives, and exhaustion. Guided by intersectionality, this qualitative study draws on semi‑structured interviews with Black undergraduate and graduate women at a PWI to explore how cultural upbringing, institutional climates, and internalized expectations shape their definitions and practices of rest. Findings show that while participants recognize rest as necessary, they rarely …

Combined Middle Meningeal Artery Embolisation And Subdural Evacuation Port System Drainage For Chronic Subdural Haematoma: A Systematic Review, Single-Arm Meta-Analysis, Meta-Regression, And Cost-Benefit Analysis, Shiva A. Nischal, Santosh Guru, Shaan Patel, Ashviniy Thamilmaran, Mary Murphy

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Chronic subdural haematoma (cSDH) is an increasingly prevalent condition in older, anticoagulated, and medically frail patients, in whom recurrence and perioperative risk remain substantial despite standard surgical evacuation. Growing recognition of cSDH as an angiogenic, inflammatory disorder has prompted interest in minimally invasive strategies that combine mechanical decompression with targeted modulation of the underlying vascular pathology. This study aimed to evaluate the safety, effectiveness, and health-economic profile of combined middle meningeal artery embolisation and subdural evacuation port system (MMAE-SEPS) drainage for cSDH, compared with conventional burr-hole evacuation.

METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL were searched from inception to 24th August …

I’Ll Have A Who Christmas Without You: A Case Study On The One-Person Show Through Who’S Holiday, Caitlyn Turner

Theses & ETDs

This thesis discusses the experience and history of the one-person show, or monodrama, through a performance of Who’s Holiday by Matthew Lombardo. Who’s Holiday was first performed in November 2017 at the Westside Theatre Off-Broadway. This thesis is in three parts: History & Theory, Analysis of the Play, and a Reflection of the performance. My professor Tim O’Donnell directed my performance of the play, which was performed in December 2025.

The Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet: Its History And Legacy In American Saxophone Quartet Performance, James M. Lawhn

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

The saxophone quartet has emerged as a legitimate chamber ensemble in the United States through the sustained efforts of a small number of pioneering professional groups. Despite the central role these ensembles have played in shaping repertoire, performance standards, and public perception, their histories have often gone undocumented. Among the most influential of these groups is the Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet, an ensemble that maintained an unusually active national and international touring career for nearly four decades and helped establish the saxophone quartet as a viable professional model.

This document addresses a significant gap in the scholarly literature by presenting …

At The Crossing, Timothy Mulhall

Theses

At the Crossing is a body of photographic work that stemmed from daily walks through the Genesee Valley Park. Having moved to a new and unfamiliar place, these walks were a way of drawing closer to the city of Rochester and the people who call it home. In the process, I discovered the vitality and democratic function of the park and its relationship to the larger city. In this space, people gather, celebrate, rest, and dream. It exists as a wild refuge, a pressure valve within the overall function of the city. In this way, it is one of the …