Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Informed Imagination: Researching And Building A Character’S Identity, Jeremy William Hilgert

Theses and Dissertations

An actor’s duty to the play is to present the most fully formed and vivid interpretation of the character. To do so, the actor must have an understanding of how that particular character developed their own sense of identity. This should be constructed not from the actor’s personal experience but from an informed imaginative experience founded on research and analysis. As pedagogues we are challenged with attempting to give young actors the skills for such an analysis. I have developed a formula to aid the actor in creating the foundations for such an interpretation founded upon the sociological understanding of …

“To Please A Child”: A Practical Analysis Of A Children's Theatre Production From Planning To Performance, Brian James Warren

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this creative thesis and study was to examine, through a comprehensive analysis of the processes, how an original children's play was conceived, written, and produced, using the play Enough of the Huff and Puff, as the study's basis.

The study begins with an examination of goals of the drama program at South Texas Community College, and subsequently establishes a justification for children's theatre. It continues with a detailed analysis of how the play came to be written. Also included are, as the title indicates, explanations of practical considerations such as staging difficulties encountered and overcome, casting …

Khōn: Masked Dance Drama Of The Thai Epic Ramakien, Amolwan Kiriwat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will analyze and document khon, which is a masked dance drama, This thesis will present the history and and the Ramakien, which is the Thai epic. structure of khon and show how it is used to present the story of the Ramakien. In addition, it will discuss the training artists to participate in these dramas, and the value of these traditional theatre presentations in understanding the culture of Thailand. Khon is a Thai classical court masked dance whose history dates back hundreds of years. It employs many aspects of the arts: drama, dance, pantomime, and music. The costumes …

A Directorial Approach To Tennessee Williams' This Property Is Condemned, Chih-Shuen Hsu

Theses

Unavailable.

The Sense Of Nonsense: An Annotated Edition Of Ring W. Lardner’S Short Plays, Scott A. Topping

Dissertations

This edition presents twenty-one short plays by Ring W. Lardner (1885-1933), most of which have previously been accessible only on microfilm and in special collections. No edition exclusively dedicated to Lardner’s plays has ever been published. Though Lardner is known primarily for his short stories and sports writing, he considered himself to be a playwright and lyricist. Throughout his career he wrote several full-length plays (collaborating with George Cohan and George Kaufman, among others) and hundreds of short plays and sketches from which my collection is derived. Lardner’s sensitive ear for American dialects, praised by H. L. Mencken, Carl Van …

Direction Of The Play: All My Sons, James Murele Fewer

Graduate Student Projects

This project entailed background research of Arthur Miller and his works, casting, designing, and direction, and post production evaluation of Marshfield High School's Madrala (Marshfiels Drama Lab) Player's production of All My Sons. The production thesis concentration includes research and analysis of the play and its literary background, evaluation of the play as a production vehicle and a discussion of the directorial concept and vision for the production.

Fata Morgana, Erin Rogers

Senior Scholar Papers

Fora Morgana began as Traveling Light in April, 2000, a Senior Scholars project exploring the performing arts of dance and poetry. I wanted to combine these two an forms into an interdisciplinary research project and, ultimately, a full-length dance work for a production incorporating set design, sound design, costume design, and lighting. During the months following the project's conception, I began to focus the background research on Arthurian literature and legend.

Raising Their Voices: Women, Articulation And Power In Shakespeare's Henriad, Jennifer Zawadzinski

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Anxiety Café: A One Act Play, Kerri Mckinney

Honors Theses

The playwright is a central figure in any theatrical event. He or she provides the script, which is the beginning of most all productions. However, the playwright then takes a backseat to the director, designer, and actors who will be creating the event from his words. Few playwrights are well known by name; most are recognized by the works they have written. Up to now as an actor the only contact I have had with a playwright is learning a role created by one. My education of the theatre experience has only been in the production aspect of a script--putting …

Grave Matter: Contestations In Actress Burial, Christine Courtland Mather

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Death disrupts. The social space accorded to rituals of death and memorialization differs from all other spaces. Actresses disturb. Society contests, determines, and enacts the burial of an actress as her final performance. This study explores the actress burial as a site of meaning. Contestations over the fate of the actress body reveal power structures and the motivations of cultural institutions. This study highlights four actresses—Lecouvreur, Oldfield, Bernhardt, and Duse—whose burials cover a wide range of circumstances. Each chapter gives the relevant biographical information for the actress and the social background for the cultural contestation over the actress body. Traditional …

A Directorial View Of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer, John Vullo

Theses

The nucleus of my thesis will be the direction of "Suddenly Last Summer'', by Tennessee Williams. This play will be performed under my direction for The St. Charles Theatre Company on October 27 and 28, November 3 and 4, 2000. "Suddenly Last Summer'' was first introduced to the public at the York Theatre, in New York City, on January 7, 1958.

It is my intent to present my own interpretation of this play and document my process of directing it in a community theatre environment. This becomes even more interesting to me because, although the St. Charles Theatre Company has …

Blue Vaudeville: Sex, Morals, And The Mass-Marketing Of Amusement, 1895-1915, Andrew L. Erdman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment in the United States, from roughly the 1890s through World War I. In fact, it can reasonably be called the first truly mass form of entertainment in the United States, and perhaps the world. This dissertation examines how vaudeville grew as the first national, large-scale form of amusement in America. It attempts to locate the rise of this first form of mass entertainment within an era when powerful businessmen in many industries were beginning to market products and services to a national market as well.

Furthermore, this dissertation examines some of the …

Because Of Thy Exceeding Faith: A Choreographic Portrayal Of Women In The Book Of Mormon, Wendy L. Bone

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a choreographic exploration that illuminates and defines moments in the lives of women who are mentioned in the Book of Mormon. These women are Sariah; the wife of King Lamoni and Abish, her servant; and the Ammonite mothers of Helaman's two thousand stripling warriors. It is through these stories that their faith was evident. By understanding the roles these women played in the history of the Book of Mormon, we can use their example to strengthen our own testimonies.
It was discovered through this process that, although one can read about the life of another, a deeper …

"Gershwin Gone Native!": The Influence Of Primitivism And Folk Music On "Porgy And Bess", Katherine Dacey

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Accumulated Response In Live Improvised Dance Performance, Joanna T. Pollitt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The response project and accompanying thesis aim to affirm the role of the dancer as an authority in revealing patterns and traces of accumulated lived experience, knowledge and ideas through the practice and performance of dance improvisation. The dancing body is investigated as a dynamical and complex system of research that is embedded in a process of continual response to the present. These bodily inscriptions and the process of active response form the seminal grounds for the physical and energetic exchange of improvised dance in performance.

A Thematic Exploration Of "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When The Rainbow Is Enuf," By Ntozake Shange, Jocelyn M. Richard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

White customs and values have traditionally monopolized commercial theatre. It is not until recently that theatre has taken on multicultural influences in order to incorporate minorities into the audience. There are many artists who have pushed beyond the barrier of modern traditional theatre and influenced their generation One of these artists has challenged not only traditional theatre, but also addressed gender and race issues as well, with controversial results. This artist is named Ntozake Shange and the play that received so much attention is for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf. This piece is intended …

A Study Of The Development And Performing Of Chinese Classical Drama, Chia-Chih Hu

Theses

Unavailable.