Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Mapping The Theaters Of Brooklyn's Past (1825-1925): A Gis Project, Elena Shefsky

Publications and Research

Despite its rich performance culture, Brooklyn remains underrepresented in theater history, eclipsed in fame by the well-known theaters of Manhattan. One of the most populous areas in America, Brooklyn has been an artistic home to actors, playwrights, directors, and impresarios for centuries. That said, there is a dearth of accessible information and scholarship on Brooklyn theaters. My objective was to update an ongoing mapping project, The City Performs, to include information and images of theater buildings from Brooklyn. The project is an interactive, open-source digital map that uses ArcGIS software to georeference data about NYC theaters. I collected data …

Historian-For-A-Day, Elyse Singer

Open Educational Resources

Each student will select a class session in which to present a brief (1-2 minute) "fun fact" based on their own research that relates to the time/place being studied. It should be something that is of interest to you, and (hopefully) to the whole class – cultural, political, sociological, scientific, medical…. For example, for the class on Roman Tragedy, the factoid might be about what a citizen in ancient Roman ate for supper! Originality counts.

Due on date of presentation: A one-paragraph description of the fun fact, in your own words, and cite at least one source--that is not Wikipedia. …

Dancers Of The Book: Yemenite, Persian, And Kurdish Jewish Dance, Quinn Bicer

Anthós

Despite the cultural significance of dance in Jewish communities around the world, research into Middle Eastern Jewish dance outside of the modern nation-state of Israel is sorely under-researched. This article aims to help rectify this by focusing on Yemenite, Persian/Iranian, and Kurdish Jewish dance and explores how these dancers have functioned and been received within the societies they have been a part of. The methods that have gone into this article are a combination of analyzing primary source recorded dances and existing secondary source research into the dance of these communities. Through these methods, this article reveals how Yemenite, Iranian, …

From Raqs Sharqi To Belly Dance: The Influence Of Western Cultural Values On A Middle Eastern Dance Form, Molly Talbot

Dance Department Best Student Papers

This paper examines the history and development of two Middle Eastern movement forms, raqs sharqi and belly dance, through an analytic lens of Western cultural influence. Raqs sharqi originated around 5500 b.c. and holds strong cultural values in honoring female rites of passage. During Napoleon's occupation of Cairo in the late 18th and early 19th century, raqs sharqi performers split into two paths. Some performers appealed to new norms imposed by French spectators while others refused such norms and removed themselves from the scene to create various movement subcultures. This rift began a theme in belly dance history of subjection …

Masculinity In American Movie-Musical Films, Christopher Sparks

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

My presentation explores the relation between American masculinity and film musicals. I demonstrate how the dominance of the musical at the box office in the middle of the 20^th century reflects historical events and technological change. Drawing on both scholarly and popular criticism, I show how the images of masculinity that Americans once encountered on the silver screen have transformed as musicals became marginal to popular culture in the United States. My research considers both classic 20^th century musicals, such as Wizard of Oz (1939) and 42^nd Street (1933), and more recent experiments with the genre, including …

Trauma, History, And Terror In The Poetry Of Yusef Komunyakaa And Sinan Antoon, Reema Binghadeer

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her comparative study “Trauma, History, and Terror in the Poetry of Yusef Komunyakaa and Sinan Antoon,” Reema Binghadeer considers the work of the African American poet Yusef Komunyakaa (b. 1941) and the (Arab) Iraqi poet Sinan Antoon (b. 1967) through the lens of trauma theory of some notable theorists including; Freud, Cathy Caruth, Jean Laplanche, Roger Luckhurst, and Shoshana Felman—have negotiated in this field. The article explores the literary manifestations of trauma in two distinct historical periods and geographical settings to show the specificities of each prototype and how the historical-cultural significance and textual meanings of trauma have intertwined …

The Hidden Power Of Images: An Allegory Of Chaos And Performance In The Digital Age, Livia Xandersmith

MFA in Visual Art

Within this text, I explore the hidden power of images in American visual culture through painting-based installations. I investigate images of the past and present juxtaposed in a surrealist landscape. Through the use of images in the news, entertainment, advertising, and images within the home, I depict how the problems of the past bleed into our perceptions of the present. I find that this cycle of problem inheritance connects us as humans regardless of time, generation, and place. In my work, I explore the complexity of image culture and its shifting presence within the digital age. Using surrealist collage, I …

Experiencing History: A Roundtable Discussion Of Architecture, Theatre, And Culture Of England, Elyse Lamszus, Andrew Hoag, Riley Basick, Katherine Bosma, Autumn Bruens, Alaina Durr, Cynthia Morales, Madelynn Norton, Laura Rankin, Benjamin Ridler, Remington Ross, Lia Shomaly, Anna Shoup, Kaitlyn Tibbetts, Becca Witvoet, Emily Yerge

Scholar Week 2016 - present

This presentation features a roundtable discussion among students who traveled to England during Spring Break, March 5-11, 2022. This presentation seeks to share primary and secondary research about England’s architecture and theatre, as well as additional insights about England’s culture and history gained through first-hand experiences of traveling within the city of London and to Stonehenge and Bath.

Sustainable Canons: Gadamer's Hermeneutics And Theatre, Charles A. Gillespie

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

This essay investigates Gadamer's hermeneutic theory and its application to theatre. Attention to Gadamer's views of theatre and performative interpretation provides a foundation to theorize a more sustainable canon. Classics that constitute a sustainable canon operate within a tradition through a community of interpretation that continually returns to interpret them anew. This structure also describes the theatrical repertoire. Several of Gadamer's central themes find easy analogues on stage: play, the history of effect (Wirkungsgeschichte), the participation of an audience in the fusion of horizons, and art's making present continuity the past. Gadamer provides a framework for understanding the …

Tap Dance In Post-Secondary Dance Education: Why Is It Disappearing And How Can We Fix It, Natalie Riddick

Dance Department Best Student Papers

Tap dance is an artform that is rapidly declining in popularity in dance training, especially in post-secondary dance education. To answer the questions of how and why a quintessentially American artform has so faded in dance teachings, this paper analyzes the history of tap and its creation by marginalized individuals, the Eurocentric legacies that influence our definitions of 'technique' in dance training, and how tap dance is currently being taught today. Evidence for the conclusions of this paper include current discussions of tap among dancers and dance educators as well as a review of recent scholarship on the history of …

The Beat Of A Subculture: A Study Of The History And Impact Of Non-Pitched Percussion In Early Hip-Hop, Jeffrey Michael Taylor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document presents a study of the origins and role of non-pitched, percussion-based samples in the history and development of the hip-hop genre. The survey presents an historical synopsis of hip-hop’s origins including the infrastructure of the genre, the DJ forefathers, and the music and drummers responsible for the subcultural emergence. Emphasis is placed on the specific genres of music that influenced the creation of hip-hop and the drummers responsible for the sounds that were appropriated to create new musical works. Influential drummers are examined, and transcriptions are given to aid the development of relevant drum set performance techniques. A …

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? A Marxist Analysis Of "Hamilton" And Its Relationship To The Broadway Economic System, Alana Ritt

Honors Projects

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s mega-hit Hamilton: An American Musical has been both a critical and academic darling since its premiere in 2015. A historical retelling of America’s inception through the eyes of an oft-ignored founding father, the musical weaves together a diverse cast and hip-hop musical stylings in order to tell the story of “America then, as told by America now.” While many critics and scholars alike have praised the musical for putting an exciting and accessible twist to American history, others have argued that the musical is not nearly as “revolutionary” as it claims to be. This essay is designed to …

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? A Marxist Analysis Of "Hamilton" And Its Relationship To The Broadway Economic System, Alana Ritt

Honors Projects

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s mega-hit Hamilton: An American Musical has been both a critical and academic darling since its premiere in 2015. A historical retelling of America’s inception through the eyes of an oft-ignored founding father, the musical weaves together a diverse cast and hip-hop musical stylings in order to tell the story of “America then, as told by America now.” While many critics and scholars alike have praised the musical for putting an exciting and accessible twist to American history, others have argued that the musical is not nearly as “revolutionary” as it claims to be. This essay is designed to …

Testimony, Narrative, And History: The Plague And Some Issues Of Literature As Testimony, Dongfeng Tao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Albert Camus's The Plague establishes a mode of“literature as historical testimony”and demonstrates a profound shift in the relationship between history and narrative, and it implies that literature ( narrative) is inevitably embedded in history. Literature as a testimony to the Holocaust does not record the Holocaust but also offers a new perspective to understand it. This actualizes the transformation of history as it changes the nature of historical knowledge. The history in The Plague is written in the mode of an allegory, and it establishes a profound metaphorical relation between the plague and the Holocaust. As both the plague and …

The Historiography Of Ballet Russes And The Russian Revolution: Dramaturgy For The Play Ballet Russes, Sachen Kele Pillay

Georgia College Student Research Events

This project investigates the political and artistic connections between the Ballet Russes dance company, and the wider socio-economic changes attributed to the Russian Revolution and the First World War. The 2019 Georgia College theatrical production of the play Ballet Russes, by Bernard Myers, follows the innovative and revolutionary ballet company of the same name. The story specifically focuses on the interpersonal relationship between the company’s Maestro Serge Diaghilev, and the legendary ballerino Vaslav Nijinsky. The central themes of the show revolve around the issues of exploitation, power structure, and revolution. The role of the dramaturg in the show’s production was …

The Relationship Between Lgbtq+ Representation On The Political And Theatrical Stages, Brett V. Ries

Honors Thesis

This thesis examines the relationship between LGBTQ+ representation on the political and theatrical stages. During some decades, LGBTQ+ theatre was dictated by the politics of the time period. During other times, theatre educated and filled the silence when the government and society turned the other way. By examining LGBTQ+ plays, musicals, and political events over the past century, there are clear themes that emerge. In both the theatrical and political arenas, LGBTQ+ representation has been limited by a concept called “repressive tolerance.” Every step of progress has been met with another restriction, ranging from stereotypical caricatures to legal discrimination. In …

My Hall. A Stage Play And My Hall: Excavating, Shaping And Sharing The Memory Of Hale School’S Memorial Hall Through A Site-Specific, Staged Performance. An Exegesis, Julia Jarel

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis provides a case study which investigates the notion that a building which is historically and architecturally significant to a community holds that community’s memories within its walls. It argues that, in collaboration with the members of that community, these memories can be excavated, revealed and woven together to form a piece of site-specific theatre which can then be performed by and for those community members. It proposes that this intergenerational, creative collaboration may enhance the community members’ understanding and appreciation of the significance of the building, its place in the community and their place within it.

The site …

Staging English Affairs In Early Modern Italy: History, Politics, Drama, Fabio Battista

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation looks at the creation and dissemination of alternative versions of English history through the means of dramatic fiction, and contextualizes them in the panorama of the intellectual debates of seventeenth-century Italy. Staging English Affairs in Early Modern Italy studies the ways in which the reinvention of Tudor and Stuart affairs in dramatic literature mirrored the ambitions, fears, and fantasies of a century in disquieting transformation. This research documents how news and information from England entered the Italian states, how they were perceived, and what their repurposing can reveal about the potentialities of intercultural exchange. Anglo-inspired drama became a …

Las Seis Dimensiones De La Ciencia Ficción Española, Miguel A. Fernández Delgado Mafd

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Reseña de Historia de la ciencia ficción en la cultura española, editada por Teresa López-Pellisa. Madrid: Iberoamericana, Vervuert, La Casa de la Riqueza, Estudios de la Cultura de España 44, 2018. 523p; la cual aborda la historia de la literatura, el teatro, el cine, la televisión, la poesía y la narrativa gráfica en España

Female Empowerment In Classical Spanish Theatre, Sarah Gielink, Johanna Adrian Burr

Student Symposium

Last spring, after reading Golden Age plays in our Early Modern Spanish Literature and Culture course, Adrian Burr and I became interested in the role women played in these stories. Within the Spanish comedia, women are relegated to two stock roles, the “dama” (lady), or the “criada” (maid), while men are able to play a much wider variation of roles. Classical Spanish works by playwrights such as Lope de Vega, Miguel de Cervantes, and Pedro Calderón de la Barca are still produced today, just as English-speakers still revive Shakespearean works. We became curious about how modern directors and theatre practitioners …

Otterbein Aegis Spring 2019, Otterbein Aegis

Aegis: The Otterbein Humanities Journal

Editor's Introduction, Book Reviews and Essays including: To Keep or Not to Keep by Lindsay Lisanti, Fantastic Beasts and How to Value them by Casey Hall, Sex, Youth, and the Pill b Hannah Schneider, How Historiography is Crucial in Comprehending the Leading Circumstances of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 by Josh Wolf, Magic is no Cure by Casey Hall, The Ever-Evolving Relationship of the Supreme Court, Women and Homosexuals by Amanda Reed, Vietnam: A Love Story by Abigail Fahmi, Gender and Sex in 1920' America by Raven Manygoats.

The Passion Of Love Or The Love Of Passion In A-Minor, Brendan Whitt

ETD Archive

A-Minor is an one-act play that examines the relationship between a Black artist and the predominantly white society and industry he must assimilate into in order to be considered a success. The main character Jacque Bonnet is used as a vessel to interpret the life and career of Joseph Bologne Chevalier de St. George. Despite Bonnet and Bologne being from different eras (Bologne mid to late 1700’s, Bonnet Mid 1800’s) I used Bonnet as a device to investigate the lesser explored life of Bologne. By creating a meta-gothic world for Jacque Bonnet to exist in, the crowd can watch his …

The Examination Of A Magic Show In Its Past, Current, And Future Forms Based Around A Recorded Performance Before A Live Audience, Armory Hermetz

Honors Theses

This project is an analysis and reflection on a magic show performed by myself before a live audience and recorded for documentation. It is a snapshot in time of my progress as a performer at a particular point in my career as a magician. In this paper, I detail my current philosophies on the performance of magic and the reasons why I made certain decisions regarding the structure of the show and the routines I performed. In addition to this, I also discuss adaptations that I have made to these routines since the performance. The analysis is based entirely on …

The Other At War: Performing The Spanish-Cuban-American War On U.S. And Cuban Stages, Juan R. Recondo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Spanish-Cuban-American War, declared by the United States on April 25, 1898, marks a colonial shift in the history of the Caribbean and solidified the expansionist thrust of the United States outside national borders. Theatres in turn-of-the-century New York, which at this point was one of the theatrical centers of the nation, debated for audiences the imperialist character of the U.S. The Cuban struggle and the resulting Spanish-Cuban-American War permeated U.S. drama, thereby portraying a Caribbean in need of salvation by the military intervention of the United States. New York stages of the time became locations where various cultural representations …

An Embodied Analysis Of Humankind's Development And History As Viewed Through Our Art And Theatre, Mikayla Burr

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Our theatre practices are just as diverse and rich as everything else in our history and often are products of the climate in which they are created. Medieval European churches utilized the stage to convey their truths to peasants and church services can be described as nothing less than a spectacle. Complete with flying set and prop pieces and grand entrances with echoing chants made for quite a sight. In this way theatre was a teaching tool. In Native American ritual practices, the dances and chanting were often meant to bring upon a literal climate change, asking the spirits to …

A Dramaturgical Exploration: Setting Oliver Goldsmith’S She Stoops To Conquer In Post-Civil War Virginia, Amanda Ward

Senior Honors Theses

A reputable theatrical company will hire a dramaturg to implement historical research and to provide reputable information where the director or staff desires it. They ensure that the play’s elements are as truthful to the time period as possible and aid in a performance’s overall success. If a theatrical company were to set Oliver Goldsmith’s play She Stoops to Conquer in 1870 Virginia, it could strengthen the play’s underlying religious, political, and cultural elements.

The paper is comprised of seven sections: a biography of the playwright, a religious exploration, a political analysis, a cultural comparison, a delineation of suggested script …

What's In A Name? New Vision For Abo, Laura Runge

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

Introduction to the new vision statements for the journal.

Grand Solo Op.14 & Rondo Op2. N3: The Sonority Of The Classical Era, Hugo Maia Nogueira

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

During the early nineteenth-century, the writing for classical-guitar elevated the instrument to

the solo concert stage. The appearance of the six-string guitar changed guitar writing.1 With this new

instrument, guitarists had an array of new possibilities to explore in terms of sound and technique.

Fernando Sor (1778-1839) and Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849) were the main artists promoting and

advocating the six-string guitar as a serious concert instrument in Spain.2

This document will focus on two guitar masterworks: Fernando Sor's Grand Solo Op.14 and

Dionisio Aguado's Rondo Op2. N3. It will explain why Grand Solo Op.14 and Rondo Op2. N3 can

synthesize …

Review Of The Nutcracker Comes To America: How Three Ballet-Loving Brothers Created A Holiday Tradition By Chris Barton & Cathy Gendron, Christiana O. Manthei

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of Musical Theatre Vocal Technique And Style 1950 - Present, Emily Slomovits

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

My Honors Thesis Recital is the culmination of my study of how singing techniques and styles have changed in musical theatre since its Golden Age in the 1940's and 50's from a semi-classical, operatic style and technique, to a sound much more infused with jazz, pop, rock, and other contemporary music styles. This recital explores works by some of the greatest musical theatre composers and lyricists, starting with giants like Rodgers and Hammerstein and Leonard Bernstein, and working up to present day with modern greats like Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, and Jason Robert Brown. I will demonstrate the evolution of …