Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Performative Model For Conducting Critical Race Analysis: Josephine Baker, Modern Dance, And Utilizing Narrative To Transform Legal Doctrine, Patrick C. Brayer

Faculty Works

This article proposes a performative model for analyzing the relationship between race and law by integrating narrative, modern dance, and performance as interpretive tools. Focusing on Josephine Baker’s activism and her 1952 return to St. Louis, the paper demonstrates how storytelling and artistic expression can expand legal scholarship and transform understandings of racial injustice. By bridging legal studies with performance, African American history, and cultural analysis, the work illustrates how embodied expression provides new pathways for confronting structural racism, transgenerational trauma, and the pursuit of social justice.

Changeable Cohesion: Dance And Disability In Post-War Sri Lanka, Susan Reed

Faculty Journal Articles

Dancers with disabilities are increasingly participating in performances throughout Asia. In this article, based on long-term research, I provide an analysis of changeABLE cohesion, a mixed-abled, intercultural performance co-created by Sri Lankan dancers and Gerda Koenig, choreographer of the renowned German DIN A13 dance company. The article focuses on the experiences and interpretations of the dancers, analyzing the creative process they employed as well as the long-term impacts that participation in changeABLE cohesion had on their lives and work. By providing the perspectives of multiple actors, the article seeks to demonstrate how an expansive ethnographic approach can enrich our …

Now I See You, Now I Know You: How Constructions Of Space And The Self Navigate The Tension Between Reenchantment Of The World And Intimate Communion In Autobiographical Performance, Huong Nguyen

Theatre and Dance Honors Projects

The transformative power of live performances lies in their reenchantment of the world: how they allow us to see special qualities of everyday objects and phenomena. Autobiographical theatre, rather than trying to find new ways of seeing, aims to transform the audience to “[make] the stranger less strange”. How do these qualities co-exist in autobiographical performance, and how does such a style of performance navigate them? By centralizing a comparative analysis of stagecraft in Aya Ogawa’s The Nosebleed and my honors project, Anti-Cartesian Variety Show, I demonstrate how constructions of space and the self help collapse the boundary between reenchantment …

”To Be Or Not To Be – It’S Good”: Actor And Student Experiences In A Drama Club For People With Aphasia, Jade K. Hannan

Senior Theses

Individuals with aphasia, a disorder caused by damage to the brain’s language network, confront a variety of social and emotional struggles. While leaving their cognition largely intact, aphasia tremendously impacts a person’s ability to communicate confidently, fracturing their social network and contributing to feelings of loneliness and frustration. To address this persistent need in the chronic aphasia population, the Play on Words drama club at the University of South Carolina provides a forum for people with aphasia (PWA) to engage in dramatic exercises focused on non-verbal communication of emotions, ideas, and stories, culminating the production of an original devised play. …

A Loon On Highland Lake, An Eco-Fantasy, Erin E. Bennett

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

A Loon on Highland Lake is a fantasy play, adapted from Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Swan Lake, itself an adaption of a Russian “swan maiden” folktale. In this retelling, the spirit of an invasive tree species, Alder Buckthorn, endangers the inhabitants of the small lake town of East Andover, New Hampshire. On the night of the 4^th of July, Buckthorn places a curse on an unfortunate news reporter, transforming him into a loon, the solitary black bird known in the northeast for its distinct, haunting call. Figgy, a shy ecologist living in East Andover, stumbles upon the knowledge that her …

V.1 Spring 2024, Center For Arts & Language, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

v.1 is a publishing platform for the ongoing work, ideas, discussions, debates, and aspirations of students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The Spring 2024 issue contains articles on rewilding in Southern Africa, digital folklore, the RISD Musem exhibition on Nancy Elizabeth Prophet "I Will Not Bend an Inch," student musings on Indian identity, queering domesticity and gender in China and Taiwan, interviews of RISD students, the second Black Biennial, displaced ceremonial objects, the defunct student club RISD Quickies and interdisciplinarity at RISD, a student's queer identity, and flirting with GPTs, along with student creative writing.

The “Henry Rifle” On The German Stage: Karl May’S Depiction Of The American West As “Dark And Bloody Grounds”, Elisabeth Hostetter

College of Performing Arts Departmental Research

No abstract provided.

Wole Soyinka: A Life Of Arts And Advocacy, Maggie Feduccia

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The life and work of playwright, novelist, and activist Wole Soyinka (born in 1934) serves as a perfect example of the marriage of the arts and advocacy, through the telling of stories of the Nigerian people. Soyinka grew up surrounded by Christianity, Islam, and the tribal religion of the Yoruba people. Additionally, Soyinka’s parents exposed him to Nigerian and other West African literature, Western literature, and ancient Greek drama. Soyinka’s intellect was formed at the intersection of these various theologies and literary traditions, and further developed through studies at the University of Ibadan and the University of Leeds, from where …

The Diary Of Anne Frank Costume Design, Thomas Rowe

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

UNO's Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Thomas Rowe

The Diary of Anne Frank Costume Design

03-08-24

Theatre costume design requires having a dual perspective on small details as well as the big picture. It is a collaborative art form resulting in an intricate storytelling medium. For the theatre, there is a process of research that must go into your work. UNOTheatre's process starts in the year before a production opens, beginning with script analysis and discussion with the design team. Throughout the design process, research, rough sketches, and final design packages are presented. For The Diary of Anne Frank, …

Shedding Light On Shadow Casts, Kiara Durbin

Honors Theses

On Sunday, November 12, 2023, Kalamazoo’s pioneer American Sign Language-interpreted shadow cast performance took place in Shaw Theatre at Western Michigan University. Clue is a mystery-comedy based on the beloved board game, loaded with witty dialogue and physical comedy. It was the perfect vehicle for the Kalamazoo county’s premiere American Sign Language (ASL) shadow cast—a special performance where the interpreters are directly onstage following the movements, dialogue, and intonation of the actors. It was produced through a unique collaborative effort of Western Michigan University’s Department of Theatre, Stage Hands, a Michigan-based ASL performance interpreting company, and Theatre Kalamazoo, a local …

Concert Intime

Dance Programs

No abstract provided.

You’Re Invited! Collaborating With Faculty And Students To Create A Successful Library Event, Laura Semrau

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

To celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the printing of Shakespeare’s First Folio, the Baylor University Libraries hosted a three-day celebration; “Shakespeare 400” drew faculty members from six academic departments and leveraged the talents of both graduate and undergraduate students. The four main events drew a cumulative crowd of over 200 people. Graduate students contributed to the events through music performance, a dramatic reading, enthusiastic promotion, and engaged participation. This presentation will explore key take-aways for including graduate students in library events.

The success of Shakespeare 400 was largely due to collaborations between the library, faculty members, and graduate …

Under The Wig: A Critique On The Usage Of Boy Actors In The Renaissance, Christopher Nastasi

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper examines the treatment of boy actors in the Renaissance between the years 1300-1600. With very little primary source material due to the low literacy rate in the Renaissance era, analyzing court records is the primary way of understanding how theatre companies and society harmfully treated the boy actors. One of the many issues the boy actors faced, was their perception from the audience. This study analyzes through a materialistic lens, how the audience treated the boy actors. By using this Marxist approach, focusing on the role of labor, the study dives deeper into the direct physical abuses the …

Play Time: Gender, Anti-Semitism And Temporality In Medieval Biblical Drama By Daisy Black (Review), Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten adapted by Ernest Zulia and composed by David Caldwell.

Performed February 23-25, 2024 at the Mitchell Theatre.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten is a musical adaptation of Robert Fulghum's book, brought to life by Ernest Zulia and David Caldwell. The play captures the essence of Fulghum's essays, which reflect on the simple yet profound lessons learned in kindergarten, such as sharing, playing fair, and living a balanced life. Through a series of vignettes and musical numbers, …

The Winter's Tale (February 21-24, 2024), William Shakespeare

Student Theatre Programs

Event program for The Winter's Tale (February 21-24, 2024).

To view the photos from this production of The Winter's Tale, please click here.

Twelfth Night, Or What You Will

Theatre Programs

No abstract provided.

When Language Fails: A Critical Analysis Essay Of Kathryn Stockett’S The Help:, Evan Mccreary

Black Album Mixtape

A critical analysis essay of Kathryn Stockett's New York Times Bestselling book, The Help, and it's subsequent film adaptation, and how in recent years, particularly following the murder of George Floyd, the story has been used as a classroom tool for teaching students about racism and its effects. Written by a Black student in a primarily white school community, this essay was written as an antithesis to the ideology that the book and movie exceed their intended intentions of being a beneficial teaching tool to youth.

An Icosahedron For Two: A Many-Sided Look At Making A Duet, Colleen T. Wahl

LASER Journal

The space around our bodies is not empty or neutral. In fact, the space around our bodies is loaded with meaning and important. When we move through it, whether it be in our daily lives or a choreographer making specific choices in order to convey a message, we activate new understandings in our lives. As a dancer and choreographer, I created a duet from improvisational climbs on an icosahedron. This article discusses choreographing from the form icosahedron and connects Laban's theories of space harmony with the activation of meaning in my life.

Ancestra (2024), Holly Holsinger, Chris Szajbert

Season 2023-2024

No abstract provided.

Falling Westward (2024), Graciela Fernandez

Season 2023-2024

No abstract provided.

Works In Progress

Dance Programs

No abstract provided.

Dna Poster, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

DNA, written by Dennis Kelly

February 1-3, 2024, 7:30pm

February 3 & 4, 2024, 2pm

Director, Aaron Andrade

Dna Playbill, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

DNA, written by Dennis Kelly

February 1-3, 2024, 7:30pm

February 3 & 4, 2024, 2pm

Director, Aaron Andrade

Scenic Design, Renee Surprenant Fitzgerald

Lighting Design, Elissa Cerros

Vocal Coach, Megan Chang

Costume Design, Jaimy Escobedo

Sound Design, Stuart Holland

Properties Design, Claire Dancause

Makeup Design, Maxine Wheelock

Cast: Luke MacDonald - Mark; Maddie Rich - Jan; Sarah D'Andrea - Leah; Jack Jozefowski - Phil; Molly McGoldrick - Lou; Anthony Maldonado - John Tate; Anthony Joseph - Danny; Holli Hay - …

The Ghost Of John Nisbet: Hugh Macdiarmid’S First Published Work, Alan Riach

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the first published item, a short play, signed with the name 'Hugh M'acDiamid', and sets in its biographical and historical context just after the First World War and in the literary context of 1922 and international modernism, in 1922, viewing it as 'an encapsulation of its moment, and most importantly as an elegiac tribute to a friend,' arguing that 'Performing "Nisbet" as a play intimates the drama of fractured modernist selfhood implicit in the written text,' and concluding that it should be seen 'in the whole national context of Scotland finding a way towards a reconstruction of itself, a …

Epistemic Theatres: The Dramaturgy Of Knowledge In Twenty-First Century Theatre, Amir Farjoun

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I draw upon theatre and performance literature, science and technology studies, and art theory to attend the distinctive dramaturgical features of lecture-performance and other contemporary examples of epistemic theatres. After theorizing their roots, their causes, and their objectives, I build on the intrinsic and mutual links these performances develop between theatre and knowledge to justify and develop novel academic modes of response that consider theatre as a method, and not merely an object, of humanistic study. I propose that a theatricalization of knowledge—or rather, a more explicit acknowledgement of knowledge’s engrained theatricality—helps in developing intellectual-academic responses not …

Accessibility In Asl Through Dance, Jocelyn Supanich

Honors Theses

My honors thesis project was a dance for camera or a dance film that I created as my senior capstone project for my BA dance degree. I wanted to create a film that increased awareness surrounding the accessibility of American Sign Language (ASL) for dancers and through dance. I wanted to show how dance and ASL can be seen as similar through the lense of them both being languages and ways of communicating using movement of the body. This idea is where the title stems from: “Expression in Motion”. Both ASL and dance are forms of expressing oneself, and they …

The Intersection Of Theatre And Cognitive Neuroscience, Mary Katherine Flage

NEXUS: The Liberty Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

No abstract provided.

Winter Dance Concert (January 25-27, 2024), Lindenwood University

Student Dance Programs & Brochures

Event program for the Winter Dance Concert (January 25-27, 2024).

“I’M George Lucas”: A Connor Ratliff Story, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of “I’m George Lucas”: A Connor Ratliff Story (2024), directed by Ryan Jacobi.