Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

Supporting Women Scholars: How To Get Things Done In Hard Times, Mona Narain

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

No abstract provided.

The Art Of Adaptation, Katharine E. Jordan

Honors Theses and Capstones

My honors thesis The Art of Adaptation discusses the process of adapting old stories and theatrical pieces for modern audiences through the exploration of various adaptations (theatrical, operatic, dance and film) of Euripides' Medea. It also touches on my own short, modern, adaptation; FURY: A Rock Musical Inspired by Medea. All of this research was important in making the performance aspect of my capstone the best it could be.

The Bollywood Item Number: From Mujra To Modern Day Ramifications, Avantika Saraogi

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis deals with the “item number” genre of Bollywood song and dance sequences. I argue that the item song has evolved from a combination of the historically rich culture of prostitution in old India and the western influence of modern times; and that it contributes highly to the male dominated patriarchal society perpetuated by Hindi films by means of the voyeuristic male gaze and objectification of the female body. In conjunction with this research I choreographed a dance called Item No. 3 that was performed in Scripps Dances 2013. A discussion of the significance and decisions behind the …

Hangin' With Judas: A Narrative Analysis Of Stephen Adly Guirgis's 'The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot', Constance Falconer

Masters Theses

Stephen Adly Guirgis has created an era-melting play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, which explores the timeless debate between divine mercy and free will. A systematic application of Walter R. Fisher's narrative analysis, through form identification and a functional analysis, determined how Guirgis accomplishes persuasion. This qualitative study focused on Guirgis's narrative, using Walter R. Fisher's narrative paradigm as a framework to answer the research question(s): (1) If Guirgis's ideology and created world in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot are foreign and imagined, how is narrative probability and narrative fidelity achieved?; and, (2) How does Guirgis persuade his …

Evolving Stages: Duty And Fate In The Construction Of Tibetan Tradition, Divya Chandramouli

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, I discuss themes of preservation, adaptation, and the construction of tradition in the context of Tibetan performing arts. I chose to explore these issues by looking specifically at a play composed by His Holiness the current Karmapa, based on the life of Milarepa, one of the most revered yogis of Tibetan Buddhism. This play is unique in the sense that many of its aspects stem directly from traditional Tibetan opera, or lhamo, yet the ways in which it was presented and the reasons why it was presented this way diverge considerably from “tradition.” I conducted my research …

Fearless: Ratco, Center For Public Service

SURGE

If you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve had some really spectacular visitors from the south with us on Gettysburg’s campus the last few days! The Random Acts of Theater Company (RATCo) is a group that emerged from the Freedom Foundation in Denver, Colorado a few years ago. Their initiative involved using theater as a means for self-expression and communication, but RATCo spread because it was so successful and ultimately reached Selma, Alabama. Selma, although a major site for the Civil Rights movement, and also the site for the last battle of the civil war, has changed very little since the 1960s. …

"Words, Words, Words": The Idea Of The Absurd As Method In Hamlet., Anthony Faber

Modern Languages and Literatures Annual Graduate Conference

In this paper I explore the idea that Hamlet develops the notion of the absurd as a method with which to confront his world: however, as art imitates nature, Hamlet's discourse of "an antic disposition" suggests, that he in fact embodies the absurd as constituting a meaningless existence.

Class Movements In The New South Africa: Post-Colonial Politics, Neocolonialism, And Mimicry In Pieter-Dirk Uys’S Macbeki A Farce To Be Reckoned With, J. Coplen Rose

Modern Languages and Literatures Annual Graduate Conference

This paper uses Homi Bhabha’s theory of colonial mimicry to analyze Pieter-Dirk Uys’s MacBeki: A Farce to be Reckoned With. In doing so I posit MacBeki is a colonial mimic, a character who comically imitates European gestures and language. MacBeki’s behaviour throughout the play highlights the dangers of greed and corruption in post-apartheid South Africa and encourages the play’s audience to respond with ridiculing laughter. My paper concludes by arguing that Uys’s play should be read as a hybrid text that draws on European dramatic styles and South African political events, staging a critical response to national uncertainties ahead …

Bibliography For Work In Digital Humanities And (Inter)Mediality Studies, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Wheeler, Beatrice Irene (Isenberg), 1915-2004 (Sc 867), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 867. Two skits by Beatrice Irene (Isenberg) Wheeler, written in 1988 and 1989, based on her childhood experiences in Northtown, a very small Hart County, Kentucky community. Written for a presentation at College Street Church of Christ in Lebanon, Tennessee. One play describes a country school and the other documents a worship service.

Sheridan's Promising Tale Is Half Told, Ian Kilroy

Articles

Review of 'Break a Leg', the memoir by Irish theatre artist Peter Sheridan. First published in the Sunday Business Post Magazine.

Acting, Integrity, And Gender In Coriolanus, Kent Lehnhof

English Faculty Articles and Research

Shakespeare's Coriolanus... anticipates and corroborates modern-day analyses emphasizing the sociopolitical dimensions and determinants of antitheatrical discourse. In the present essay, I would like to shift my focus from questions of class/status to questions of sex/gender, endeavoring to trace the links between Coriolanus’s antiperformative zeal and his ultra-masculine identity. For though it is true that Coriolanus opposes the dissimulation of others on political grounds (i.e., it creates social confusion), what causes him to reject play-acting in his own person is the sexualized fear that it will unman him (i.e., turn him into a squeaking virgin or crying boy). In this manner, …

‘An Isle Full Of Noises’: The Perception & Influence Of Sound In Shakespeare’S The Tempest, Paul A. Di Salvo

Student Publications

Since the play’s authorship in 1610, actor-managers and directors alike have struggled over staging the opening scene of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The physical presence of the ship, the sounds and lighting effects of thunder and lightning, the dialogue of the actors, and the use of music have varied from the early 17^th century to the present in an effort to appeal to the audience. The presentation of these elements, especially sound cues and music, prepares audiences to understand the dynamics of Prospero’s powers and transformation as a character. Depending on how sound and stage technologies were implemented …

Examining Roles In Children's Group Therapy: The Development Of A Dramaturgical Role Instrument To Measure Group Process, Craig Haen

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

In this exploratory group process study of two children’s psychotherapy groups in an outpatient clinic, group roles were examined through the development of a dramaturgical coding instrument and the use of trained raters to analyze videotaped scenes of interaction. Exploratory data analysis was conducted that compared individual members within groups, group-level data between groups, and members who showed clinical change with those who did not. The results suggest the potential diagnostic utility, for researchers and therapists, of applying dramaturgical roles to group process.

Romeo And Juliet, Courtney Mohler

Scholarship and Professional Work – Arts

No abstract provided.

Sound Studies: Voice And Aurality In The Theatre, Patrick Michael Finelli

Theatre and Dance Faculty Publications

The aural aspect of performance has emerged as a unique topic for theatre research at a time of technological advancement, providing a distinctive entry point for historical analysis while raising important theoretical questions about recording, reproduction, the interplay of live and recorded sound onstage, and the act of listening itself. Until relatively recently, “sound studies” as a research focus has been a minor grace note in the composition of theatre studies. Historically, theatre scholarship has referred to the speaking actor, the literary voice of the playwright, the metaphorical voice of the age, or an unseen psychological voice—all of which have …

2012 Cave Run Storytelling Festival Poster, Cave Run Storytelling Festival Committee (Morehead, Ky.), Morehead Tourism Commission (Morehead, Ky.)

Cave Run Storytelling Festival Posters

Promotional development poster for the Cave Run Storytelling Festival held on September 28 to September 29, 2012. Those performing included: Clare Murphy, Gay Ducey, Rafe Martin, Kala Jojo, Bil Lepp, Len Cabrel, and Kevin Kling.

Drama As Method : Recontextualizing Project Learning For Hk Secondary Schools, Yuen Fun, Muriel Law

Lingnan Theses

This doctoral study is grounded in the work of cultural studies and its concern for pedagogy and education. The study investigated a local pedagogical issue— Independent Enquiry Study (IES)—a specific form of social inquiry in the core subject Liberal Studies (LS) in Hong Kong senior secondary schools. It took a designated IES classroom as the point of intervention and as the basis for exploring transformed pedagogical practices in Hong Kong secondary school education. My vantage point of the intervention rested on participant-observation through action research and critical contextual analysis of the action-research site and its relations to the wider social …

Robert Burns As Dramatic Poet, R. D. S. Jack

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses Burns's skill in creating dramatic voice in his poetry, and what can be learned about the poems in their performance. Examples include "My luve is like a red, red rose," "John Anderson, my jo," "Robert Burns's March to Bannockburn," and "Tam o' Shanter."

Mind The Gap: An Analysis Of The Function Of Love In The Works Of Tom Stoppard And C.S. Lewis., Jacqueline C. Lawler

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Writers C.S. Lewis and Tom Stoppard, though philosophically different, both write about love that embodies the natural law. The natural law can be defined as law that is inherent in man and can be discerned by reason rather than by revelation. Both writers use their observational style in order to reason their way to nearly identical laws of love. Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, Arcadia, Rock ‘n’ Roll and The Real Thing will be analyzed using the framework of C.S. Lewis’s book, The Four Loves.

Manly Mechanicals On The Early Modern English Stage, Keith M. Botelho

Faculty Articles

A review of the book "Manly Mechanicals on the Early Modern English Stage," by Ronda Arab is presented.

The Persistence Of Vengeance From Early Modern England To Postmodern New York, Dominic M. Sevieri

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As a passing glance at the popular texts of any given period reveals, the subject of vengeance is nearly inescapable; on billboards, websites, and year end lists, revenge represents a curious constant even amid disparate media. This study explores the cultural commonalities that align revenge texts of the English Renaissance and exploitation films of late 20th century America. As in-depth inquiry reveals, numerous ideas and narrative tropes popularized during the Early Modern period are pushed to their logical extremes in these films. The central factor that aligns London during the Renaissance and New York at the cusp of the 1990s …

Playing Devil's Advocate: The Attractive Shakespearean Villain, Jonathan Montgomery Green

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The characters of William Shakespeare have spawned countless words of critical interpretation inspired by the playwright's aptitude for fashioning intricate and conflicted figures. As a master character craftsman, Shakespeare is consistent in creating fascinatingly deep characters, and many of them have even gone so far as to generate entire literary archetypes. From the contemplative Prince Hamlet to the despicable yet charming John Falstaff, Shakespeare's characters remain eternal representatives of what any good character should be: interesting, provocative, and complicated.

However, among the playwright's most hypnotic figures are his villains, those characters whom audiences should by all counts detest but cannot …

Exploring The Morality Of Arthur Miller And Elia Kazan To Show How It Affected Their Work, Friendship And Society, Dale D. Parry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to explore the moral convictions, or the lack of same, in the personal character of Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan and to show how those convictions affected not only their work and personal friendship but society as well. They first met in 1946 when Harold Clurman of the Group Theater passed to Kazan a Miller play that he had read entitled All My Sons. With the success of the play, the two became fast friends and collaborators in profession and ideology. Each had in common the Great Depression, problem fathers, marital instability and Communism. …

Power And Relationships In The Plays Of Neil Labute: Directing And Performing In Some Girl(S), Mary Peyton Griffith

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the major works of Neil LaBute's career as a playwright and screenwriter, including the criticism he has received on theatrical and literary levels. The themes most prevalent in the thesis are the use of power and manipulation in the relationships between LaBute's characters and the ongoing maturation of his characters that coincides with the maturation of his work. The second section of the thesis follows the production, directing, and acting in LaBute's play Some Girl(s).

American Jihad: Understanding The Social Backlash Against Muslim Americans Through The Context Of Ethnotheatre, Sameehan Patel

Honors Projects

I am a brown person. The color of my skin dictates much of how American society has and will interact with me. Whether it is to my advantage or my disadvantage, the cultural fabric of America will isolate who I am because of the color that I am. American culture has racial assumptions embedded within its grain, lending to the alienation and eventual discrimination of certain races. The idea of a marginalized race is no foreign concept in the Anglo American hegemony, but the ever morphing idea of the “other” is my point of inquiry. On September 11^th 2001, …

Shakespeare Burlesque And The Performing Self, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

This paper argues that Victorian Shakespeare burlesques reveal an alternate literary history: a movement away from private, novelistic consciousness toward collaborative performance. Many materialist scholars fault post-Romantic critics for casting Shakespeare as a psychological realist and reading his plays as if they were novels. The burlesque treatment of Hamlet’s soliloquies, however, suggests a contrary trajectory, challenging the equation of Shakespearean character with psychological reflection. Rather than inaugurating a tradition of interiority, Hamlet’s soliloquies generate social speech in works like Gilbert’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, inviting audience participation. The burlesque imperative also inflects novels like Dickens’s Great Expectations, turning the …

American Art Theatre In The Digital Archive, Patrick Michael Finelli

Theatre and Dance Faculty Publications

Based on a critical examination, evaluation, and selection of primary and secondary sources related to American art theater that have moved from the private into the public digital realm, Finelli reflects and comments on key issues related to the digital archive and theater historiography. His objective was to analyze the notion of digital archives and consider how accessing materials in electronic form affects the practice of writing history. He hypothesizes that the process of digitizing library and archival materials has a significant affect upon archival elements through their transformation into the digital realm, bringing about change in both an ontological …

Mediums Change, Fears Stay The Same, Lucy Wilhelms

Honors Theses

Although generally dismissed by scholars as being overly sentimental or superstitious, the gothic genre has survived for over four centuries and maintained significant cultural appeal, outlasting the sentimental novel and the travelogue as popular literature. What, then, makes this genre different? What is so special about the gothic?

In my thesis, I examine the evolving cultural appeal of the gothic genre that keeps it attractive and relevant for readers by tracing the gothic text, The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, through its initial inception and its subsequent adaptations. As a novel, The Woman in Black both repeats and revises …

Bibliography Of Central European Women's Holocaust Life Writing In English, Louise O. Vasvári

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.