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Articles 151 - 180 of 229
Full-Text Articles in Theatre and Performance Studies
Comparative Study Of The Ritual Aspects Of Western And Asian Performance, Hyung Don Lee
Comparative Study Of The Ritual Aspects Of Western And Asian Performance, Hyung Don Lee
Theses and Dissertations
This comparative study focuses on ritual aspects of Western and Asian performance. We may say that ritual in contemporary theater production has limitation to become realization. The limitation arises from contemporary period’s nature. We know that these days we do not have common or collective psyche. However, some theatre artists are trying to get back ritual function and process to recover real communion between spectator and performer throughout performance.
A Comparative Analysis Of Directing & Choreographing Musical Productions For Professional, Academic And Community Theatres, Alison Angelone
A Comparative Analysis Of Directing & Choreographing Musical Productions For Professional, Academic And Community Theatres, Alison Angelone
Theses and Dissertations
In my thesis, I plan to explore the realms of academic, professional and community theatre through the eyes of a director and choreographer. Highlighted themes will consist of the varying approaches to the script, music and choreography. This thesis will also include specific teaching and or non-existent teaching methods for professional, academic and community theatre. Included will be three definitive case studies which will consist of one musical production per academic, community and professional theatrical setting. I will focus on the director/choreographer’s overall approach to the research, rehearsal and final performance processes for the Pioneer Theatre Company’s production of My …
Musical Theatre Handbook For The Actor, Maggie Marlin
Musical Theatre Handbook For The Actor, Maggie Marlin
Theses and Dissertations
MUSICAL THEATRE HANDBOOK FOR THE ACTOR By Maggie Elizabeth Marlin, MFA A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Major Director: David S. Leong Chairman, Department of Theatre Musical Theatre is a performance style deeply woven into the fabric of the American theatre. We live in time and social climate where over half of the productions open on Broadway right now are musicals. If actor training institutions profess a mission to prepare their students for a career in the entertainment industry, why are …
Adapting The End: Responding To Standards Of Learning In Theatre For Children, Jamie Lish
Adapting The End: Responding To Standards Of Learning In Theatre For Children, Jamie Lish
Theses and Dissertations
Theatre is the passport to the creation of a balanced educational system in the United States (US), while standardized testing is the downfall of the ideology behind ‘No Child Left Behind’ (NCLB). As an educator, I was greatly influenced by Howard Gardner, theorist of Multiple Intelligences and Neil Fleming theorist of learning modalities. This work has carried over into my work in theatre as a director. Theatre does not have to didactically serve formal education, which emphasizes mathematics and reading/writing, nor does it have to be merely a spectacle. Theatre can be experimental, artistic, cathartic, foster social and intrapersonal skills …
De-Masking The Silence - Drama Therapy: For Children With Asd, Joshua M. Galligan
De-Masking The Silence - Drama Therapy: For Children With Asd, Joshua M. Galligan
Theses and Dissertations
This dynamic form of pedagogy attempts to cross the interdisciplinary boundaries between theatre, psychology, and modern medicine. What I attempt to present in this thesis is a systematic developmental framework for the theoretical use of drama therapy with children suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder. This approach has been based on in-depth interdisciplinary study which makes use of the most current research looking at the neurological makeup of the autistic brain. This systematic approach examines the mirror neuron system which has been labeled as a major defect in children with ASD. Through the use of theatrical techniques such as acting, movement, …
The Freedom Quilt, April Jones
The Freedom Quilt, April Jones
Theses and Dissertations
The Freedom Quilt is a play that I have written and adapted from Deborah Hokinson’s book, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. This story explores the historic and dramatic implications in the idea of coded quilts as a form of communication among African American slaves; specifically as coded maps to freedom. There is an ongoing scholarly debate challenging the existence of these quilts, let alone that they could have been used in such a complex manner. The Freedom Quilt however, is one girl’s unique and individual story, and does not in any way suggest that maps, encoded in quilts were …
What's A Female Director To Do? The Women Of Medea Redux And The Men Of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me: A Study Of The Sexes, Sarah Mansell Yount
What's A Female Director To Do? The Women Of Medea Redux And The Men Of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me: A Study Of The Sexes, Sarah Mansell Yount
Theses and Dissertations
My thesis will explore the role of the female director. The two plays on which I will focus, Neil LaBute’s medea redux and Frank McGuinness’s Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, call for quite different casts. The former involves a woman in a police interrogation room; the latter involves three men in a Lebanese prison. Despite the overt masculinity of these plays, traces of femininity permeate. Indeed, my status as a female director provided one of the clearest paths into these plays when I directed them last year at Virginia Commonwealth University. My gender also greatly influenced my direction of the …
The Politics Of Tea And Theatre: How Women’S Suffrage Groups Used Tea And Theatre To Influence Working And Middle Class Women To Become Politically Active, Lisa Kelly
Theses and Dissertations
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the members of the woman’s suffrage movement in the United States and Britain looked to soften their hard masculine image given to them by the press and to increase participation in the cause. They found that by including theatrical performances and benefits at meetings, and hosting tea socials afterwards, they could motivate many women to join without alienating or threatening men. This study looks at how tea socials and theatrical performances were used subversively to recruit new members, to debate ideas, and to disseminate information about the cause. Playwrights wrote plays that …
"Unsex Me Here...:" Looking At Gender In Nude Performance, Vanessa Passini
"Unsex Me Here...:" Looking At Gender In Nude Performance, Vanessa Passini
Theses and Dissertations
"Unsex Me Here…" is an examination of our bodies, what they mean in terms of gender and power, and why they mean what they do. Plucked from Lady Macbeth’s infamous soliloquy, the title suggests the stripping away of something essential that transforms. Sex is not the right word, but gender is. Often, these two are mistaken and interchanged. Myths that support our social structure exist at the intersection of sex and gender. In this production, I collaborated with Pete Guither of the Living Canvas to challenge notions of gender in different textual mediums (via the written text of Shakespeare’s "Macbeth" …
Pedagogy And Performing Shakespeare's Text: A Comparative Study, Sally Southall
Pedagogy And Performing Shakespeare's Text: A Comparative Study, Sally Southall
Theses and Dissertations
ABSTRACT PEDAGOGY AND PERFORMING SHAKESPEARE’S TEXT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY By Sally Parrish Southall A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Director: Dr. Noreen C. Barnes Professor, Director of Graduate Studies School of the Arts In the Master of Fine Arts program in Theatre Pedagogy at Virginia Commonwealth University, and in a second program, the Master of Letters/Master of Fine Arts in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance at Mary Baldwin College - two specific pedagogical approaches to accessing and performing Shakespeare’s text, …
Working From The Outside: Discovering Truth Within A Mask, Rebecca Bernard
Working From The Outside: Discovering Truth Within A Mask, Rebecca Bernard
Theses and Dissertations
It is the purpose of this thesis to explore the different principles of mask performance in modern theatre and the unique relationship it allows the actor to develop with an audience. The author uses exercises from her training experience with different mask artists such as Teatro Punto, Familie Floz, Torbjorn Alstrom, and Marcello Bartoli. These exercises document a process of training the body in preparation for the mask, how to perform with mask, and how to connect with an audience. The mask is used as a tool to discover an engagement of work that activates both body and imagination of …
Steampunk: An Exploration In Design, Christopher Mueller
Steampunk: An Exploration In Design, Christopher Mueller
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this thesis is to detail my first professional costume design job after my unofficial graduation in May 2008. This thesis will serve primarily as a design thesis, and will concentrate the majority of its efforts in the presentation of a final, original costume design for a realized production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as produced by Duke University. During the course of this presentation, I will seek to detail my own design process and the inspiration and research I used to achieve my goal. I will also discuss the execution of the design, …
Onye Mbu: 'My Identity' Pedagogical Applications Of The Surreal And Absurd In Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse Of A Negro, Adanma Onyedike
Onye Mbu: 'My Identity' Pedagogical Applications Of The Surreal And Absurd In Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse Of A Negro, Adanma Onyedike
Theses and Dissertations
ONYE MBU: MY IDENTITY PEDAGOGICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE SURREAL AND ABSURD IN ADRIENNE KENNEDY'S FUNNYHOUSE OF A NEGRO By Adanma N. Onyedike, M.F.A A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Major Director: Dr. Noreen Barnes, Director of Graduate Studies Department of Theater This document investigated my personal journey of discovering, developing, and later executing skill in teaching the theatrical arts. The re examination of the steps that led to my current success was important in order to qualify the receiving of my …
"Splintered And A Great Silence": The Production Of Return To The Upright Position By Caridad Svich, Catherine (Cate) Brewer
"Splintered And A Great Silence": The Production Of Return To The Upright Position By Caridad Svich, Catherine (Cate) Brewer
Theses and Dissertations
Like the Tribute in Light that grew phoenix-like from the ashes of the broken hearts of the artists who created it, Return to the Upright Position is a beautiful on-line collaboration amongst fourteen artists in the six months following 9/11. Conceived and edited by Caridad Svich, the play is moving and delicate and instantly brings us back to those moments when American history and sentiment were forever changed. Demoralized, terrorized, afraid, and alone, our country dragged its shocked and weary carcass from the ash, and pulled itself back up again. That is after all the American way, pulling yourself up …
Responding To The Plague Years: Aids Theatre In The 1980s, Jason Campbell
Responding To The Plague Years: Aids Theatre In The 1980s, Jason Campbell
Theses and Dissertations
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first discovered in 1981 and consequently changed United States history. Initially, it affected the gay community, and the United States Government did not actively combat the spread of the disease for the first four years of the epidemic. In response to a need for education, the theatre community took it upon itself to raise awareness about the disease. Artists such as Robert Chesley and Larry Kramer created pieces of theatre that helped society deal with AIDS. This thesis explores the AIDS theatre canon while focusing on two major works: Robert Chesley’s Night Sweat: A …
Dropping Knowledge And Breaking Barriers: My First Year Teaching At John Marshall High School, Jeffrey Cole
Dropping Knowledge And Breaking Barriers: My First Year Teaching At John Marshall High School, Jeffrey Cole
Theses and Dissertations
The following thesis draws from my experiences during my first year teaching at an inner city public school, John Marshall High School, from September 2007 to June 2008. It details apprehensions, conflicts, adjustments and corrections, both in my instructional method and personal interaction with students. I seek to illustrate mistakes and insights any first-year teacher might experience, as well as synthesize my own impressions regarding my evolving teaching philosophy.
Matoaka: Pocahontas In The Age Of Identity, Matthew Shifflett
Matoaka: Pocahontas In The Age Of Identity, Matthew Shifflett
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis details the labors of research and judgment that informed the writing of Matoaka, a Play in Three Acts. Specifically, the thesis explores the historical puzzles surrounding the life of Pocahontas and justifies the decisions made in dramatizing her life in the aforementioned play. Non-fictional works of the last four hundred years are considered, as well as popular dramatic performances of the nineteenth century. These works are examined closely in order to reveal the Pocahontas story as a point of contact between many concurrent social discourses. Reflections are also offered on the production of the aforementioned play and its …
Exploring The Ba And Bfa Curriculum, Jane Frazier
Exploring The Ba And Bfa Curriculum, Jane Frazier
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis is a picture of my journey as an educator. I taught at the University level from Fall 2001 – Summer 2006 before I became a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Theatre Pedagogy where I continued to teach until 2008. My education and real life experiences over the last seven plus years have contributed to my teaching methodology which is ever evolving. There were several trials and tribulations as I progressed as an educator and this is an exploration of my experience teaching in the BA and BFA curriculums.
Storming The Castle: Non-Secular Subversion Of The Pas D'Armes In The Castle Of Perseverance, John Moss
Storming The Castle: Non-Secular Subversion Of The Pas D'Armes In The Castle Of Perseverance, John Moss
Theses and Dissertations
It is important to remember that the categories of medieval performance were established far removed from their period in history. As a genre, the morality play includes a wide diversity of time, geography, content and performance styles. Such disparities have made it difficult to develop a comprehensive definition, without which comparisons between works cannot be consistent. As scholarship continues to explore these works in context of their performance, it becomes increasingly important to identify which performance styles best inform their production. In examining The Castle of Perseverance within the parameters of pas d’armes, new meanings can be drawn from its …
Unlisted Properties: An Exploration In Solo Performance, Lauren White
Unlisted Properties: An Exploration In Solo Performance, Lauren White
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis studies the process of creating, producing and performing a solo performance titled UNLISTED PROPERTIES. We intend to intertwine historical text and contemporary narratives to create portraits of women throughout different periods of history/her-story dealing with the theme of women as property or owning others as personal property. The historical text will be taken from the self-written works of Mary Chesnut, Harriet A. Jacobs, and Elizabeth Packard. The contemporary pieces have been pulled from a variety of sources, which include an interview with Mary Ford, an Army bride during World War II, Pagan Moss, a website blogger describing her …
Unlisted Properties: An Exploration In Solo Performance, Jason Smith
Unlisted Properties: An Exploration In Solo Performance, Jason Smith
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis studies the process of creating, producing and performing a solo performance titled UNLISTED PROPERTIES. We intend to intertwine historical text and contemporary narratives to create portraits of women throughout different periods of history/her-story dealing with the theme of women as property or owning others as personal property. The historical text will be taken from the self-written works of Mary Chesnut, Harriet A. Jacobs, and Elizabeth Packard. The contemporary pieces have been pulled from a variety of sources, which include an interview with Mary Ford, an Army bride during World War II, Pagan Moss, a website blogger describing her …
Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm: The Rise Of The Jazz Musical, Amy C. Baumgartner
Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm: The Rise Of The Jazz Musical, Amy C. Baumgartner
Theses and Dissertations
The shift in the American economic viewpoint before and after World War I left an indelible mark on the arts, allowing the only indigenous music to arise, jazz. In the transitory period following the war, it was George Gershwin who paved the way for jazz to become America's only indigenous music. Yet, the current definition of jazz is so racially polarized that it has lost focus on the music. This work explores George Gershwin's role in creating a jazz culture in a xenophobic country and argues for an inclusive definition of jazz, one based on the music itself.
Flow-Acting: Modern Sports Science And The Preparation Of Actors, Barrett Slade Billew
Flow-Acting: Modern Sports Science And The Preparation Of Actors, Barrett Slade Billew
Theses and Dissertations
Theatre artists and acting teachers throughout history have sought to find and create presence. By combining modern sports science with an understanding of systems of actor training I have suggested an approach that makes presence a trainable skill. My coach Dr. Scott Sonnon, developer of the Circular Strength Training System, has refined modern sports science to emphasize the development and maintenance of flow-state. This state allows the athlete to respond openly and freely within a constantly changing situation.By combining my life long study of acting with my eight years of work with Coach Sonnon I am developing a system to …
Choreographing Cabaret: A Guide To Storytelling Through Dance And Movement, Katie Claire Bradley
Choreographing Cabaret: A Guide To Storytelling Through Dance And Movement, Katie Claire Bradley
Theses and Dissertations
American Musical Theatre is one of the unique American methods of storytelling that exists in performance. In a musical, text, song, movement, and dance tell a story. In Music Theatre, when a character can no longer express what they desire in words, they sing. If singing cannot satisfy the need, the element of dance comes into play. Richard Kislan states, "What sets dance apart is the universality in movement and gesture which is not bound like language to nationality or culture. Dance transcends geography in a way that language cannot. Dance humanizes expression in a way that music cannot."(237) In …
Creating A Realistic Set Design For Doubt: A Parable, Philip Avery Hayes
Creating A Realistic Set Design For Doubt: A Parable, Philip Avery Hayes
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis is a narrative describing the set design for the Richmond premiere of Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley. The project was a creation of a set to be used by the Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. The performance was held in February 15, 2008 through March 22, 2008 at the Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. The production was a cooperation between the Virginia Commonwealth University Theatre Department and the Barksdale Theatre Inc.
Open Your Eyes...On Impressing The Important Things., Heidi Dawn Ortega
Open Your Eyes...On Impressing The Important Things., Heidi Dawn Ortega
Theses and Dissertations
Open Your Eyes On Impressing the Important Things is the documentation of my first semester as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. The purpose of this thesis is to document that journey to gain greater understanding of myself and my teaching. I embrace teaching as an artist. It is an opportunity to inspire and empower. As a teacher, I am attentive to the fact that learning is a complex process. It is individual, content and context specific. I believe that the goal of teaching is to empower students to take responsibility for their learning. Teaching is an art form that can be …
Jules, Emily Oye
Jules, Emily Oye
Theses and Dissertations
The short play Jules is a response to August Strindberg's Miss Julie and Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie. Jules is the story of a wealthy young woman celebrating her Sweet 16 birthday at a lavish "Juicy Couture" theme party in Orange County, California. At the party, her best friend tries to disuade her from falling for a young Mexican immigrant who is catering the party. Jules explores the tensions between rich and poor, the attitude of the privilaged towards the working class, the consequences of relationships, and the attitude that characterizes our "girls gone wild" era.
Integrating Actor Training Into Movement Design: An Analysis Of The Fight Direction In Tamburlaine And Edward Ii, Christopher Drew Vidal
Integrating Actor Training Into Movement Design: An Analysis Of The Fight Direction In Tamburlaine And Edward Ii, Christopher Drew Vidal
Theses and Dissertations
The following thesis draws from a recent production assignment at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., in which I acted as Associate Fight Director under Broadway Fight Director Rick Sordelet. We worked on three shows in all: William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, and Christopher Marlowe's first play, Tamburlaine, and his last, Edward II. By analyzing and assessing the working methods utilized during this production process, I hope to elucidate the most effective elements, and finally synthesize the tenets of my own working method. Structurally, I will recount the experience chronologically, from preproduction to performance, treating the pros and …
The Director's Presence, Paul Stephen Wurth
The Director's Presence, Paul Stephen Wurth
Theses and Dissertations
This text is partial record and narrative of the process and productions of Orphans by Lyle Kessler that opened on March 29th 2007 for a four day run ending on April 1st, The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh that opened October 28th 2007 for a three day run ending on October 30th, and Terra Nova by Ted Tally that opened on February 21st 2008 for a four day run ending on February 24th. The majority of the text follows the three shows from Spring 2007, Fall 2007, to Spring 2008, focusing on the process of direction of each production. Incorporated in …
Entertainment News: Agitprop To Colbertisms, Chanelle Renee Vigue
Entertainment News: Agitprop To Colbertisms, Chanelle Renee Vigue
Theses and Dissertations
At the beginning of the twentieth century, newspaper theatre was born from the need to inform those who could not read the news for themselves. There have been many contributors and influential factors to the multi-faceted evolution of newspaper theatre. Contributors include Meyerhold, Piscator, Brecht, Hallie Flanagan and Arthur Arent, and Augusto Boal. Influential factors include technology, politics, and the influence of theatrical movements. The most popular and most frequent contributors to contemporary newspaper theatre are the legitimate news media and comedy news shows.