Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

"Communicating Doors And The Actor's Product", Jessica Parsons

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Founding Clown Town: Applying Classical Methods To Devise New Works, Leslie Miller

Honors Theses

As a senior in high school, I only had one thing I knew I wanted to do with my life. Theatre was my passion and had been for many years. I had elected to attend art-focused schools since middle school and truly felt at home in artistic communities. At the time, I just needed an in-state school; I assumed that I would have to go to graduate school to really pursue my specific passion of physical theatre. Yet I am now in Tuscany, Italy, experiencing the epitome of my scholastic career by creating a piece of physical theatre for myself …

The Aesthetic Of Failure: Authenticity, Effort, And Imperfection In American Contemporary Dance, Delaney Mcdonough

Honors Theses

This research examines a slice of American contemporary dance artists and their audiences. American postmodern choreographers such as David Dorfman, Heidi Henderson, Sara Hook, and Paul Matteson use what I am calling the aesthetic of failure as a method to punctuate their work, momentarily blur clarity, steer the viewer’s gaze, make space for live choice making, and in some cases draw laughter. Almost any emotion can be associated with failure: anger, grief, hilarity, absurdity, etc. The underpinning of failure in live performance is the medium of the craft, human bodies. Consider the phrase “humanly possible:” jump as high as humanly …

One Art With Two Sides: Theatre And Performance Art, Jacob Watts

Honors Theses

Theatre is typically a scripted performance, performed by actors within a "Theatre space" and observed by an audience. When capitalized, "Theatre" refers to a field of art and study. It is produced to tell a story, or create meaning. Theatre contains elements of plot and characters, often using the characters to tell a story. Visual performance art is art that focuses on live human performance and defines itself in terms of "visual art" and not in terms of "Theatre performance." Performance art does not always occupy a specific place or use a specific kind of script. It often lacks character, …

So Please You: A Creative Project On Playing “Oswald” In King Lear, Darren Hayes

Honors Theses

This is a creative project displaying my process and journey through rehearsals—and eventually performances—as “Oswald” in the University of Southern Mississippi’s Theatre and Dance Department’s production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. All of my research and preparation culminated in a final performance of the show which took place October 14th through the 23rd of 2011. This was the most important part of my creative project, as it showcased all of my hard work throughout the process. All of the documentation that follows was used to support my performance, as is the case in any particular role. If I did …

Playing Echo In Eleemosynary: A Creative Thesis Project, Hayley Barnes

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I will explain on paper my creative process of researching, rehearsing, and performing the role of Echo in Eleemosynary. Eleemosynary is a one-act play by playwright Lee Blessing about three women and how their lives intersect and affect each other. I played Echo, the youngest of the three; her mother is Artie and hergrandmother is Dorothea. The play takes place in 1985 and is non-linear in structure. It alternates between scenes in the present in which the characters are speaking directly to the audience, and scenes in various points of the past. Echo is raised almost entirely …

A Scenographic Transposition From The Stage To The Screen: An Excavation Of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, Jordan Randall

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the distinction between the scenic design of A Streetcar Named Desire’s original Broadway production and 1951 film. Using Streetcar as a case study, I evaluated the differences in the choices made in the scenography of the two mediums as a way to evaluate whether there are inherent differences between theatre and film. I examined the scripts of both mediums and analyzed how the story was transposed and how that transposition affected the choices made by the director and designer in the making of the film.

Double Take Project: Using Applied Theatre For Campus Climate Change, Christina M. Cody

Honors Theses

Despite research gathered in the Campus Climate Report, I believe that it underrepresented the student experience of the social scene. The document primarily served as an identification tool for four major problems on campus: binge drinking, sexual assault, diversity, and disengagement in the classroom. Double Take Project also identifies similar issues however, this project uses theatrical techniques to gather the anecdotal reality of the student perspective. Double Take Project expands beyond the Campus Climate Report to inspire dialogue in a variety of student-to-student interactions and, more importantly, the project seeks action and solution plans.

The social scene dominates our culture …

Incite, In Mind, Ashley M. Deran

Honors Theses

I create because I am more fluent in the language of movement than any other dialect. Performing and choreographing serves as an outlet through which I convey my feelings, thoughts and opinions in the most direct and innate way possible. My capstone project illiustrates that movement and language hold equal potential to impact an audience. This comprehensive work serves as a culmination of artistic exploration and includes a video of original choreography entitled Under Ouse for the 2012 Graduating Presentation Concert, Incite, In Mind. Under Ouse explores weight and momentum as well as dependence in relationships while drawing from the …

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 …

Worklight Improv Team, Shannon N. Hill

Honors Theses

Contains information on the Worklight Improv Team's sessions, meetings, and activities.

Language, Race, And Culture In Porgy And Bess, Madeline J. Baker

Honors Theses

This study considers the cultural history of the story of Porgy and Bess, from its first manifestation as the 1925 novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, to the 1927 play adaptation, to the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. Heyward, a writer from Charleston, South Carolina, based the characters on the Gullah peoples of Charleston and attempted to represent the Gullah creole language they spoke in the dialogue of the novel. The representation of the creole language in the text of the novel, and the way the language changed …

At The Bus Stop: A Dance Film, Rachel Nadler

Honors Theses

Documents the experience of the author's learning process in creating a dance film.

Stopping For Death: Plays, Poetry, And Prose, Sally Johnson

Honors Theses

Thesis consists of plays and poetry composed by Sally Johnson.

Mary's Wedding, Amelia Gay Hammond

Honors Theses

As the market for actor training programs becomes more competitive, university theatre departments are attempting to generate the most production opportunities possible to attract the highest quality students. Crucial to this agenda‟s success is remaining cost effective while finding new conduits of artistic growth and production experience to enrich the students‟ development. Coastal Carolina University‟s Department of Theatre forged an answer to this departmental balancing act. With almost all budget and faculty resources pledged to the full mainstage season, smaller, student produced work had begun to supplement the production offerings. These projects can provide a much-needed venue for actively engaging …

Good Death: A Community Conversation, Jasmine Lake

Honors Theses

No abstract available. Playbill.

An Analysis Of Hip-Hop Theatre: From Roots To Performance, Jessica Dee Bocade

Honors Theses

Hip Hop theatre has the potential to be an extremely useful art form with the ability to bring younger audiences back to the realm of live theatre. However, several challenges have prevented it from becoming such a powerful influence in the theatrical world. These problems continue to stifle the potential power of hip-hop theatre to reach a greater audience, as well as the ability to be seen in the theatrical world as a legitimate, effective, and stable genre of theatre - not just a "fad."

Misalliance Scenic Design, Joseph W. Shoup

Honors Theses

As scenic designer for George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance, put on by the WMU department of theatre, I feel ready to graduate. I have gained deeper insight into the design process, and through a large quantity of research, preparation, and hard work, have accomplished a set that I can be proud of. I have also been awakened to a fashion of architecture that has become my favorite style.

Suspend Your Disbelief, Graham Kurtz

Honors Theses

In an ideal world, every theatre patron would recognize the important concept referred to as "suspension of disbelief." It is a proverbial contract "signed" by the audience member in which he or she agrees to subscribe to the ideas, characters, and circumstances portrayed by the actors they are about to watch. In many cases, these aspects of the production are highly out of the ordinary and require the audience to play along, otherwise any message or theme being communicated will be lost on the theatre-goers. The title of this cabaret performance is a demand that the audience allow the performers …

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown: A Footlights I Production, Amanda N. Kinney

Honors Theses

No abstract available. Document missing.

Hadivadlo In Chattanooga : A Critical Assessment Of The Process Of Producing School For Fools, Ben Williams

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to create an experimental theatre production called School for Fools in the Studio Theatre of the UTC Fine Arts Center in February of 2003. Spanning nearly an entire year, the process for me was one of compiling a dramaturg's notebook ofresearch and materials related to the play, adapting and revising the text from the original, written by Belgian playwright Michel de Ghelderode in 1937, creating costume and set designs, appropriating a cast, raising funds for the production, and then directing the play. Particularly important to this production was the idea of style. In essence, …

Baba Yaga, The Russian Witch: An Operetta In Two Acts, Julie Moulds Rybicki, Stephan Moore

Honors Theses

Libretto by Julie Moulds Rybicki

Music by Stephan Moore