Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

The Calm In The Midst Of A Chaotic Life: Learning Personal Social Communication In A Media-Saturated World, Lavonne Michelle Renno

Theses Digitization Project

This project takes Theatre of the Oppressed and Theater Games to elementary age students in the High Desert, helping them work through emotional issues and developing responses that would enable them to resist the allure of gangs, which offer the pretense of security and a sense of belonging. The objective of the project is to help teach students to have positive interactions with each other and adults. A group of fifth and sixth grade under privileged low income students from the High Desert region was selected to participate in this after school program. The program was based on psychodrama and …

The Hothouse And Dynamic Equilibrium In The Works Of Harold Pinter, Ben Ferber

Honors Papers

This is a dually-focused Honors thesis in criticism and directing that discusses the dynamic balance between humor and menace in Harold Pinter's myriad works. In particular, this paper examines The Hothouse, a play Pinter shelved for several decades due to its highly overt comedy. The paper uses close readings from The Hothouse and a number of other plays (including The Birthday Party, One for the Road, and Celebration) and directorial insights from a February 2011 production of The Hothouse in Oberlin College's Little Theater.

Influences Of Morality In Theatre For Children, Ashleigh Merle Lutes

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this thesis is to examine current practices and suggest strategies and support for effective ways to teach morality with and through theatre. Using theatre as a moral training ground creates opportunities for children to learn to make positive choices throughout their lives.

A Handbook For Using Creative Drama And Readers Theatre Concepts To Better Prepare Second Graders For The California Standards Test In English Language Arts, Pilar Alvarez

Theses Digitization Project

The proposed project provides early literacy intervention that will put attending second graders at an advantage in the future while taking their yearly English Language Arts (ELA) California Standards Tests (CSTS). More importantly it could improve its participants knowledge of English Language Arts content standards. The program described in this handbook uses creative drama and readers theatre concepts that have been shown to enhance second grade students' ability to recognize and understand words, comprehend texts, think critically, and express their ideas in writing.

Living Culture Embodied: Constructing Meaning In The Contra Dance Community, Kathryn E. Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In light of both the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the efforts of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in producing the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, it has become clear that work with intangible cultural heritage in museums necessitates staff to carry out ethnographic fieldwork among heritage communities. In order to illustrate this methodology, an ethnographic study was conducted in the Denver contra dance community to better explore conceptions of value and meaning related to the community by its members. Further, the contra dance findings point to certain issues related to defining …

Adolescents' Affective Engagement With Theatre: Surveying Middle School Students' Attitudes, Values, And Beliefs., Matt

Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

This essay explores how viewing a single Theatre for Young Audiences production might affect the attitudes, values, and/or beliefs of adolescent spectators. Data is drawn from a mixed-methods case study performed with middle school students who viewed a professional performance for young people, and is considered through the lens of cognitive studies in light of advances in research considering the human mirror neuron system. Data suggest it is highly probable that under certain circumstances viewing a single Theatre for Young Audiences production can influence the values of adolescent spectators. The essay concludes by exploring the ethical ramifications of these findings.

So You Think You Know Dance?: Popular Dance And Cultural Identity On Television, Eleni Koutroumanis

American Studies Senior Theses

Dancing has reached new levels of popularity in America due to its publicity in new television shows over the past seven years. These shows have changed the image and ways of dance world, but more importantly the shows have brought dance into the Public Sphere and allowed the excluded to comment on, and in a way join, the dance world. Furthermore, these shows are bringing forward commentary on subaltern counterparts of two levels. One is dance culture, and those who make dance what it is today, being acknowledged in a greater public. The other refers to subaltern counterparts of a …

Nietzsche’S “Toys Of Desperation” Or The Birth Of Tragedy As Dramaturgical Alternative, Adam Sheaffer

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis provides a close reading of Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy, with particular attention paid to his use of the “principle of individuation.” The major question this thesis confronts is whether Nietzsche’s text might provide illuminative insights for the study of contemporary dramatic literature. Another question addressed by the thesis is whether Nietzsche’s text may offer dramaturgical alternatives to the strictures of naturalism. These questions are considered in relation to the play Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl. In considering how Ruhl’s play might be reflective of Nietzsche’s own ideological and artistic investments, the author found …

Women & Language: Essays On Gendered Communication Across Media, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The present volume of essays examines women's communication as it has evolved historically across multiple mediums. Part I explores how women became "gossip girls" and the important role of gossip in the perception and practice of female communication. Essays in Part II cover the convergence of oral and written communication in women's literature. Gendered performance in such arenas as salsa dance, Dr. Phil and the Internet is examined in Part III, and essays in Part IV discuss women's communication in the technology-rich 21st century. This excerpt features the introduction and one essay from the co-editor.

Women & Language: Essays On Gendered Communication Across Media, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The present volume of essays examines women's communication as it has evolved historically across multiple mediums. Part I explores how women became "gossip girls" and the important role of gossip in the perception and practice of female communication. Essays in Part II cover the convergence of oral and written communication in women's literature. Gendered performance in such arenas as salsa dance, Dr. Phil and the Internet is examined in Part III, and essays in Part IV discuss women's communication in the technology-rich 21st century. This excerpt features the introduction and one essay from the co-editor.

Aristotle, Performativity, And Perfect Friendship In Shakespeare, Ryan Engley

Undergraduate Review

From childhood, most of us have been taught that our “identity,” both how we see ourselves and how others see us, is shaped at least in part by our friends: “you are the company you keep,” as the cliché goes. Experience will teach us that not all friendships are the same, much less equal, even if we never hear of Aristotle and his tripartite scale of friend-types. His categories were of course born of the classical world but, true to fashion, remain valuable barometers for measuring individual identity and desire in friendships. They’re useful, too, in understanding Shakespeare’s characters and …

J. Scheidegger Center For The Arts, Spring 2011 Program, Lindenwood University

J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts

J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, Spring 2011 Program

Acting Virtuous: Chastity, Theatricality, And The Tragedie Of Mariam, Kent Lehnhof

English Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Given the interrelation of female chastity and female theatricality in early modem discourses, it comes as no surprise that both figure importantly in what is believed to be the first original English drama to be written by a woman. As Elizabeth Cary explores a Jewish queen 's sexual purity in The Tragedie of Mariam, she does so by concentrating on questions of performance. Cary's title character explicitly abjures theatricality even as she embraces chastity, creating a fissure in Renaissance discourses on women that threatens to swallow up the antifeminist idea that female chastity is always an act.

Five Stars And A Moon: The Legacy Series, Ernest Zulia, Annie Dillard, Lee Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Margaret Wise Brown, Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, Jill Mccorkle

Hollins University Theatre Performances

Great writing and Hollins have been synonymous for decades, even before the highly acclaimed graduate program in creative writing officially began in 1960. Now, Hollins Theatre celebrates this literary tradition by launching the Legacy Series, showcasing dynamic plays, musicals, and original theatre pieces based on important works by some of Hollins' most recognized writers. "Five Stars and a Moon" launches the series: five productions spotlighting six authors. · Please join us for these exciting performances created by Hollins' talented students, faculty, and professional guest artists.

Dickens And Shakespeare’S Household Words, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

Though Dickens' Shakespearean qualities have often been noted, less attention has been paid to the way that Dickens constructed the terms of his comparison to Shakespeare, scripting the response he received from critics from the nineteenth century to the present and shaping Shakespeare's reception as well. Focusing on The Pickwick Papers and David Copperfield in the context of their Victorian reception, this essay shows how Dickens used Shakespearean quotation to market his characters' quotability, turning them into household words and popularizing Shakespeare's sayings in turn, even as he challenged the universality of quotable phrases.

Beauty And The Beast, Murray State University

Campus Lights

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Strategic Alignment Of Performing Arts And Computing: Creating And Delivering Multimedia Performing Arts Content, Part Ii, Linda Jo Calloway, Robert Meffe

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

Our Exploring the Strategic Alignment of Performing Arts and Computing initiative aims to develop an interdisciplinary Seidenberg-Performing arts curriculum that will integrate into the performing arts program an expansion of exposure to information technology skills and expertise relevant to creating and delivering computer mediated content. During spring and fall terms 2010 we successfully launched the interdisciplinary course Creating with Web 2.0.

The fall 2010 offering includes majors from Finance, Marketing, Accounting, Computer Science, Information Systems and Performing Arts. The first offering enrolled 13 students from Marketing, Finance, Information Systems, Computer Science, Communications and Film.

During spring and fall 2011 we …

A Midsummer Night’S Dream (With Flying Robots), Robin Murphy, Dylan Shell, Amy Guerin, Brittany Duncan, Benjamin Fine, Kevin Pratt, Takis Zourntos

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Seven flying robot “fairies” joined human actors in the Texas A&M production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The production was a collaboration between the departments of Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Theater Arts. The collaboration was motivated by two assertions. First, that the performing arts have principles for creating believable agents that will transfer to robots. Second, the theater is a natural testbed for evaluating the response of untrained human groups (both actors and the audience) to robots interacting with humans in shared spaces, i.e., were believable agents created? The production used two types …

Direction Of The Play: The Awesome 80'S Prom, Shannon Lynna Horn

Graduate Student Projects

This project entailed the selection, background research and documentation, improvisation training, casting, direction, vocal coaching, and post-production analysis of Pinewood Preparatory School's production of The Awesome 80 's Prom. Documentation includes research and analysis of the play, its music, and an evaluation of the musical as a production vehicle for the department of Theatre Arts at Central Washington University. The analysis also includes a discussion as to the non-traditional directorial vision of this production.

Direction Of The Play: The House Of Blue Leaves, Andrew Logan Fisher

Graduate Student Projects

This project entailed the selection, background research and documentation, casting, direction, and post-production analysis of Canon City High School's production of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves by Andrew Fisher. Documentation included research and analysis of the play and an evaluation of the play as a production vehicle for Canon City High School.

Holy Cow: Staging Boucicault's The Shaughraun, Patrick Michael Finelli, Jason Winfield

Theatre and Dance Faculty Publications

Examines the design process, fabrication of settings and production of Boucicault's 19th century melodrama using a large (10' by 16') fiberglass cow on a turntable. The setting called for multiple locations ranging from a cottage to cliff tops and a ship's dock. Computer CAD Photoshop modeling used for previsualization and special construction techniques were used to create acting areas inside and on top of the cow set piece.

Harriet Jacobs Kansas City Repertory Theatre (Review), Jocelyn Buckner

Theatre Faculty Articles and Research

This is a review of the play based on Harriet Jacobs, a slave in nineteenth-century America, who documented her life and the ordeal of her escape in her memoir Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Universal Identities And Local Realities: Young Poland's (Mis)Readings Of Synge, John A. Merchant

Modern Languages and Literatures: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The problems Young Poland experienced in understanding the work of John Millington Synge were informed by precisely the same kind of behaviors that Daniel Corkery described in his argument for a truly native Irish national literature in the 1930s. Overcome by a strong sense of self, Poles were not fully able to appreciate the complexities and nuances of Synge's work and by extension, the Irish-Ireland movement. In the end, then, Young Poland was incapable of really understanding the Irish, and so the best they could do was to associate with them. As a result, Poles may have been able to …

Compulsory Homosexuality And Black Masculine Performance, Vershawn A. Young

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

They Reckon I Need A Dramaturg : Examining The Value Of A Dramaturg To Both The Playwright And The Professional Theatre Company In Australia, Polly Low

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines aspects of dramaturgy delivered by a dramaturg, and the practical contributions of dramaturgs to both the writer and the theatre industry in Australia. It investigates elements of the working relationship between dramaturgs and playwrights, looks at the chameleon-like nature of the theatre dramaturg and examines how Australian writers, directors and dramaturgs perceive the role/s of the dramaturg. The thesis is partly a reflective investigation of personal practice, partly an historical investigation of the emergence of Australian ideas about dramaturgy, and partly an active investigation into what can help to make a constructive playwright/dramaturg relationship. A major aim …

Robert Prosky, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Robert Prosky was an actor best known for his role on Hill Street Blues.

"Baby, Dream Your Dream": Pearl Bailey, Hello, Dolly!, And The Negotiation Of Race In Commerical American Musical Theatre, Charles Eliot Mehler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In October of 1967, producer David Merrick closed his successful production of Hello, Dolly! Merrick reopened the show one month later with an all-black cast that featured the talents of performers Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway. While this Bailey Dolly! was a mammoth commercial success, this production brought attention to various problems concerning the interaction of black and white creative and performing talent in the venue of commercial American musical theatre. One such problem involved the risk of possible loss of genuine black culture and ignorance of recalcitrant intra-black-community difficulties and the extent to which African Americans should have desired …

The Engagement Practices Of Performing Arts-Makers: A Phenomenological Case Study Of Prometheus Bound, The Rock Musical: A Dissertation, Peter J. Cormier

Educational Studies Dissertations

This phenomenological case study explored the lived experiences of performing arts-makers, who participated in the engagement practices utilized in Prometheus Bound, the rock musical produced by the American Repertory Theater in 2011. Engagement practices are actions employed to deepen the impact of the artistic experience, which may involve the creative use of physical space, choreography, physical contact, social justice, community collaboration, and other aspects of a live performance. Engagement practices occur in the liminal zone; the neutral space between performing arts-makers and audience members that is conducive to deep empathetic reflection since the boundary between arts-maker and audience is transformed …

Preperations On A Graduate Viola Recital, Julia Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The intention of this paper is to discuss three works of the viola repertoire and their specific performance practices and musical aspects. The paper discusses the historical background of the pieces, harmonic and form structure, and suggested performance practices for each work.

Review Of Sidwell, Aristophanes The Democrat, In New England Classical Journal 38 (2011), 290-92., Kenneth S. Rothwell Jr.

Classics & Religious Studies Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.