Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

Guest Editor's Introduction, Ranwarat Kobsirithiwara

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

Four Poems, Sakul Boonyatat, Sompong Duangsawai, Satchaphum La-Or, Siwakan Pathumsoot, Ritthisak Wongyutthipong

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

Signifying And The Feeling Of Differences, Samuel Weber

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

What does Werner Hamacher's concept of archiphilology have in common with Saussure's view of intralinguistic， differential function in language? Perhaps the way in which the indefinite of language itself “slowly defines itself，” both in response to past acts of appropriations， and appealing for new signifieds the meaning of which can only be seized and unseized over time. Several of Kafka's short stories illustrate how literary works play out the same tension within what can be called a “progressive and digressive” narrative， warding off any internal principle of closure or conclusiveness while continuing to require endings and answers. Holderlin's “Remarks on …

Guest Editor's Overview, Yue Zhuo

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

No abstract provided.

May The Soil Be Everywhere: Portraying A Family's Love And Revolution Through Oral History, Performance, And Film From A Granddaughter's Perspective, Yehui Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

May the Soil Be Everywhere is a feature-length documentary film that tells an intimate four-generational family story about farming, survival, and regeneration. Set against a backdrop of war, famine, and rapid urbanization, May the Soil Be Everywhere delves into oral history, trauma, family heritage and generational love. It represents a community’s collective effort to preserve its identity.

“Don’T Dream It, Be It”: The Rocky Horror Picture Show’S Impact On Queer Communities In The 1970s, Jackie Roach

Rushton Journal of Undergraduate Humanities Research

This essay examines the cultural conditions surrounding The Rocky Horror Picture Show to examine its ties to the LGBTQ+ community by tracing the post-war growth of queer communities in cities like New York and San Francisco to the boiling-point of the Stonewall Riot. The film’s queer themes, aesthetic motifs, and LGBTQ+ representation are detailed to understand what made it a hit amongst working-class queer audiences of the 1970s and 1980s. This paper explores how the film spawned phenomena such as shadowcasting and continues to create space for working-class queer sexual liberation and individuality decades after its release.

Harold Hargis Photograph Collection, Jaclynn Martin

Prints and Photographs Department

Dr. Harold Walter Hargis (1925-2015), a distinguished oral and maxillofacial surgeon, was born in Bluefield, West Virginia on June 11, 1925. His parents were Thomas and Mary Clare Hargis. Dr. Hargis made significant contributions to the field of dentistry.

He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and subsequently pursued his education, earning a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts from Howard University in 1951 and a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) from the same institution in 1955. During his time at Howard, he met his wife, Mary Frances Diggs, and joined the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

After …

The Dyslexic Actor: How Dyslexia Affects The Acting Process, Kate Milazzo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Dyslexia can benefit an actor, especially if the individual is aware of how the challenges and advantages of dyslexia impact their personal acting process. Dyslexia is widely understood to be a learning disability that affects an individual's reading and writing abilities. Many forms of theater rely on the written word, and an actor's success lies in their ability to interpret the text, leading one to question whether a dyslexic individual can find success as an actor. Yet several famous actors, including Octavia Spencer and Henry Winkler, are known to be dyslexic. As a dyslexic individual, I have also successfully participated …

Survival Of Regional Theater In A Post-Covid America, Sasha Brätt

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of the qualitative narrative study is to better understand the innovative strategies and programs used by regional theaters to bring their audiences and revenues back to pre-pandemic levels in a post-pandemic world. 11 current artistic leaders from across the United States were interviewed for this study using a semi-structured interview protocol. The leaders chosen for this study had been associated with a regional theater from the onset of the Covid-19 shutdowns through the various stages of re-opening thereafter. Nine themes emerged from the data: (1) Loyalty; (2) Financial Stability; (3) Adapting and Staying Relevant; (4) Navigating Obstacles; (5) …

Advocating For Tap Dance Through The Study Of Tap Dance Pedagogy, Lindsey Simpson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In private dance studios today, less importance is placed on students learning tap dance technique compared to other genres of dance, which is likely due to a lack of available teachers with the proper training and understanding of the tap dance technique and pedagogy. As a result, students in many private dance studios are left with limited training opportunities in tap dance, and older dancers that lost the chance to train in tap dance at a young age often become discouraged and uncomfortable with the genre. Because of this, older students need an opportunity to train in tap dance at …

Yuriko Doi’S Teaching And Transmission Of Noh And Kyōgen In San Francisco, Judy Halebsky

English and Creative Writing | Faculty Scholarship

Yuriko Doi founded the Theatre of Yugen in San Francisco and taught American students noh and kyōgen for more than thirty years. Noh theatre, in living practice in Japan for more than six hundred years, incorporates music, dance, acting, and singing. While noh is serious and sombre, kyōgen is a comedic form traditionally performed within or between noh plays. Starting in the late 1970s, Doi’s Theatre of Yugen performed new works inspired and informed by noh as well as kyōgen in English around the US and also in Japan. Noh training ideally begins in childhood as one-on-one study with a …

Pitsl: A Miracle Play, Alethea Shirilan-Howlett

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936), Molly Mcclain

History: Faculty Scholarship

This is a brief biography of Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936), an Anglo-Indian writer who achieved fame at the start of the age of mass-market fiction. She was part of a community of women working in and around Bloomsbury.

The Intersection Of Kinesthetic Empathy And Observation In Concert Dance Performance, Kate Walker

Gaines Fellow Senior Theses

When watching concert dance, observers unconsciously process movement information by forming reflections of their own experiences, resulting in an emotional connection. The artist, however, also has a part in forming meaning around something they create. If meaning is formed in the creation of the work by the artist, and also through observation by an audience, where does meaning reside? The relationship shared between the artist and their audience is valuable, so something must connect these two groups. An artist’s job is to suggest meaning through their work, but once the piece is subject to observation, the process of kinesthetic empathy …

"Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be:" Ambiguity In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet And A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hannah Murphy

Scripps Senior Theses

My thesis is focused on how and why ambiguity/double meanings within the language of Shakespeare plays occurs, and how this can be adapted into a ballet format as there is no verbal component. As well as why this aspect of the plays is so vital to the portrayal of the characters that to remove it would be to severely reduce the impact of the story. It focuses specifically on the plays and ballets of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet, with the NYC Ballet versions of both as a reference.

การพัฒนาทักษะการใช้จินตนาการ สมาธิ และการใช้ร่างกายเพื่อการแสดง ละครเดี่ยว : กรณีศึกษาการแสดงละครเรื่อง นอนไม่หลับ, บุญธิดา ชุนสิทธิ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อให้นักแสดงใช้เครื่องมือของนักแสดง ด้านทักษะจินตนาการ การใช้สมาธิ และการใช้ร่างกาย ในการฝึกการแสดงเพื่อให้เกิดความสมจริงและน่าเชื่อถือในแต่ละตัวละคร โดยบทละครเวทีการแสดงเดี่ยวเรื่อง “นอนไม่หลับ” ของนิกร แซ่ตั้ง นักแสดงต้องสามารถแสดงเป็นตัวละครหลายบทบาท หลายสถานการณ์ และต้องสื่อสารกับผู้ชมอีกด้วย การวิจัยนี้ใช้กระบวนการฝึกทักษะการแสดงและสังเคราะห์จากแนวคิดของนักทฤษฎีการละครที่มีความสำคัญ จากทั้ง คอนสแตนติน สตานิสลาฟกี้ (Constantin Stanislavski)สเตลล่า แอดเลอร์ (Stella Adler) ไมเคิล เชคคอฟ (Michael Chekchov) ทั้งนี้การวิจัยได้ศึกษาและวิเคราะห์ผลจากการฝึกซ้อมเพื่อหาความเชื่อมโยงระหว่างทฤษฎีและการปฏิบัติจากกระบวนการฝีก บันทึกวิดีทัศน์ และการฝึกซ้อมการแสดงร่วมกับผู้กำกับการแสดง ประเมินการแสดงจากอาจารย์ที่ปรึกษา รวบรวมผลการประเมินจากการนำเสนอผลงานของผู้วิจัย เก็บข้อมูลแบบสอบถามจากผู้ชม และเสวนาพูดคุยแลกเปลี่ยนจากผู้ทรงวุฒิหลังจบการแสดงของผู้วิจัย ผลการศึกษาพบว่า การฝึกการปฏิบัติด้วยแนวทางการฝึกจินตนาการ สมาธิ ร่างกาย ที่มีความสม่ำเสมอและต่อเนื่องจะช่วยทำให้นักแสดงเชื่อในสถานการณ์ของตัวละครได้ และมีความกังวลที่ลดลง และมีความอิสระเป็นตัวละครมากยิ่งขึ้นขณะแสดง

การเขียนบทละครเพื่อส่งเสริมการยอมรับตนเองและความมั่นใจของวัยรุ่น, สัจจาวุธ สุริยะดง

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษากลวิธีการเขียนบทละครเวทีสำหรับเยาวชนช่วงวัยรุ่น อายุ 12-15 ปี โดยมุ่งเน้นการส่งเสริมการยอมรับตนเองและความมั่นใจของวัยรุ่นผ่านบทละครเวที ผ่านการทบทวนวรรณกรรมที่เกี่ยวข้องใน 5 ประเด็นหลัก ได้แก่ การเขียนบทละครตามแบบฉบับ, แนวทางการเขียนบทละครสำหรับเยาวชน, เกมออนไลน์, พัฒนาการของวัยรุ่นตอนต้น, และการทำงานร่วมกับเยาวชนในโครงการแก่นอีสานวัฒน์ เพื่อค้นหาสาระสำคัญที่เชื่อมโยงกับกลุ่มเป้าหมาย จากนั้นผู้วิจัยได้พัฒนาบทละครร่าง "ไอ้หัวกล่อง" ร่วมกับผู้กำกับและนักแสดงจนได้บทละครที่ใช้สำหรับการทดลองอ่านในกลุ่มเยาวชนในพื้นที่จังหวัดขอนแก่น ผลการศึกษาพบว่า บทละครสามารถสื่อสารประเด็นการยอมรับตนเองและการเห็นคุณค่าในตนเองได้ แต่ยังจำเป็นต้องพัฒนาบทให้มีความสมบูรณ์มากขึ้น โดยเฉพาะเรื่องย่อที่เป็นส่วนสำคัญของการกำหนดทิศทางเรื่อง แม้ว่าบทละครในขั้นตอนนี้จะยังไม่สมบูรณ์ แต่การทดลองอ่านและรับฟังความคิดเห็นจากเยาวชนช่วยให้ผู้วิจัยสามารถเข้าใจถึงความต้องการของกลุ่มเป้าหมายและปรับปรุงบทละครได้ดียิ่งขึ้น นอกจากนี้ยังพบว่า บทละครสามารถพัฒนาเป็นเครื่องมือในการทำงานร่วมกับเยาวชนในฐานะฟาซิลิเตเตอร์ (Facilitator) โดยให้เยาวชนมีส่วนร่วมในการเขียนบทและกระบวนการฝึกทำละคร ซึ่งช่วยให้พวกเขาได้เรียนรู้การยอมรับตนเองและสร้างความมั่นใจในตนเองจากการฝึกฝนทำละคร

Løvetann/Tvntēli'on/Beàrnan-Brìde/Paardebloem: Decolonization Through Heritage, Brooke Howton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Through their lifelong passion for genealogy, Brooke “Uisce'' Howton researches a way to dismantle White supremacy and colonization through analyzing and reconnecting to their heritage. This involves learning about the nature of White supremacy, which is ever present in American society, and gaining a better understanding of what the history of racial formations in the United States looked like. Through this new lens, she revisits old traditions that she had been able to experience, mostly through her maternal family; all while learning new traditions that she has been unable to experience due to the adoption of her paternal grandmother, mystery …

Red Curtain Rivalry, Amy Lytle

Playwriting (MFA) Theses

Two community theaters in the same city are accidentally putting on the same musical at the same time due to a publishing company's error. The members of the dueling troupes have to untangle the mess--the show must go on, of course! Between big misunderstandings, a few shenanigans (or hijinks, as some may say), and a lot of lessons learned, watch as each company battles to win the Red Curtain Rivalry and prove themselves the best production of "A Doll's House: The Musical!" that the community theatre community has ever seen.

Applying Girls' Studies To Contemporary Theatre And New Play Development, Sophia Menconi

Playwriting (MFA) Theses

Girls’ Studies is a relatively new academic field characterized by its focus on the complexity of girlhood experiences and understanding girl as a unique social identity separate from the notion of future women. In bringing Girls' Studies theory into the work of theatre scholarship and new play development, I present a framework for the interdisciplinary field of Girls' Theatre Studies. Chapter One is an exploration of girlhood presentations in contemporary theatre through a postfeminist lens. Examining the theatrical manifestations of the "female victim-hero” in contemporary presentations of girlhood, I argue that girl audiences are able to feel with and through …

Direction Of The Play: "A Wrinkle In Time", Kaitlin Webster

All Graduate Projects

This paper details the research, process, and production of a theatrical work in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master in Theater Production. The production central to this piece is a high school performance of the play A Wrinkle In Time by Morgan Gould. Section 1 outlines the pre-production parameters and play selection. Section 2 deeply analyzes the story, setting, and production design. Beyond script analysis, this section contains a lot of research connected to the original book by Madeleine L’Engle, initially published in 1962. This production was set in 1960. Much research is focused on the historical context and …

Direction And Technical Supervision Of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Laura Williams

All Graduate Projects

This project contains the research, application, performance, and final reflection of the entire production process of A Mid-Summer Nights Dream at Fairhaven Middle School from November 2023 through May 2024 by Laura Williams and the students and faculty of Bellingham School District involved in A Mid-Summer Nights Dream. The document includes character and visual production research, historical context and significance, student learning goals regarding the production as a unit, documentation of the production period and post-production reviews.

Hame, Russell Clarke

Dance (MFA) Theses

Researcher Russell Clarke contemplates the need for human belonging, looking into ways that human belonging shows up in the contemporary world. Clarke explores the interconnection between his identity and memories from his childhood along with exploring his life’s journey of searching for belonging. He focuses his research on main themes throughout his life that have influenced his need to belong: family, migration, dance, and his connection to the outdoors. Growing up in Scotland and later migrating to America, Clarke found his relationship with his family and dance as constant threads entangling and influencing his life—the call of his homeland is …

They Smell Of Earth After Rain Exploring The Sacred Space Within Performance: An Examination Of Transcendence, Ritual, And Artistic Expression, Candy Jimenez

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis writing includes research about the intersections of sacred space, rituals, spirituality, artistic expression, and performance. Performance can serve as an event for transcendence, a gateway to the sacred space and the essences. The concept of sacred space and transcendence within performance expands beyond spatial boundaries, encompassing various art forms, particularly dance. Ritual, one artifact of human experience, is redefined in a contemporary context, serving as a vehicle for transformative experiences within performances. This thesis explores the nuanced dynamics between performers, audiences, and performance spaces to uncover transformative journeys for all involved. Sacred space, a central theme, is examined …

Pathways Toward Healing: The Presence Of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome In Black Mother-Daughter Relationships, Rachael Appold

Dance (MFA) Theses

The United States was founded during and built through the use of American chattel slavery, a form of slavery which involved hypodescent, was usually lifelong, and was based on the concept of Black inferiority. Because of the circumstances of this country’s creation, the United States cannot exist separately from the long-term effects and legacy of enslavement, thus resulting in the condition of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS). PTSS is a theory founded by psychologist Dr. Joy DeGruy which posits that the long-term suffering of Africans and African-Americans under slavery, as well as ongoing anti-Black oppression has resulted in intergenerational trauma …

Dancing Between Worlds: Afrofuturism, Hybridity, Transculturalism, And The Orixás, Alicia Nascimento Castro

Dance (MFA) Theses

This research uses a multicultural lens to analyze the intersections of race and geography. It aims to acknowledge the corporeality of spiritual practices to investigate creative movement. Afrofuturism becomes a theoretical framework utilized as a space for liberation into the past, present, and future. Hybridity is adapted to examine identitdade dupla regarding national, racial, cultural, and lingual identities. The research explores Transculturalism by centering Blackness and interrogating the political powers of race in both the United States and Brazil. The physical manifestation utilizes the Black imaginary with choreography, set design, costuming, and musical composition as ideological frames for time travel …

Here And There A Latinx Experience, Angelica Salazar

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis aims to highlight the challenges faced by Latin American immigrants in the United States, including abuse, misrepresentation, and cultural erasure. Latinx migrants often face discrimination and limited job opportunities upon arrival and may struggle to maintain their cultural identity in a new society. They also encounter negative perceptions and stereotypes that marginalize their perspectives and hinder their social progress. The research will focus on the issue of identity loss and the duality experienced by Latinx immigrants, as well as the emotional oppression caused by US immigration laws. The research seeks to provide valuable insights into the internal struggles …

Rising Moons, Michael Bearden

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis examines the lives and cultural roots of the Five Moons - five Native American ballerinas - and how their example may serve as an ancestorial inspiration for the next generation of dancing youth. Exploring the impact of their tribal heritage on them as dancers, and how the prominence of their professional careers can be connected to the concept of ancestors in Native American culture, is central to this work. Answers are sought as to how the Five Moons make an impact through their legacies on current youth in Oklahoma. This creative manifestation engages in the form of a …

Careful Communication: A Confrontation Of Cartesian Mind/Body Dualism And Western Perceptions Of Intelligence In The Dance Classroom, Sarah Lunceford

Dance (MFA) Theses

Western perceptions of intelligence in correlation with Cartesian Mind/Body Dualism can have a detrimental impact on the way students receive and are affected by information. In collegiate settings where students participate in Western concert dance technique classrooms and dance academic courses, a student’s reputation for excelling in one area or another can influence the teacher’s perception of the student’s abilities. This can cause instructors to presume a generalized understanding of what a student is capable of and encourage an unbalanced engagement with the student’s abilities within one type of classroom versus another. This work considers the author's experience within dance …

Holy Body/Monstrous Body: The Life And Practices Of Saint Catherine Of Siena., Melissa B. Miller

Dance (MFA) Theses

This research examines the violent misogyny and contempt for the female body in, but not limited to, Western Christian environments using as a lens the life and practices of Catherine Benincasa, a mystic and tertiary Dominican sainted in 1461 as Saint Catherine of Siena. Further, the research looks at the use of the abject and grotesque in performance, as well as transformative storytelling, as a means of making lived experience visible, and is explored as a liberatory response to such systems of domination and violence. Though this research is framed in a religious context, contempt towards female-presenting bodies is not …