Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

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.

Introduction, D. J. Hopkins, Shelley Orr, Kim Solga

Department of English Publications

No abstract provided.

Dress Suits To Hire And The Landscape Of Queer Urbanity, Kim Solga

Department of English Publications

No abstract provided.

X: The Rise And Fall Of An Asylum Star (A Journey Of Two Actresses), Erika Wilhite

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The performance of X: The Rise and Fall of an Asylum Star, in conjunction with my thesis document, investigates the dichotomy of fantasy and reality for a performer. I compare the creative and emotional journey of Augustine, a young woman hospitalized for hysteria, to my own journey as an actress. Augustine was also performer, for her doctors led her in public demonstrations of the symptoms of hysteria. Her "talent" for hysteria earned her notoriety and celebrity. She was coached and directed from her doctors to enhance her demonstrations. As a result, the validity and authenticity of her state was questionable. …

Alba Emoting: A Safe, Effective, And Versatile Technique For Generating Emotions In Acting Performance, Angela Katherine Baker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes that Alba Emoting™ is a safe, effective, and versatile technique of generating emotions for acting performance. Alba Emoting is safe because it resolves four major problems some actors experience while generating emotions for acting performance. These problems include, &ldqup;emotional hijacking,” “emotional hangover,” “emotional blockage,” and using emotional memories which are faded, incomplete, inconsistent, or full of mixed emotions. Alba Emoting solves these four problems through the help of certified trainers, the step-out procedure, and the emotional effector patterns, which allow actors consistent access to a large range of emotions. Alba Emoting is effective because it enables actors …

"Historical Forgetfulness" In Post-Unification Italy: Black African Migration In Politics And Performance, Raffaele Furno

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

No abstract provided.

2007-2008 Postcard For Two Rooms, Carrie D. Applegate

Department of Theatre Arts Posters

Postcard for 2007-2008 Theatre Arts Department production, Two Rooms. Designed by Rizen Creative, Summer 2007.

2007-2008 Postcard For You Can't Take It With You, Carrie D. Applegate

Department of Theatre Arts Posters

Postcard for 2007-2008 Theatre Arts Department production, You Can't Take it With You. Designed by Rizen Creative, Summer 2007.

No Sleep 'Til Minsky's: A One-Man Tribute To Burlesque And Vaudeville., Carl Glenwood Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No Sleep '˜Til Minsky's is a one-man show paying tribute to early 20th century variety entertainment. The writing process began with research into the forms of vaudeville and burlesque, including films of period acts, study of autobiographies and biographies of burlesque performers, and study of historical scripts performed in the time period and stored at the Library of Congress.

The format of the show consists of a one-hour core script in which Lou Drake speaks of his life and career in burlesque. In addition to the core script, the structure is designed to allow more actors to participate in staging …

Filming Theater: The Audiovisual Documentation As A Substitute Of The Performance, Nestor Fernando Bravo

Theses and Dissertations

Theatre is not a thermometer of society; it is the fever. The archive is the aftermath that recalls that fever. In this thesis I theorize about the status of audiovisual documentation, its functionality, and its ontological relation with the performance. I argue that the film of a performance does not constitute evidence per se, but it acquires such status through the concurrence of other documents and archival artifacts existentially related to the theatrical production. I also propose that the audiovisual document becomes a substitute for the performance when it has disappeared from the historical world, becoming the new referent for …

Orpheus Descending Theatre Poster, Mary Moynihan

Concert Programmes

Theatre poster for production of Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, Mill Theatre, Dundrum, 2007, BA in Drama (Performance) Graduating Production, directed by Mary Moynihan

Guillermo Gómez-Peña's "Tekno Poética" Web Verse, Lost And Found In A Webspora, Angélica Huízar

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

For an author who likes to cross borders Guillermo Gómez-Peña (1955) has certainly reached audiences in both the U.S. and Mexican artistic, literary, theoretical, and political arenas. Now, with the advent of more technological mediums such as the Internet, the borderless artist makes use of the global fetish that, in theory, reaches a global community. As a prelude to his performances, workshops, conferences and lectures, Gómez-Peña’s collaborative webiste engages his readers in video-poetic selections, and hypertext poetic medley with topics that are sure to catch their interest with poems such as "Apocalypse," "Sexo," "Militias," and the video-poems "Apocalypse" and "Califas." …

Primordial Prophecy: Mingling The Basic Traits Of Theater, Modern Dance, Ballet, And Folk Dance To Create A Diversified Performance, Luana Ely

Theses

No abstract provided.

Transitions: Starting The Second, Full Circle, Mary Colleen Vreeland

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will focus on the transitional influences that have led me to start the second circle of my professional life. It is an open and honest exploration of the back-story of my life and the academic and professional influences that led me to seek a Master of Fine Arts Degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. With no parallels and therefore no excuses insinuated, I will be open and dissect more of myself as the whole focus of the thesis in hopes of offering clarity to myself and other mature and disabled students seeking to become a better teacher and artist.

Camping In The Classroom: Ridiculous Theatre As Serious Drama, John Kenneth Deboer

Theses and Dissertations

My first semester pursuing my MFA in Voice and Speech Pedagogy I vocal-coached an openly gay student playing a straight character who would mask his sexual identity in such a manner that his performance became stiff and uninteresting. Rather than using his personal identity as an asset in the pursuit of a successful performance, his chosen vocal tactics removed any sense of theatricality from his performance. I confronted the student and suggested such extreme vocal suppression diminished the quality of his overall performance. He replied, "So you want me to get the gay out."His use of the phrase, "get the …

Gentleman Johnny Plays War: John Burgoyne And The Blockade Of Boston, Catherine Ann Peckinpaugh Vrtis

Theses and Dissertations

John Burgoyne, a British general during the American Revolution, is best known for his defeat by the Continental Army at Saratoga. In addition to serving as a general,Burgoyne was a playwright. While in Boston during the blockade following the Battle ofBunker Hill Burgoyne combined his interests, writing a satire of the war. The Blockade of Boston, Burgoyne's play, was first presented as an afterpiece to a production of The Busybody on January 8, 1776 (Silverman 292).Accounts of the performance differ in detail, but the central event is consistent: during the performance a soldier walked out on stage and announced that …

The Sacred Performative: Holy Wednesday And Colonial Ritual/Theatre, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

"Holy Wednesday" is a late sixteenth century adaptation of a Spanish auto sacramental (sacred play) written in alphabetized Nahuatl, the predominant pre-Columbian language spoken on the High Central Plateau of Mexico. The author remains unknown, however he was likely a Nahua amanuensis educated by Franciscans at Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco. Religious drama was one of the important evangelizing tools of the Catholic brotherhoods in colonial Mexico and although a record of performance of Holy Wednesday does not exist, this dramatic depiction of the final meeting of Christ and Mary prior to the crucifixion was almost certainly performed as …

Anton Chekhov:The Characterization And Interpretationof A Historical Figure For The Stage, Alan Gallant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will explore the execution of the monograph role of "Anton Chekhov" in the original one-act play, An Evening with Anton Chekhov. The play script, rehearsal and public performances of the piece are all self- generated by the candidate, with the proper assistance of the thesis committee. This written thesis serves as the completion of the thesis project, and includes analysis of several key areas of the development of the script and thesis role. This document includes the original script with endnotes and a structural analysis. Social and historical background of the character, Anton Chekhov, a real person, is …

The Laramie Project: The Search For A Personal Acting Method Via The Principles Of Constantin Stanislavksi, Matthew Hamner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Constantin Stanislavski developed a method for actors in bringing to life characters for the stage. Even though Stanislavski developed his theories in response to the stage climate of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many of his ideas remain relevant today. In this study, parts of his system were applied to the roles performed in Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project. Those roles were Moises Kaufman, Jonas Slonaker, Doug Laws, Anonymous, Detective Rob Debree, Governor Jim Geringer, Reverend Fred Phelps and Dennis Shepard. The purpose of this exploration was to create unique, believable characters and develop solutions for personal acting …

Black Cats, Berlin, Broadway And Beyond: The Genre Of Cabaret, Deborah Tedrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Music and Theatre have always captivated me. As a child, my parents would take me to live performances and cinematic shows and I would sit rapt, watching the theatrical events and emotional moments unfold before my eyes. Movie musicals and live shows that combined music and theatre were my favorite, especially theatrical banter and improvisation or sketch comedy. Some of my favorite youthful memories were my annual family summer trips to Las Vegas to visit my grandparents for six weeks. As a youngster, I got to experience the "old school" Las Vegas, replete with extravaganza, spectacle, cabaret, circus, lounge and …

Black Cats, Berlin, Broadway And Beyond: Cabaret History In The Making, Josephine Leffner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cabaret as a genre has influenced and is influenced by musical theatre. As cabaret has evolved throughout history, musical theatre has often paralleled its journey. Cabaret thrived before the term "musical theatre" was coined and suffered hard times during the Golden Age of Musical Theatre. The correlation of the two genres cannot be denied, and exploring cabaret history will reveal how deeply the connection lies. My collaborator Debbie Tedrick and I will attempt to define cabaret through a two-woman cabaret show we will write, produce, and perform together. The show, Black Cats, Berlin, Broadway and Beyond, will be a one-act …

A Performance Study And Analysis Of The Role Of Professor Muller In The Visit., Stephanie Harrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I propose to study the role of Professor Muller in The Visit as my thesis role because of the challenge that it presents, not only as a translated work, but also because of the character shift for me - Professor Muller is a 72 year old man and has now been changed to a woman in her thirties. Professor Muller is the only person to stand up to the antagonist, Claire. The confrontation between Claire and Muller takes on a certain tone when it is between a woman and a man, and has a completely different outlook when it becomes …

La Poétique Transgénérique De L’Oeil Et La Nuit D’Abdellatif Laâbi : Du Théâtral Au Filmique Dans Un Roman-Poème, Lucia Trifu

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The study proposes a re-reading, a new interpretation of the novel-poetry work L’oeil et la nuit by Moroccan writer Abdellatif Laâbi. In this literary text, the borders of writing are dismantled and new affinities are revealed between writing, performance, theatre and film; all of which aim to redefine the postcolonial

Reviews: “Performance And Evolution In The Age Of Darwinism,” “Dancing At The Dawn Of Agriculture,” “Dance In Anthropology (2nd Edition),” “Dances Of The Tewa Pueblo Indians (2nd Edition)", Anthony Shay

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

In order to create a contextual basis for a discussion of these four titles, I connect them through the authors’ uses of anthropological and archaeological methods and theories, and discuss how these have changed through time.

Drama In The Docklands, Mary Moynihan

Articles

An article by Mary Moynihan in IN2 Magazine, issue number seven, Winter 2005, on Drama in the Docklands, a project run by Smashing Times Theatre Company that promotes access to creativity in the docklands area of Dublin, bringing drama into two primary schools - St Joseph's Primary School, East Wall and City Quay Primary School, City Quay. The article documents the project and the year-end show by children at Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College, Dublin.

Recovering Ancient Ritual And The Theatre Of The Apache: A Journey Through The False Consciousness Of Western Theatre History, Marla Kathleen Dean

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines past cultural influences that have shaped theatre historians' perception of ancient Greek and contemporary Native American performance. It suggests that through a recognition of these influences, which have long tempered the Western narrative of theatre, ancient and Indigenous performance can be reviewed as similar forms of a lived exchange. The study tracks the formation of certain beliefs and assumptions within performance history through Roman, early Christian and Renaissance cultural identities. It notes the misrepresentation of oral and popular theatre within theatrical scholarship through its reliance upon the written remains of the ruling classes and confronts the notion …

The Role Of Lady Macbeth In Shakespeare's Macbeth: A Production Thesis In Acting, Taralyn Adele Macmullen

LSU Master's Theses

The role of Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth was selected as a thesis project in the fall semester of 2004. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a written record of the actor’s interpretation and creation of the character through the rehearsal process. It contains five parts: an introduction, a character analysis, a daily actor’s journal, a physical score, and a conclusion.

The Merry Wives Of Windsor: A University Actress's Approach To The Role Of Mistress Ford, Brook Akya Hanemann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Art is too ethereal a thing to judge by tangible measure. There is no scale to weigh a performance on, no level to gauge a character’s balance, no plumb line to measure its depth. No critic can appoint an allotment of stars to represent the worth of a production, and the audience, though a vital participant within the performance experience, cannot act as Jury and deliberate together to reach an absolute verdict of approval or disapproval. How then can an actor go about working towards giving a successful performance? The Merry Wives of Windsor was written at a time when …

“Legal Or Illegal? Documented Or Undocumented?” The Struggle Over Brookhaven’S Neighborhood Preservation Act, Jackson B. Miller

Faculty Publications

This critical essay applies the concept of “presence” as a theoretical lens for explaining the rhetorical efficacy of protest events surrounding a contemporary debate about immigrants’ rights in a suburban New York township. Specifically, the protests surrounding the town board meetings regarding Brookhaven’s “Neighborhood Preservation Act,” a piece of legislation geared toward making rental laws more stringent, are examined. A group comprised largely of white, upper middle-class citizens voiced their support for the proposed legislation, while a group of day laborers and those sympathetic with their cause characterized the proposed legislation as a form of racial discrimination disguised as a …

Contesting For Power In Public Performance: Hegemonic Struggles In The Louisiana Shrimp And Petroleum Festival, Allen Alford

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study was undertaken to analyze the influence of hegemony on the creation of cultural identity-specifically the cultural identity of Morgan City, Louisiana-through the annual performance of the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival of that city. The information utilized in this study was assembled from a variety of sources: newspaper reporting from 1935 to 1999, chronicling the Festival and related subjects; works of several theorists in the area of ritual and performance studies; works that examine the concept of hegemony, principally from a Marxian perspective; anthropological studies of Gulf Coast commercial fishing cultures; reports by official State of Louisiana agencies, …