Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

The Liar (April 14-16, 2016), David Ives

Student Theatre Programs

Program for The Liar (April 14-16, 2016).

To view the photos from this production of The Liar, please click here.

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Program [2016], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2015-2016 Season

A play by Edward Albee

Directed by William Steele

This production was a Participating entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF).

Playing With Croxton, Molly Mccann

Selected Honors Theses

The Croxton Play of the Sacrament is an often overlooked, yet highly important piece for understanding the social climate of England in the fifteenth century.

This time period was riddled with religious and nationalist anxieties ingrained in the text of Croxton. This paper is designed to give an overview of these tensions and explain how our production of this drama sought to navigate and translate these tensions for a modern audience.

Reefer Madness: The Musical Program, University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2015-2016 Season

Book by Kevin Murphy & Dan Studney

Music by Dan Studney

Lyrics by Kevin Murphy

Director: Cary Linkin

Musical Director: Edward Reichert

Choreographer: Vanessa Beyland

This production was a Participating entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF).

Three Readings Of Reading, Pennsylvania: Approaching Lynn Nottage’S Sweat And Douglas Carter Beane’S Shows For Days, Courtney Mohler, Christina Mcmahon, David Román

Scholarship and Professional Work – Arts

No abstract provided.

Othello In Shakespeare 400 Chicago, Verna Foster

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Verna Foster, City Desk 400 staff member, reviews a performance of Othello at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

My Newfound Respect For The Hard Work Performers Do Before Stepping On Stage, Heather Gibson

UCF Forum

When I gave the Theatre UCF students 30 days to teach me how to perform a karaoke song, I didn’t realize I was also handing over my dignity.

Violet: The Musical (February 19-20, 25-27, 2016), Doris Bettis

Student Theatre Programs

Program for Violet: The Musical (February 19-20, 25-27, 2016).

To view the photos from this production of Violet: The Musical, please click here.

Autobiographical Poetry To Plays: Taking Memoir To A Theatrical Level, Ryan P. Tofil

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Pulitzer prize winning playwright John Patrick Shanley wrote, “Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.” For my Capstone Project, I have compiled my autobiographical poetry, prose, and performance monologues into a theatrical manuscript to be used as the basis for a play. The final Capstone Project is a manuscript of an anticipated theatrical production based on the grieving process surrounding my brother's suicide, as well as an exploration of my sexuality and the relationships I developed during the years surrounding his death.

The Capstone Project’s theatrical manuscript is also accompanied by a …

Eurydice (January 21-23, 2016), Sarah Ruhl

Student Theatre Programs

Program for Eurydice (January 21-23, 2016).

To view the photos from this production of Eurydice, please click here.

Communication A Collaboration Between Theatre And Visual Artists, Kristin Perkins, Lindsay Livinston

Journal of Undergraduate Research

With my collaborators, Pearl Corry and Aloe Corry, I constructed installation, video, and visual art pieces and presented this art as part of an exhibit entitled Striking the Set. Our initial objective was to use collaboration between theatre and visual artists in order to encourage healthy communication within our community. As our project evolved we encountered many problems. While our final product was something we could all be proud of, the setbacks in our process proved to be the greatest learning experience. The final exhibit was attended by more than sixty people and explored the theatrical elements present in visual …

Uno Website Cfam Uno Theatre Productions, Uno College Of Communication, Fine Arts And Media

Student Support

UNO Theatre productions are presented by our talented students and faculty from the UNO Department of Theatre. Each season typically features one musical or Shakespeare production .

Freedomland, Lindsey Mantoan

Faculty Publications

Lindsey Mantoan reviews a performance of Freedomland (by Michael Gene Sullivan) for Theatre Journal.

Nightmares Are Dreams, Too, Camilla Meg Morrison

LSU Master's Theses

This work explores themes of womanhood through the creation of an installation that is a blend of visual art and costume design. Often the initial creative impulse of a costume design can be compromised by the needs or necessity of a production. Using this instinct as a guide to the exploration of themes of womanhood, this journey will yield the design and production of highly theatrical and emotional pieces of art. The purpose of this work is to tell stories and share experiences of being a woman. The pieces will be displayed as an environmental installation that will invite the …

The Naïve Ingénue, The Plucky Everyman's Hero, And The Ingénue Gone Awry: The Satirical Deconstruction Of Theatrical Character Tropes In Urinetown: The Musical, Victoria Montecillo

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis looks to explore Urinetown: The Musical through a critical and theoretical framework, analyzing the show's presentation and deconstruction of theatrical character tropes through musical satire. Using the theories of theatre theorists such as Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, and Augusto Boal, this thesis discusses the use of theatre as a device for political and social commentary. Additionally, this thesis focuses more specifically on the show's character of Penelope Pennywise as a new kind of character in the theatre: an "ingénue gone awry," within the context of approaching a performance of the character in a performance of the musical.

What You Will: An Endeavor In Adapting Shakespeare To New Media, Terese C. Briggs

Scripps Senior Theses

These scripts are the attempt to take three of Shakespeare's plays, Coriolanus, All's Well that Ends Well, and Much Ado About Nothing, and adapt them to create a type of video game called a visual novel.

A Patriot For Men: The Politics Of Masculinity In John Osborne's "A Patriot For Me", Joshua Kelly

All Master's Theses

By applying David Savran’s scholarship on the politics of masculinity to John Osborne’s play A Patriot for Me (1965), I demonstrate that Osborne exemplified contradictory sexual politics in the play, and was criticized as homophobic and praised as revolutionary in similarly contradictory original reviews. I argue that play very much typifies the heteronormative politics of masculinity by placing a dominant homosexual (Redl) as protagonist, and inverts the positions of the period woman and the staged effeminate man. Redl is historically represented as a heroic homosexual, but is actually a heteronormative object. I provide evidence for this interpretation by employing Savran …

Staging (Within) Violence: A Conversation With Frank Wilderson And Jaye Austin Williams, Jaye Austin Williams

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

In Pursuit Of Women Scientists: Using Science Plays To Promote Women Entering Stem Disciplines, Danielle Hartman

Theses and Dissertations

Higher education currently seeks to increase female enrollment in STEM. Women face many challenges attempting to breach this male dominated arena with misconceptions, gender stereotypes, and few female role models. With the recent trend in higher education to encourage more women to enter the STEM disciplines and K-12 schools cutting funding for arts programs, theatre may be losing its value in the education system. The value of interdisciplinary studies is beginning to be forgotten during the grade school years as school boards battle budget cuts, but we can remind society of it through science plays. Theatre artists use other disciplines …

Professional Wrestling: Local Performance History, Global Performance Praxis, Neal Anderson Hebert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Professional Wrestling: Local Performance History, Global Performance Praxis, is a work of interdisciplinary scholarship (combining elements of theatre history, performance studies, and philosophy) that addresses an area of performance currently under-researched within the liberal arts and humanities: professional wrestling. My dissertation directs much-needed attention to the fact that professional wrestling is the only kind of live drama many Americans ever see (or even want to see). Although it is no doubt easy for theatre historians and performance theorists to dismiss this performance practice because of its location somewhere between “illegitimate sport” and “lowbrow popular entertainment,” I contend that United States …

Maria Rosa, Adaptada Al Cinema Per Cecil B. Demille, Sharon G. Feldman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

En l'época actual, en la qual l'éxit teatral s'acostuma a mesurar en funció del reconeixement internacional, molts dramaturgs contemporanis han somniat un muntatge a Nova York o, fins i tot, un triomf a Hollywood. Potser els sorprendria saber que fa aproximadament cent anys, Ángel Guimerá, sens dubte el dramaturg catalá més prominent del seu temps, ja havia complert aquest somni gairebé impossible quan dues de les seves obres teatrals més famoses, Maria Rosa (1894) i Terra baixa (1896), es van estrenar en versió anglesa sota els focus de Broadway. De fet, entre els anys 1903 i 1914, les obres de …

Ponts Théâtraux Et Transferts Temporels: Théâtre Du Xixe Siècle Pour Le Xxie Siècle (Catalogne), Sharon G. Feldman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

En 1992, Richard Schechner, metteur en scène et théoricien nord-américain, faisait dans les pages de la revue TDR (The Drama Review) une observation qui fut jugée scandaleuse, en déclarant : « [T]heater as we have known and practiced it —the staging of written dramas— will be the string quartet of the 21^st century: a beloved but extremely limited genre, a subdivision of performance » (Schechner 1992, 8). Six ans plus tard, en 1998, encore étourdi par la fameuse affirmation (la condamnation plutôt) de Schechner, le théoricien et critique nord-américain W. B. Worthen attirait l’attention sur ce qu’il considérait un …

Cuban Routes Of Avant-Garde Theatre: Havana, New York, Miami, 1965-1991., Eric Mayer-Garcia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation interrogates how the movement of artists between Havana, New York, and Miami shaped experimental theatre aesthetics, formed a shared discourse of theatrical thought, and introduced a particular vein of experimental practices into U.S. American avant-garde theatre, especially as it intersects with U.S. Latina/o theatre and LGBTQ theatre. I interrogate the theatre history of these three cities as horizontal and contiguous, challenging historical narratives of U.S. American neocolonial dominance and superiority, as well as narratives of diaspora that position Havana as an authentic origin. The central contribution of my dissertation is to synthesize the archival evidence that documents connections …

The Visual Staging Of Audio Plays, Alex P. Burkart

Theses and Dissertations

The Visual Staging of Audio Plays explores the directing practice of radio dramas that are staged for viewing purposes rather than their typical solo-auditory purposes. The thesis is comprised of three separate parts: a brief history of theatrical sound, an introduction to radio drama theory and practice, and application. The application portion is a detailed first-person account of my personal experience staging It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry for TheatreVCU’s Mainstage winter special event in 2015. It is also in this section where I integrate history, theory, and practice to formulate technique for directing the …

The Actor Behind The Camera, Zechariah H. Pierce

Theses and Dissertations

Through an accidental discovery of an interest in the film making process, I decided to explore the opportunities that would come through self-education in the field. Along the way, I found that the process of working behind the camera can, in fact, help the actor’s career in front of the camera and provide a chance to train in a nontraditional way. After directing two projects (one simple and one more complicated), I decided to propose a class in which students would be required to self- produce their own video projects online. The class was vastly popular, and the students’ responses …

An Actor's Method To Building The Character Of Hamlet In The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark, Samuel C. Malone Iii

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will set out to examine the process needed in order to deliver the character of Hamlet as a fully dimensional, complex human being who transcends time periods and class distinctions to connect with any audience of any background. This text will include biographical information about the author, William Shakespeare, as well as historical information about the circumstances and atmosphere surrounding the birth of this play. It will also include information about other performances, which will serve as references for comparison in terms of character development. Included in the scored actor’s script are the Sanford Meisner Techniques of moment-to-moment …

A Christmas Carol (December 3-5, 2015), Charles Dickens

Student Theatre Programs

Program for A Christmas Carol (December 3-5, 2015).

To view the photos from this production of A Christmas Carol, please click here.

Musical Autodidacts, Can We Do It Ourselves?: Exploring The Histories Of Those Who Have, Abigail Cline

HIM 1990-2015

Artistry, particularly musical, is subjective and success in artistry can be achieved by more than one route. I consider myself an autodidactic musician by the musical and compositional achievements I have made without formal music training. I chose to research the compositional traits of other autodidacts to see their successes and challenges with their knowledge. George Gershwin, Danny Elfman, and John Bucchino come from a different background, a different time period in music, and each comes from a different stylistic genre. This research describes each of these composers’ influences, approach to composing, and any advantages or disadvantages they have faced …

Drama Has Issues: A Brief Retrospective On The American Theatre Critic In New York From 1925 To Present, Teresa M. Kilzi

HIM 1990-2015

Theatre criticism has evolved with the advancement of technology and the decline of print journalism. As consumers are given increasing agency by which they can filter the news and reporting they read and occasionally replace it with their own, the idea that a sole voice on a certain topic brandishes more dominance over it than the masses of people involved in its creation and sustainment becomes progressively absurd. Conversely, however, readers rely on theatre critics to make theatergoing decisions for them explicitly because critics are supposed experts on the subject and their opinions are to be respected and observed accordingly. …

Direction Of Reflection: The Means By Which One Establishes Directorial And Choreographic Proficiency, Nicholas J. Wood Jr.

HIM 1990-2015

I examined how one may establish directorial and choreographic proficiency in the contemporary society of American musical theatre. I did so by completing an examination of five personal observations in my craft. These observations included: (1) Directorship and choreography of Welcome to Vegas, an original jukebox musical; (2) Mentorship on Theatre UCF’s Nine as Assistant Director and Co-Choreographer; (3) Research on the methodologies of various directors and choreographers; (4) Directorship and choreography of Welcome to Broadway, an original jukebox musical; and (5) Assistant to the Program Director of Broadway Theatre Project. I evaluated parallels of my directing and choreography methodologies …