Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

The Dream Of The Theatre Is Alive In Portland: The Potential Of A New Company To Succeed, Amaya Santamaria

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

According to the 2013 census there are approximately 609,456 people living in Portland, Oregon. There is no demographic data tabulated for 2013, however a look at the 2010 statistics can help paint a picture of Portland and its racial and educational make up. That year, 76.1% of people identified as “white alone.” The African American population constituted 6.3% and the Hispanic 9.4%. While it is true that, typically, Caucasian audiences make up the majority of theatre attendees, perhaps more telling are the statistics regarding education. In Portland, 43.1% of people hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to the 29.2% …

A Christmas Carol (December 2-7, 2014), Charles Dickens

Student Theatre Programs

Program for A Christmas Carol (December 2-7, 2014).

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

Dance Usm! Program [2014], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2014-2015 Season

Directed by Maria Tzianabos

Oklahoma! (October 31-November 1, 2014), Oscar Hammerstein Ii

Student Theatre Programs

Program for Oklahoma! (October 31-November 1, 2014).

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

Bus Stop Program, University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2014-2015 Season

A comedic drama by William Inge

Directed by Thomas Power

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

Ridiculous Geographies: Mapping The Theatre Of The Ridiculous As Radical Aesthetic, Kelly Aliano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a comprehensive study of the artists associated with the Theatre of the Ridiculous. The discussion begins with Charles Ludlam, the most famous practitioner of the form and then extends to artists with whom he collaborated, including Jack Smith, the Play-House of the Ridiculous, Ethyl Eichelberger, and Charles Busch. The argument traces the overlapping aesthetic qualities of all of these theatre practitioners; they all shared a reverence for popular culture of the twentieth century; they all blended references from high and low culture in their dramaturgy; and they all created performances that took a unique approach to cross-dressed …

The Well Of Horniness Program, University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2014-2015 Season

A comedic radio play by Holly Hughes

Directed by Meghan Brodie

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

Center For Art & Theater News, Georgia Southern University

Center for Art & Theater (Archived)

• Derrick Buisch: Off Season in the Center for Art & Theatre

The Development Of An Actor, Kieran Peter Cronin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration and reflection of my growth and development as an actor after three years of studies at the University of Arkansas. It includes a statement of artistry, a copy of the program from my thesis performance, a link to my actor website, and a current headshot and resume.

Site Specific Theatre, David Wohl

College of Visual and Performing Arts Faculty Publications

An examination of site specific theatre performance theory and practice.

The One Voice Project, Amanda Rose Hartley Villarreal

Master of Theater Production Graduate Projects

This process drama is intended to guide inner-city students of diverse ethnic backgrounds in the discovery of theatre as a viable form of expression in their lives. Through the course of a 6-week unit, these students will be introduced to different types of performances, from pantomime to monologues, making theatrical performance a less foreign experience. Once they have gained a familiarity with theatre and with different types of performance, the students will be invited to write theatrical performances of their own.

Play From The Heart: On Crafting A Community Of Empathy In The Theatre, Kevin Kingston

The Theatre School MFA in Directing Theses

The power of story goes beyond mere escapist entertainment. Yes it should entertain, but that is not the ultimate goal. It may even offer a bit of escape, but again this is not the holy grail. When we experience a well-crafted narrative, we are called to cross a threshold. We pass through the door of our own life and enter into the experience of another. This is what we mean when we say we "got lost" in the story. We take on the experience of another as our own. When a group of people experience a narrative they cross this …

A Method To The Madness: My Quest For A New System Of Acting, Michael Osinski

The Theatre School MFA in Directing Theses

How does one get actors to embrace work and imbue it with the same truth they bring to realistic theatre and how does one prevent them from turning into robots performing meaningless gestures? How does one work in experimental ways while still giving actors something human to hang onto? This thesis will examine a new system of acting to embrace the demands of the work and explore how to articulate and collaborate with actors to create the work.

On Technically Love: Discovering My Voice, Defining A World, Delving In, Nathan L. Eckstein

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This Honors Project is a two-part exploration of the playwriting process though application. The script itself, Technically Love; an Exploration of Love, Technology and Same-Sex Marriage, tells the story of Max and Danny, a same-sex couple living in Minnesota in 2013. The play follows their yearlong journey of posting YouTube videos about their wedding planning process that coincides with Minnesota’s fight for marriage equality. The second part of the project is my paper On Technically Love: Discovering my voice, defining a world, delving in. The paper explains the process that I went through to write the play and gives an …

Opening Remarks To Outing Lorraine At The Schomburg Center, Shawn(Ta) Smith-Cruz

Publications and Research

This article is an edit of the opening remarks for the event held on May 22nd, 2014 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture as part of the In The Life Series supplying Black LGBT programming coordinated by Steven Fullwood. Outing Lorraine included panelists: Alexis DeVeaux, Joi Gresham, and Steven Fullwood and was moderated by Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz. Opening remarks provide a biographical description of Lorraine Hansberry's life, prepare the audience for a conversation on the implications for "outing" a black iconic figure, details the purpose for use of primary and secondary sources when, and provides a bibliography for …

The Saga Of Bob And Carson, Joshua R. Holley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

I expanded a ten-minute play that I had written in my sophomore year, Bob and Carson on a Couch, into six ten-minute plays. Each play can stand on it's own to be performed, or they can be done in order to tell one story.

Costume Design For The Uofl Department Of Theatre Arts' Production Of Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking., Rachel Jennifer Siow

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Transformative Design: A Tale Of Arabian Nights, Victoria Sanders

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a description of the process of creating the scene design for the Theatre VCU production of Arabian Nights. It was directed by Gabriel Barre and the production ran April 11th – 27th, 2014. It follows the preproduction, build and a final evaluation of the design and the process used in creating it.

Lynn Riggs: Forgotten Genius, Jason Michael

Theses and Dissertations

Lynn Riggs was an early to mid-20th century Native American playwright who wrote twenty-four full length plays, his sole enduring success being Green Grow the Lilacs, the play upon which the musical Oklahoma! is based. For much of the early part of Riggs’s career, he was considered a uniquely pioneering and promising playwright, cited in competition with Eugene O’Neill as vying for the position of best playwright of their age. But while O’Neill has gone on to be considered America’s Greatest Playwright, the life and works of Lynn Riggs, save for his contribution to Rodgers and Hammerstein, have gone largely …

Silence: A Technical Direction Project, Matthew Rightmire

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

The Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film opened its 2013-14 mainstage season with the play Silence in the Studio Theatre on October 10, 2013. This thesis project encompasses the Technical Direction of Silence. As the Technical Director, I was responsible for the budgeting of time, people, and money necessary to plan, organize, construct, and load into the theatre all the scenic elements required for the performance. Duties included purchasing materials, drafting construction drawings, and leading shop crews in the individual processes to create each scenic element as well as modifying the house seating equipment to accommodate the scenic …

Gender Confusion, Genocide And The Apocalypse: Directing Moira Buffini's Silence, Dennis N. Henry

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

This thesis contains the written documentation of the process of directing a theatrical production of Silence by Moira Buffini, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Fine Arts in Directing for Stage and Screen at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

This documentation and analysis of the processes herein include: play selection, background research, concept development, casting, rehearsal process, development of design elements and evaluation based on critical response, audience reception and self-reflection.

Advisor: Virginia Smith

Anna Karenina (April 10-13, 2014), Helen Edmundson

Student Theatre Programs

Program for Anna Karenina (April 10-13, 2014).

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

The Emancipated Century: A Staged Reading Series, Robert Lublin, Clifford Odle, Barbara Lewis

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

A coordinated series of dramatic staged readings of the plays of August Wilson in theatres throughout greater Boston. This project aims to pay tribute to the 150th anniversary of the Emancipated Proclamation with a full presentation of August Wilson’s monumental 10-play cycle on African American life in each decade of the twentieth century. The accompanying Re-Visioning Tomorrow Forums explored ongoing themes in urban communities.

In The Underworld: A Darkly Comic Operetta Program [2014], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2013-2014 Season

Written by Germaine Tillion

Directed by Meghan Brodie

Musical Direction & English Lyric Adaptation by Jonathan Marro

Arrangements & Composition by Christophe Maudot

Translation by Annie & Karl Bortnick

Almost A Man: A Collection Of Short Drama, Tyler Fruge'

English & Modern Languages: Theses, Dissertations & Student Publications

The purpose of this thesis is to examine through drama the concept of manhood and what our culture defines as being a man. Manhood is what my characters struggle to achieve, but they fall short of their goals due to issues of co-dependency, immaturity, and refusal to give up control; they are well-composed and obedient externally, yet struggle internally. My characters were brought up and raised in a setting with inarguable demands, explicitly on what to believe, how to behave, and what is and isn’t acceptable. They’ve never been taught/told it’s okay to say “I’m not sure if I agree …

The Mystical And Metaphysical In The Mundane: Directing Middletown, Joshua S. Waterstone

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

This thesis contains written documentation regarding the process of directing a theatrical production in fulfillment of the partial requirements for Master of Fine Arts in Directing for Stage and Screen at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.

Topics addressed include play selection, script analysis, director/designer collaboration, coaching of actors and evaluation of final product.

Advisor: Virginia Smith

The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Program [2014], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2013-2014 Season

A Musical by Rupert Holmes

Directed by Wil Kilroy

Musical Direction by Edward Reichert

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

The Women Of Lockerbie (February 5-8, 2014), Deborah Brevoort

Student Theatre Programs

Program for The Women of Lockerbie (February 5-8, 2014).

Doubt Program [2014], University Of Southern Maine Department Of Theatre

Programs 2013-2014 Season

By John Patrick Shanley

Directed by William Steele

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

Time Vindicated: Looking Behind The Masque, Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Dr. Megan Sanborn Jones

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The English courtly masque was an elaborate theatrical form of poetry, dance, music, and scenery that flourished under the reign of the Stuarts, James (1603–1625) and Charles I (1625– 1649). The masque’s spectacle, both highly theatrical and financially extravagant, reflected the magnificence of the king and the ideals of the court. Courtiers and royalty took part on stage as well as in the audience. The masques were also self-reflective; attention moved between the audience and the performers as each watched the other. As masque writer Ben Jonson wrote, masques were “the mirrors of man’s life.” Through the masque’s unique relationship …