Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

The Shifting Voice: Investigating Accent And Dialect Training For West Australian Actors, Luzita Fereday

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This masters research examines accent and dialect training for actors in the Western Australian context and seeks an understanding about what aural, embodied and cognitive attributes an actor needs in order to move from one accent to another. In particular, this research explores the characteristics of Australian dialects as grounds for the acquisition of the Standard British accent or Received Pronunciation.

The purpose of this research was to identify the expertise required when teaching an accent to acting students in pre-professional levels of tertiary training. This practice-led approach to the research included interviewing, observation, the circulation of questionnaires, and my …

The Absurd Reality Of Satire In Neil Labute's 'Fat Pig', Hermione Gehle

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project examines the misreading of satire in some productions of Neil LaBute’s play, Fat Pig. This practice led project aims to investigate why such misinterpretations occur and explore the theatrical styles that emphasise the satire in the text via rehearsal processes and production.

There will be three preliminary paths undertaken in this research heading toward a new production of Fat Pig; an exploration of the responses of audiences and critics to past productions; an analysis of the background to Neil LeBute and his work; and an examination of theatrical expressions of satire, experimental theatre, contemporary theatre, …

Enter The Movement: Generating Stimulus From Sceneography And Proposing 'De-Sign' As A Tool For Choreographic Invention, Helene Gee Markstein

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to provide the notion of ‘de-sign’ as a proposed aid for movement composition and is the core framework of my research, which is aimed at empowering the dancer/choreographer with a multi-disciplinary aesthetic and a focus for dialectic discussion and experimentation with all material enclosed within the scenographic. De-sign is a method for decoding scenography (as a deconstruction tool to extract the components of composition classified as elements and principles). The play on words is a deliberate acknowledgement of the ‘design’ in the scenographic environment which, in this study, takes into account that all forms …

Bibliography For The Study Of Literature, East Asia, And Globalization, Zhaomei Zheng

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Canon Formation In The Study Of The Environment In China And Taiwan, Peter I-Min Huang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Canon Formation in the Study of the Environment in China and Taiwan" Peter I-min Huang discusses how the canon of ecocriticism taught in English studies in China and Taiwan is becoming increasingly of a local perspective by scholars who publish in Mandarin, address environmental issues specific to Mainland China and Taiwan, and thus engage with ecocriticism based on local perspectives rather than Western ones. The study and teaching of English-language literature in China and Taiwan inevitably encounters charges of neocolonialism or other argumentation that it is being used in ways that betray the legacy of past colonialist …

Introduction To New Work On Electronic Literature And Cyberculture, Maya Zalbidea, Mark C. Marino, Asunción López-Varela

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Gender Identity Construction Through Talk About Video Games, Sara M. Cole

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Gender Identity Construction through Talk about Video Games" Sara Cole discusses the construction of gender identity in terms of experiences of digital media and interactive play. Digital literacy expresses, shares, and reaffirms gendered self-identification through experiences of video game play with narratives that either confirm or deny stereotypical biases. In-depth interviews were used to explore the effects of play practices on conceptions of masculinity and personal identity in males who grew up in the 1980s by focusing on a linguistic analysis of the pragmatics of their shared thoughts on play, fantasy, use of digital media, and violence. …

The Racial Formation Of Chatbots, Mark C. Marino

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Racial Formation of Chatbots" Mark C. Marino introduces electronic literature known as chatbot or conversation agent. These programs are all around us from automated help centers to smartphones (e.g., Siri). These conversation agents are often represented as text or disembodied voices. However, when programmers give them a body or the representation of a body (partial or full), other aspects of their identity become more apparent—particularly their racial or ethnic identity. Marino explores the ways racial identity is constructed through the embodied performance of chatbots and what that indicates for human identity construction on the internet.

Introduction To Western Canons In A Changing East Asia, Simon C. Estok

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Environmental Literature And The Change Of Its Canon In Korea, Won-Chung Kim

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Environmental Literature and the Change of Its Canon in Korea" Won-Chung Kim examines how US-American ecocritical writings were introduced and received in Korea and how the change of educational curricula in Korea is influenced by changes owing to globalization. Kim shows that the limited reception of US-American ecocritics' works led Korean scholars to reformulate the canon of works in Korean ecocriticism and how they reinvestigate their own cultural heritage and ecological ideas. Kim refers in particular to the thought of thirteenth-century Kyubo Lee and today's Chiha Kim and argues that Korean ecological discourse has the potential to …

Pullinger's And Joseph's Inanimate Alice And Intercultural Engagement, Ana Abril

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Pullinger's and Joseph's Inanimate Alice and Intercultural Engagement" Ana Abril analyzes Kate Pullinger's and Chris Joseph's digital graphic novel and game. Inanimate Alice offers a model for online education environments and has been widely acclaimed. However, Abril's ana-lysis suggests possible ways for improving the empathic and educational potential of the novel/game for interpersonal and intercultural benefit. Abril bases her analysis on the theories of human interpersonal communication and then applies these findings to Inanimate Alice and suggests improvement so that participants would be able to decide if they want to play from the viewpoint of their own …

E-Literature, New Media Art, And E-Literary Criticism, Janez Strehovec

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "E-Literature, New Media Art, and E-Literary Criticism" Janez Strehovec explores the commonalities between electronic literature and new media art. Rather than deploying the traditional conceptual apparatus of e-literary criticism directed first and foremost to the new media elements of e-literature, Strehovec takes into account approaches from current theories in the social sciences and humanities. In doing so, he draws upon examples of new media art as a practice in which the novel's social paradigms change the way of art-making and challenge the very function of art. Close-readings of some new media art projects including Bookchin's Mass Ornament …

Review Article About Chinese Comparative Humanities Journals Published In 2013, Yuan Liu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Teaching Digital Humanities In Romania, Mădălina Nicolaescu, Adriana Mihai

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "Teaching Digital Humanities in Romania" Mădălina Nicolaescu and Adriana Mihai describe a research project that sets out to promote digital humanities with an internet based platform in Shakespeare studies at the University of Bucharest. Texts have been collected and catalogued and the platform's technical construction is in construction. Based on the Shakespeare platform's content and presentation, Nicolaescu and Mihai propose participation strategies for involvement in the creation of a digital database that is both a research tool and a digital storytelling environment. The database is a collection of digitized translations of Shakespeare in Romanian followed by participants' …

Reception And Variations Of Classical Narratology In Chinese Scholarship, Biwu Shang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Reception and Variations of Classical Narratology in Chinese Scholarship" Biwu Shang discusses the field's impact starting in the 1970s to today. Shang's survey includes translations of Western frameworks including introductions published during three waves (the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s respectively). While Shang posits that Chinese narratology owes a debt to English-language Western scholarship, as it stands in the last decades this is counterbalanced with the development of Chinese narratology and Western scholarship started to show interest in Chinese scholarship: indeed, the more exchanges between Chinese scholarship and that of the West develop, the more beneficial the dialogue …

Reading English Literature And Korean Scholars' Search For "Authentic Subjectivity", Jonggab Kim

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Reading English Literature and Korean Scholars' Search for 'Authentic Subjectivity'" Jonggab Kim discusses the ambivalence of Korean scholars toward the reading and analysis of English-language literature because of its perceived threat to Korean national identity and a route to internationalization. Kim's study is an attempt to evaluate a dual strategy of reading, one that involves both sympathy and antipathy. Kim postulates that what Korean scholars need is not a national practice of reading, but the type of reading that takes into account Korea's historical situation with the knowledge of the field or period of the text. Based …

New Challenges For The Archiving Of Digital Writing, Heiko Zimmermann

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "New Challenges for the Archiving of Digital Writing" Heiko Zimmermann discusses the challenges of the preservation of digital texts. In addition to the problems already at the focus of attention of digital archivists, there are elements in digital literature which need to be taken into consideration when trying to archive them. Zimmermann analyses two works of digital literature, the collaborative writing project A Million Penguins (2006-2007) and Renée Tuner's She… (2008) and shows how the ontology of these texts is bound to elements of performance, to direct social interaction of writers and readers to the uniquely subjective …

Western Canons In China 1978-2014, He Lin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Western Canons in China 1978-2014" He Lin surveys anthologies of foreign literature, book series, textbooks used in literary departments, and learned journals and draws a map of the situation of Western canons in China. He concludes that Western canons underwent a complicated process when establishing their roles in Chinese scholarship and that canonization is determined, in particular, by market mechanisms, ideological preconceptions, and literary institutions at universities. He posits that in the age of globalization a more intimate and subtle relationship has been established between Western literary canons and Chinese readership and scholarship. The publishing market, national …

Towards Digital Art In Information Society, Montse Arbelo, Joseba Franco

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "Towards Digital Art in Information Society" Montse Arbelo and Joseba Franco propose the development of the platform of a Network of Experimental Centers be formed by small groups of people who are qualified and who seek optimal operational effectiveness and who dedicate their resources to the production of digital content and we offer artechmedia <http://www.artechmedia.org> as a base point of departure. Such an international network in a collaborative structure based on national networks would make possible to coordinate existing resources to develop social networks, generate and promote content, engage in forums of discussion and creativity workshops, and …

Queer Hybridity And Performance In The Multimedia Texts Of Arroyo And Lozada, Ed Chamberlain

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Queer Hybridity and Performance in the Multimedia Texts of Arroyo and Lozada" Ed Chamberlain examines the unconventional writing of Puerto Rican writers Rane Arroyo and Ángel Lozada. Arroyo and Lozada craft texts which can be interpreted as performances and these performative texts blend internet-based writings with more traditional genres including the novel and poetry. Arroyo's and Lozada's stylistic approaches exhibit a queer sensibility which resembles the way in which Latina/o queer people construct and perform their cultural identities. Chamberlain argues that these queer performances suggest we can neither create nor identify absolute truth in matters of identity …

How Toni Morrison's Facebook Page Re(Con)Figures Race And Gender, Beatriz Revelles-Benavente

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "How Toni Morrison's Facebook Page Re(con)figures Race and Gender" Beatriz Revelles-Benavente explores Morrison's Facebook page and comments on it. In 2010, Morrison opened a Facebook page where she received a large amount of comments and created debates and Revelles-Benavente analyses how these comments navigate questions of race and gender. Based on theoretical considerations about issues of race and gender in cyberculture and applied to the narratives posted on Morrison's Facebook page, Revelles-Benavente argues that the problematics of race and gender are relational and the question needs to be centered on the object of study as the relation …

Electronic Literature In China, Jinghua Guo

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Electronic Literature in China" Jinghua Guo discusses how the reception and the critical contexts of production of online literature are different in China from those in the West despite similar developments in digital technology. Guo traces the development of Chinese digital literature, its history, and the particular characteristics and unique cultural significance in the context of Chinese culture where communality is an aspect of society. Guo posits that Chinese electronic literature is larger than such in the West despite technical drawbacks and suggests that digitality represents a positive force in contemporary Chinese culture and literature.

The Canon And Shakespeare's Plays On The Contemporary East Asian Stage, I-Chun Wang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "The Canon and Shakespeare's Plays on the Contemporary East Asian Stage" I-Chun Wang argues that although globalization often refers to the phenomenon of international trade and (im)migrants, globalization has made strong impacts in all aspects of culture and literature. Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar have attracted attention of East Asian playwrights and directors in the last several years. By juxtaposing the trends of local cultural performing arts with representations of local cultural legacies, Wang discusses the staging of these two Roman plays in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. By probing into the imperial themes represented …

No One Is Alone: Responsibility, Consequences, And Family In Into The Woods, Jennifer White

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Choose Your Own Oz, Tommy R. Jamerson Ii

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Through The Eyes Of The Homeless, Aisha M. Soto

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

When reviewing the entire project from start to completion, I can honestly say, Through the Eyes of the Homeless is a play about ten women and their plight. It illustrates their dealings with everyday issues of hurt, disappointment, abuse, love, and hope. I believe the true impact of this play is the undeniable prayer for help and hope within each monologue. Despite the horrors that are unveiled and released through hidden secrets, the undertone of betterment is truly resonating. My own expectation for this play is simply to strike awareness and understanding in the eyes of the people. It is …

Dancing On Checkers' Grave By Eric Lane, Allison Kump

Honors Projects

My proposed honors project consists of directing my own, fully-actualized production of Eric Lane’s play Dancing on Checkers’ Grave within the BGSU’s Department of Theatre & Film Elsewhere season. As the director, I must hone in on the play’s relevance to today’s society and shape my storytelling tools to clearly communicate the narrative, establishing a relationship between the performers and the audience.

Dancing on Checkers’ Grave is a play about two very different teenage girls who come to bond over homework, “munchkining,” relationships, and nail polish. Rooted within the text are topics of sexual identity, what it means to be …

Npr’S From The Top Live With Host Christopher O’Riley, Office Of Arts + Cultural Programming, Peak Performances At Montclair State University

2014-2015 Discover the Heartbeat of Creative Life

Concert pianist and Peak Performances favorite Christopher O’Riley returns with a live recording of NPR’s From the Top, which The Boston Globe called “an unpretentious mix of the ridiculous and the sublime…[Featuring] an entertaining, accessible and often inspirational mix of outstanding musical performances, informal interviews, skits and games, the show is a celebration of extraordinary musicians who happen to be teenagers leading fairly normal lives.” The whole family will enjoy seeing this beloved radio program come together on the stage of the Alexander Kasser Theater.

“I Can Take An Empty Space And Call It A Bare Stage”: Searching For A Through-Line In The Diverse Roles Of The Theatre Director, Bettina Mueller-Tuescher

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

While the director’s role in theatre is longstanding and well established, it is a position that can be approached from a variety of different angles, depending on the nature of the project. In an effort to discover and articulate a directorial philosophy that spans across my work, the first section of this thesis is a literature review discussing and analyzing the directorial beliefs, practices, and philosophies of two revolutionary directors in English-speaking theatre: Anne Bogart and Peter Brook. The second segment will be a reflection and analysis of my own performance as a director on three diverse projects in scale, …

Inside The Boudoir: Designing The World Of Lynn Nottage’Sintimate Apparel, Megan Parish

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Scenic artistry and set decorating help build the world of a production and reinforce the themes woven into the plot of a script. For my project, I will be exploring the world of Lynn Nottage’s “Intimate Apparel.” This will include researching the historical context of the piece, which in this case is New York City at the turn of the century, alongside the role of the seamstress in society, in order to accurately convey the environment of this piece. Lynn Nottage’s piece is based in socioeconomic statuses, attitudes on race and femininity as well as women’s rights movements. Therefore, I …