Acting Commons^™

Reading Exercise (You Are The Hero): Dedicated To The Providence River Under The Mall, 02.17.2026, Deborah Fischer

Masters Theses

This play uses the performative potential of guilt, forgiveness, and self-help techniques as a catalyst for a new dynamic, one in which the pursuit of a false narrative, along with the structures it generates, becomes more real than reality itself. It employs “bad acting” and the practice of cold reading to stage a series of acts that function as an entry point into one’s own psyche, leveraging the peripheral space around familiar actions to allow chance, free will, and the experience of “real time” to temporarily come into effect. PLAYER 1: The bad actor is the most utopian one. CLOWN: …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

"These Lyrics But It's The Opening Of A Ted Talk" - A Public Speaking Activity Inspired By Tiktok, Abby Ferrell

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This activity encourages students to practice delivery skills in a fun and laid-back way that connects to social media. This activity can be used in-person or online and is intended for public speaking, oral/interpersonal communication, and introductory theatre classes. Based on content creator Madeleine Chalk’s “These lyrics but it’s the opening of a TED Talk” videos, students will deliver song lyrics as if they were giving a TED talk. In doing so, they will practice delivery skills such as eye contact, vocal variety, and body language. After the activity, students will debrief on the mechanics of delivery, audience engagement, and …

Spatial Mapping With Polaroid Post-Its, Angela C. Dittmar, Katie Claiborne

Arts-Based Collaborative instructional materials

No abstract provided.

Call And Response : Experiments In Storytelling, Deanne Fernandes

Masters Theses

Being part of RISD's inaugural Masters of Illustration cohort has been an immense honor. This journey has been nothing short of transformative and healing, as it has allowed me to unearth layers of self-discovery through my creative practice.

In my thesis, I introduce a fresh research methodology rooted in the principles of call and response, with adaptability, creativity, and storytelling as its foundational pillars. Through the lenses of visual storytelling, experimental animation, graphic journalism, and fictional world-building, I demonstrate how these techniques can effectively bridge the gap between theory and practice. This dynamic approach fosters meaningful connections among diverse perspectives …

Feldenkrais And Music Informed Listening: A Neurophenomenological Perspective On Autism, Arona Primalani

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Phenomenologists identify the subjective body and its felt-senses as the basis for human development and consciousness, including mental health. Several mental health disorders, when viewed from a phenomenological perspective, share common symptomology related to varying extents of fractured selves, which in turn hinders dynamic interaction between individuals, their actions, and their relationships with their social and material worlds. Autism is one such condition. Hence, I created an intervention to investigate how listening, which foster subjective and intersubjective experiences, lies at the heart of somatic and arts-based interventions. This thesis, first, begins with a summary of the presenting symptoms observed in …

A Performance-Based Exploration Of Vocal Anatomy And Pedagogy: Maximizing Technical, Stylistic, And Physiological Frameworks For Superlative Vocal Technique In Artistic Function, Michael J. Civitano

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the influence of specific frameworks in performance and vocal pedagogy on artists' capacity to enact evidence-based learning outcomes, with emphasis on vocal physiology and educator-performer relationships. Employing an experimental design, five philosophies that support capacity-building were tested across two trial settings, varying in intensity. The participant utilized narrative reasoning, diversified methods, and mentorship from specialized educators to apply frameworks. Findings indicate that, in practicing evidence-based learning and maximizing anatomic foundations of the voice, substantial developments in artistic capacity ensued. Educator-performer relationships mediate this process through reciprocal collaborations that foster capacity-building. Performers display optimal artistic capacity by effectively …

Puppy Love And [Information] Play: An Intersection Of Theatre, Queer Kink, And Consent, Emily Kitchens

Faculty Articles

This note from the field centers on a nexus of queer kink subcultures and consent-based intimacy work in theatre. I report, investigate and wrangle with the process of incorporating queer kink aesthetics into the production of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill I directed at KSU February 2023. What I have learned and hope to demonstrate throughout the paper, is that queer kink subcultures are often paradigmatic examples of communities built on consent, and we as performing arts practitioners can more visibly expand the margins of our cultural competency dialogues to not only include them but look to them as …

T. Hanks For Nostalgia: The Power Of Tom Hanks And Film Branding, Jacob Higgs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In March 2020, Tom Hanks announced he had contracted COVID-19 while shooting the Elvis Presley Biopic in Australia. On Instagram, he encouraged fans to take the disease seriously and be aware of how severe of a disease it was. Character brands and nostalgia have been found to foster trust in products and encourage relationships with those brands. Using the lens of nostalgia and uses and gratification to examine Tom Hanks as a character brand, the researcher analyzed five blockbuster films with Tom Hanks as the lead character. The study used narrative thematic analysis to observe Hanks and the depictions of …

An Arbitrary Aesthetic: Cultural Reproduction And Hegemonic Canonical Formations In The Western Theatrical Academy, Sim C. Rivers

Theses and Dissertations

Theatre as an artistic practice has often been celebrated as an art of and for the people, being a modality that in theory the common person has access to learn, explore and experience. In recent years I have become preoccupied with the growing rarification and privileging of this art form, particularly in how it is cognized and taught in the academic world. As such, I set out to investigate the mechanisms at work at levels structural, artistic, and personal that determine how theatre is taught and understood within the western academy.

This thesis seeks to examine and unpack the perceived …

The Shape Of Things: A Theatrical Examination Of The Progression Of Emotional Manipulation, Kylee Lorio

Honors Projects

In Neil LaBute's work, The Shape of Things, graduate art student Evelyn Thompson meets security guard and future muse, Adam Sorenson, in an art museum during his late-night shift. Their meeting poses the question of just how far humans are willing to go for love. In less than two hours, LaBute’s insight regarding manipulation between intimate partners calls the integrity of our own interpersonal relationships into question. This project encapsulates the materials of Bridgewater College student Kylee Lorio while directing this production during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’S The Only Thing We Have”: Whisper Networks Among Women Theatre Actors, Richard Edward Carter

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Women who secretly warn one another via informal communications about men in their environment who may engage in some kind of misconduct are participating in a whisper network. This dissertation employs the narrative paradigm to understand how these networks function in the context of professional actors. Interviews conducted with actors who have worked in a variety of communities were analyzed in order to better understand how whisper networks function as warning systems that must be created because conventional means of protection may not exist or be trusted in their industry.

Kinesthetic Language: A Dialect Of Kinesics, Terrill Suzanne Corletto

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Human communication requires the disciplines regarding physical fitness, codified language, and the performing arts to overlap, and exist symbiotically. Within the realm of artistic performance, the three disciplines working together deliver a deliberate message in a way unique to performing artists. The general tendency to compartmentalize sports, communication, and the performing arts into their pigeonhole categories of Kinesiology, Linguistics, and Theatre Arts is impractical, particularly for performing artists simply because all of the disciplines are mutually dependent in the context of all kinesthetic communications.

The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss several concepts and the ways in …

Exploring A Qualitative Approach To Arts Advocacy And Evaluation, Lycette C. Belisle

Undergraduate Theses

The quantitative impact of the arts has become an increasingly important factor in determining the overall value of a project, and is often used to determine acceptance of submissions, public recognition and funding disbursement. This project evaluates current understandings of how the arts function within society, popular methods for determining the value of the arts and explores how qualitative reasoning can be utilized to communicate the value of supporting artistic endeavors. While placing a numerical value on the arts based on data collection can be important, this project will aim to evaluate the implications of relying so heavily on facts …

Managing Cosplay Performance: The Forms And Expectations Of Convention Roleplay, Isaac V. Price

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Costume play (i.e. cosplay) is a performance of fandom rife with rituals and communication practices. Cosplay roleplaying performances are cultural practices that reveal how cosplayers interact with one another and among non-cosplaying members of their fandoms. This study examines the expectations that cosplayers hold for roleplay, the forms of roleplay, and the ways in which roleplay can become an instigator of harassment. Through the lens of Face-Negotiation Theory, the author discusses how roleplay functions to maintain or threaten the public images of cosplayers and their audiences, and what strategies cosplayers implement to avoid the loss of face.

Baton Rouge Slam!: An Obituary For Summer 2016: A Critical Performance Ethnography Of Eclectic Truth Poetry Slam, Joshua Hamzehee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This critical performance ethnography presents the theory, methodology, and practice surrounding the fieldwork, scripting, and performance of Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016. As participant-observer, director, and co-performer, I unpack social drama, performance ethnography, and slam culture by employing a lens rooted in critical race theory. Local poets permitted me to de- and re-contextualize their interviews into ensemble scenes and theatricalize their slam poems about the recent summer’s charged events. One year later, this involved and embodied process of ethnographic bricolage became the ensemble cast performance of Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016. Community members and …

17 Days: Cross-Country With Social Media, Zachary Alvarado

Senior Theses

"Austin Prescott and Zach Alvarado travel from South Carolina to California using social media to find and communicate with hosts throughout the country..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8k6EQnW5D4

Costs of investment were weighed against capital contributions throughout our campaign. While the film serves to inspire, entertain, and inform, the paper dives deeper into the brand-building, cost-savings, and logistics of the trip. In the end, we more than doubled our initial investment and had an awesome time while doing it.

The Keepers: A Collaborative Constructive Narrative Podcast, Shay Carroll

Honors Projects

This is a fictional podcast series that presents a story that is completed through roleplaying. The structure follows that of a video game, with the main characters, or "players," interacting with a set plot while deciding their own course of action. I act as the narrator for the story, controlling the plot and setting as well as non-player characters, or "NPCs." For the purposes of consistency and making sure the characters do not do anything that would be considered too over-powered or unrealistic, I have chosen to use the rule guide and statistics modifier system presented by Wizards of the …

Acting Is Repetition, Job Barnett

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

A short discussion of repetition in acting.

Changing Through Laughter With “Laughter For A Change”, Laurel J. Felt, Ed Greenberg

Occasional Paper Series

This paper describes systematic observation, research, and analysis of Laughter for a Change (L4C)’s 2011–2012 after-school improv workshop, revealing the program’s multiple impacts. Our data suggest that improvising creates a “safe space,” a supportive context in which participants feel empowered to take risks and play freely.

"Debate: Millennials Don't Stand A Chance" Devised, Documentary And Immersive Theatre: The Story Of Everymillennial, Sean R. Byrne

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This thesis aims to discover how communitas can be created through theatrical performances by blurring the line between audience and performer as well as performer and character. The topic of the Millennial generation is used as a thematic element in performance to emphasize the creation of community. A theatrical form will be introduced, called the “Living Biography:” a method of devising based on devising, documentary, and immersive theatre. This form will be shown as one possible option in creating communitas in a performance. While other forms of audience inclusion are frequently used, it will be argued that the “Living Biography” …

Not Dead At All, Martin Becerra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Not Dead At All is a nontraditional thesis, a creative product, the result of a combination of media production and social research. This paper is an attempt to explain the creative and production process behind the creation of an original media content, using the social research as a tool to increase the likeability of our characters and therefore increase the show’s chances of success.

Mapping Reality: An Introduction To Theatre, Charlie Mitchell, Michelle Hayford

Communication Faculty Publications

This book seeks to give insight into the people and processes that create theatre. Like any other world—be it horse racing, fashion, or politics—understanding its complexities helps you appreciate it on a deeper plane. The intent of this book is not to strip away the feeling of magic that can happen in the presence of theatre but to add an element of wonder for the artistry that makes it work. At the same time, you can better understand how theatre seeks to reveal truths about the human condition; explores issues of ethics, gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and spirituality; and exists …

Suit My Heart: Staging Foster Youth Narratives That Hit Home, Michelle Hayford

Communication Faculty Publications

While devising Suit My Heart, I relied upon my training in the ‘three A’s’ of performance studies conceived by my late mentor Dwight Conquergood as “artistry, analysis and activism” (2002: 152). With these ‘three A’s’ in mind, I set out to facilitate a devising process and create an artistic product that would positively serve all communities involved. The quality of the project would be determined not only by the efficacy of the play that we produced in the end, but by the personal growth of my students and the empowerment of our community partners throughout the process. Discovering the reach …

Sheridan's Promising Tale Is Half Told, Ian Kilroy

Articles

Review of 'Break a Leg', the memoir by Irish theatre artist Peter Sheridan. First published in the Sunday Business Post Magazine.

Ua1b1/1 Rodes-Helm Lecture Series, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

These records were created by and about the Rodes-Helm Lecture Series which invited distinguished, and prominent individuals from the spheres of politics, economics, and the arts, to lecture at the university. The records include programs, and recordings of lectures.

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Jason Vaughan, Cate Weeks

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Ua1f Wku Archives Vertical File - Dinner Theater, Wku Archives

WKU Administration Documents

Digitized vertical file materials regarding WKU Theatre & Dance dinner theater program.

Ua12/2/2 Talisman: A Season Of Hope Part 1, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

1983 Talisman yearbook pp. 1-193

• A Season of Hope Wright, Sharon. Multi-faceted Beauty
• Sandman, Ellen. Music of the Highlands – Skip Cleavinger, Bagpipes
• Cornett, Susanna. Fashion Forum
• Cornett, Susanna. Tradition & Trends Are Seen in Faculty Dress
• Grace, Lee. An Attitude of Awareness – Alcohol
• Sawyer, Janet. Double Dilemma – Twins
• Sandman, Ellen. Chance to Charm – Miss Western, Miss Black Western
• Thomas, Laura. Aerobicise
• Campbell, Marsha. Topper Trivia (1)
• Burchett, Lorri. Added Dimension – Concerts, Entertainment
• Lyly, Linda. Fine Arts – Entertainment
• Lyly, Linda. Theater
• Lyly, Linda. Childish Direction – Children’s Theatre
• Sandman, Ellen. Classic Reunion – Homecoming
• Cornett, …

Ua1b1/1 Rodes-Helm Lecture Series Scrapbook, Western Kentucky University

WKU Administration Documents

Scrapbook of programs, photographs and press clippings regarding the following Rodes-Helm Lecture Series speakers:

• Arthur Schlesinger
• Pearl Buck
• Buckminster Fuller
• Chet Huntley
• Art Linkletter
• Nancy Dickerson
• Vincent Price
• William Buckley
• Richard Leakey
• Alvin Toffler
• John Ferguson
• Charles Kuralt