Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons^™

Method Acting As A Therapeutic Intervention For Trauma Recovery, Remi Moses

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

While considered controversial by some, Method acting as popularized by Lee Strasberg is a technique that elicits powerful and authentic results on stage and screen. The foundational Method acting techniques, the Relaxation Exercise (RE) and the Sense Memory Exercise (SME), share similarities to bottom-up therapeutic processes like Somatic Experiencing and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. By implementing a trauma-informed drama therapy framework with these two exercises, the RE and SME were restructured as a therapeutic intervention for people in trauma recovery. The author implemented a study of three consecutive group therapy sessions for people healing from trauma where clients participated …

Wole Soyinka: A Life Of Arts And Advocacy, Maggie Feduccia

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The life and work of playwright, novelist, and activist Wole Soyinka (born in 1934) serves as a perfect example of the marriage of the arts and advocacy, through the telling of stories of the Nigerian people. Soyinka grew up surrounded by Christianity, Islam, and the tribal religion of the Yoruba people. Additionally, Soyinka’s parents exposed him to Nigerian and other West African literature, Western literature, and ancient Greek drama. Soyinka’s intellect was formed at the intersection of these various theologies and literary traditions, and further developed through studies at the University of Ibadan and the University of Leeds, from where …

You’Re Invited! Collaborating With Faculty And Students To Create A Successful Library Event, Laura Semrau

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

To celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the printing of Shakespeare’s First Folio, the Baylor University Libraries hosted a three-day celebration; “Shakespeare 400” drew faculty members from six academic departments and leveraged the talents of both graduate and undergraduate students. The four main events drew a cumulative crowd of over 200 people. Graduate students contributed to the events through music performance, a dramatic reading, enthusiastic promotion, and engaged participation. This presentation will explore key take-aways for including graduate students in library events.

The success of Shakespeare 400 was largely due to collaborations between the library, faculty members, and graduate …

Introduction To Theatre Oer Course, Carmen R. Meyers

Open Educational Resources

Study of theatre and performance throughout history and across cultures including an examination of European, Carribean, and North and South American theatrical styles and genres.

This course is organized for a hybrid/asynchronous format. Our class meets on-campus every week for 75 minutes and the other 75 minutes will be completed asynchronously with weekly learning modules on Blackboard.

The first half of the course focuses on the history of theatre from Ancient Greece through Modern Realism. The second half of the course, students engage in the procedures of professional theatre artists through writing and refining a dramatic text; enacting a performance; …

Time, Place, & Purpose: The Performance Of Creole Identity In Louisiana, Rachel N. Aker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Though much of the early development of Louisiana Creole culture can be found in New Orleans, the culture spread and continued to grow throughout the rest of South Louisiana in both similar and different ways. Expanding beyond Joseph Roach’s treatment of Creole cultural performances in New Orleans in Cities of the Dead (1996) and journeying across land and water, this project identifies more Creole cultural performance as they emerge across place and time. I present Louisiana and the Gulf South as a kind of inland archipelago, with the currents of culture-creation moving in and around distinct community enclaves. The flow …

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

Faculty and Research Publications

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 …

Behind The Scenes: Shining A Spotlight On Veiled Theatre Workers, Ariel Bradshaw

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

My thesis aims to highlight traditionally underrepresented theatre artists. I wish to dive deeply into the many backstage, or “veiled” workers, who continue to go unacknowledged. Why is there an aspect of “veiled” theatre created to stay hidden? Even in technical theatre, some specialties receive more credit or recognition than others. For example, the Tony Awards offer categories for direction, sound, light, costume, and scenic design, yet no award for stage management. How are institutions working to create more representation in an intentionally hidden space? This project will specifically focus on the representation of stage managers, arguably the most invisible …

Collaborative Storytelling In The Parable Task: The Dramaturg As Game Designer In Pervasive Performance, Percival Hornak

Masters Theses

Proceeding from a framing of theater as collaborative storytelling, I argue for defining role-playing games as a kind of performance and for their value in structuring experiential and participatory theater. Building on the impulse at the heart of experiential and immersive theater to place the audience within the world of the performance and center their experience, I explore what it means for theater artists to cede control over how audiences make meaning of their work in favor of letting narrative emerge from the participation of the audience during the performance event. I propose a framework called pervasive performance that merges …

Gerontology In Bryony Lavery’S A Wedding Story (2000) And Sebastian Barry’S Hinterland (2002), Rania M Rafik Khalil

English Language and Literature

Old age is perceived as a narrative of decline, recently, an alternative perspective was introduced known as positive aging or Gerotranscendance. This paper examines ageing in Bryony Lavery’s A Wedding Story (2000) and Sebastian Barry’s Hinterland (2002) through the theory of gerontology. Gerontology in British and Irish modern theatre, according to Giovanna Tallone (2020) and Heather Ingman (2018), is a new category in literary studies and theory. The paper aims to examine the challenges of retaining agency in old age in comparison to the notion of aging as a process of inner harmony further proving that despite the process of …

Allegedly In Love: A Theatrical Production, Leah Christenson

Theatre Undergraduate Honors Theses

Allegedly in Love: A Theatrical Production details the process of producing and costume designing a fully-realized performance run of an original piece by Madelyn Marks.

Goodbye? Reflections And Stream Of Consciousness On, Underneath And Around The Creation Of “Hello?”, Leonard Shevel Gurevich

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

A Methodology Of Paradoxes: Investigating Authenticity In The Representation Of Queerness On The Contemporary Stage, Kendall C. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

In my experience as a queer theatre practitioner, performer, and student, I have always had questions of ownership and authenticity when it comes to LGBTQIA+ narratives on the contemporary theatre stage. The question of: “Who is allowed to tell what story?” and the many complex ideas that this leads to, is what has inspired this thesis and my own pedagogy of intersectionality and inclusivity.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between authenticity and queerness on the contemporary stage in order to develop a methodology for how all theatre practitioners—no matter their identity—can effectively tell queer-identifying stories …

A Virada Performativa Do Grupo Galpão: Presença E Acontecimento No Espetáculo Nós, Fernando Luiz Silva Chagas, Julia Guimarães

Teatro: Revista de Estudios Escénicos / A Journal of Theater Studies

Abstract: This paper analysis the performative extent present in the play Nós (Us), by Grupo Galpão (State of Minas Gerais, Brazil). The approach is through the idea of theater as event and presence, based on concepts of the aesthetics of the performative (Fischer-Lichte), performative theater (Féral), and theater as an ontological event (Dubatti). In this sense, performativity is presented as an instrument of reflection and analysis of the contemporary theater, which has been troubling the traditional paradigms of representation in the performing arts. We depart from practical elements of the theatrical phenomenon to approach the problematization subscribed to …

The Importance Of Creation: Lessons From The Collision And Performing Justice Projects, Mariah Johnson

Symposium of Student Scholars

The Collision Project is a performance-based project that introduces young artists to an inspiration which drives them to create their own performative art. During my time participating in Kennesaw State University's 2022 New Connections Collision Project, I had the privilege of working alongside the talented youth graduates in the Department of Justice system. Through my first-hand experience and by examining the works through the lens of Megan Alrutz’s book Digital Storytelling, Applied Theatre, & Youth: Performing Possibility, I learned the importance of personal expression through creation. Projects such as our Collision Project and Alrutz’s Performing Justice Project present highly beneficial …

Operatic Mysticisms: Mountains, Deserts, Waterscapes, Andrew Demczuk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Operatic Mysticisms: Mountains, Deserts, Waterscapes examines the ways we encounter environments as readers/viewers of operas, literature, film, and sound recordings, and how each medium requires different detail-gathering techniques. Respective to the previously mentioned mediums, Sun & Sea (2017), Mount Analogue (1952), El Mar La Mar (2017), and Energy Field (2010) are analyzed by engaging with environmental media studies and invention. Reflecting the nature of each landscape—summits of mountains, aporias of deserts, and mysteries of waterscapes—an elemental approach is taken in investigating how these spaces may be noticed, internalized, recorded, and traversed by both the artist and viewer. …

Performance, Theatricality, And Identity In Shakespeare’S The Taming Of The Shrew, Nina Masin-Moyer

College Honors Program

William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew is a curious and often controversial play due to its depiction of spousal abuse and female subordination. But despite that charged reputation, it continues to be produced on stages around the world, with creative choices that suggest an attempt to change a supposedly un-feminist play into a feminist one. My thesis argues that this play already features notable feminist elements at the level of the text itself, stemming in particular from its thematic and structural investment in performance and theatricality and in the roles that these elements play in constructing gender and …

Death Of A Salesman: A Theatrical Examination Of The “American Dream” On The Human Psyche And The Effects On Aging On The Mind., Kylie Chisnell

Honors Projects

Willy Loman is a salesman who is nearing the end of his life. As his mind begins to deteriorate, the viewer experiences several memories, dreams, arguments, and conversations that Willy has had. The Loman family in the play is in a perpetual cycle of denial, confrontation, and contradictions. Willy is most notably difficulty on his eldest son, Biff, who does not seem to live up to Willy’s expectations. The play tragically ends with Willy’s suicide and funeral. This theatrical version of the play will focus on the problematic issues that arise from chasing the notion of the “American Dream.” It …

Let The People Speak: How Verbatim Theater Allows Historically Marginalized Groups Tell Their Stories, Kalala C. Kiwanuka-Woernle

Theatre and Dance Honors Projects

motherhood: the good, bad, and ugly was born out of my research of Verbatim Theater, specifically the practices of Anna Deavere Smith, The Tectonic Theater Project, and Eve Ensler; and the lack of fully fleshed out mother characters represented in theatre. In my research, I focused on how these different playwrights crafted their plays, identified the topic or event they wanted to explore, and the selection of their subjects. During the pandemic, I had the idea to create a theater piece that would tell the good, the bad, and the ugly of motherhood because in the media especially in the …

Directing With A Historical Perspective For The Current World, John Reynolds Jr.

Senior Theses

This paper charts the path of directing This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan, which ran from March 24-27. It will explore using the history of the play's setting, New York City in 1982, to keep the production relevant for today's audiences. It also details casting, collaboration with designers, and the rehearsal process. I also give a summary of feedback about keeping the overall environment positive. This experience showed that by leaning into the specific time of the play, the themes resonated strongly with the audiences. A positive environment was also essential to the success of the production.

A Festival Of Form: Score, Anthony Elia

Bridwell Library Research

"A Festival of Form" was both an event at Bridwell and Perkins School of Theology and a conceptual piece of music that lasted several days. In this rendering, the "piece of music" was articulated in a fluid combination of activities that included works by other composers, including John Cage. The activities involved--from lectures, conversations, and meals to actual performances of both short works and especially the world-record breaking rendition of "Organ2/ASLSP" played by Christopher Anderson--comprise the entirety of "A Festival of Form" as performance piece. The challenge of this work is that unlike nearly any other music, it is purposely …

Fluchtpunkt Magdeburg: Dokumentation Eines Integrationsorientierten Theaterprojekts Aus Theaterpädagogischer Und Sprachdidaktischer Perspektive, Mona Eikel-Pohen, Sarah Dolbier

Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics - All Scholarship

Macht, Prozess und Poetik/Sprache das theaterpädagogische Modellprojekt Fluchtpunkt Magdeburg 2015 bis2019, an dem dort lebende Jugendliche mit und ohne Fluchterfahrungen unter tanz- und theaterpädagogischer Leitung drei Theaterstücke und einen Film entwickelten mit dem prononcierten Ziel, soziale und sprachliche Integration zu fördern. Ziel dieser Dokumentation ist es, das Projekt systematisch zu beschreiben und gelungene Elemente herauszuarbeiten, die zukünftige Projekte nachhaltig und langfristig plan- und durchführbar gestalten

Internalized Misogyny As Displayed By Aunt March In Little Women, Sydney Lofton

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

It seems that more women fight against each other than for one another. Women have developed a reputation for gossiping to disparage the reputation of each other, leveraging terms like “floozie,” “bimbo,” and “slut” against one another. While women will rage against men who support the patriarchy, women are often some of the strictest enforcers of its standards. In Kate Hamill’s playscript Little Women, an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, it is Aunt March, not a man, who places pressure on Jo to assimilate to society’s expectation of women. This push of conformity may reflect Aunt March’s own …

Accommodation And Coping In Medieval Catholic England: A Historical Dramaturgy Casebook For The Chester Mystery Cycle’S Play 14: Christ At The House Of Simon The Leper, Christ And The Moneylenders, And Judas’ Plot, Andrew J. Roberge

Senior Projects Spring 2022

In this historically focused dramaturgy casebook for the medieval Catholic Chester Mystery Cycle's Play 14, Christ at the House of Simon the Leper, Christ and the Moneylenders, and Judas’ Plot, I offer suggestions for Play 14's production as it might have appeared in the cycle's final year of performance, 1575. I contextualize and grapple with the play's antisemitisms, and also offer a brief history of antisemitism in medieval Europe. I also analyze Play 14 and the Chester Mystery Cycle for their rhetorical appeals to the medieval vernacular language, contexts, and events, as well as their anachronistic temporal and geographic …

Civic Engagement Through Theatre: Running A Brechtian Workshop In The Classroom, Margot Morgan

eJournal of Public Affairs

This study presents an innovative active learning technique to support the development of civic education: a theatrical workshop based on the dramaturgy of Bertolt Brecht. I argue that the Brechtian workshop can develop three skills necessary for effective civic engagement: perspective taking, collaboration, and critical judgment/self-reflection, and that these skills are directly tied to the three civic values of pluralism, community, and civic responsibility. Using qualitative data gathered in the course of teaching this workshop to two distinct student populations — a self-selecting group of students in a liberal arts environment and a group of students at a commuter campus …

The Conscience Of Little Women: Beth's Epic, Mcewen Baker

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

From its conception, and through countless retellings, there is no doubt that Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is an American classic that has stood the test of time. Kate Hamill’s stage adaptation affirms and extends this legacy; the playwright adopts a contemporary feminist approach that defies gender norms and exclusivity in casting and encourages an actor-centered approach. This essay explains the importance of this adaptation and its influence on my portrayal of Beth March in Belmont University’s Fall 2021 production. It touches on the often overlooked significance of the second youngest sister as well as how my personal battle with …

How Theatre Produced By Autistic People Dismantles The Medical Model Of Disability, Ira Eidle

Symposium of Student Scholars

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that has a long history of being misunderstood. Said misunderstandings have led to falsehoods about autism and autistic people. The stigma surrounding autism encourages non-autistic people to see themselves as the best advocates for autism, leading to non-autistic people speaking over autistic people constantly. This has come to be known as the medical model of disability. Most autistic people do not consider autism to be a mental illness or disorder. (Kupferstein 2019) That is why when autistic people become informed on these aspects and band together, those misunderstandings can be mitigated. One such way is …

Ancestral Hauntings And Utopian Conjurings: A Fool’S Journey Into Coven-19, Or Magicks For Unprecedented Times, Maegan Clearwood

Masters Theses

Conceived in the wake of a global pandemic and the unanticipated need to create digital theatre, COVEN-19, or Magicks for Unprecdented Times as a devising project consisted of two witchcraft-inspired performances: a fall 2020 Samhain ritual and a spring 2021 Beltane ritual. The company of undergraduate and graduate theatre witches explored decentralized, iterative, slow, caretaking, queer forms of devising over digital platforms. The written portion of this thesis takes the form of a digital tarot blog: 22 (plus a bonus) interconnected essays and spells that interrogate feminist and queer theories as they pertain to the Coven’s devising process. This digital …

Language As The Medium: A Literature Review. Harnessing The Prolific Power Of Dramatic Language As A Therapeutic Tool In Drama Therapy, Edward Freeman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Language in and of the theatre, with its palate of variegated writing styles and playwrights from throughout time, has the potential to be harnessed, focused, and systematized for use as a therapeutic tool within drama therapy – the field’s artistic medium. Drama therapy could benefit from having a specific medium germane to its artform which has the potential to provide practitioners with a common resource and means of communication, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning, as well as align the field with other creative arts therapies. Language encompasses all forms of human communication – speaking, writing, signing, gesturing, expressing facially – …

An Introduction To Theatre Of Omniscience, Kierstan K. Conway

The Downtown Review

Theatre is an art of infinite possibility and is created and viewed from a variety of different lenses. Throughout history, artistic movements such as realism, surrealism, naturalism, expressionism, romanticism, and many more have influenced the ideologies of theatrical artists. Theatre practitioners make a stake in their artistic beliefs in the form of manifestos, which encapsulate their understanding in an abstract or concrete way. In reading and studying these manifestos, the individual then has the choice to follow suit to a school of thought, or derive their own philosophy. Theatre, in one viewpoint, can be understood as a means of omniscience, …

The Story Of A Journey: Awakenings Before, During And After The Zoom Production Of The Play Thrift Store Junkie, Brendan Beseth

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tells the story of several awakenings I had while pursuing my M.F.A. in playwriting at the University of Arkansas. It details some of the traps a writer can fall into. It tells of how to get out of the quicksand. Also contained within is an account of the thesis production of my play Thrift Store Junkie and the play’s script.