Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons^™

“Change Is Brewing”: Women Finding Liberation In The Performative Rituals Of Modern Paganism And The Witch Organization, Katie Nelson

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project analyzes elements of performative Modern Paganism and Wiccan rituals used by the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (WITCH) group to determine how these performance practices can provide comfort and agency to those who have been systemically oppressed, particularly women in the United States. The project will focus on WITCH’s activist work, especially during the second wave feminist movement of the 1960-1970s, which used elements of Modern Paganism for social justice purposes by implementing them through guerilla theatre and zap actions. Methodologically, I will be reviewing sources such as performance photos, news articles, and testimonies from the women …

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 …

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 …

In Yellow: A Solo Poem-Play, Emily Kitchens

Faculty Articles

“In Yellow” was developed in the INKubator residency at Art House Productions (Jersey City, NJ) in 2019 with the following blurb:

In Yellow is a solo poem-play about a relationship between a young woman and a ceramic doll her grandmother made that she has just accidentally broken. It is about grief. It is about breaking out of generationally instilled feminine values. It is about the color yellow. It’s all true.

“In Yellow” is an experiment of a poem and play for one voice. I was in New York City for about 10 years, before that The Bay Area, but am …

Perceived Phantoms: A Phenomenological Observation Of Spirituality In Atsumori, Nicholas C. Gilomen

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The paper examines the performance and embodiment of spirituality in Japanese Noh Drama during the Muromachi era from 1336 CE to 1573 CE. It also observes the art form from a modern perspective. Specifically, this research examines the classic Noh Drama play Atsumori by Zeami Motokiyo through the phenomenological lens. Phenomenology is a qualitative study that focuses on the perceptions of the human consciousness, and it allows me to examine the impact of subjective experiences on a person’s sense of truth. This paper examines the spirituality present through the various religious influences that went into the development of Noh Drama …

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 …

Forbidden Temporalities: The Wayward Aesthetics Of Punchdrunk’S Sleep No More, Thomas Fish

Faculty Articles

Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More is an immersive theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hitchcock’s Rebecca that has been staged in New York since 2011 with over 2000 performances. Sprawled over a hundred rooms within three intricately designed warehouses, the event offers a visceral exploration of a labyrinthine space and the potential for anonymous—even erotic—one-on-one encounters with a performer in the dark. This paper offers a new angle on Punchdrunk’s immersive style by considering the embodiment of temporality in performance and its concurrent aesthetic politics. Borrowing from queer theory’s temporal turn, it details how the company manipulates time in the space …

“All The Daughters Of My Father's House, And All The Brothers Too”: Shakespeare’S Portrayal Of Gender Fluidity, Sebastian Lopez

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper analyzes how Shakespeare's personal life influenced the relationship between Viola and Cesario in Twelfth Night through a feminist lens and an analysis of gender fluidity in the Elizabethan Era. It is a common misconception that conversations revolving around gender are a modern discussion. Shakespeare popularized the idea of gender fluidity in English literature in his play, Twelfth Night.

At the height of Shakespeare’s career, he wrote many comedies, yet few tragedies, however, a tonal shift occurred after the death of his son, Hamnet. Shakespeare was father to a pair of fraternal twins, Judith and Hamnet. However, the …

A Woman's War: The Global Feminist Impact Of The Reclamation And Emulation Of Lysistrata, Sierra Benning

Symposium of Student Scholars

Sierra Benning Kennesaw State University [email protected]

A Woman’s War: The Global Feminist Impact of the Reclamation and Emulation of Lysistrata

Can one consider literature, art, film, or theatre created by men, despite the presence of empowered and intelligent female characters, as truly and accurately feminist? This presentation seeks to answer this question through calling forth the concept proposed by Sue-Ellen Case in her book Feminism and Theatre of the “male-produced” woman, and the unrealistic image that product has created for women through time. This presentation explores the idea that when these male-written female characters are reclaimed by female audiences, they …

Authenticity And Humanity: Women In Ming Dynasty Theatre, Sarah Rogers

Symposium of Student Scholars

Since the dawn of theatrical performances, women had very limited opportunities for participation and presence in productions, often being portrayed onstage by male actors in untruthful, borderline degrading drag, which fortunately was not the case for the Ming Dynasty. My research investigates the societal roles and customs that women in the Ming Dynasty were initially assigned to and the shift they experienced in these roles; this shift empowered women to have more agency in every aspect of their everyday lives, especially in participating in performances. Methodologically, I consider the feminist/gender lens of Karl Marx’s Critical Theory and the opera The …

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 …

Too Young Or Too Old? Age And The Politics Of Performing King Lear - Successfully!, Jim B. Wallace

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

“It is sometimes said that the problem with the part of Lear is that by the time you are old enough to play it, you are too old to play it.” (Jonathan Bate)

Theatre critics rarely see an outstanding performance of King Lear. The thesis of this paper is that it is possible to successfully perform the role of Lear however it takes much more than excellent acting skills to do so. To successfully play Lear requires a visceral understanding of the profound psychological and physical changes that generally begin around age sixty-five. This paper demonstrates that what one learns …

Bewitching Power: The Virtuosity Of Gender In Dekker And Massinger's The Virgin Martyr, Thomas Fish

Faculty Articles

This paper considers Thomas Dekker and Philip Massinger’s play The Virgin Martyr (1622) in light of scientific notions of the female body circulating during the period to illustrate how the performance of martyrdom manifested a performance of gender virtuosity, elevating it to the status of the supernatural or divine. Like well-known female martyrs from the period, such as Anne Askew, the protagonist, Dorothea, takes on characteristically male attributes: she assumes the role of the soldier and defies scientific understanding of the female gender by sealing her phlegmatic “leaky” body and exuding divine heat that defies her cold, wet “nature." The …

Ophelia And The Feminine Construct, Lilly E. Romestant

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Shakespeare's celebrated tragic masterpiece, Hamlet, one of the most controversial and seminal characters, Ophelia, continues to have a heavy influence on contemporary culture today in some unexpected ways. Her prevalence in mainstream media––including film, literature, drama, and music homages––validates not only her importance now but also reimagines and reinforces her parallel importance at the time of her debut in 1603. Her association with global teenage culture, suicide, and mental illness, puts her in the unique position of being heralded, generation after generation, as an icon of depression in female youth. This can be both positive and negative, as …

Manly Mechanicals On The Early Modern English Stage, Keith M. Botelho

Faculty Articles

A review of the book "Manly Mechanicals on the Early Modern English Stage," by Ronda Arab is presented.

Ethnographic Performance And Global Learning: Lessons From "You Always Go Home", Margaret Baldwin, Karen Robinson

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Ethnographic performance draws upon fieldwork in a particular social/cultural "lived domain" (Madison, 2005, p. 5) as the text (aural, visual, gestural) for the performance (or representation) of other identities. Through ethnography, we are required to enter into a "deep and abiding dialogue with the Other" (Madison, 2005, p.B). Ethnographic performance is particularly focused on giving representation to individuals and groups whose voices and stories often go unheard.

This essay will focus on the conception, development, and impact of an ethnographic performance entitled You Always Go Home that was produced by the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw …