Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons^™

The Awkward Year(S), Kate Seaholm

Senior Theses

This creative writing thesis contains short stories, memoir writing, and a screenplay by Kate Seaholm.

• Preface
• Girl vs. Garbage
• The Blood Test
• Barcelona
• "Wanna see my sailboat?"
• The Question
• Before I Begin
• The Last Straw
• Dear Diary
• Let It Happen
• Lost in London
• Gullible
• Red-handed
• Afterword

From Classic Novel To Broadway Musical Production: An Examination Of Little Women As An Adaptation, Meghan Skiles

HON499 projects

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a classic work of American literature that has been adapted into many different forms since its original publication in 1868. This essay analyzes the effects of adapting a novel, or written medium, to a visual medium such as a film or stage production. Particularly, it looks at Alcott’s Little Women in relation to Allan Knee’s 2005 Broadway musical adaptation of the story. This article begins with a discussion about the challenges that come with adapting a written medium to a visual medium, and then uses Little Women as a case study, examining the …

The Three Year Clock, Sam Roeck

Theses and Dissertations

Roeck: I mean, it’s “a” future. It’s like half what I want to be and half completely not what I want. I didn’t want to create a future that I was entirely excited about because I’m not actually that excited about the future. It looks pretty fucking grim.

Rivalry In Toyer: The Impact Of The Male Gaze And The Final Girl On Theatrical Conflict, Sento Ashby

Liberal Arts Capstones

Although much progress has been made in recent years, traditional gender roles still permeate society. This project investigated gender constructs in relation to choreographed violence and found that females are often victims unless they adopt masculine survival styles, while males are usually aggressors – particularly towards females. Analysis of the characters in the play Toyer by Gardner McKay supported this conclusion.

"Daring Propaganda For The Beauty Of The Human Mind:" Critical Consciousness-Raising In The Poetry And Drama Of The Black Power Era, 1965-1976, Markeysha D. Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a literary and intellectual history of the contributions of black American theorists, poets, and dramatists in the 1960s and 1970s towards the establishment of black critical consciousness in order to lay grounds for black people to experience a fuller existence as human beings through black-centered creations and presentations. Through the following chapters, I establish the framework and evolution of black psyche-liberation theories—spanning Du Bois’s theory of double-conscious through the contributions of black artist-theorists like Baraka, Neal, and Woodie King, Jr., followed by examinations at length of the theories of black liberation in praxis by the poets and …

Stealing Revelation: A Screenplay Of The Thief Accompanied By A Religious Analysis, Jean E. Sleight

Honors Projects

Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief follows the story of a thief who seeks to steal an item for fame and glory and to save his country. Though he initially does not believe in the gods, he finds that they exist and are more involved in his life than he would want them to be. The screenplay is a loyal adaptation of the book. The analysis follows the thief’s journey from skepticism to faith and draws a comparison between the gods in the novel and the Christian God.

Theatres Of Reality, Fiction, And Temporality: Vegard Vinge And Ida Müller’S Ibsen-Saga (2006 - 2015), Andrew L. Friedman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the influence of modernist aesthetics and ideologies on contemporary, European and U.S. experimental theatre. I argue that modernist and contemporary experimental theatres offer competing notions of reality, fiction, and temporality, which I interrogate through Vegard Vinge and Ida Müller’s Ibsen-Saga. I illuminate this tension by reading current modes of performance against the Saga’s productions and work practices, as well as their aesthetic and ideological foundation in three modernist sources: the artificiality of Ibsen’s realism, the utopianism and totality of Richard Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk, and the temporal provocations of the historical avant-gardes. I contend that the …

Behind The Stakes, Between The Lines, Beyond The Pun: A Critical Deconstruction Of Humor In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, And Other Popular Comedies, Jaime Libby

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Humor is a powerful rhetorical device employed at all levels of human discourse—from casual banter to political debate. Still, despite humor’s global prevalence, its historical transgressiveness, and its distinct potential both to neutralize and critically engage highly fraught issues, humans do not often pause to ask how humor works. And what does its working tell us about our humanness? This thesis explores the operation of humor in literature and performance, using tools provided by structuralist, deconstructive, and postmodern critical arenas, to reveal how humor’s fundamental structures invite humans to entertain new perspectives and practice empathy. The study considers irony, the …

Classical Masculinity In Shakespeare’S Antony And Cleopatra, Timothy N. Grams

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis uses the formula of classical masculinity to examine Marc Antony’s value as a Roman man in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Examining Antony’s history as a Roman hero, I distinguish how his reputation is destroyed through his romantic involvement with Cleopatra. Furthermore, I consider the divine representations of Cleopatra and Octavian Caesar as they oppose each other, and how Antony’s role within their conflict defines his value as a classical Roman man. I then deliberate his sexual fetishism for the matriarch pharaoh, and how their relationship functions as sadomasochistic, defining Antony as the masochist and Cleopatra as the …

Love On - The Life Of A Suicide Survivor: A Performance Autoethnographic Study, Patricia R. Wheeler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide touches the lives of millions of people each year in this country alone, yet conversations about suicide loss and survival after a loss remain taboo and often do not happen. The story I performed for this performance autoethnographic study centers on my life as a survivor of suicide. It provides a starting point for dialog regarding trauma, grief, and suicide loss. The narrative was constructed directly following the sudden death of my father, which had a direct effect on my ability to produce artistic work. The development, staging and performance of the story were altered to account for the …

Playing With Croxton, Molly Mccann

Selected Honors Theses

The Croxton Play of the Sacrament is an often overlooked, yet highly important piece for understanding the social climate of England in the fifteenth century.

This time period was riddled with religious and nationalist anxieties ingrained in the text of Croxton. This paper is designed to give an overview of these tensions and explain how our production of this drama sought to navigate and translate these tensions for a modern audience.

"Outside And Also Beside Herself:" A Discussion Of The Treatment Of Hysteria In Female Characters Within The Western Theatrical Tradition, Molly Belsky

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof: 60 Years Of American Dialogue On Sex, Gender, And The Nuclear Family, Amy Brooks

Masters Theses

This thesis is a two-part work. Its components, a written paper and a one-night symposium/film screening event entitled Tennessee Williams: Gender Play in 2015 and Beyond, have been closely coordinated with my dramaturgical research for the February 2015 University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Theater production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The written inquiry is structured around a chronological, selected American production history of Cat; this history, rendered in a series of three case studies, will (1) synthesize preexisting analyses of Cat’s dramaturgical profile, its impact on American theater, and its position in Williams’s oeuvre; …

Autobiographical Poetry To Plays: Taking Memoir To A Theatrical Level, Ryan P. Tofil

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Pulitzer prize winning playwright John Patrick Shanley wrote, “Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.” For my Capstone Project, I have compiled my autobiographical poetry, prose, and performance monologues into a theatrical manuscript to be used as the basis for a play. The final Capstone Project is a manuscript of an anticipated theatrical production based on the grieving process surrounding my brother's suicide, as well as an exploration of my sexuality and the relationships I developed during the years surrounding his death.

The Capstone Project’s theatrical manuscript is also accompanied by a …

Lust Gluttony Greed, Abigail Adele Matthews Adler

Senior Projects Spring 2016

I make theater because it is social; a dialogical tool rooted in the interface between performer and audience. As an artist I seek community, a remedy for passivity, and movement between destruction and reification. I incorporate voice, text, sound, video, movement, politics, gender, spectacle, and tomfoolery. I believe in the necessity of others in process, practice, and performance, and I pursue joy in all I do.

This project is the product of surprise. In February 2015, the Theater Department announced that Senior Projects would need to be collaborative. In response to this challenge, the 2016 Theatre Makers met to figure …

A Dramaturgical Analysis Of The Miracle Worker, Abby Butzer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This document is a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Arts degree in theatre. It is a dramaturgical analysis for William Gibson's play The Miracle Worker, providing a reference for directors and actors. The thesis explores the play's medical and pedagogical history in six chapters: the physiology and psychology of language acquisition as it pertains to sight and/or hearing impaired children, a pedagogical comparison of Samuel G. Howe and Annie Sullivan, a modern diagnosis of the fever that destroyed Helen Keller's vision and hearing, the 19th century pathology and treatment options for the disease of the eye …

In Pursuit Of Women Scientists: Using Science Plays To Promote Women Entering Stem Disciplines, Danielle Hartman

Theses and Dissertations

Higher education currently seeks to increase female enrollment in STEM. Women face many challenges attempting to breach this male dominated arena with misconceptions, gender stereotypes, and few female role models. With the recent trend in higher education to encourage more women to enter the STEM disciplines and K-12 schools cutting funding for arts programs, theatre may be losing its value in the education system. The value of interdisciplinary studies is beginning to be forgotten during the grade school years as school boards battle budget cuts, but we can remind society of it through science plays. Theatre artists use other disciplines …

"Can We Do A Happy Musical Next Time?": Navigating Brechtian Tradition And Satirical Comedy Through Hope's Eyes In Urinetown: The Musical, Katherine B. Marcus Reker

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis proposes a critical study of the theoretical framework of Urinetown, asking the question of whether or not the show is truly a “Brechtian musical,” utilizing the tenets and beliefs of Bertolt Brecht. Set in a quirky, Gotham-like town where you have “to pay to pee” due to a severe drought, Urinetown follows a cast of absurdist characters as they navigate a society plagued by the perils of big business, ecological devastation, and the inequalities of capitalism. While the show appears to make a relevant social commentary, supporting a righteous rebellion to overthrow the evil Urine Good Company, in …

The Performance Of Melancholy: Understanding The Humours Through Burton, Jonson, And Shakespeare, Lindsey N. Betts

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis aims to explore the relationships between dramatic texts and the Elizabethan topic of the humours. It covers Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Jonson's plays Every Man Out of His Humour and Every Man in His Humour, and Shakespeare's plays Hamlet and As You Like It. Each of these works provides a glimpse into society and its opinions specifically on melancholy, from its most basic and complex definitions to how it is perceived and addressed.

The Naïve Ingénue, The Plucky Everyman's Hero, And The Ingénue Gone Awry: The Satirical Deconstruction Of Theatrical Character Tropes In Urinetown: The Musical, Victoria Montecillo

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis looks to explore Urinetown: The Musical through a critical and theoretical framework, analyzing the show's presentation and deconstruction of theatrical character tropes through musical satire. Using the theories of theatre theorists such as Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, and Augusto Boal, this thesis discusses the use of theatre as a device for political and social commentary. Additionally, this thesis focuses more specifically on the show's character of Penelope Pennywise as a new kind of character in the theatre: an "ingénue gone awry," within the context of approaching a performance of the character in a performance of the musical.

Devising Performance & Queer Futurity, Brendan F. Leonard

Honors Theses

This project argues that devising performance is an inherently queer and utopian form. In response to recent political movements, such as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, which seek to stage dissatisfaction with the systems of late capitalism, I turn to devising performance as a site. Informed by the queer and performance theories of Jose Esteban Munoz, Lee Edelman, and Jill Dolan, I argue that devised theater allows us to process disillusionment, rehearse collectivity, and stage futurity. In conversation with Munoz, I define futurity as an imaginative site that considers what will follow what some scholars suggest will be …

Adaptation As Transmutation: Shakespeare In Orson Welles "Voodoo" Macbeth And Kurosawa's Throne Of Blood, Ruby Elizabeth Smyth Meyers-Mcenroe

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Everyone’S Their Own Worst Critic Or How I Learned Not To Fear The End, Audrey Belle Rosenblith

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Jean Genet, author ofThe Balcony, and Dante Alighieri, author of Inferno, have more in common than you might think. For one thing, they were both obsessed with death.

The Vestibule (a devised theater piece) was made to examine this obsession with (and fear of) death further.

Art is a tool we can use to confront our fear of death. All people fear death.

A Patriot For Men: The Politics Of Masculinity In John Osborne's "A Patriot For Me", Joshua Kelly

All Master's Theses

By applying David Savran’s scholarship on the politics of masculinity to John Osborne’s play A Patriot for Me (1965), I demonstrate that Osborne exemplified contradictory sexual politics in the play, and was criticized as homophobic and praised as revolutionary in similarly contradictory original reviews. I argue that play very much typifies the heteronormative politics of masculinity by placing a dominant homosexual (Redl) as protagonist, and inverts the positions of the period woman and the staged effeminate man. Redl is historically represented as a heroic homosexual, but is actually a heteronormative object. I provide evidence for this interpretation by employing Savran …

The Choreopolitics Of Liberation And Decolonization, Harrison M. Goodall Iii

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis examines dance as a means of social and political revolt in the AIDS epidemic. The course of the AIDS epidemic within the United States was inexorably shaped by the way dancers and choreographers used their art form to rebel against concepts of masculinity, sexuality and disease transmission. Through confronting their audiences with the reality of their loss and humanizing themselves and their loved ones that passed away, dancers were able to change the image of the epidemic and push for necessary political and social reform. This paper also analyzes the ways that norms of masculinity and the stigma …

A Translation And Analysis Of Spring's Bride By Mohammed Dib: Creating A Space For Indigenous North African Drama, Jordan Talbot

All Master's Theses

The Ubu Repertory Theatre Script Collection, which is located in the archives at New York University, contains numerous manuscripts in the French language from dramatists all over the world. One of those manuscripts, La fiancée du printemps by Mohammed Dib, is my own translation of the text from French into English, now titled Spring’s Bride. The text operates as a plea for postcolonial solidarity in the face of an increasingly fragmented community. The characters of the play must confront their deeply held beliefs and their possible destructive power. The translation of this text presents the postcolonial perspective to an …

It Will Turn Vicious: An Exploration Of The Cycle Of Audience Ridicule In French Drama, Stephanie C. Elfont

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to investigate the prominence of audience ridicule in the French theatre from the medieval sottie to Ionescan Absurdism of the mid-twentieth century. Throughout the history of French drama, playwrights have exploited this tactic with either the purpose of invoking an emotional or intellectual response or inciting a social or political call to action. This exploration takes particular interest in shaming theatrical audiences during periods of political unrest, analyzing the ways in which playwrights employed language, studies of characters, and plot-related content to highlight the prevalent and pervasive ills of society and of humanity. The …