Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons^™

Embodied Nostalgia: Early Twentieth Century Social Dance And U.S. Musical Theatre, Phoebe Rumsey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I claim the collective emotional connections and historical explorations characteristic of musical theatre constitute a nostalgic impulse dramaturgically inherent in the form. In my intervention in the link between nostalgia and musical theatre, I look to an area underrepresented in musical theatre scholarship: social dance. Through case studies that focus specifically on how social dance in musical theatre brings forth the dancer on stage as a site of embodied history, cultural memory, and nostalgia, I ask what social dance is doing in musical theatre and how the dancing body functions as a catalyst for nostalgic thinking for …

Queer Pregnancy In Shakespeare's Plays, Alicia Page Andrzejewski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bringing together queer and feminist theory, this dissertation examines Shakespeare’s representations of pregnancy divorced from their promised duration and promised end, revealing that the pregnant body is not wholly symbolic of futurity, chastity, or even heterosexual desire. In queer readings of Shakespeare’s plays and in the methodological debates that inform them, the pregnant body has been conspicuously absent, despite being often subsumed into definitions of heteronormativity and procreative reproduction. In feminist work on Shakespeare’s pregnant characters, scholars largely conflate pregnancy with maternity instead of considering the ways in which these women might engage in non-heterosexual forms of intimacy and eroticism. …

Three Forms Of Death In David Rabe’S The Basic Training Of Pavlo Hummel And Sticks And Bones, Sloan Garner

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I argue there are three main forms of death that progress chronologically in David Rabe’s The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Sticks and Bones. First, the death of civilian identity as the soldier conforms to the military. Secondly, the soldier’s killing—metaphoric or literal—of others, which is part of his attempt to fit with his new military identity. Third, the soldier’s sacrificial suicide as his escape from the military identity. In this paper, I provide evidence and close reading to support my argument that the protagonists in both plays, Pavlo and David, encounter, enact, or experience …

Strict Restraints: Abstinence's Gender Problems In Measure For Measure, Joseph Makuc

History Honors Papers

Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure poses questions about sexual coercion and governmental corruption that resonate today. Recent scholarship has examined sexual abstinence in Measure for Measure in terms of its historical economic and religious context regarding Isabella. However, Angelo and the Duke, the play's other central characters, also make claims about the value of abstinence. I put these characters’ claims into dialogue with Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and extensive scholarship on Shakespearean England. I argue that abstinence is the axis around which Measure’s main characters revolve, and that Measure locates these characters’ abstinences as competing performances of manhood and …

In Search Of National Identity: Portraits Of Motherless Women In Clarín And Galdós, Leslie I. Quezada

LSU Master's Theses

Drawing on novels by Leopoldo Alas Clarín and Benito Pérez Galdós, I will examine the portraits of women in La Regenta (1885), Tristana (1892), andLa de San Quintín (1894). By exploring how women in the works are reflected in terms of identity and nature of their role from a male-authored perspective, I will study how different aspects influence the development of their character, as well as the issues they face when searching for their identity. Galdós and Clarín unravel the women to embody the nation of Spain and the conditions it was going through before the …

Performing Queerness, Jasmina Sinanovic

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for a course Performing Queerness

El Otro Lado De La Máscara De Lorca: Federico, En Carne Viva, Polly J. Hodge

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Articles and Research

José Moreno Arenas (Albolote, Granada) lleva casi cincuenta años escribiendo piezas teatrales y escenificando sus obras. Con la celebración del estreno de su última creación teatral, Federico, en carne viva, en Los Ángeles, California (6 de octubre, Frida Kahlo Theater), Moreno Arenas comparte con nosotros su paseo por los textos y campos de Lorca para poder retratar a esta figura mítica con la luz enfocada al otro lado de su máscara.

"La Llorona": Evolución, Ideología Y Uso En El Mundo Hispano, Raquel Sáenz-Llano

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis studies the evolution, ideology and use of the myth of La Llorona through time in the Hispanic World. Considering this myth as one of the most known traditional narratives of the American continent, I begin by providing visual, ethnohistorical and ethnographical insights of weeping in Mesoamerica and South America and the specific mention of a weeping woman in some Spanish chronicles to say how western values were stablished in “the new continent” through this legend. I suggest that during the postcolonialism the legend did not tell anymore about a mother that cries and search a place for their …

Trespassing Physical Boundaries: Transgression, Vulnerability And Resistance In Sarah Kane’S Blasted (1995), Paula Barba Guerrero, Ana Mª Manzanas Calvo

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Sarah Kane’s Blasted has been analyzed from various perspectives that address the layers of destruction it exposes. From the questioning of its title and meaning, to the unravelling of the protagonists’ abusive relationship, the analyses have emphasized the depiction of vulnerability as the defining human trait that Jean Ganteau observes in contemporary British literature. However, a key aspect has been overlooked in the critical response to the play: for Kane vulnerability does not equal helplessness, but rather stands in opposition to it. Hence, this article concentrates on how Blasted formulates a new understanding of vulnerability that fits Judith Butler’s later …

The Unruly Womb In Early Modern English Drama: Plotting Women's Biology On The Stage, Ursula Potter

Late Tudor and Stuart Drama

This study provides an accessible, informative and entertaining introduction to women’s sexual health as presented on the early modern stage, and how dramatists coded for it. Beginning with the rise of green sickness (the disease of virgins) from its earliest reference in drama in the 1560s, Ursula Potter traces a continuing fascination with the womb by dramatists through to the oxymoron of the chaste sex debate in the 1640s. She illuminates how playwrights both satirized and perpetuated the notion of the womb’s insatiable appetite.

The Mixed Reception Of The Hamilton Premiere In Puerto Rico, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

In this article originally published in The Atlantic, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner wonders about the challenges of premiering the famed Broadway musical, Hamilton, during a time of political discord in the aftermath of 2017's Hurricane Maria, in Puerto Rico.

Kinship And Twinship In Jacob And Esau, Kent R. Lehnhof

English Faculty Articles and Research

"The implications of these early stage directions are upheld and amplified elsewhere in the play. In what follows, I demonstrate this to be the case by reviewing some of the ways the interlude seeks to justify Jacob’s usurpation, most interestingly in its systematic and strategic deployment of kinship ties and familial terms. After explaining how the play leverages family relations to elevate Jacob and overthrow Esau, I concentrate on one family relation in particular: namely, the complicated bond between twin brothers. As I will make clear, the interlude’s treatment of twinship raises pressing questions about the way wealth, affection, and …

Direction Of The Imaginary Invalid By Molière Translated By Charles Heron Wall Adapted By Kimberly Dorman, Kimberly S. Dorman

All Graduate Projects

This project comprises of the selection, research, casting, adaptation, production and post-production process of The Imaginary Invalid. Documentation and research include adaptation, analysis of the play as a production vehicle for our program, research, script analysis, outcome goals, a record of the production period, and a postproduction evaluation.

“The Ground On Which I Stand” Healing Queer Trauma Through Performance: Crafting A Solo Performance Through The Investigation Of Ritual Poetic Drama Within The African Continuum, Ashley W. Grantham

Theses and Dissertations

“The Ground On Which I Stand”

Healing Queer Trauma through Performance:

Crafting a Solo Performance through the investigation of Ritual Poetic Drama within the African Continuum.

By: Ashley W. Grantham

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Performance Pedagogy at Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University

April 16^th, 2019

Thesis Adjudicator: Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates

Committee: Dr. Keith Byron Kirk, Director of Graduate Studies and Karen Kopryanski, Head of Voice and Speech

How does this method of Ritual Poetic Drama within the African Continuum, by extension, solo performance, …

Myrrha Now: Reimagining Classic Myth And Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses In The #Metoo Era, Claire A. Pukszta

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper represents the final culmination of a theater senior project. The project consisted of an analytical research paper, performance in a mainstage department production, and supporting process documentation. I portrayed Myrrha, Hunger, Zeus, and others in a production of the play Metamorphoses.

Through research on Mary Zimmerman’s 1998 play Metamorphoses, adapted from the works of Roman poet Ovid, this thesis grapples with the historical meaning of the myth of Myrrha. A polarizing figure, Myrrha was cursed to fall in lust with her father. By exploring of portrayals sexual assault onstage, I tackle themes of audience relationships to …

Who Is Paying For God: A Thematic Analysis Of Henry Arthur Jones's Religious Plays In Relation To The Modernist Trend, Jay Tyler Sharma

All Master's Theses

This thesis project argues for the value of Henry Arthur Jones’s work in the late 1890s and seeks to illustrate that Jones’s contribution to the larger Modernist movement in the theatre. Using a close textual analysis of Jones’s plays Michael and His Lost Angel, Judah, and Saints and Sinners, this project examines Jones’s use of popular theatrical genres to provide commentary on the religious and fiscal tensions in the surrounding Victorian society. The critical commentary in Jones’s plays is then used to draw a connection between Jones’s work and his fight for dramatists to have greater freedom in the topics …

Dramatic Themes: Active Learning And Thematic Teaching In The Theatre History Classroom, Brandon Lareau

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores major texts dealing with pedagogical theory and active learning in the context of a theatre history class. By comparing a class which is taught in the traditional, chronological format relying heavily on lectures to a class taught in a newer, thematic format utilizing active learning the thesis defines what student-centered learning means. Active learning, its benefits, and its implementation are explained and explored, along with the advantages and benefits of teaching thematically instead of chronologically. All of this is applied to a theatre history class in the resulting syllabus in chapter three. The syllabus creates a curriculum …

การเขียนบทละครเพลงว่าด้วยเรื่องเล่าเกี่ยวกับชีวิตของจิตร ภูมิศักดิ์, นฤทธิ์ ปาเฉย

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้ศึกษาวิธีการเขียนบทละครเพลงว่าด้วยเรื่องเล่าเกี่ยวกับชีวิตของจิตร ภูมิศักดิ์ โดยใช้การนำเสนอรูปแบบละครเพลง (musical theatre) และใช้วิธีการนำเสนอแบบหลายโครงเรื่อง (multiple plots) เพื่อแสดงให้เห็นว่าเรื่องเล่าเกี่ยวกับชีวิตของจิตร ภูมิศักดิ์ ถูกผลิตขึ้นและนำไปใช้ด้วยวัตถุประสงค์ที่แตกต่างกัน การยึดติดบุคคลต้นแบบที่ผ่านการประกอบสร้างจากเรื่องเล่า อาจทำให้เกิดความแตกแยกทางความคิดในสังคมที่บานปลายสู่การใช้ความรุนแรงได้ ผู้วิจัยศึกษาแนวคิดเกี่ยวกับการผลิตเรื่องเล่า ละครเพลง การเขียนบทละครเพลง การเขียนคำร้องในละครเพลงและวิธีการนำเสนอแบบหลายโครงเรื่อง จากนั้นจึงดำเนินการเขียนบทละครเพลงร่างที่ 1 โดยพัฒนาบทละครเพลงจากการจัดแสดงในรูปแบบการอ่าน (stage reading) แล้วนำความคิดเห็นของผู้ชมมาประมวล เพื่อพัฒนาเป็นบทละครเพลงร่างที่ 2 ก่อนนำเข้าสู่กระบวนการผลิตและจัดแสดงอย่างเต็มรูปแบบ จากการประเมินผลการวิจัยผ่านการจัดแสดงอย่างเต็มรูปแบบ ผู้วิจัยได้ข้อสรุปว่า การนำเสนอด้วยรูปแบบละครเพลงสามารถส่งเสริมการถ่ายทอดประเด็นสำคัญของเรื่องที่เต็มไปด้วยความขัดแย้งทางความคิดในประเด็นทางสังคมและการเมือง ด้วยการยกระดับประสบการณ์ทางอารมณ์ของผู้ชมควบคู่ไปกับการทำงานทางความคิด และการใช้วิธีการนำเสนอแบบหลายโครงเรื่อง โดยออกแบบปฏิสัมพันธ์ของเหตุการณ์บนโครงเรื่องตามวัตถุประสงค์ของบทละครเพลง สามารถกระตุ้นความคิดเชิงวิพากษ์ (critical thinking) ของผู้ชมให้มีต่อเรื่องราวและประเด็นสำคัญของเรื่อง และเผยให้เห็นการประกอบสร้างบุคคลต้นแบบผ่านเรื่องเล่า รวมถึงอิทธิพลชองการสืบทอดอุดมการณ์ทางการเมืองผ่านบุคคลต้นแบบ

"Must Be Heavyset": Casting Women, Fat Stigma, And Broadway Bodies, Ryan Donovan

Publications and Research

This article surveys how contemporary Broadway musicals cast fat women and focuses on Hairspray. The use of fat suits and contractual weight clauses figure into the discussion of fat stigma and casting practices. Seemingly body-positive musicals both celebrate and undermine the identities staged in them.