Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons^™

The Secret Life Of Archives: Sally Siddons, Sir Thomas Lawrence, And The Material Of Memory, Laura Engel

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This essay is in two parts, in the first I attempt to map out strategies for considering archival materials through the lens of performance, and in the second I enact or perform some of those strategies through a close reading of a letter from Sally Siddons, daughter of the famous actress Sarah Siddons, to the renown portrait painter and rakish bad boy, Sir Thomas Lawrence. I present a methodology that considers archival researchers as tourists who approach archival objects and images as material for curating a virtual exhibition. I argue that this strategy allows us to recognize and attempt to …

The Art Of Adaptation, Katharine E. Jordan

Honors Theses and Capstones

My honors thesis The Art of Adaptation discusses the process of adapting old stories and theatrical pieces for modern audiences through the exploration of various adaptations (theatrical, operatic, dance and film) of Euripides' Medea. It also touches on my own short, modern, adaptation; FURY: A Rock Musical Inspired by Medea. All of this research was important in making the performance aspect of my capstone the best it could be.

Monstrous!: Actors, Audiences, Inmates, And The Politics Of Reading Shakespeare, Matt Kozusko

English and Creative Writing Faculty Publications

This essay considers the use of Shakespeare as marker of authenticity and as a therapeutic space for performers and audiences across a number of genres, from professional actors in training literature to prison inmates in radio and film documentaries. It argues that in the wake of recent academic trends—the critique of "Shakespeare" as an author figure; the privileging of the text as a source of multiple, potentially conflicting readings—Shakespeare's function as cultural capital has shifted sites, from "Shakespeare" to the playtexts themselves.

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 …

The Sacred Performative: Holy Wednesday And Colonial Ritual/Theatre, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

"Holy Wednesday" is a late sixteenth century adaptation of a Spanish auto sacramental (sacred play) written in alphabetized Nahuatl, the predominant pre-Columbian language spoken on the High Central Plateau of Mexico. The author remains unknown, however he was likely a Nahua amanuensis educated by Franciscans at Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco. Religious drama was one of the important evangelizing tools of the Catholic brotherhoods in colonial Mexico and although a record of performance of Holy Wednesday does not exist, this dramatic depiction of the final meeting of Christ and Mary prior to the crucifixion was almost certainly performed as …