Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

Transforming Trauma: Performing The Works Of William Shakespeare As Rehabilitation For Incarcerated Individuals, Elyssa Mersdorf

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is the summation of my research and exploration into the history, social ramifications, and individual psychological impact of incarceration and the use of theatre as a vehicle of rehabilitation. Throughout my studies, I encountered evidence in the forms of personal accounts from theatre practitioners, scholarly articles, inmate testimonials, and historical journals regarding the success of such carceral theatre programs in the reformation of the prisoners they serve. How have past prison procedures and strategies hindered or helped inmates in their preparation for their transition from life in a penitentiary to reintroduction into larger society? What are the financial …

The Costume Design Process For The Phantom Tollbooth, Chloe Elizabeth Cappuccilli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis will give an account of the costume design process for The Phantom Tollbooth at West Virginia University. Specifically, the responsibilities of the role of Costume Designer, from initial meetings to final production. This document will include research about child psychology that inspired the primary design process, specifically the influence of children’s dreams, and their relationship to toys. This information was utilized to create designs explicitly for children’s theatre audiences. I will present and evaluate the costume designs, including the design evolution until the final production. Detailing the process of costume construction while working with a costume shop. Visual …

The Healing Power Of The Arts - Drama Therapy And The Use Of Theatre In The Treatment Of Trauma, Brooklyn Snyder

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Theatre is an incredibly valuable therapeutic tool. In this thesis, I explore the ways in which trauma can reshape individuals lives, both cognitively and physically, impeding their sense of self, ability to trust, engagement, and many other seemingly ordinary aspects of day to day life that those of us unaffected by trauma take for granted. Additionally, I cover how employing theatrical tools, like improvisation and role play, can act as a beneficial treatment option for those who have suffered a traumatic past. Drama therapy allows individuals to reconnect with their bodies and their minds, gain new perspectives on their experiences, …

Stage Management 101 And 102, Erin Teaster

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This is me comparing my first experience as a stage-manager to my second experience as a stage-manager. I learned more during my first time around then my second.

Mini-Actors, Mega-Stages: Examining The Use Of Theatre Among Children And Youth In U.S. Evangelical Megachurches, Carla Elisha Lahey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

How do children and youth first encounter the performing arts? While schools may stand out as an obvious answer, a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education shows that the percentage of public schools offering theatre classes dropped at both the primary and secondary level from 2000-2010 (Brenchley). Yet, even as arts offerings experience a decline in some public schools, many students are being introduced to performance through another venue – the evangelical megachurch.

Since the birth of the church growth movement in the 1970s, megachurches (defined as Protestant congregations that average at least 2,000 weekly attendees) have …

An Open Spot For All: Theatre Within Disabled Communities, Kailey Kyle

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This essay describes tools for unlocking accessibility in theatre, specifically for those within the disabled community. Throughout my own research in accessible theatre, and the research reviewed within this paper, it is seen that inclusive theatre yields a multitude of positive benefits for those involved, both emotionally and socially. Throughout my experience with OpenSpot Theatre, an accessible theatre company that teaches drama classes in areas throughout the United States, I learn methods to implement accessibility in theatrical settings using devised theatre, affinity therapy, and applied theatre techniques. Within this thesis, I describe my experience with accessible theatre, OpenSpot theatre, and …

Memories: The Lighting Design For “The Glass Menagerie”, Catherine Blencowe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents new ways of looking at an old classic by illuminating the emotions and hardship of the Wingfield family through the use of color and texture. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was presented at the University of Arkansas in September of 2017. The challenges of this production will be addressed as well as the achievements and areas of improvement of this production. Finally, this document will answer the question: How does color, texture, and the angle of stage lighting help heighten the emotions of the characters and engage an audience in the play?

Included are all the …

Costume Design And Execution Of The Nebraska Repertory Theatre’S Mother Courage And Her Children By Bertolt Brecht, Translated By William Grange, Adapted By Andy Park, Heather Mae Striebel

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

The information, documentation and analysis found within this thesis highlights the design and execution of The Nebraska Repertory Theatre’s fall production of Mother Courage. This production was originally written by Bertolt Brecht, translated by William Grange of The University of Nebraska – Lincoln and then adapted by The Nebraska Repertory Theatre’s Artistic Director Andy Park. Mother Courage was a part of the 2018-2019 Nebraska Repertory Theatre’s 50^thanniversary season and was performed in the Howell Theatre located within the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. Information found within this thesis showcases the research, production, development, design and …

Take Note: An Investigation Of The Impact Of Human Computer Interaction On The Line Note Taking Process In Theatre, Rene Borr

Computer Science

Most technology used in the theatre was not originally designed for use in a theatrical setting. A majority of technology that we see on the state has been adapted from another field -- be it music, lighting, or construction -- to fit the production's specifics needs. The very nature of the theatre is that every performance is unique, which established one of the main challenges when creating technology to be used in the theatrical setting. This paper discusses the design, creation, and testing of a program to help stage managers take line notes during rehearsal for a theatrical production. We …

In Defense Of Grass Grows: A Play About Mental Illness, Amanda Grace Hughes

Honors Program Theses

My mission as a mentally ill theatre artist is to challenge the commonly-perpetuated fictions that restrict public perception of mentally ill persons [MIPs]. A meta-analysis of plays from the Greek, Medieval, Victorian, Melodramatic, Naturalist, and Post- Naturalist eras reflected just how little progress has been made at exposing and eliminating popular myths about mental illness. While the theatrical canon offers evidence for the inadequacy of current representations of MIPs, the psychological literature offers steps forward for the artists telling these stories. Efforts to improve artist sensitivity to the complex realities of mental illness fail to educate with fact alone (Dale, …

“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, …

Best Practices To Promote Racial Unity In Theatre, Cassandra Epps

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I will be presenting a variety of practices that I believe will promote racial unity in theatre. I have included lesson plans and games that will help instructors create an open environment for students of all races. I will present research from theatre experts to conclude my best practices to create a more unified ensemble and culturally diverse curriculum in my theatre program, as well as present a list of activities, lesson plans, and production methods for directors and teachers to consider implementing. We as instructors must look critically at ourselves and our world view to begin …

Constructed Languages And Their Role In Drama, Emelie Vandenberg

Honors Theses and Capstones

This paper covers the history and use of constructed language and dialect on stage and screen as well as the issues that arise concerning social awareness and intellectual property.

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 …

Tone And Texture, Leather And Lace : A Case For Making Strong Choices In The Costume Design For The Three Musketeers., Emily L. Tappan

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores and describes key factors in the design process leading to production of The Three Musketeers by Catherine Bush. The document encompasses the justification and discussion of the choices made during the research, design, and production stages of developing the play for the stage, as well as impressions gained throughout the process to use in future design projects.

Exploring The Standard: A Look Into Modern Voice And Speech Curriculum, Taylor L. Bosta

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the current state of voice and speech education to discover if there is a standard of learning from university to university. By examining the history of voice and speech, discovering basic skills, breaking down teaching methodologies, and taking a look at current university and conservatory acting programs, the thesis discovers there is not a standard way of teaching, but there is a standard set of skills that should be upheld when planning voice and speech curriculum.

Bright Half Life Assistant Director, Charles Lawver

Honors Thesis

My Theatre Arts thesis project was working as an assistant director (AD) on the play “Bright Half Life,” alongside my director/professor, Dana Resnick. This play ran from August 29 through September 1 at the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester in the Strub Theatre at LMU. For this project I was expected to perform a number of duties and responsibilities. The other assistant director and I were present at every production meeting, rehearsal, and performance to assist our director in establishing, creating, and guiding her vision for the play into life. We all met with the designers for the show’s …

Building My Director’S Toolbox: For Scab And Beyond, Rebecca Whitney Klein

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The research question forming the basis of this project was “What can I learn about directing and who I am as a director by researching the processes of others and applying aspects of them to a production of Sheila Callaghan’s Scab?” For my research, I first learned as much as possible about the processes of several professional directors, by means of personal interviews and secondary research. I selected directors who I had worked with previously and wished to learn more from, whose methods I believed would be useful as I directed a production of Scab, and/or on whose methods …

Light Eaters: A Study On The Affect Of Light Depicted Through Different Art Mediums, Samuel Dyck

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Humankind has spent its entire history defining and creating the things that make up our physical world. Everyday, humanity continues to discover and create, furthering society’s knowledge and understanding of existence. However, there are facets of nature that have never been entirely understood by mankind, because they have a unique affect on each individual. It is known how a tree manifests and grows but no one can explain the feeling of relief that comes in the shade of a long limbed oak on a cloudless day. Nature is unique in its simplicity and mystery. Artists often use aspects of nature …

Lord Of The Flies: A Scenic Design, Lisa Haldeman

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

The purpose of this thesis is to provide research, supporting paperwork, production photographs, and other materials that document the scenic design for the co-production between the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film and the Nebraska Repertory Theatre titled Lord of the Flies. This thesis contains the following: research images collected to develop and communicate ideas about location, shapes, forms, texture, scale, mood, and historical reference to the production team; preliminary sketches and photographs of the 1/4” scale model, visual tools used to convey the ideas of the scenic design; a full set of drafting plates, 1:1 paint samples and …

Designing A World: A Foray Into Scenography And Settling, Nathan David Ynacay

LSU Master's Theses

This work examines the design process as taught and what was practiced during Louisiana State University’s production of LMNOP the Muzical.

This will examine the design process as typically taught to undergraduate theatre students in all aspects of the discipline. The collaborative nature of the design process as taught to cast members, directors, and production team will be examined. After this examination, the design process for Louisiana State University’s production of LMNOP the Muzical will be used to compare and contrast the actual process with the theory of a collaborative design process. After, there will be an evaluation of …

Uri Theatre Presents: Rob Neill And The Neo-Futurists, Caitlyn Sloan

Senior Honors Projects

The University of Rhode Island has given me the opportunity to explore and recognize many different interests that I never knew I previously had. While at the university I discovered my love for Theatre and the talent I have as a manager, as well as a love for event planning through my employment with University Events. These passions drove my desire to create an Honors Project that would help me learn more about management and planning on a scale that could have a large impact. When the theatre department won the Distinguished Visiting Artist Grant for 2017, I seized the …

The Work Of Living Art, Empathy, And The Creation Of An Aesthetics Of Perception In The Early Twentieth Century, Sarah Peil Winstead

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Adolphe Appia (1862-1928), theorist and pioneering voice of the New Stagecraft Movement in twentieth century theatre, was a transformative influence on the history of scenic design. This paper looks at the links between Appia’s theories in theatre scenic design and contemporaneous German aesthetic theory. At the time German theorists like Adolf Hildebrand and August Schmarsow developed an aesthetic theory, Einfülung or empathy theory, based on the connection between the human body and perception. I will argue this theory influenced not only Appia and his contemporaries it also shaped the landscape of mid-century theatre design. Appia’s own theories revolved around three …

Being In Performance: A Philosophical Account Of The Embodied Actor, Brad M. Krumholz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation I present and analyze three distinct actor-training exercises primarily through the lens of the Embodied Cognition (EC) branch of contemporary philosophy, which attempts to frame human understanding as a fully embodied interaction with the environment. Drawing from neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, and other branches of philosophy, EC provides both an excellent set of tools and a strong theoretical framework to help explain how people encounter meaning in life. I apply its unique perspectives to this philosophical account of the embodied actor as I analyze the various elements at play in actor training praxis, which allows me to shed …

The Art Of The Dress: How Getting Into Costume Affects An Actor’S Self-Perception, Ella Embry

Honors Theses

Both actors and psychologists devote enormous amounts of time to understanding how people think, act, and respond even if for completely different reasons. While there are psychological studies that look at the way clothing influences attraction, aggression, and attitude, none of it looks critically at theatrical performance. Costuming is a vital part of the theatrical process that has yet to be studied empirically. As such, my study is an inter-disciplinary endeavor dedicated to developing an understanding of exactly how and whether costuming affects an actor’s personality perception as a way to contribute to the field of psychology, future theatrical performances, …

The Lines Between The Lines: Stage Directions As Fluid, Affective Collaborations Between Theatre Texts And Theatre Makers, Sarah Bess Rowen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project contends that certain kinds of stage directions can affectively engage the bodies of actors, and the imaginations of directors and designers, resulting in a collaboratively created performance of a given theatre text. As opposed to more literary treatments of stage directions, this project contends that theories of embodiment, especially affect theory, is a useful lens through which to explore the range of potential performances present in various stage directions. By analyzing the ways in which stage directions allow for more agency than has traditionally been considered in theatre scholarship, I seek to encourage theatre makers and scholars alike …

Technical Direction Of Little Women, The Musical, Matt Gilbertson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This document is a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre. It is a written account of the author Matthew A. Gilbertson's process in creating the technical direction of Minnesota State University, Mankato's production of Little Women, The Musical in the fall of 2017. This document details the process from pre-production to completion of the production. It includes a historical chapter discussing the history of moving scenery and the role it has played shaping modern theatre machines. It also contains a process journal and developmental analysis of the technical director. Appendices and works …

The Directing Of Melanie Marnich's These Shining Lives, Kristin Fox

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of Master of the Fine Arts degree in theatre. It is a detailed account of author Kristin N. Fox's directorial process in directing the play These Shining Lives in the fall of 2017. This thesis chronicles the director's process from pre-production through performance in five chapters: a pre-production analysis, a historical and critical perspective, a rehearsal and performance journal, a post-production analysis and a process development analysis. Appendices and works cited are included.

The Direction Of Why Torture Is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them, Donald Hart

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Hart, Donald C., M.F.A. Thesis. The Direction of Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them. Mankato: Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2018.

This is a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre. It is a detailed account of Donald C. Hart's artistic process in directing Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them in the fall of 2017 for Minnesota State University, Mankato's department of Theatre and Dance. The paper chronicles the director's artistic process from pre-production through performance in five chapters: a pre-production analysis, a historical and critical …

The Dissemination Of Responsibility: Exploring The Audience As Bystander In Theatre, Helen Rooker

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study focuses on finding how theatrical technique and process changes when the audience is reframed as bystanders. I hoped to find ways that theatre artists could fight against the bystander effect in life by bringing it into our theatres. The study was written in conjunction with a production of Nine by Jane Shepard. Nine is a piece about two women who are imprisoned. The audience does not know where they are, how long they have been there, or who has taken them—just that they are regularly raped and tortured. The play is treated as a focal point for my …