Performance Studies Commons^™

Moon Over Buffalo Playbill, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre Smith Center for the Arts

Moon Over Buffalo

A comedy from the playwright of "Lend Me a Tenor"

April 5-7 & 12-14, 2019

Written by Ken Ludwig

Directed by Brett Epstein

Set Designer: Josh Christoffersen

Sound Designer: Timothy Brown '20

Voice and Dialect Coach: Megan Chang

Costume Designer: Jessie Darrell Jarbadan

Lighting Designer: Jen Rock

Properties Designer: Peggy Becker

Flight Choreographer: Sarah Elizabeth Bedard

The Cast - George: Thomas Edwards, Charlotte: Julia DiBari, Ethel: Caprial Harris, Roz: Aisling Sheahan, Howard: Ryan Worrell, Eileen: Halle Pratt, Paul: Steven Sawan, Richard: …

Moon Over Buffalo Poster, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre Smith Center for the Arts

Moon Over Buffalo

A comedy from the playwright of "Lend Me a Tenor"

Written by Ken Ludwig

Directed by Brett Epstein

April 5-7 & 12-14, 2019

She's Not Allowed To Do That: Two Actors Embody Female Same-Sex Sexuality [Poster], Orion Lee Risk

Research in the Capitol

The art of acting requires the authentic embodiment of another being; what happens in this process when a performance requires taking on a stigmatized sexuality? In summer 2018, an emerging theatre company in Cedar Falls, Iowa, produced Stop Kiss by Diana Son: a show that required its two female leads to embody same-sex sexuality. Guided by scholarship from Judith Butler, Jill Dolan, and Jerzy Grotowski — and following principles of practice-as-research — interviews and observation were used to explore and interpret how the actors in Stop Kiss experienced similarities and differences between their characters’ experiences and their own. Findings led …

The Fight Master, Spring 2019, Vol. 41 Issue 1, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

Avenue Q

Theatre Programs

No abstract provided.

Giau Minh Truong Interview, Gin To

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Giau Minh Truong is a company member of A-Squared Theatre Workshop and an at- large artist for various performing arts companies in the Chicago area. For A-Squared, he directed Ching Chong Chinaman, The Other Shore, and short plays for My Asian Mom, acted in Trial By Water, and designed lights for The Wind Cries Mary. Giau’s other directorial credits include Downward Facing, Lights Out, Everybody, and Theatre of Women for Dream Theatre Company. He directed Sister Outlaw, Mr. and Mrs. LaQuesta Go Dancing, My Name is Flor Contemplacion, and I Dream Electric for CIRCA-Pintig, Chicago’s …

Lord Of The Flies Playbill, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Lord of the Flies

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

by William Golding, Adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams

Directed by Patrick Mark Saunders and John Garrity

Scenic Designer: Renée Surprenant Fitzgerald

Costume Designer: Anna Grywalski

Lighting Designer: Marc Tiberiis II

Sound Designer: Paul Perry

Voice and Dialect Coach: Megan Chang

Properties Designer: Peggy Becker

Fight Choreographer: Jim Beauregard

Cast

(in order of appearance)

Rafe: Amanda Piechota

Piggy: Abdelnasser Zadieyh

Jack: Timothy Brown

Simon: Daniel Jameson

Sam: Thomas Edwards

Erin: Caprial Harris

Hailey: Charlie Seymour

Bill: Bruno Guiop

Robin: Halle Pratt

Persephone: Katie Vennard …

“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, …

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.

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 …

Where Do We Go From Here? A Semi-Autobiographical Performance Exploration Into The Therapeutic Benefits Of Theatre, Emma Elliott

Scripps Senior Theses

My intention in this performance is to create a therapeutic theatrical process for myself and engage the audience with intense emotional vulnerability regarding the combination and validation of the nobody and performative self. I utilized both my vocal and acting training to work through emotional trauma that I have experienced and created a musical performance to demonstrate my journey of therapy and emotional reconciliation within myself and my family. I focused my research on using autobiographical performances to solidify and validate the identity of the performer to an audience. In doing so, this allows the performers to become the …

She's Not Allowed To Do That: Performing Stigmatized Same-Sex Sexuality, Orion Lee Risk

Honors Program Theses

In the summer of 2018, an emerging theatre company produced Stop Kiss by Diana Son in Waterloo, Iowa, a mid-size industrial town adjacent to the city of Cedar Falls, which hosts a small public university. In Stop Kiss, the two lead characters are women fall romantically for each other, so that in performing their characters the actors embody same-sex sexuality. This paper will explore how the actors playing these two characters engaged with this embodiment, and how doing so affected them.

Masks: A New Face For The Theatre, Alexi Michael Siegel

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

This study seeks to reimagine and reinvigorate modern theatre’s relationship with mask work through text-based historical research and practice-based artistic research. It focuses on three ancient mask traditions: pre- and early Hellenistic Greek theatre, Japanese Noh theatre, and Nigerian Egungun masquerades. Research on these mask traditions and recent masked productions informed the development and staging of a masked performance of Charles Mee’s Life is a Dream. The production featured sections for each of the ancient masking styles and a final section that explored masks in a contemporary theatrical style. As a whole, this creative project pulls masks out of …

Vinegar Tom

Theatre Programs

No abstract provided.

Bat Boy Playbill, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre Smith Center for the Arts

Bat Boy

THE MUSICAL

October 24-28 & November 1-4, 2018

Directed by Jimmy Calitri

Musical Direction by Lila Kane

Music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe

Story and book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming

Scenic Design Trevor Elliot

Costume Design Maxine Wheelock

Lighting Design Steven McLellan

Sound Design Gabriel Luxton & Stuart Holland

Choreographer Jennifer Hopkins

Fight Choreographer Jim Beauregard

Hair, Make-up, Prosthetics and Wigs Michael Dates

Voice and Dialect Coach Megan Chang

Bat Boy Poster, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Dept. Theatre, Dance & Film

A Darkly Funny, Pop Rock Musical

Bat Boy

THE MUSICAL

October 24-28 & November 1-4, 2018

Directed by Jimmy Calitri

Musical Direction by Lila Kane

Choreography by Jennifer Hopkins

Dracula

Theatre Programs

No abstract provided.

The Laramie Project

Theatre Programs

No abstract provided.

The Fight Master, Fall 2018, Vol. 40 Issue 2, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

Story & Style: Pursuing Excellence On The Academic Stage, Ryan M. Decker

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is a brief view of the 2017-2018 production of Marco Ramirez’s contemporary play The Royale, as produced by Theatre UNO, the theatre production arm of the University of New Orleans’ Department of Film & Theatre. This thesis will include initial responses, analysis, interpretation, production synthesis and communication, and reflection with conclusions on performance, directing, and pedagogy in academic theatre. This thesis is supported by documentation of the production process, including a scored script. The play was performed in New Orleans, Louisiana at the University of New Orleans Performing Arts Center’s Robert E. Nims Theatre, November 9-19, …

Should Theatre Disappear Like Soap Bubbles?, Erin Lee

Proceedings from the Document Academy

I recently read an excerpt from a 2004 interview with Peter Hall where he claims that he was happy for his materials to disappear "like soap bubbles" (Reason, 2006). One of the fundamentally difficult things about archiving theatre, aside from its ephemeral nature, is the approach that creatives take to their work. Not only do we need to battle the format of live performance but we also need to convince many creatives, not all I must add, that their work can and should remain in the Archive for use in the future. There are glimmers of potential in the area …

#Parlezvousfemme - A One-Woman Show, Victoria G. Lindbergh

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

#parlezvousfemme is a one-woman show set in 2018 that reimagines the lives of several infamous French women. Each character approaches modern life differently based on her given circumstances and reveals several universal truths about being a woman in today’s society. The famous military leader Joan of Arc is a 19-year-old youtuber criticizing the far-right for using her as their symbol, while revolutionary Olympe de Gouges is a modern-day women’s rights activist. Marie Antoinette is a housewife being interviewed by Vogue and scientist Marie Curie hosts a PBS telethon and addresses the lack of women in science. Designer Coco Chanel is …

Bringing Life To Theatre: A Scenic Designer's Role In Creating "The Wild Party", Matthew Carlin

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this paper is to examine the research that goes into designing the scenic elements of a musical. I was the scenic designer for Pace School of Performing Arts’ production of Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe’s The Wild Party in the fall of 2017. Directed by Roger Ellis, our version of the vaudeville-style musical was done in an immersive, in-the-round style. As the scenic designer for this production I was strongly focused on the research aspect of the design process. We consulted several art movements and architectural styles, as well as mythology, film and literature in …

Illuminating The Eighteenth-Century British Stage: Perfecting Performance Through Education, Bethany Csomay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Actress studies has become “a truly interdisciplinary field” that “intersect[s] with art, music, literature, history, economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and fashion” (Engel 752). While much scholarship has been conducted on the actress’ life, interaction with material culture, public spectacle, authority, femininity, and writings, the role of an actress’ education in her success has yet to be explored adequately or examined beyond biography. My project seeks to examine the educational beginnings of actresses and I assert there are three modes that eighteenth-century actresses often undertook to cultivate their celebrity and success: inheritance, discovery, and trial and error. This project examines the …

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 …

An Actor's Approach To The Role Of Trisha In Five Women Wearing The Same Dress Written By Alan Ball, Caroline Denning

Undergraduate Honors Theses

An Actor's Approach to the Role of Trisha in Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is an analysis of my personal process as an actor and how I applied such process to this given script. This analysis includes chapters of research, documentation, and reflection.

Gestures Of Creative Recovery For The Egocentric Actor Through Performance In Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good., Ross Joel Shenker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This document serves as a travelogue for the creation of two roles for the U of L Fall 2017 Production of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good. At odds throughout the process were intellect and vulnerability. In an attempt to find openness with my primary scene partner, I tried a variety of techniques including, but not limited to: Konstantin Stanislavski’s “Bits and Tasks”; Michael Chekhov’s “Psychological Gesture”; Carl Jung’s theories on Archetype; F.M. Alexander’s notions of “Inhibition” and “Nondoing” as expounded upon by Betsy Polatin; and Julia Cameron’s “Morning Pages.” My original goal of achieving vulnerability on stage became consumed …

Wait, She's Alive?! Playing Characters Based On Real, Living People, Courtney Jensen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is for the performance of Sara Jane Moore in Assassins and for development, contributions, and performance of a new play written for our graduating class, A Hamlet: West of Why. This thesis also consists of my statement of artistry, documentation of artistic materials, and thesis related performance materials.

St. Louis To Arizona: What Tom Wingfield Taught Me About Playing Myself, Christopher Scott Tennison

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of my statement of artistry/teaching philosophy, and documentation of artistic materials and thesis related performances.

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 …