Performance Studies Commons^™

The “Campification” Of Old-School Broadway: Review Of Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling, And Abe Burrows’S Guys And Dolls, Kara Riley

Best Integrated Writing

This review examines the Stratford Festival’s 2026 production of Guys and Dolls and argues that director Donna Feore transforms a familiar Golden Age Broadway musical through a distinctly camp aesthetic. It explores how set design, costumes, and performances exaggerate mid-twentieth-century gender conventions and theatrical traditions, creating a playful reinterpretation of the source material. Special focus is given to the production’s visual design, its treatment of gender roles, and the standout comic performances of Jennifer Rider-Shaw as Miss Adelaide and Mark Uhre as Frank Detroit. Through close analysis of performance elements, the review demonstrates how contemporary productions can renew as well …

Sanitized For Public Viewing: Review Of William Shakespeare’S The Tempest, Allison Meyer

Best Integrated Writing

This review analyzes the Stratford Festival’s 2026 production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, directed by Antoni Cimolino, and argues that the production minimizes the play’s political and colonial themes. The article examines how specific production choices, including Caliban’s costume design, the comic treatment of Stephano and Trinculo, and Prospero’s final interaction with Ariel, obscure questions of power and colonization. Through detailed analysis of staging, characterization, and directorial decisions, the review evaluates the consequences of presenting Shakespeare’s play as a story of personal forgiveness rather than political conflict. It interrogates this erasure of colonial power struggles within the framework of the Stratford …

Best Integrated Writing Fall 2026 - Complete Edition, Wright State University School Of Humanities And Cultural Studies, Kristie Mckiernan

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University.

Musings On A Visit To Beirut, Abe J. Bassett

Theatre Faculty Publications

Abe Bassett, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Motion Pictures, reflects on his trip to Beirut, Lebanon in 1996.

Equus: A Case For Censorship?, Abe J. Bassett

Theatre Faculty Publications

This article focuses on the play "Equus," by Peter Shaffer. The consequences of the controversy included the introduction of a state law to limit presentation of plays with sexual conduct, the endangerment of a prestigious $150,000 award to the Department of Theatre Arts, and even the threat of reducing the University's budget. "Equus," is a gripping story of Alan Strang, a deeply troubled seventeen year old, who has inexplicably blinded six horses, and psychiatrist Martin Dysart, who seeks to relieve the boy of his extreme anguish and self-torture. All Wright State University acting majors are required to audition for every …

An Interview With Frank Barrie, Abe J. Bassett

Theatre Faculty Publications

Frank Barrie, a talented British Actor, came to Wright State University in 1985 to present his one-man show, Macready, and to speak with acting students about creating their one-person senior thesis productions.

Abe J. Bassett, Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at Wright State University, interviewed Barrie.

Conversation On Effects Of Equus With Michael Ferrari, Provost, Abe J. Bassett, Michael R. Ferrari

Theatre Faculty Publications

In May of 1985, Abe Bassett interviewed Michael Ferrari about the Equus play held at Wright State University and all of the controversy that surrounded it.

Kegerreis On Equus, Abe J. Bassett, Robert J. Kegerreis

Theatre Faculty Publications

In 1985, Abe Bassett interviewed Robert Kegerreis about the Equus play held at Wright State University and all of the controversy that surrounded it.

Collegiate Theatre: Alive, Diverse And Thriving, Abe J. Bassett

Theatre Faculty Publications

Collegiate theatre is alive and well and thriving in more than 35 Ohio hamlets, towns and cities. A greater concentration of collegiate theatre can be found in only four other states in America, all significantly more populous than Ohio.

George Grizzard: A Conversation With Abe J. Bassett, Abe J. Bassett

Theatre Faculty Publications

American actor George Gizzard’s first connection with Wright State was in October, 1974 when he directed William Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life, the dedicatory production of the Creative Arts Center’s Festival Playhouse.

In January 1984, he returned to Wright State to create the role of Dr. Martin Dysart in the very successful Department of Theatre Arts production of Equus. Abe J. Bassett, Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at Wright State University, interviewed Grizzard at Wright State University during this time.

Preparing For College Theatre, Abe J. Bassett

Theatre Faculty Publications

The most significant characteristic of the department of theatre arts at Wright State University is that it has chosen to be a comprehensive but exclusively undergraduate department. Because the twenty faculty and professional staff are graduates of universities who offer advanced degrees, we are all aware of how an undergraduate student can be pushed aside in favor of the older, more mature graduate student. This is, in part, the reason for the deliberate decision to teach undergraduate students only.

Theatre Programs In Ohio High Schools: A Survey, Abe J. Bassett

Theatre Faculty Publications

In the Spring of 1975, the Board of Directors of the Ohio Theatre Alliance expressed concern about the quality and quantity of theatre programs in Ohio high schools. Wanting to become involved in helping high school theatre programs, but realizing they lacked data upon which meaningful action could be based, the Board directed that a survey (of the status) of Ohio high school theatre programs be undertaken. The author was charged with that responsibility and this report-- an attempt to quantitatively describe the state of theatre programs in Ohio high schools in the 1975-1976 academic year--is a result of that …

The First Of The Modern Directors: The Actor-Manager Career Of William Charles Macready, Abe J. Bassett

Theatre Faculty Publications

“My ambition,” wrote William Charles Macready on retiring from the stage in February 1851, was “to establish a theatre, in regard to decorum and taste, worthy of our country, and to have in it the plays of our divine Shakespeare fitfully illustrated.” Although this was undoubtedly a life-long aspiration, which spanned over forty years of his professional career it was best expressed in the four theatrical seasons in which Macready managed Covent Garden theatre (from 1837 to 1839) and Drury Lane theatre (from 1841 to 1843.) It has been the purpose of this study to examine the contributions that Macready …