Performance Studies Commons^™

Crossing Borders In Leonard Bernstein’S Mass, Theresa Hubbard

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

On September 8, 1971, Mass by Leonard Bernstein premiered at the inauguration performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington, D.C. Subtitled “A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers,” Mass possess examples of several different types of music, making the piece very eclectic in nature. It is a huge work which requires close to 200 performers who are well-versed in several musical genres.

Bernstein composed Mass using the form of the Roman Catholic Mass celebration, as many composers have done in the past. Bernstein was a bit more daring, however, and instead of composing music …

Ralph Vaughan William's The Pilgrim's Progress: Problems And Solutions For Future Performances, Richard Brandon Brunson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The 1951 premier of The Pilgrim's Progress by Ralph Vaughan Williams was not a success. Two years later, Vaughan Williams told Michael Kennedy that "the Pilgrim is dead."1 A handful of attempts have been made to revive the work in the last few years, and a second recording of the opera by Richard Hickox has revived some interest.

Despite this progress, three big problematic areas (outlined by contemporary critics and Vaughan Williams) continue to stand in the way of staging this work. These three areas are the Apollyon scene, the homogeneity of the tempi, and the lack of dramatic elements …

The Cutting Edge, March/April 2009, Vol. 20 Issue 2, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

The Cutting Edge, January/February 2009, Vol. 20 Issue 1, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

"Putting It Together": The Process Of Producing, Musically Directing And Starring In A Musical, Shane Maitland Churchill, Brown

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to coalesce the demand roles of actor/singer, musical director, and producer onto one person. In preparing for this thesis, the author was granted the role as producer for the play titled "The Last Five Years", a one act-musical. This production was held at California State University San Bernardino in 2009.

Trying On—Being In—Becoming: Four Women’S Journey(S) In Feminist Poststructural Theory, Donna Kalmbach Phillips, Gennie Harris, Mindy Legard Larson, Karen Higgins

Faculty Publications

This is the narrative of four women in academia spanning a ten-year relational journey. As a performance collaborative autoethnography, it explores and presents theories of subjectivity and transitional space. Through journals, emails, and dialogue we are trying on, being in, and becoming feminist poststructural thinkers/inquirers/teacher educators. In our work, we explore: How has theory changed our subjectivity, lived experiences and relationships, and moved us from comfortable spaces of knowing to uncomfortable places of becoming? In a series of poetry and performance narratives, we chart our own linked journey(s) in pursuing these questions. As autoethnographers, we grapple with meanings …

The Machine's Effect On The Psyche Of The American Woman: A Dramaturgical Analysis Of Machinal By Sophie Treadwell, Kori Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Sophie Treadwell's style is often associated with the male contemporaries of her time: Eugene O'Neill and Elmer Rice. During the 1920s, these writers were being influenced by German Expressionistic theatre in a way that the American stage had not yet witnessed. Expressionistic drama is characterized by Jackson 15 of 26 heightened text that is often expansive, clipped, or musical. This type of dialogue connected the audience with a rhythm particular to the play. Expressionist drama is also characterized by the environment often being boiled down to its essence. This often involved bare-boned sets and dynamic levels. Sophie Treadwell' s style …

Introduction (Special Cluster On The Catalan Stage, Modern And Contemporary), Sharon G. Feldman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

At an international symposium devoted to the contemporary Catalan stage, which was held at the Institut del Teatre de la Diputació de Barcelona in 2005, director Toni Casares observed how the Catalan theater scene in its post-Franco evolution had, already endured a decade aimed at clarifying its cultural politics. "És l'epoca del teatre institucionalitzat o en vies d'institucionalització," he declared, referring to the decade comprising the years 1985 to 1995. It seemed an almost ironic observation at the time, as any attempt at institutionalization was certainly not a new endeavor for the Catalan theater scene; yet, Casares was also quick …

December 2008 - Volume Viii, Number 1, Theatre Arts Department

Sides (Newsletter)

SIDES Volume VIII Number 1 includes articles on Mammoth Follies, Second City, and a Makeup Workshop.

The Cutting Edge, November/December 2008, Vol. 18 Issue 6, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

Ibsen’S Female Characters In Captivity: An Exploration Of Literature And Performance, Christina K. Forshey

Senior Honors Theses

In Henrik Ibsen’s plays, A Doll’s House, The Wild Duck, The Lady from the Sea, and Hedda Gabler, the theme of captivity is demonstrated in the female protagonists Nora, Hedvig, Ellida, and Hedda. The theme of captivity also serves as a performance guide for the portrayal of these characters. Ibsen’s female protagonists are in bondage to an object or person that manipulates the character’s mental and emotional senses. The character’s inner captivity reaches a climax where a decision must be made to abolish the chains of captivity or forever remain enslaved. Since the nineteenth century, the actor has greatly benefitted …

The Cutting Edge, September/October 2008, Vol. 18 Issue 5, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

The Cutting Edge, July/August 2008, Vol. 18 Issue 4, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

The Fight Master, Spring/Summer 2008, Vol. 31 Issue 1, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

June 2008 - Volume Vii, Number 2, Theatre Arts Department

Sides (Newsletter)

SIDES Volume VII Number 2 features articles on the closing of the Village Theatre and welcoming new faculty Nicholas Shaw.

The Cutting Edge, May/June 2008, Vol. 18 Issue 3, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

The Cutting Edge, March/April 2008, Vol. 18 Issue 2, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

The Cutting Edge, January/February 2008, Vol. 18 Issue 1, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

Dance And Human Rights In The Middle East, North Africa, And Central Asia, Anthony Shay

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

In this essay, Islam itself is first examined in order to determine how individual Muslims justify to themselves and to others the banning of dancing in various contexts. Following a brief discussion of Islam as it relates to dance, some of the myriad dance genres and contexts found in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia are discussed. Finally, I consider the many ways in which many Muslims perceive dance, and then describe and analyze the local reactions to dancing in its complexity. This approach elucidates multiple meanings that create a pattern of behavior within specific cultural contexts.

The Fight Master, Fall/Winter 2008, Vol. 31 Issue 2, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

Directing Earth, Fire, And Water With A 5th Grade Class, Lucy Bryson

Theses and Dissertations

The value of arts education in our schools is on the rise. Many studies have been conducted in the recent past supporting this rise. The College Board reports that students since 1999 exposed and involved with arts education score higher on the SAT. (Americans for the Arts) As a result theatre education is on the rise. Traditionally drama programs have only been established in secondary schools; however, middle and elementary schools are beginning to add drama programs to their curriculum. These programs vary from school to school. Some are very performance based using class time to choose a play, audition, …

Revising Cio-Cio-San, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Some of the mast extensive and significant textual changes in all of Puccini's operas appear in the published revisions of Madama Butterfly. Many of these verbal modifications, together with cuts and additions to the score, influence the dramatic depiction of the protagonists. Changes to Pinkerton's character soften an insensitive and even offensive figure who, after all, needs to be convincing as the object of Butterfly's love. For Cio-Cio-San, three rounds of revision mean a gradual loss of complexity on any fronts, bringing an exotic, mercurial heroine closer to operatic convention. The Butterfly that we know today has a more …

Dressing The Girl/Playing The Boy: Twelfth Night Learns Soccer On The Set Of She's The Man, L Monique Pittman

Faculty Publications

She’s The Man (2006), Andy Fickman’s adaptation of Twelfth Night, pulses with the Title Nine girl power that found cinematic voice and financial reward in Bend It Like Beckham (2002). Creating a pretext for the play’s gender swapping by entering the world of high school soccer, She’s the Man exploits conventions associated with the teen film genre–social group conformity and anxiety, crisis of identity, divorced parents, and ineffectual authority figures. Shakespeare’s cross-dressed heroine Viola becomes Viola Hastings played by Amanda Bynes, for whom this film serves as a star-vehicle showcasing Bynes’s comedic range. In some ways, the film intensifies the …

"Bat Boy: The Musical" Scene Design, Christopher Shane Dills

Theses and Dissertations

A. Environmental Facts

1. Geographical Location: The Exact Place Hope Falls. West Virginia, Population 500

2. Date: Year, Season, Time of Day. What is significant about the date? Present (2008), Fall at the beginning of the play and progresses into Spring by the beginning of act two and the revival. Time of day is generally midday except for the Christian Charity until the end of Dance with Me, Darling. During this portion of act one it is night time and it is storming, Hence the lightning flashes and power outages called for in the script and stage directions. The end …

Directing Dead White Males: A Year In The Trenches Of Teaching, Emily Eisenman

Honors Program Theses

I co-produced and directed the full-length play Dead White Males: A Year in the Trenches of Teaching for the UNI Interpreters Theatre as my Senior Honors thesis project. Co-producing and directing this project gave me the opportunity to collaborate with fellow students, members of the Cedar Valley community, and UNI faculty and staff. In doing this project, I was able to explore positive and negative aspects of education that had not been discussed in my education courses as of yet, in addition to gaining experience in producing and directing a major theatrical production, which I wish to do in my …

Manuel Molins: Una Altra Ofèlia I Els Fantasmes De Shakespeare, Sharon G. Feldman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

L'apropiació i reinscripció que de Hamlet ha fet Manuel Molins, titulada Una altra Ofèlia (2001, estrenada al Teatre Rialto de València el 2004), comença, com a l'obra de Shakespeare, amb l'aparició d'un fantasma. A la primera de les nou escenes, el personatge d'Ofèlia explica a la falstaffiana I pitonissa I herborista Dida (personatge síntesi que és el resum de molts personatges shakespearians) un somni que ha tingut i en el transcurs del qual ha presenciat la manifestació d'un espectre en l'esplanada del castell. D'alguna manera, des del moment que comença l’obra, Ofèlia sembla haver usurpat el paper de Hamlet, ja …

Pamela On Directing Three The Hard Way: An Exploration Of Theatrical And Communicative Processes., Pamela S. Adolphi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The direction of the play Three the Hard Way by Linda Eisenstein achieved the playwright's intent and the super objective of the play. The application of theatrical and communicative processes facilitated the direction of the desired metacommunicatations associated with the family's dynamics by expressing the struggles and perceptions associated with the family and their relationships. The implementation of the director's prompt book illustrates the use of proxemics in creating picturizations for the stage. In addition, the exploration of the directing process and the progression of the production are examined in daily journal entries. The successes of the directorial approach and …

December 2007 - Volume Vii, Number 1, Theatre Arts Department

Sides (Newsletter)

SIDES Volume VII Number 1 includes articles on the new Doudna Fine Arts Center and also an obituary of Ernest Glendon Gabbard.

The Cutting Edge, November/December 2007, Vol. 17 Issue 6, The Society Of American Fight Directors

The Cutting Edge

No abstract provided.

«American Awakenings» Dos Nous Musicals, Sharon G. Feldman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

A Nova York, la temporada teatral 2006-2007 ha estat marcada per la presència de dos nous musicals que han tingut un gran èxit de públic i que han rebut diversos premis i distincions: Grey Gardens (música de Scott Frankel, llibret de Doug Wright i lletres de Michael Korie), basat en el documental epònim d’Albert i David Maysles, de 1975; i Spring awakening (música de Duncan Sheik, llibret i lletres de Steven Sater), basat en una obra de teatre de Franz Wedekind de 1891. La premsa ha elogiat a bastament aquestes dues produccions, que han estat considerades les «estrelles» de la …