Performance Studies Commons^™

Sense Make Before Book, Bradley Sinanan

Theses and Dissertations

“Sense Make Before Book” is an Indo-Caribbean turn of phrase which refers to common sense being more important than book smarts. My sister sent me a post the other day on Instagram of an Trinidadian woman using this phrase, saying it was one of Indo-Caribbean origin. I was interested and asked my mom about it. My mom says that when she was younger my grandpa said it often around their house in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago. This adage feels charged thinking about the history of indenture and its effects on the Indo-Caribbean diaspora.

The written word of archival history …

Puppy Love And [Information] Play: An Intersection Of Theatre, Queer Kink, And Consent, Emily Kitchens

Faculty Articles

This note from the field centers on a nexus of queer kink subcultures and consent-based intimacy work in theatre. I report, investigate and wrangle with the process of incorporating queer kink aesthetics into the production of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill I directed at KSU February 2023. What I have learned and hope to demonstrate throughout the paper, is that queer kink subcultures are often paradigmatic examples of communities built on consent, and we as performing arts practitioners can more visibly expand the margins of our cultural competency dialogues to not only include them but look to them as …

Living In Untranslatability--Performance Art In China And Usa, Ziyun Ma

Masters Theses

This thesis embodies discontinuities in performance art and its non-equivalent Chinese term “行 为艺术” between language and cultural context into a migrating journey. A comparative analysis on the disciplinary history of performance art studies in the US and China laid a foundation in exploring the dynamics of marginality in two contexts. Extracting from the narrative mechanism and body view of Chinese performance art, I demonstrate how the philosophy of living (生) inspired many artistic creation, which also echoes my research journey. And from our mutual living experience, I pose the concept of constructive untranslatability that applies positionality and situated knowledge …

Once Upon Online: Conversations With Professional Storytellers About Adapting From In-Person To Virtual Storytelling Performance, Leticia Pizzino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how professional storytellers negotiated a new storytelling stage—the videoconference platform—as they pivoted their careers during mandated shutdowns due to COVID-19. An examination of the literature reveals extremely limited research involving either professional storytellers or live virtual storytelling. After interviewing five professional storytellers, I analyzed their stories through narrative inquiry. Analysis revealed that the storytellers negotiated the limitations and affordances of Zoom and adapted their storytelling to successfully connect with their audiences. Through crafting a narrative of their stories, I was able to represent their emotions, unique experiences, and abilities to adapt to the online environment. Their stories …

Behind The Scenes: Shining A Spotlight On Veiled Theatre Workers, Ariel Bradshaw

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

My thesis aims to highlight traditionally underrepresented theatre artists. I wish to dive deeply into the many backstage, or “veiled” workers, who continue to go unacknowledged. Why is there an aspect of “veiled” theatre created to stay hidden? Even in technical theatre, some specialties receive more credit or recognition than others. For example, the Tony Awards offer categories for direction, sound, light, costume, and scenic design, yet no award for stage management. How are institutions working to create more representation in an intentionally hidden space? This project will specifically focus on the representation of stage managers, arguably the most invisible …

In Yellow: A Solo Poem-Play, Emily Kitchens

Faculty Articles

“In Yellow” was developed in the INKubator residency at Art House Productions (Jersey City, NJ) in 2019 with the following blurb:

In Yellow is a solo poem-play about a relationship between a young woman and a ceramic doll her grandmother made that she has just accidentally broken. It is about grief. It is about breaking out of generationally instilled feminine values. It is about the color yellow. It’s all true.

“In Yellow” is an experiment of a poem and play for one voice. I was in New York City for about 10 years, before that The Bay Area, but am …

Laughter In The Shadows: Navigating Comedy And Tragedy In Much Ado About Nothing, Mary Kelly

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

Mother Courage And Her Children

Theatre Programs

No abstract provided.

Review Of Storytelling On Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive And Guidebook, Lucas Skjaret

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Review of Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook, https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/104420

Small Mouth Sounds

Theatre Programs

No abstract provided.

Balanced Blended Space: Proposing A Universal Theoretical Framework For Combinative Reality, David Smith, Frederick Bianchi

Publications and Research

In today's fragmented societies, a unified framework for communication and collaboration across different realities is crucial. We introduce Balanced Blended Space (BBS) as a framework for describing combinative reality, encompassing virtual, physical, and conceptual realms, all intrinsically connected. Interactions within these environments shape our perceptual space. This paper outlines key axiomatic assumptions, criteria for a universal framework, and fundamental terminology. We identify deep symmetries enabling the BBS framework, including Cognitive and Computational Symmetry, Physical and Virtual Symmetry, Mediation Pathway Symmetry, Space-Time Symmetry, and Sensory Symmetry. We propose tests to determine its viability, emphasizing virtual intelligence as a collaborative partner. We …

Body Check: Transgressive Body Politics Of Gina Pane, Orlan, And Deborah De Robertis, Avant-Garde Performance Artists In France, 1960s–Present, Patricia Anne Winter

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the 1960s, when Gina Pane and Orlan were trying to gain a foothold in the art world, it was very much a man’s world. This created obstacles for them, yet, at the same time, being relegated to the margins, they were free to experiment and were less visible as objects of the gaze.

The point of departure of my study is the realization that a woman’s body is what most defines her identity (Alcoff, Bordo, Butler, Gonzenbach, Mulvey, Spelman, Suleiman). The female body is the material site from which I discuss how, and to what ends, women avant-garde performance …

Ejercicios De Sí: Escritura, Cuerpo Y Deporte En El Cono Sur (1964–2019), Pablo Yankelevich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation studies the work of three performative figures from Latin America for whom physical practice is a fundamental issue of their artistic inquiries. In particular, it analyzes the ways in which writers and athletes Leonor Silvestri (Argentina), Héctor Benjamín Viel Temperley (Argentina), and Paulo Leminski (Brazil) problematize the body as the site of social and political experimentation over the last fifty years. By examining how these figures challenged liberal and neoliberal normative dictums about the place of the body, particularly in times of political repression, my research reflects on unauthorized exercises of bodily freedom and considers sport and physical …

Raphael Montañez Ortiz And Alternative Art Spaces, 1966–1971: From Repulsion To Exaltation, Ana Cristina Perry

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the 1960s, Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican artist Raphael Montañez Ortiz built a successful and provocative career in New York. Throughout the decade, Ortiz created sculptures, performances, and events that were part of a sustained investigation into how embodied destructive and uncomfortable actions could physically confront rationality and objectivity. His works attend to how rationality and objectivity were valued in the United States as a consequence of colonization and imperialism. Beginning in 1969, Ortiz overtly addressed how museums are directly implicated in systems of oppression, protesting with the Art Workers Coalition and founding El Museo to meet the needs of the …

Keeping Both History And Magic Alive: Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done (2018) At The Museum Of Modern Art, Beatrice M. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the exhibition, historical reconstruction, and museum acquisition and conservation of postmodern dance, with the 2018 MoMA exhibition Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done as a case study. This exhibition considered the history and legacy of 1960s postmodern dance through a presentation of artifacts and archives alongside a continuous program of live, in-gallery performances. The Work Is Never Done catalyzed questions in the three areas of dance exhibition, reconstruction, and conservation and, as this thesis argues, represents a unique example of preserving canonical dance history while creating a generative context for spontaneity, experimentation, and reinvention.

Gerontology In Bryony Lavery’S A Wedding Story (2000) And Sebastian Barry’S Hinterland (2002), Rania M Rafik Khalil

English Language and Literature

Old age is perceived as a narrative of decline, recently, an alternative perspective was introduced known as positive aging or Gerotranscendance. This paper examines ageing in Bryony Lavery’s A Wedding Story (2000) and Sebastian Barry’s Hinterland (2002) through the theory of gerontology. Gerontology in British and Irish modern theatre, according to Giovanna Tallone (2020) and Heather Ingman (2018), is a new category in literary studies and theory. The paper aims to examine the challenges of retaining agency in old age in comparison to the notion of aging as a process of inner harmony further proving that despite the process of …

Transnational Ritual Poetics Of Blackness In Performance, Nina A. Mercer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I investigate transnational ritual poetics of Blackness through a historical, cultural, and spatial lens, centering my exploration on the recurrence of circles, the crossroads, and waterways. I show how these formal poetics activate Africana cosmologies, cosmogonies, and mythologies dramaturgically by centering contemporary New York City performance works that bring together dance, theatre, and music. I contextualize NYC performance case studies in relation to performance practices in contemporary Salvador da Bahia. I am particularly interested in how the recurrence of circles, the crossroads, and water as formal poetics catalyze interventions along contested water-ways and landscapes marked by Black …

Digital Waves: Communicating Feminist Movements, Shauna M. Macdonald

Feminist Pedagogy

Online learning provides opportunities for pedagogical growth and innovation. When tasked with teaching an undergraduate Gender and Communication class during a virtual semester (amid the COVID-19 pandemic), I sought ways to engage students through online technologies rather than working against or despite them. The Digital Waves (DW) assignment, one that asks students to research and then create digital representations of a particular “wave” of feminism, was one of several strategies I adopted; it quickly evolved into a favorite.

Dirt Circus: Queering Sports And Home Through Filth, Hannah Patteson

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This monograph accompanies the MFA Thesis Exhibition, “Dirt Circus”. I outline the history of circus and carnival culture and the ways in which queer identities are expressed through these artistic modes. I describe the nonconforming expressions of gender in these arenas through bearded ladies, aerialists, clowns, and the freak show. I then explore various groups from the 70’s to present day, including Bread and Puppet Theater, The Cockettes, and Split Britches, who utilize performance to further their ideologies of gender freedom, anti-capitalism, and sexual liberation. I compare our differing uses of cheap art and public engagement within the realm of …

Other Oceans, Other Skies, Sharlene Lee

MFA in Visual Art

I create immersive installations, performances, and time-based media artworks that delve into stories of belonging, feminism, and language as power. These stories offer a potential for transformation from viewer to participant and a shift in how our world is seen and experienced. Through an exploration of perception and affect, I challenge dominant narratives, prompting a contemplation of contemporary power struggles for control.

In this text, I examine the impact of historical borders and migration on my life while also investigating questions of home, shared values, and rituals that contribute to one’s sense of belonging. I also highlight my commitment to …

Smokebox: Writing Into Embarrassment, Julia Storch

Theatre & Dance ETDs

Engaging with theoretical concepts and dramaturgical tools, this essay follows my journey through The Dramatic Writing MFA program at the University of New Mexico, focusing on the production of my thesis play, Smokebox. In Part I, I give the background and development of my journey as a playwright, exploring the obstacles I faced and overcame through my engagement with coursework and staged readings. I map out the development of Smokebox, from its humble beginnings as a class assignment, to its transformation through workshop, and finally its realization through an intense rehearsal and production process. In Part II, I …

Blacklash: Phenomenological Hermeneutics In Black Dance, Darvejon A. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The horrors inflicted on Black bodies, souls, and spirits in the United States during the transatlantic slave trade, the Jim Crow era, and the current era (2023) have a lasting legacy of trauma metabolized through the body and transmuted generationally. Jones uses this data to contextualize the work of Black dance artists as hermeneutic phenomena in which the Black dance artist is a hermeneut tasked with delivering a message of the Black body/spirit complex: “I AM HUMAN. DO NOT KILL ME.” This paper examines how Black dance artists frequently petition for their survival — incessantly subjugated to the interpreter’s empathy, …

For What Is A Man?: Towards Languaging Contemporary Dance In A Black, Queer, Male-Presenting Body, Thomas Ford

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines Queering Blackness: Solo on a Theme of Reconciliation, a performance event that invokes movement, spoken text, projections and sound to explore the mechanisms of identity. Engaging performance, Black, queer and dance studies, the paper contextualizes cultural identity markers, towards an understanding of what it means to be Black, queer and male-assigned in Black spaces.

Gloria Rehearsal (Excerpt) A Feminist Mechanism For Metabolization, Eleanor Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Weaving embodied trauma studies with feminist theory, non-hierarchical creative structures, and research in dance improvisation, this thesis paper written by Eleanor Smith contextualizes the dance performance gloria rehearsal (excerpt). The performance piece was choreographed and performed by Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith, who have been co-choreographing feminist dances since 2006.

Witnessing Torture: Staged Violence, Spectatorship And The Theatre Of Political Imprisonment, Kyle Imbeau

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In a recent interview, renowned fight director B.H. Barry said of his work, and of the nature of violence, "I’m not frightened of violence. It’s a way of expressing something that you can’t do with words" (Kennedy). Staged violence has been common in performance from its origins, often necessitated by a text, and has evolved into its own discipline of theatre practice with regulations and credentialing processes to ensure the safety of actors and audiences. As such, we have come to know staged violence as a practical problem to be solved, a cog in the machine of a production process. …

A United, Not A Divider: Community, Identity, Performance & The Tomato Krewe Parading Group Of East Nashville's Tomato Art Festival, Allison Cate

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the “Tomato Krewe,” a social group that participates in the parade of East Nashville’s annual Tomato Art Festival. Drawing on participant-observation, interviews, and my own experiences as a member of the krewe and resident of East Nashville, I examine krewe members’ narratives about the festival, the material culture that they create for the parade, and the levels of performance that they engage in while parading. Central to my analysis is how krewe members understand the Tomato Art Festival as an expression of East Nashville identity.

Living As Past In The Present, Grace Taylor

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I will be discussing how I used my nine roles in A Christmas Carol at TheatreSquared to practice getting out of my head onstage and into the hearts of each character. I will also include the script of my original play, GORILLA, the composition and performance of which were some of the greatest challenges of my artistic career thus far. Additionally, I am including my artistic statement, show posters, program, photos, website link, headshot & resume, and proofs of permission for use of media.

Allegedly In Love: A Theatrical Production, Leah Christenson

Theatre Undergraduate Honors Theses

Allegedly in Love: A Theatrical Production details the process of producing and costume designing a fully-realized performance run of an original piece by Madelyn Marks.

How This Bitch Made This Bitch: A Play On Defiant Women Of Color, Adrienne B. Dawes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The workshop production of my full-length, bilingual play “This Bitch: Esta Sangre Quiero” marks the culmination of my course of study at the University of Arkansas. In this thesis, I will discuss the development process of “This Bitch” from its humble Zoom reading beginnings to regional theater development to its workshop production as part of the university’s 2022-2023 Mainstage season. Through the lens of this new play process, I outline my artistic evolution during my four years of graduate school, interrogating and celebrating the ways this bitch has been inspired by “This Bitch.”

Espacio, Edgar Perez Peña, Edgar Perez Peña

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Edgar Perez Peña (He, Him, His) is a Queer, Chicanx contemporary figurative painter, who lives and works in the Los Angeles County. A native of Los Angeles, California, his paintings, and assemblages are a strong combination of process, materials, and content that displays his fascination on how physical/psychological space (from where he resides), reflects on the Queer Brown body and its comfort/discomfort in relation to public and private space.

Peña looks at his artistic practice as an opportunity to explore the human condition from the Queer and Brown perspective as well the beginning of healing through the meditative process of …