Playwriting Commons^™

Some Things Never Change, Ryely Rogers

Honors College Theses

Some Things Never Change is a coming-of-age play that explores the intersection of memory, identity, nostalgia, faith, and the process of growing up. The play follows two versions of the same character: Young Ryann and Older Ryann. Young Ryann is the eleven year old version of Older Ryan, the young woman she grows to become. This play was born from my own interest in how identity evolves and continues to shape us through adulthood. Some Things Never Change is the culmination of my own experiences, broader themes of self-discovery, and the science behind nostalgia. Through this play I uncover the …

The Incredible Is, Justin L. Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Incredible Is is a full-length philosophical play in two acts that follows Self — a man whose body contains the visible cosmos — as he travels existence with his companion Cosmic Cat in search of his creator, the "Ultimate Personifier." Along the way he encounters personified abstractions including You, Them, We, Power, Pleasure and Pain, Creator and Destroyer, and falls in love with Magic. When his obsession with finding his maker leads him to break the Rules and plunge the universe into chaos, God resets reality and Self at last confronts the Ultimate Personifier — only to discover a …

Dear Vincent, James H. Stone Iv

Playwriting (MFA) Theses

Dear Vincent is a play written for J. Harvey Stone’s MFA in Playwriting from Hollins University. The play is inspired by the life of Vincent van Gogh and his letters with his brother Theodore. The artist Vincent van Gogh was an avid writer to his brother Theodore. This play is inspired by, but not dictated by, the letters Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother. Connected by hymns in Act I and by the news of the 1980s in Act II, this Vincent lives through his letters as well but ultimately has to make a decision regarding this life in …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

A Study Into The Psychology Of Emotions, Dark Comedy, And Theatre Of The Absurd: Ghosted An Original Script, Courtney Bronson

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Imagine a world without emotions. Ghosted is an eleven-part dark comedy script inspired by The Giver, Clue, Knives Out: Glass Onion, and Inside Out. The script explores the consequences of a dystopian, government-controlled society that has eradicated emotions in the name of order. The script blends dark comedy with elements of Theatre of the Absurd to highlight the farcical nature and danger of emotional suppression. Drawing on research in emotional psychology and emotional dysregulation, Ghosted presents emotions as incorporeal “Emotion Ghosts” that possess five volunteers and unleash unpredictable chaos. When one volunteer ends up dead, the remaining members begin to …

Call And Response : Experiments In Storytelling, Deanne Fernandes

Masters Theses

Being part of RISD's inaugural Masters of Illustration cohort has been an immense honor. This journey has been nothing short of transformative and healing, as it has allowed me to unearth layers of self-discovery through my creative practice.

In my thesis, I introduce a fresh research methodology rooted in the principles of call and response, with adaptability, creativity, and storytelling as its foundational pillars. Through the lenses of visual storytelling, experimental animation, graphic journalism, and fictional world-building, I demonstrate how these techniques can effectively bridge the gap between theory and practice. This dynamic approach fosters meaningful connections among diverse perspectives …

With Love, ; An Interdisciplinary And Intersectional Look At Why Creativity Is Essential, Theo Starr Gardner

Whittier Scholars Program

My Whittier Scholars Program self-designed major, Teaching Creativity, is a mixture of Art, Literature, and Education classes. My research and praxis classes have been focused on the ‘how?’s and 'why?’s of creativity, so it felt only right that my project should be a constructivist, generative project. The project I have been working on throughout my time at Whittier, and that has just fully come to fruition on April 11th, 2024, was a solo art gallery/open mic event entitled ‘With Love,’. With Love, was conceptually inspired by the research I’ve conducted on creativity and creative arts education over the past few …

Reflecting On Academic Freedom Through Fiction: A Theatrical Exploration Of The Blurry Contours Of The Freedom To Teach, Julie Paquin, Maude Choko

The Qualitative Report

This article aims at exploring the contribution that creative forms of research can make to the study of a little-known aspect of academic freedom in the Canadian context – academic freedom in curriculum development. It seeks to address the methodological challenge posed by research on academic freedom, that is, the fact that any academic writing on this topic necessarily draws initially, though not exclusively, from the researchers’ own experiences and perspectives. The article brings to life a fictional faculty meeting, during which questions about academic freedom in teaching are discussed. Although this meeting is the product of our imagination, its …

Sandstorm Spring 2022, Leslie Malland

Sandstorm: A Journal of Arts and Letters

Full Manuscript

100 Million, Cade Scott

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alec, an 18-year-old filmmaker, decides to bunk with a group of TikTok stars in a mansion in the suburbs of LA in hopes of becoming as famous as them one day. But, he soon finds out that they plan to keep him behind the scenes. Forced to continue helping them film and post their videos, he starts witnessing shady events involving his step-brother, Kevin. The events reach a crescendo when some of the TikTok stars accidentally disappear. Alec investigates and discovers a sinister plot, and then he finds himself in a fight for his life. Which ends with him narrowly …

Beneath The Surface: A Memory Play On Asperger's Syndrome, Conner Case

Senior Honors Theses

While academic, formal research proves to give readers an intellectual understanding of Asperger’s syndrome, this thesis serves as an approach to understanding the psychology of an Aspie on an emotional level. Through both research from peer-reviewed studies and the personal perception of an Aspie writer, a playwright develops a script inspired by the psychological aspects of Tennessee Williams’ memory play, The Glass Menagerie, to create an informative, yet engaging story about an Aspie protagonist. The playwright seeks to express that Aspies, despite their stereotypically cold exteriors, are emotionally complex individuals beneath the surface.

This Effeminate Stranger: Dionysus' Gender In Translation And Performance, August Guszkowski

Independent Student Projects and Publications

This Effeminate Stranger: Dionysus’ Gender in Translation and Performance explores the possible interpretation of the character of Dionysus in Euripides’ Bacchae as genderqueer, specifically nonbinary. The project consists of a translation of the Bacchae from Ancient Greek into English which pays special attention to instances where Dionysus’ character is treated as somewhere between or outside of the traditional male-female gender binary, including placing emphasis on the god’s “effeminate” appearance and ability to influence other people to act across gendered lines. The groundbreaking translation refers to Dionysus with they/them pronouns rather than the traditional he/him and embraces this surprisingly well-evidenced reading …

Dungeons And Devised Theatre: A Study Of Tabletop Gaming And Its Application In Playwriting And Character Development, Sabrina E. Becker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the connections and application of tabletop gaming in theatre. It looks at the initial process that was used in devising a play from tabletop gaming and also the applications of using tabletop gaming to further character development. This paper serves as a journal of first-hand accounts and interviews during this process so you may be inspired to build your own process either based in what you read here or discovering your own. There is a sample excerpt of the play to show what can be accomplished as well as other artistic works that came …

Aligning Assessments With Course Outcomes, Carol Damgen, Carol L. Damgen

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This reflection is based on an educational assignment from my Oral Interpretation of Literature course at California State University, San Bernardino, May 2019.

A consistent focus and goal for me as an educator is to align assessments with course outcomes.

The learning outcome for this class session focused on the cognitive approach- “students will develop the skills to communicate an oral interpretation of literature to an audience with believability, dramatic action and honesty.”

The intention of this class period was for my students to clearly understand the difference between acting, reading and oral interpretation. Oral Interpretation is a type of …

Rained In: An Original Musical, Naomi Krizner

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This musical confronts the perception of mental illness in an allegorical story that recounts an encounter between Tate, an estranged man inhabiting a cave who is taunted by two demons, and Emsley, a young girl brimming with innocence and curiosity.

Decolonizing Playwriting Through Indigenous Ceremonial Performances, Jay B. Muskett

Theatre & Dance ETDs

This dissertation attempts to express the importance of storytelling within the Indigenous Theater framework. It does so by first analyzing the progression of the writer’s unique upbringing and analyzing the influences of story upon an indigenous identity. I will also attempt to describe the aesthetics of Native Theater along two lines of methodology which includes praxis described and developed by Hanay Geiogamah and Rolland Meinholtz. I will also explain how the script 1n2ian tries to follow those concepts of Native Theater to create a ceremonial performance that uses a blending of both methodologies.

Lifeline: Making The Personal Experience Theatrical, Nat Texler

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

Using Practice as Research (PaR) as a methodology, this artefact-exegesis investigates how personal experiences are made theatrical from the perspective of the playwright. Beginning as an example of verbatim theatre, and evolving to become a thriller, the artefact Lifeline provides a specimen of transformation for this project. The exegesis examines uses of material thinking in finding extremes in experiences which become sources of form and content. The research proposes that any limits of the verbatim approach in the context of Lifeline’s material are overcome by allowing preoccupations drawn from other areas of the playwright’s interest to influence creative direction, including …

Dialogues On Voluntary Action And New Commons, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This volume contains a suite of seven one-act plays originating in political and civic themes, voluntary action and new commons, and associated with the 2012 President election.

Waiting, Jennifer Nesbitt

Theatre Student Works

The play Waiting, looks at two couples who are presently waiting for a next big thing, so much that they are taking for granted what is happening in the present and this causes conflict; evermoreso, when the one you’re waiting for is not aware that you’re waiting.

Thinking Before You Act: A Constructive Logic Approach To Crafting Performance-For- Development Narrative, Angela Duggins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this thesis was to test the feasibility of constructing performance-for-development narrative using a constructive logic approach. I created an equation which expressed the sum of non-human-elements as the sum of a narrative with each element serving as a variable. I used a review of persuasion literature to provide insight into the selection and manipulation of each variable. I provided my family as a hypothetical example and used my knowledge of their preferences and communication styles in conjunction with the literature and the equation to craft a narrative which might increase pro-school attitudes in other families like my …

Behind Valencia: A Contemporary Play, Emily Charbonneau

Honors Projects in English and Cultural Studies

SYNOPSIS The purpose of this play is to highlight the length that modern females go to in order to maintain a desired appearance, especially across social media. These desired appearances are influenced by the glamorous and unrealistic looks and physiques that are prevalent in the media. Essentially, the primary goal of these characters is to attract the attention of their male counterparts because of the gender roles society promotes. This shallow lifestyle can be completely consuming for impressionable, young females.

Hypotheticals, Mirielle Smith

The Anthology

A prose story

Hermes In The Anthropocene: A Dogologue, Karen Malpede

Animal Sentience

In this dogologue, a writer and the dog who sits near her desk as she works speak. The dog is concerned about the fate of the world in the hands of humans. His urgent questions send the writer into the world of her own memories when she was a child alone with a horse in nature.

Fingerpaint: A Drama In Two Acts, Audrey A. Moore

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis is a creative original work taking the form on a two-act drama entitled Fingerpaint. It follows the story of a twenty-two year old artist named Sandy and her older brother, John, who want to paint a city mural as a memorial for their uncle. The primary theme revolves around the idea of finding beauty in tension. This theme is developed as Sandy, an idealist, is forced to deal with difficult situations that will ultimately change the way she approaches life and art.

Choose Your Own Oz, Tommy R. Jamerson Ii

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Announcing Tdf's First Creative Writers' Festival Poster, Department Of Theatre, Dance & Film

Promotional Materials

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Smith Center Green Room

Announcing TDF's first Creative Writers' Festival

Friday, May 2, 2014, 8pm

Elsie: A Screenplay, Eileen M. Spath

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Elsie is a 57 page, one-hour screenplay. A modern adaptation of a true story, Elsie tells the tale of Elsie Whitman, a young housewife unhappy in her marriage and looking for a way out. When her estranged sister arrives, she finally finds the strength to do the unthinkable.

Our story opens with the arrival of Elsie's sister, Marianne, and the departure of her husband, John. Alone in the house together, the sisters relationship grows complex. Marianne begins to see Peter, a young man with a mysterious past. However, when Elsie is wronged by John, she jumps into bed with Peter. …

How To Be Alice: A Feature-Length Screenplay With Production Package, Alison Joy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This Capstone consists of a feature-length dramatic screenplay of 110 pages along with a production package including schedule and budget. The production documents, created using Movie Magic software, detail a shooting schedule of 21 days and a budget of $890,979.

The film centers on a successful magazine editor who loses her job and her fiancé in the same day. Professionally disgraced, financially stunted, and unexpectedly hearbroken, she is forced to take on a “How To” blogging gig to pay the bills while she gets back on her feet. She begrudgingly accepts mentorship from an eccentric older neighbor to help her …

The Next Meeting For Tdf's New Creative Writers' Festival Poster, Department Of Theatre, Dance & Film

Promotional Materials

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Bowab Studio Theatre

The next meeting for TDF's new Creative Writers' Festival

Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 6pm

Organizational Meeting For Tdf's New Creative Writers' Festival Poster, Department Of Theatre, Dance & Film

Promotional Materials

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Bowab Studio Theatre

Organizational meeting for TDF's new Creative Writers' Festival

Tuesday, March 25, 2014, 4:30pm