Playwriting Commons^™

Granted, Emily Weissman

Theses and Dissertations

Granted is an Alice in Wonderland-style psychotic break of a play about trying and explosively failing to dodge the landmines of being an artist–only to become your own worst enemy: a gatekeeper.

Egg Tarts For Evie, Hannah Ko

LMU Theatre Arts Annual New Works Festival

A mother and daughter struggle to connect, facing barriers such as differences in language, culture and personality, ultimately proving that love is a compromise.

Should Tomorrow Mark The Start Of Forever?, Rodrigo Zoratto Assis

LMU Theatre Arts Annual New Works Festival

Should Tomorrow Mark the Start of Forever? is a play about family, memory, love, and the strange performance of becoming yourself. The work follows characters who are trying to tell the truth, even when truth becomes painful, theatrical, funny, or impossible. At its center, the show explores how children inherit stories from their parents, and how those stories shape faith, identity, desire, and belonging. The piece moves between humor and emotional intensity, using performance itself as a way to reveal what people cannot say directly. Brazilian culture, love, spirituality, and the fear of disappointing the people we love all live …

Dodgeballs And Dragons: Gamified Live Theatre In The Service Of Community Betterment, Teddy Mcpherson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis qualifies and documents a new genre of interdisciplinary, interactive theatre called Dodgeballs and Dragons. It covers a brief history of Dungeons and Dragons and Theatre of the Oppressed (the two foundational works for the new genre) as well as previous uses of D&D as a form of theatrical entertainment. After establishing the precedence used to create this product, the rest of the thesis breaks down how to write, lead, and play these shows on a regular basis. The document culminates in collected data providing concrete evidence for the future of the form and its many applications.

Encanto The Musical: An Exploration Of Translating Media From Film To Stage, Isabel Perez-Flores

Whittier Scholars Program

I’m going to be honest: I did not go into this project with the intent of radically changing Encanto. I had some points I wanted to expand upon, some improvements and edits that I felt the film could have utilized, but overall, I was satisfied with the way the story was told. The real change, I’ve come to realize, lies not in the story and the script itself, but in the way the story is told. The obvious change is that this version of Encanto, in an ideal world, would be performed in front of a live audience, in a …

A Very Important Nato Meeting, Elizabeth Johnson

LMU Theatre Arts Annual New Works Festival

A Very Important NATO Meeting is a slapstick farce about the futility of war. Fed up with the United States’ insatiable addiction to proxy conflicts, the rest of NATO calls an intervention to (hopefully) bring about world peace. Spoiler alert: it doesn't work.

Stage Exit, Grady Munroe

LMU Theatre Arts Annual New Works Festival

An acting class struggles to free themselves from the room they are trapped in. Stage Exit is about the absurdity and horrors of being a student of theatre.

An Actor's Approach To Contemporary Theatre, Ethan Harbin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper is a composite of research and reflection in regards to Comemedia dell'arte as well as contemporary theatre. It is a personal exploration of the life and legacy of Aurand Harris. My personal application of the research is documented in this thesis.

Introduction To Theatre Oer Course, Carmen R. Meyers

Open Educational Resources

Study of theatre and performance throughout history and across cultures including an examination of European, Carribean, and North and South American theatrical styles and genres.

This course is organized for a hybrid/asynchronous format. Our class meets on-campus every week for 75 minutes and the other 75 minutes will be completed asynchronously with weekly learning modules on Blackboard.

The first half of the course focuses on the history of theatre from Ancient Greece through Modern Realism. The second half of the course, students engage in the procedures of professional theatre artists through writing and refining a dramatic text; enacting a performance; …

Red Curtain Rivalry, Amy Lytle

Playwriting (MFA) Theses

Two community theaters in the same city are accidentally putting on the same musical at the same time due to a publishing company's error. The members of the dueling troupes have to untangle the mess--the show must go on, of course! Between big misunderstandings, a few shenanigans (or hijinks, as some may say), and a lot of lessons learned, watch as each company battles to win the Red Curtain Rivalry and prove themselves the best production of "A Doll's House: The Musical!" that the community theatre community has ever seen.

Stage Clutter: An Interactive Journey Following A Theater’S Existential Ponderings, Taylor Tsiamas

Scripps Senior Theses

“Stage Clutter” is a devised, interactive theater piece that focuses on accessibility in theater, as well as questioning what theater is by deconstructing the divide between the “audience” and “performer”. The event consisted of audience participation and exploration, as well as solo performance and puppetry, along with other accessibility features. It aims to center community and joy and subvert Western theatrical “norms” in order to help decolonize theater spaces.

The Merit Of Adaptation: An Exploration Of Adaptation In Regard To Sophocles’ Theban Plays And The Role Of Antigone Within The Story, Hogan T. Holt

Theses and Dissertations

The creation of an adaptation is extremely challenging and time-consuming, but with the right tools and inspiration, that task of creation can be eased. By looking at three different adaptations of the Theban plays, the goal of creating a new adaptation of this series of plays can be achieved. At the same time, this adaptation can achieve a goal of highlighting an important character from the original set of plays, Antigone, and give her a role that elevates her to the main protagonist across all three plays, thus allowing the Theban plays to become a more feminine piece that works …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.”

“The Urgent Necessity For More Original Creative Works By Transgender And Gender Expansive Artists" Is Not The Title Of My Thesis., Alicia Fireel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a mix of personal reflection, academic research, and an examination of The Girl Crazy Queer and Other Fairy Tales, a play I wrote and performed in October of 2023, co-produced by The University of Louisville’s Department of Theatre Arts and Pandora Productions, a Louisville-based theatre company dedicated to Queer theatre. This thesis and the play mirror each other; both contemplate Queer experiences, Queer histories, Queer trauma, and Queer stories. In the thesis I accomplish this through examining four subjects: myself, my play, the connection between modes of storytelling and aspects of transgender Queerness, and the perils that …

The Theatre Of Math: The Stage As A Tool For Abstract Math Education, Blaine Hudak

Honors Projects

So often in the education of Mathematics does instruction solely consist of the lecture. While this can be an effective method of communicating the ideas of math, it leaves much to be desired in gathering the interest and intrigue of those who have not dedicated their lives to the study of the subject. Theatre, by contrast, is a tool that has been used in the past as means of teaching complicated and difficult to understand moral and emotional subjects. While Theatre and Mathematics have been used in combination many times in the past, it is most often done in the …

Judged By The Cover, Jay Froio

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Pride And Prejudice: A Modern, Queer Retelling For The Stage, Kate Isabel Foley

Theater Summer Fellows

In the course of studying LGBTQ topics in a queer drama class, I noticed that there was a glaring omission in our readings: the “B.” However, this lack of bisexual representation wasn’t due to a poor syllabus, but to a dismaying lack of bisexual representation in theatre as a whole. This observation, as well as my own experience as a bisexual woman, motivated me to use my love of writing and theatre to fill the void. After performing in Pride and Prejudice at Ursinus, I knew that Jane Austen’s story was the key to me bringing visibility to an underserved, …

Eccentric: Writing Through The Lens Of Empathy, Steven M. Blacksmith

Theatre & Dance ETDs

In this essay, I detail my growth as a writer through different periods of empathic learning. I examine my childhood struggle to understand many common emotions and the ways in which I began to logically dissect and replicate them in life and in art. I further delve into this examination through my discovery of comedy and the lifelong process of understand the deep connections humans make with humor. I then discuss how my understanding of empathy allowed me to write my dissertation play, The Eccentrics, and create a world in which empathy among the characters can be a catalyst …

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.

The 2022 Classroom Project: Land Of Ours, Otterbein Theatre And Dance Department

2021-2022 Season Production

LAND OF OURS is a brand-new play devised in rehearsal by an ensemble of Otterbein University actors, designers, stage managers, and directors. The play explores the centrality of travel and journeying to human experience. Drawing on the ensemble's personal experiences, stories of mythical travel from legend and folklore, and travel explorations invented in rehearsal, LAND OF OURS is a theatrical journey that will transport you beyond the theater walls to a destination of the imagination.

The Sun, The Moon, And The Truth, Sarah Cosgrove Gaumond

Playwriting (MFA) Theses

The Sun, The Moon, and The Truth is a collection of two plays: North Wind and I Lived To Tell. Both plays explore the human condition through differing lenses.

In North Wind, a play deeply rooted in magical realism, a trio of characters search for freedom from the past in a snow-bound Midwestern bar. The dramatic question of North Wind is: How do you move forward when everything you see reminds you of what you’ve lost?

I Lived To Tell, a non-linear play, takes place in the character's imagination. The play's dramatic question is: How does a …

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 …

A Virtuous Woman, Who Can Find?, Ashley Banker

Senior Honors Theses

The contemporary theatre world lacks prominent, virtuous female roles, which are needed to inspire both the actors who play them and the audience members who witness them to emulate their virtuous characteristics. Virtuous characters encourage society to strive for excellence, as well as provide excellent role models for the next generation of young women. From a Christian perspective, a virtuous female role strives to exemplify the traits in Proverbs 31: trustworthy, kind, industrious, selfless, strong, honorable, and God-fearing. The critically-acclaimed plays The Humans and Good People feature prominent female characters who do not exhibit these virtues. Although each play contains …

A Lie Of The Mind, Otterbein Theatre And Dance Department

2021-2022 Season Production

Sam Shepherd, a mastermind of dark humor and powerful drama, out does himself with this story of two dysfunctional families joined by marriage in the American West, each trying to hold on to the ideal picture of stability without ever having experienced it. Jake believes he may have killed his wife, Beth, during a domestic dispute and, to calm his concerns, his brother Frankie attempts to get the real story by traveling to Beth’s family home in Montana. While he is relieved to see Beth alive, though severely injured from the incident, Frankie is suddenly entangled in a bizarre familial …

The Conscience Of Little Women: Beth's Epic, Mcewen Baker

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

From its conception, and through countless retellings, there is no doubt that Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is an American classic that has stood the test of time. Kate Hamill’s stage adaptation affirms and extends this legacy; the playwright adopts a contemporary feminist approach that defies gender norms and exclusivity in casting and encourages an actor-centered approach. This essay explains the importance of this adaptation and its influence on my portrayal of Beth March in Belmont University’s Fall 2021 production. It touches on the often overlooked significance of the second youngest sister as well as how my personal battle with …

A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder, Otterbein Theatre And Dance Department

2021-2022 Season Production

Join us as we celebrate a return to live theater with a very special staged concert version of the show that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. While we are unable to fully realize the elaborate design of this hilarious knock-em-dead musical romp, the script will be performed in full with much of the original cast, and you will not leave without having a hearty laugh. Poor, low-born Monty Navarro is desperate to inherit the dukedom by surpassing no fewer than eight members of the well-to-do D’Ysquith family in line before him. Just wait until …

Language As The Medium: A Literature Review. Harnessing The Prolific Power Of Dramatic Language As A Therapeutic Tool In Drama Therapy, Edward Freeman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Language in and of the theatre, with its palate of variegated writing styles and playwrights from throughout time, has the potential to be harnessed, focused, and systematized for use as a therapeutic tool within drama therapy – the field’s artistic medium. Drama therapy could benefit from having a specific medium germane to its artform which has the potential to provide practitioners with a common resource and means of communication, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning, as well as align the field with other creative arts therapies. Language encompasses all forms of human communication – speaking, writing, signing, gesturing, expressing facially – …