Theatre History Commons^™

The Art Of Adaptation, Katharine E. Jordan

Honors Theses and Capstones

My honors thesis The Art of Adaptation discusses the process of adapting old stories and theatrical pieces for modern audiences through the exploration of various adaptations (theatrical, operatic, dance and film) of Euripides' Medea. It also touches on my own short, modern, adaptation; FURY: A Rock Musical Inspired by Medea. All of this research was important in making the performance aspect of my capstone the best it could be.

After The Fall, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012-2013 Season

In the early stages of a new love, paralyzing memories of past relationships haunt Quentin, a liberal New York attorney who questions his own ability to truly connect with the women in his life. Arthur Miller’s most personal and autobiographical play, After the Fall, unflinchingly tackles the emotional brutality that can unfold within a marriage, against a national backdrop of McCarthyism and the commodification of celebrity. In doing so, Miller unravels the political complications in personal relationships while exposing the personal consequences of big-issue politics.

https://stageagent.com/shows/play/5665/after-the-fall

Godspell

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2013 performance of Godspell by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak.

Gospell is a musical telling the parables and life of Jesus found in the gospel of Matthew.

Sheridan's Promising Tale Is Half Told, Ian Kilroy

Articles

Review of 'Break a Leg', the memoir by Irish theatre artist Peter Sheridan. First published in the Sunday Business Post Magazine.

Creating The Role Of Nicia In The Mandrake, Robert T. Krueger

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This document is a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre. It is a detailed account of author Robert Krueger's artistic process in creating the role of Nicia in Minnesota State University, Mankato's production of The Mandrake in the fall of 2012. The thesis chronicles the actor's artistic process from pre-production through performance in five chapters: a pre-production analysis, a historical and critical perspective, a rehearsal and performance journal, a post-production analysis and a process development analysis. Appendices and works cited are included.

Romeo & Juliet

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2012 performance of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy about two young lovers from feuding families and how their relationship and deaths reconcile their families.

Spring Awakening, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012-2013 Season

Based on Frank Wedekind’s groundbreaking and controversial play (once banned in Germany), Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s brilliant rock score and searingly emotional book take the story of sexual awakening, youth revolt, and self-discovery into a new century. It’s 1891, and grown-ups hold all the cards. Headstrong Melchior and naive Wendla stumble into each others’ arms, passionate and curious, while anxious Moritz struggles to live up to the stringent expectations of society. With only each other for guidance, this group of young men and women travel the fraught and rocky path of adolescence, discovering their bodies, their minds, and themselves …

The Fight Master, Fall 2012, Vol. 34 Issue 2, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

But Not Destroyed: The Story Of Calvin Fairbank

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2012 performance of But Not Destroyed: The Story of Calvin Fairbank by William Gebby.

But Not Destroyed tells the story of Calvin Fairbank who was among forty-four persons imprisoned in the Kentucky State Penitentiary for the crime of helping African-Americans escape from slavery.

Performed by the Taylor Touring Company.

Waiting For Godot

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2012 performance of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

Waiting for Gadot is the story of two men and their conversations as they wait for someone named Gadot, who never arrives.

Noises Off, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012-2013 Season

Michael Frayn's Noises Off takes a fond look at the follies of theatre folk, whose susceptibility to out-of-control egos, memory loss, and passionate affairs turn every performance into a high-risk adventure. This play-within-a-play captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of Nothing On in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance, and a performance towards the end of a debilitating run. Frayne gives us a window into the inner workings of theatre behind the scenes, progressing from flubbed lines and missed cues in the dress rehearsal to mounting friction between cast members in the final performance. Brimming with slapstick comedy, Noises …

Something's Afoot: A New Murder Mystery Musical, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012 Summer Theatre

Something's Afoot is a murder mystery musical that spoofs detective stories, mainly the works of Agatha Christie, and especially her detective novel And Then There Were None (a.k.a. Ten Little Indians). The play involves a group of people who are invited to the lake estate of Lord Dudley Rancour, When the wealthy lord is found dead, it's a race against the clock to find out whodunnit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something%27s_Afoot

Barefoot In The Park, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012 Summer Theatre

What happens when two very different people fall in love? Paul likes to wear his gloves in the winter and Corie wants to walk barefoot in the park. Mix in the crazy neighbors upstairs, Victor Velasco, who "wears Japanese kimonos and sleeps on rugs" and Corie's mother who "wears a hairnet and sleeps on a board" and expect some complications. Set in 1963, Barefoot in the Park captures the tension between the freedom of the burgeoning 60's and the conventions of the waning 50's. Corie and Victor are pre-hippies, attuned to their libidos and their desire for freedom and adventure. …

Circle Mirror Transformation, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2012 Summer Theatre

A sharply funny new play by emerging playwright Annie Baker, Circle Mirror Transformation follows five people through a summer of "creative drama" in their small town's adult acting class. Led by their bohemian acting coach, the five experiment with harmless theatre games that unexpectedly lead to poignant discoveries about themselves and each other. At turns, surprisingly funny and subtly insightful, this revealing play reminds us why theatre is the most human of all arts.

Noises Off

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2012 performance of Noises Off by Michael Frayn.

Noises Off is a farce involving the small cast of a play and how their offstage drama impacts their onstage drama.

Power And Relationships In The Plays Of Neil Labute: Directing And Performing In Some Girl(S), Mary Peyton Griffith

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the major works of Neil LaBute's career as a playwright and screenwriter, including the criticism he has received on theatrical and literary levels. The themes most prevalent in the thesis are the use of power and manipulation in the relationships between LaBute's characters and the ongoing maturation of his characters that coincides with the maturation of his work. The second section of the thesis follows the production, directing, and acting in LaBute's play Some Girl(s).

The Fight Master, Spring 2012, Vol. 34 Issue 1, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

"Spectacular Opacities": The Hyers Sisters' Performances Of Respectability And Resistance, Jocelyn Buckner

Theatre Faculty Articles and Research

This essay analyzes the Hyers Sisters, a Reconstruction-era African American sister act, and their radical efforts to transcend social limits of gender, class, and race in their early concert careers and three major productions, Out of Bondage and Peculiar Sam, or The Underground Railroad, two slavery-to-freedom epics, and Urlina, the African Princess, the first known African American play set in Africa. At a time when serious, realistic roles and romantic plotlines featuring black actors were nearly nonexistent due to the country’s appetite for stereotypical caricatures, the Hyers Sisters used gender passing to perform opposite one another as heterosexual lovers in …

Carnival!, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2011-2012 Season

Lili, a lonely orphan, is enchanted with a traveling carnival troupe. She finally gets to join the troupe and ends up working with the puppet act. Meanwhile, both the puppeteer, Paul, and the magician, Marco the Magnificent, have fallen in love with Lili. The two men engage in a fierce rivalry for Lili’s affections. In the end, Lili chooses Paul and they live happily ever after.

https://stageagent.com/shows/musical/2440/carnival

A Christmas Carol: The Musical

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2011 performance of A Christmas Carol, based on the story by Charles Dickens. Music by Alan Menken, book by Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens.

A Christmas Carol tells the story of elderly miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Through the encounters Scrooge is transformed into a kinder man.

The Fight Master, Fall 2011, Vol. 33 Issue 2, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

August: Osage County, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2011-2012 Season

Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best New Play, August: Osage County centers around the Weston family, brought together after their patriarch, world-class poet and alcoholic Beverly Weston, disappears. The matriarch, Violet, depressed and addicted to pain pills and “truth-telling,” is joined by her three daughters and their problematic lovers, who harbor their own deep secrets, her sister Mattie Fae and her family, well-trained in the Weston family art of cruelty, and finally, the observer of the chaos, the young Cheyenne housekeeper Johnna, who was hired by Beverly just before his disappearance. Holed up in the …

The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2011 performance of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is a parody in which all of Shakespeare’s plays are performed in merged and/or condensed form by three actors. The actors use their real names, interact with the audience, and at times improvise as they go through the plays.

Los Exilios De Els Joglars, Sharon G. Feldman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

Quizàs no hay ninguna otra compañía teatral en el Estado español que se haya inspirado tanto en las encrucijadas ambivalentes del mundo del espectáculo con la vida real -especialmente, la vida política catalana- como Els Joglars. A lo largo de SU trayectoria de más de cincuenta años, Albert Boadella y su compañía no han dado nunca la espalda a la política; al contrario, han ido modificando sus valores estéticos de manera gradual, ajustando su punto de ataque según las cuestiones políticas mas apasionantes y ardientes de cualquier momento dado. Els Joglars siempre han dejado que lo político despierte e invada …

The Fight Master, Spring 2011, Vol. 33 Issue 1, The Society Of American Fight Directors

Fight Master Magazine

No abstract provided.

Witness For The Prosecution

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2011 performance of Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie.

Witness for the Prosecution tells the story of a trial of a man named Leonard Vole for the murder of a wealthy older woman who made him her principle heir. During the trial his wife, Romaine, comes to testify not in his defense, but on the side of the prosecution.

A Doll's House, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2010-2011 Season

Ibsen's A Doll's House is a revolutionary classic. The play was integral in establishing realism as a theatrical form, and continues to be a provocative portrayal of a woman suffering in a man's world.

https://stageagent.com/shows/play/2344/a-dolls-house

The Count Of Monte Cristo

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 2011 performance of The Count of Monte Cristo, adapted by Charles Morey from the novel by Alexandre Dumas.

The Count of Monte Cristo is the story of Edmond Dantès, who is falsely accused of treason and is sent to prison. He and a fellow prisoner escape and discover a treasure, he returns as the Count of Monte Cristo to take revenge on the men who framed him.

A Penitent Prepares: Affect, Contrition, And Tears, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

This essay draws upon a poetic and devotional texts from late medieval Spain to show how public displays of emotion (weeping, in particular) during penitential processions could be learned and prepared for in advance.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 2010 performance of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.

A Streetcar Named Desire follows the story of southern belle, Blanche DuBois, who has gone through a series of personal losses and moves in with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley in a dilapidated New Orleans tenement.