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Full-Text Articles in Theatre History

A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder, Otterbein Theatre And Dance Department Sep 2021

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 May 2021

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 – …


Thomas Middleton And The Plural Politics Of Jacobean Drama, Mark Kaethler May 2021

Thomas Middleton And The Plural Politics Of Jacobean Drama, Mark Kaethler

Late Tudor and Stuart Drama

Thomas Middleton and the Plural Politics of Jacobean Drama represents the first sustained study of Middleton's dramatic works as responses to James I's governance. Through examining Middleton’s poiesis in relation to the political theology of Jacobean London, Kaethler explores early forms of free speech, namely parrhēsia, and rhetorical devices, such as irony and allegory, to elucidate the ways in which Middleton’s plural art exposes the limitations of the monarch’s sovereign image. By drawing upon earlier forms of dramatic intervention, James’s writings, and popular literature that blossomed during the Jacobean period, including news pamphlets, the book surveys a selection of …


[Re]Fashioning A Means: Exploring And Adapting Anna Cora Mowatt's Fashion Through A Feminist Lens., Jordan Tudor Haggard May 2021

[Re]Fashioning A Means: Exploring And Adapting Anna Cora Mowatt's Fashion Through A Feminist Lens., Jordan Tudor Haggard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This MFA thesis explores gender representation in Anna Cora Mowatt’s Fashion (1845) and the adaptation [Re]Fashion presented by the University of Louisville’s Department of Theatre Arts in Spring 2021. Directed by Dr. J. Ariadne Calvano, University of Louisville faculty, staff, and students worked together to repurpose the script for a modern audience. Cast as the governess, Gertrude, I aimed to find truth in my character without ignoring the social prescriptions of mid-19th-century America. Gertrude values purity and honesty, virtues considered innately feminine by the period’s cultural feminists. I argue that Fashion is a cultural feminist work and Gertrude …


The Arena Players, Inc.: The Oldest Continuously Operating African American Community Theatre In The United States, Alexis Michelle Skinner Mar 2021

The Arena Players, Inc.: The Oldest Continuously Operating African American Community Theatre In The United States, Alexis Michelle Skinner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Hay (1994) gave the Arena Players the moniker, “the oldest continuously operating African American community theatre company” in the U.S. But, if Black Theatre is increasingly found in mainstream venues in regional theatre and Broadway while Black Drama is relegated to syllabi, where is the living practice of African American, or black, community theatre? And what guarantees its survival? Craig (1980) and Fraden (1994) give voice to black critics, like Locke (1925), in co-creating objectives for black theatre during the FTP which took stage as the Negro Little Theatre continued. Hill & Hatch (2003) solidify the geographical and ideological connections …


On Mochizuki: Interview With Mikata Shizuka And Udaka Tatsushige, Diego Pellecchia, Rebecca Teele Ogamo Feb 2021

On Mochizuki: Interview With Mikata Shizuka And Udaka Tatsushige, Diego Pellecchia, Rebecca Teele Ogamo

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.


Guise And Disguise: Nō Costumes In The Context Of Cultural Norms, Monica Bethe Feb 2021

Guise And Disguise: Nō Costumes In The Context Of Cultural Norms, Monica Bethe

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.


Introducing Genzai Nō: Categorization And Conventions, With A Focus On Ataka And Mochizuki, Diego Pellecchia Feb 2021

Introducing Genzai Nō: Categorization And Conventions, With A Focus On Ataka And Mochizuki, Diego Pellecchia

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.


Mochizuki: History And Context, Michael Watson Feb 2021

Mochizuki: History And Context, Michael Watson

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.


From Ataka To Kanjinchō: Adaptation Of Text And Performance In A Nineteenth-Century Nō-Derived Kabuki Play, Katherine Saltzman-Li Feb 2021

From Ataka To Kanjinchō: Adaptation Of Text And Performance In A Nineteenth-Century Nō-Derived Kabuki Play, Katherine Saltzman-Li

Mime Journal

Nō techniques and play borrowings provided important infusions into kabuki throughout its history, but in the nineteenth century, a genre of kabuki plays in close imitation of nō or kyōgen wasadded to the kabuki repertoire. The genre came to be called matsubamemono, meaning “[nō/kyōgen-derived kabuki] plays [performed] on a stage with a pine painted on the back wall” or “pine-boardplays.”1 These plays are the focus of this article, in which I first introduce the genre and its place in kabuki history, and then discuss its most famous example, the play Kanjinchō (Hattori 17–40; Meisakukabuki zenshū 181–197; Brandon, The Subscription List …


Paragons Of Loyalty On The Japanese Stage, J. Thomas Rimer Feb 2021

Paragons Of Loyalty On The Japanese Stage, J. Thomas Rimer

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.


On Ataka: Interview With Udaka Michishige And Sugi Ichikazu, Diego Pellecchia, Rebecca Teele Ogamo Feb 2021

On Ataka: Interview With Udaka Michishige And Sugi Ichikazu, Diego Pellecchia, Rebecca Teele Ogamo

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.


Cut Song Cabaret: Performing The Replaced, Rewritten, And Recycled Songs Of Musical Theatre, Claire Wilson Jan 2021

Cut Song Cabaret: Performing The Replaced, Rewritten, And Recycled Songs Of Musical Theatre, Claire Wilson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In musical theatre, “cut songs” are the pieces of music that are removed from a show, whether the cut occur in the early creative stages, a pre-Broadway run, minutes before opening night, or even for a major revival years after its initial debut. These songs easily go unnoticed, as some are never made public while some are sneakily recycled for other musicals. Cut songs, though greatly varying in quality, are still works of art that at one time fulfilled their sacred duty of entertaining an audience and required just as much artistic effort to produce as the songs that survived …


Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar: Creative Expression, Kathleen Potts Jan 2021

Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar: Creative Expression, Kathleen Potts

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for a Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar (FIQWS) content section on American Musical Theatre. FIQWS is a six-credit courses taught by two instructors that combines a specific topic and an intensive writing seminar.


Harlots And Hooligans: The Representation Of Women In Hogarth’S Strolling Actresses Dressing In A Barn (1738), Hannah Arnold Jan 2021

Harlots And Hooligans: The Representation Of Women In Hogarth’S Strolling Actresses Dressing In A Barn (1738), Hannah Arnold

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Licensing Act egregiously hindered the English theatrical community when it was placed into effect by King George II in 1737. Strolling actors were thereby forbidden to perform in new plays for profit, forcing acting troupes to disband. This act was widely protested throughout England at the time, most notably by artist William Hogarth in his etching titled Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn. This etching cleverly protests the Licensing Act as well as a myriad of quandaries that plagued 18th-century English society, namely, gender roles both on and off the stage. Yet, what exactly is the …


The Well-Made Man: An Exploration Of George Tesman In Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Ryan Ernst Jan 2021

The Well-Made Man: An Exploration Of George Tesman In Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Ryan Ernst

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Hedda Gabler is one of the best-known works of Realism theatre, and the character, Hedda, is a showcase of dynamic and challenging work; but her husband, George Tesman, rarely, if ever, is showcased. Here I explain why George’s character deserves more attention and actually makes for a better protagonist than Hedda. Textual analysis shows the absence of the play’s parental figures and a rubber band metaphor illustrates how all the characters are con-nected to each other. The misconceptions and subtext concerning George: a social filtering mechanism, perception of character, George’s selflessness, how he is made fun of, the heart compared …


The Federal Theatre Project: A Model For Contemporary Lessons In Theatrical Accessibility, Lindsey Falgoust Nov 2020

The Federal Theatre Project: A Model For Contemporary Lessons In Theatrical Accessibility, Lindsey Falgoust

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This thesis explores the methods of the Federal Theatre Project to define and develop accessibility in the theatre and how the contemporary theatre landscape can take these efforts to serve as a lesson and develop a new approach for progressing representation and accessibility. There are many instances of theatres utilizing certain practices from the FTP; however, this thesis demonstrates the need for an all-encompassing adoption of FTP methods by the American theatre community at large. It will serve as a suggestion for the redefining process of the American theatre industry to expand its audience to equally serve the country’s diverse …


Reframing The Family Portrait: The Surrogate Mother In U.S. Theatre And Film 1939–1963, Alison Walls Sep 2020

Reframing The Family Portrait: The Surrogate Mother In U.S. Theatre And Film 1939–1963, Alison Walls

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Reframing the Family Portrait: The Surrogate Mother in U.S. Theatre and Film, 1939–1963 investigates the U.S. plays, films, and musicals of this period that abound with heroines who mother children to whom they are not genetically tied. This dissertation asks why such a figure was so resonant in this era between the beginning of World War II and the emergence of more radical 1960s politics. Newly in the spotlight as a romantic protagonist, the “surrogate mother,” as I have chosen to call her, re-envisions the archetypal mother through a contemporizing lens, distinctive in her mother/not-mother status. Critical analysis of Penny …


Performing Mystical Union In Mechthild Of Magdeburg’S The Flowing Light Of The Godhead, Jessi C. Piggott May 2020

Performing Mystical Union In Mechthild Of Magdeburg’S The Flowing Light Of The Godhead, Jessi C. Piggott

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Thirteenth-century mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg characterizes her revelations not as visions but as greetings, a term she uses to encompass gestures, verbal exchanges, and experiences perceived through multiple senses. Mechthild’s mysticism is thus best understood as a series of scenarios, the embodied nature of which cannot be fully contained by text. Using a performance studies approach, this paper identifies the traces of performance—textual prompts inextricable from their (explicit or implied, real or imagined) completion in physical and vocal acts—that can be found throughout Mechthild’s Flowing Light of the Godhead. How does Mechthild’s use of performance repertoires convey the mystical …


Female Leaders Navigate The Arts, Post 'Me Too', Peyton Kennedy May 2020

Female Leaders Navigate The Arts, Post 'Me Too', Peyton Kennedy

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

As the lights dim and the curtain rises on a theatrical production, there are roles to fill onstage and off. Perhaps the most important roles in modern theatre are those of leadership. Leaders in the arts have the power to influence company communication, shape the culture of the rehearsal room and navigate through a crisis. However, leadership and power can be manipulated, as the world witnessed through the ‘me too’ movement. As allegations rose against prominent leaders, the push for change strengthened. We are now three years past Hollywood’s ignition of the ‘me too’ movement, which prompts the question: have …


Convents And Novices In Early Modern English Dramatic Works: In Medias Res, Vanessa L. Rapatz Apr 2020

Convents And Novices In Early Modern English Dramatic Works: In Medias Res, Vanessa L. Rapatz

Late Tudor and Stuart Drama

Convents and Novices in Early Modern English Dramatic Texts: In Medias Res attends to the religious, social, and material changes in England during the century following the Reformation, specifically examining how the English came to terms with the meanings of convents and novices even after they disappeared from the physical and social landscape. In five chapters, it traces convents and novices across a range of dramatic texts that refuse easy generic classification: problem plays such as Shakespeare's Measure for Measure; Marlowe's comic tragedy The Jew of Malta; Margaret Cavendish's closet dramas The Convent of Pleasure and The Religious …


Political Theatre: Entertainment Or Instrument Of Social Change?, Olivia M. Matthews Apr 2020

Political Theatre: Entertainment Or Instrument Of Social Change?, Olivia M. Matthews

Senior Theses

This paper explores political theatre as a means of conveying information and inspiring action regarding socio-political issues. Through a staged reading of The Exonerated, and subsequent audience discussion and survey, the effectiveness of theatre as a means of commenting on political problems was explored. The conclusion was reached that theatre is uniquely suited for this role due to the emotional human connection forged by seeing examples of real people dealing with the addressed issues.


The Relationship Between Lgbtq+ Representation On The Political And Theatrical Stages, Brett V. Ries Apr 2020

The Relationship Between Lgbtq+ Representation On The Political And Theatrical Stages, Brett V. Ries

Honors Thesis

This thesis examines the relationship between LGBTQ+ representation on the political and theatrical stages. During some decades, LGBTQ+ theatre was dictated by the politics of the time period. During other times, theatre educated and filled the silence when the government and society turned the other way. By examining LGBTQ+ plays, musicals, and political events over the past century, there are clear themes that emerge. In both the theatrical and political arenas, LGBTQ+ representation has been limited by a concept called “repressive tolerance.” Every step of progress has been met with another restriction, ranging from stereotypical caricatures to legal discrimination. In …


Sarah Kane's Post-Christian Spirituality In Cleansed, Elba Sanchez Jan 2020

Sarah Kane's Post-Christian Spirituality In Cleansed, Elba Sanchez

All Master's Theses

The existing scholarship on the work of British playwright Sarah Kane mostly focuses on exploring the use of extreme acts of violence in her plays. However, few scholars like Dr. Graham Saunders and Anabelle Singer can trace it back to the rejection of her Christian beliefs during her adolescence. This thesis explores how Kane used violence and images of impalement, dismemberment, and cross-dressing in her third play, Cleansed as a vehicle to examine and validate her notions of gender and sexuality as well as her developing post-Christian spirituality. Through the critical textual analysis of Cleansed in conjunction with scholarly literature …


Rewriting Greek Tragedies As Immigrant Stories, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner Jul 2019

Rewriting Greek Tragedies As Immigrant Stories, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

In this piece originally published in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner writes about Mojada, Luis Alfaro's adaptation of the Greek tragedy, Medea. Mojada is part of a trilogy from Alfaro that attempts to bring his Latino community into modern theater by writing them into classical plays.


Las Seis Dimensiones De La Ciencia Ficción Española, Miguel A. Fernández Delgado Mafd Jun 2019

Las Seis Dimensiones De La Ciencia Ficción Española, Miguel A. Fernández Delgado Mafd

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Reseña de Historia de la ciencia ficción en la cultura española, editada por Teresa López-Pellisa. Madrid: Iberoamericana, Vervuert, La Casa de la Riqueza, Estudios de la Cultura de España 44, 2018. 523p; la cual aborda la historia de la literatura, el teatro, el cine, la televisión, la poesía y la narrativa gráfica en España


Decolonizing Playwriting Through Indigenous Ceremonial Performances, Jay B. Muskett May 2019

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.


"Playhouse Creatures:" A Study Of Restoration Actresses, Emily Laplante May 2019

"Playhouse Creatures:" A Study Of Restoration Actresses, Emily Laplante

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Creatures. Women. Actresses. We are here because of women like Mary Betterton, Doll Common, Nell Gwyn, Elizabeth Farley, and Rebecca Marshall. Theatre is about telling stories. Their story is a timeless one: of suffering, resilience, dedication, love, and comradery. Actresses were first permitted by royal decree to act upon the stage in 1669 by King Charles II of England. This decree created a spark within the playhouses to see actresses in the flesh perform. With this came a ripple effect of a host of expectations and suppression. This Honors Capstone is a comprehensive look into the themes of April De …


The Mixed Reception Of The Hamilton Premiere In Puerto Rico, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner Jan 2019

The Mixed Reception Of The Hamilton Premiere In Puerto Rico, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

In this article originally published in The Atlantic, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner wonders about the challenges of premiering the famed Broadway musical, Hamilton, during a time of political discord in the aftermath of 2017's Hurricane Maria, in Puerto Rico.


Dramatic Themes: Active Learning And Thematic Teaching In The Theatre History Classroom, Brandon Lareau Jan 2019

Dramatic Themes: Active Learning And Thematic Teaching In The Theatre History Classroom, Brandon Lareau

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores major texts dealing with pedagogical theory and active learning in the context of a theatre history class. By comparing a class which is taught in the traditional, chronological format relying heavily on lectures to a class taught in a newer, thematic format utilizing active learning the thesis defines what student-centered learning means. Active learning, its benefits, and its implementation are explained and explored, along with the advantages and benefits of teaching thematically instead of chronologically. All of this is applied to a theatre history class in the resulting syllabus in chapter three. The syllabus creates a curriculum …