Department: Theatre and Film ![[clear]](close-x.png "Remove this limiter")
39 matches in the database.
These are records: 1 - 30.
[1] [2]
1.
Baker, Vanessa G.
Women's Pilgrimage as Repertoiric Performance: Creating Gender and Spiritual Identity through Ritual.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► Through the spiritual practice of contemporary spirituality, women pilgrims perform and constitute…
(more)
▼ Through the spiritual practice of contemporary spirituality, women pilgrims perform and constitute gendered and spiritual identities in ways that are often highly unorthodox. However, pilgrimage allows participants to re-see religious history, so as to legitimize their alternative identities. In this study, I sought to discover how pilgrims constituted their identities in new ways through pilgrimage. I considered three pilgrimages in particular: a Catholic pilgrimage to Rome in search of the history of women’s ordination, through which the pilgrims re-defined the meaning of bread-breaking and “priestliness”; a mother–daughter journey to Crete, through which the women created new gender roles for themselves as manifestations of the Goddess; and a woman’s experience in a temple in Malta, through which she took on the role of an ancient priestess incubating a healing dream. I analyzed how pilgrims’ performances “make meaning” in three ways. First, I turned to Diana Taylor’s ideas about the archive and the repertoire, and suggested that pilgrims frame their performances as legitimate spiritual practices by situating them within the “orthodoxy” of the archive. However, these pilgrims engage in “performances of challenge” through which they destabilize the archive’s claim to sole interpretive authority. Using the repertoire’s other “ways of knowing,” pilgrims remember or imagine the “past” and connect to their spiritual ancestors. Then, using Judith Butler’s suggestion that performances effectively constitute identity, I claimed that these pilgrims used ritual to constitute identities and knowledge that, although alternative, are not “false,” and which therefore expanded the range of “legitimate” identity performances available to spiritual women. Third, as ritualists such as Tom Driver have suggested, ritual performances are transformative and have the power to effect change. Because they work in a mode of “ritual paradox,” rituals can bring the ideal – the imagined past, pilgrims’ new identities, and the hoped-for future – into the present. As Driver suggested, these ritual performances lead naturally into performances in the “confessional” and “ethical” modes of performance, through which pilgrims claim new identities, challenge patriarchal systems, and work for continued, ongoing transformation of their church and world.
Advisors/Committee Members: Chambers, Jonathan.
Subjects: American studies; Religion; Theater; Womens studies
Keywords: performance studies; pilgrimage; gender studies; ritual; theatre; spirituality; performance of identity; Diana Taylor; Judith Butler; Tom Driver; women's ordination; Crete; Malta; Catholicism; Goddess worship
More Like This
2.
Baker, Vanessa Grace.
RITUAL AS THE WAY TO SPEAK IN DANCING AT LUGHNASA.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► In Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), Brian Friel incorporates dances and Irish and…
(more)
▼ In Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), Brian Friel incorporates dances and Irish and African rituals as a challenge to the centrality of language. Along with silence and characters who exist in the liminal space between strict boundaries, the embodied communications of ritual and dance are able to "speak" by circumventing systems of civility, respectability, and good order. By doing so, they set into unsteady motion that which the controlling forces of colonization and Catholicism accept as most stable. As Friel's characters communicate outside of language, they serve as reminders that, as in Derrida's counterargument to Saussure's binary language structure, carefully ordered binaries are subject to disruption, and that balanced life must function within freedom as well as control. The play is an example of the power of corporeality, and all that lies beyond language itself. When language surrenders to movement, ritual and "wordless ceremony" become, indeed, "the way to speak."
Advisors/Committee Members: Chambers, Jonathan L.
Keywords: Dancing at Lughnasa; Brian Friel; Irish drama; ritual; Derrida; theatre
More Like This
3.
Balsomico, Steven A.
MULTICULTURALISM AND ALIENATION IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE SOCIETY AS SEEN IN THE FILMS OF TAKASHI MIIKE.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► Through his films, Takashi Miike reminds audiences of the diverse populations within…
(more)
▼ Through his films, Takashi Miike reminds audiences of the diverse populations within Japan. He criticizes elements of the Japanese sociological structures that alienate minorities and outcasts. Through the socialization process, Japanese youth learn the importance of “fitting in” and attending to the needs of the group. Clear distinctions of who are “inside” and “outside” are made early on and that which is “outside” is characterized as outcast and forbidden. In three of his films, "Blues Harp," "Dead or Alive," and "Deadly Outlaw: Rekka," Miike includes individuals who have been situated as outsiders. In "Blues Harp," Chuji, due to his obvious heritage, cannot find a place in society, and thus exists on the fringes. In "Dead or Alive," Ryuichi has felt that the country in which he lives has placed him in a disadvantaged status: therefore, he must strike out on his own, attempting to achieve happiness through criminal means. In "Deadly Outlaw: Rekka," Kunisada, an outsider by blood and incarceration, cannot relate to his peers in the world. As a result, he lashes out against the world in violence, becoming an individual who is portrayed as a wild beast. When these outsiders attempt to form their own groups, they often face eventual failure. Their outsider status, and the methods available to them to survive, drives wedges within the groups. They long for a group identity, forming bonds made with fellow outsiders. However, society shatters these bonds, circumstances break the group, and the end is often tragic for all involved. Miike’s films exist as surreal parallels to the real world. Using these dramatic and tragic scenarios as morality tales, Miike shows the need for group formation within Japanese society, beginning at the very early stages of youth, and the consequences of not being a part of a group. Through the tragic end that meets these characters, Miike criticizes this system, illustrating how these outsider characters have been placed into the fringes of society, and though all the long for is some form of happiness and contentment in their lives, they are unable to do so because they do not “fit in.”
Advisors/Committee Members: Shields, Ronald E.
Keywords: Miike Takashi
More Like This
4.
Bernard, Hope Celeste.
Playing (with) Space in The Author on the Wheel.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► On April 18, 1785, Theatre Royal Drury Lane produced a short play…
(more)
▼ On April 18, 1785, Theatre Royal Drury Lane produced a short play entitled The Author on the Wheel, or a Piece Cut in the Green Room. In this dissertation, I explore the play in terms of space: fictional space, factual space, and flying space. I argue that theatre spaces continually shift in definition while transforming both places and identities. After the introduction, I include an annotated version of this never-before-published piece. Using Gay McAuley's taxonomy of spatial function, I analyze The Author on the Wheel both textually and historically. In the first section of analysis, I examine the fictional spaces created in the play; these spaces utilize both backstage theatre spaces as well as theatre audience spaces. In the second section, I describe the factual spaces of Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1785. Through archival evidence, I create a picture of the theatre during this time period and present extant evidence regarding the play and the performance of the play. Finally, I investigate the flying space of The Author on the Wheel. In the play, characters (portraying actors) discuss the act of pelting, the phenomenon of spectators throwing objects (usually fruit) at actors performing on a stage to show disapproval. Using the theory of Ric Knowles and Stuart Hall and building on my first two chapters, I argue that the thrown object effectively moves through both the fictional space and the factual space of The Author on the Wheel and in doing so changes the course of both production and reception. Throughout this study, I argue that though the fictional and factual spaces of the theatre continually shift in identity, it is the audience space that holds the most weight in late eighteenth-century London theatre and in The Author on the Wheel. In both of these instances, the most dramatic performances take place not on the stage but in the house. Using The Author on the Wheel as a case study, I aim to call attention to the ways in which spectators both receive and create meaning in the theatre through the manipulation of space.
Advisors/Committee Members: Shields, Dr. Ronald.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: drury lane; theatre; audience space; performer space
More Like This
5.
Bestul, J. Michael.
CTHULHU LIVES!: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE H.P. LOVECRAFT HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► Despite the rich vein of possibilities for study that tabletop and live-action…
(more)
▼ Despite the rich vein of possibilities for study that tabletop and live-action role-playing games present, few scholars have dug deeply. The goal of this study is to start digging. Operating at the crossroads of art and entertainment, theatre and gaming, work and play, it seeks to add the live-action role-playing game, CTHULHU LIVES, to the discussion of performance studies. By studying the game and the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, one begins to see a unique medium that defies simple classification. Most importantly, this study looks at a performance entity that places “fun” directly at the center of its goals. There is plenty of discussion in general scholarship about performance styles that are political or artistic, or have some grand purpose. What is missing is what is found in this study: a description of CTHULHU LIVES, a performance medium that exists for the grandest of purposes, epic fun
Advisors/Committee Members: Barnette, Jane.
Keywords: CTHULHU; CTHULHU LIVES; Leman; Branney; Keeper
More Like This
6.
Brown, Terri L.
Me and My Shadow: An Exploration of Doppelganger as Found in the Music and Text of Susan Glaspell's The Verge.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► This study explores the use of, and reaction to, the music used…
(more)
▼ This study explores the use of, and reaction to, the music used in Susan Glaspell's The Verge. Through close textual and musical analysis, and by extension, historical investigation, the argument is made that Glaspell's The Verge is a virtual "shadow" play, or doppelganger, of Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffman, from which some of the music is taken. The exploration further contends that through the use of the hymn, Nearer, My God, To Thee, by Lowell Mason and Sarah Flower Adams, Glaspell also extends a vision of gender relations that reaches far beyond Hoffman's misogynistic, patriarchal space insofar as it creates a compellingly powerful religious viewpoint: an embodiment of the Christian Godhead, as a precursor to the late twentieth century social and existential feminist perspective.
Advisors/Committee Members: Chambers, Jonathan.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Susan Glaspell; Doppelganger; The Verge; Tales of Hoffman; First Wave Feminist Movement
More Like This
7.
Connick, Rob.
Rethinking Artaud's Theoretical and Practical Works.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2011, Bowling Green State University
► This study aims to counter the claims that Artaud was a practical…
(more)
▼ This study aims to counter the claims that Artaud was a practical failure and his theoretical writings had little value for theatre practice during his time. I instead argue that Artaud’s body of work shows his dedication to creating a theatre style that would differ drastically from the styles dominating French theatre. I use Artaud’s original texts to determine his Theatre of Cruelty aesthetics and to highlight how much of his work holds practical as well as theoretical value. By doing this, I argue that Artaud’s practical capabilities in theatre should be properly acknowledged and his theoretical contributions be viewed for their applicability to production. This study continues the work of Artaud scholars such as Kimberly Jannarone who have challenged previous portrayals of Artaud by earlier scholars as a failed theatre artist whose theoretical writings are more emblematic of his mental illness than of any practical sensibilities. This study addresses and challenges many of the widely held notions about Artaud concerning his practical works as well as his essays on the plague, cruelty, and non-Western ritual. I argue that while these writings may seem to be disconnected writings, they may be directly connected to practical theatrical concerns. To make these claims, I examine Artaud’s work at the Alfred Jarry Theatre to demonstrate the ways in which aspects of his developing theatre aesthetic are foreshadowed in his practical work while there. I then look at the ways that Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty manifestos can be seen at work in his production of Les Cenci, the only full-length play that he wrote. I connect his writings on “plague” and “cruelty” to established performance tropes and show how Artaud used both of these terms to describe the functionality of his new theatre. Finally, I compare the Balinese dance dramas Artaud witnessed at the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition to his Manifestos on Cruelty to show how Artaud’s arguably unstageable theories had, as a matter of fact, been staged through these performances.
Advisors/Committee Members: Magelssen, Scott.
Subjects: Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies
Keywords: Antonin Artaud; Theatre of Cruelty; French Theatre; Alfred Jarry Theatre; The Cenci; 20th Century Theatre
More Like This
8.
Connick, Robert.
Creating an Audience for Community Theatre: A Case Study of Night of the Living Dead at the Roadhouse Theatre.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► The Roadhouse Theatre for Contemporary Art, located in Erie, Pennsylvania, combines theatre…
(more)
▼ The Roadhouse Theatre for Contemporary Art, located in Erie, Pennsylvania, combines theatre and film as their primary form of artistic development in the Erie community. Through hosting film festivals and adapting film scripts for the stage, the Roadhouse brings cinematic qualities into its theatrical productions in an effort to reach a specific market in Erie. This study focused on the Roadhouse’s production history and highlights one particular work that has developed from there into a production available for national publication and distribution: Lori Allen Ohm’s stage adaptation of Night of the Living Dead. The success of this play provided the Roadhouse with criteria to meet four aspects that Richard Somerset-Ward lists as necessary for successful community theatres. This study examined how Night of the Living Dead developed at the Roadhouse Theatre and the aspects of the script that have made it successful at other theatres across the country. By looking at themes found in the script, I presented an argument for the play’s scholarly relevance. By creating a script with national interest and relevance, Lori Allen Ohm and the Roadhouse Theatre created an historical legacy that established the theatre as one that reached its local audience while also providing something new and worthwhile to American theatre as a whole. George Romero and John Russo’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead provided critics with a means of problematizing many aspects of American society. In 2000, Lori Allen Ohm created a stage adaptation of this film for the Roadhouse Theatre for Contemporary Art in Erie, Pennsylvania. Her script brought out many of these same critiques. For this study, I examined three themes that relate to current American fears: humanity vs. society, humanity vs. technology, and humanity vs. the “other.” I provided examples from previous scholarship on the film for these themes and specified selections from the play script which show these themes at work in the text.
Advisors/Committee Members: Shields, Ronald.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Night of the Living Dead; Lori Allen Ohm; Roadhouse Theatre; Community Theatre
More Like This
9.
Dutt, Hephzibah D.
Big Cheap Mysticism: Postmodernism and Theology in Erik Ehn's The Saint Plays.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► The work of playwright, Erik Ehn, author of the collection, The Saint…
(more)
▼ The work of playwright, Erik Ehn, author of the collection, The Saint Plays, engages the intersection of theatre, postmodernism, and religion. In an attempt to better understand Ehn’s contribution to postmodern theatre, and his engagement with one of theatre’s current challenges (i.e., to make room for religious discourse), this study undertakes a close reading of three of Ehn’s plays in light of his self-declared theology, “Big Cheap Mysticism.” In my thesis I, taking Ehn at his word, explore the possible meanings and presence of the three descriptives, “Big,” “Cheap,” and “Mysticism” in a selection of representative plays from The Saint Plays. In chapter 1, I focus on Ehn’s notion of “Big” by way of a close reading of Tree of Life, Keep Firm. In like manner, in chapter 2 I situate the play, Incide as an exemplar of the concept of “Cheap.” Then, in chapter 3, I discuss Wholly Joan’s as representative of the core of Ehn’s theology, “Mysticism.” In my conclusion, I summarize Ehn’s theology as it can be understood from the reading of Big, Cheap, and Mysticism through the representative scripts. Most importantly however, I consider how Ehn’s theology functions within the larger context of postmodern Christian theology in an attempt to answer the question, “What do artists seeking to represent Christian tradition, narrative or the Divine on the contemporary stage have to gain from Ehn’s work?”
Advisors/Committee Members: Chambers, Dr. Jonathan.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: The Saint Plays; Erik Ehn; Tree of Hope; Keep Firm; Incide; Wholly Joan's; Postmodern Theology; Postmodern Theatre; Religious Theatre; mysticism
More Like This
10.
Edwards, Kurt Alexander.
Billy Graham, Elmer Gantry, and the Performance of a New American Revivalism.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► Throughout Billy Graham's career, the evangelist sought performative manners to ensure that…
(more)
▼ Throughout Billy Graham's career, the evangelist sought performative manners to ensure that he would not be perceived as another "Elmer Gantry," or huckster preacher out to win money, fame, and favor. Graham's intent was to grow a ministry that would form a new performance paradigm for American revivalism. Graham prepared as an actor to use his gifts, train his voice and body, to write a different style of script, to capitalize on celebrity, and to embrace new media forms that would bring his message around the world thus creating a "New" revivalism while at the same time distancing himself from being seen as the character in Sinclair Lewis' novel Elmer Gantry and subsequent Richard Brooks directed movie version of Elmer Gantry starring Burt Lancaster as a Graham-like Gantry.This project reintroduces a familiar figure to recent history and elucidates the social and performative transitions constitutive of Billy Graham's journey to cast himself as a desirable evangelist. Graham's public performance is viewed, specifically from before the Los Angeles crusade of 1949 to Graham's reaction following the Academy Awards when the movie version of Elmer Gantry won three statues (1961). The example of Graham in performance as preacher, as well as the type of evangelical faith he proffered and represented, sheds critical light on the way in which Graham created a new revivalism based on a new performance paradigm.
Advisors/Committee Members: Shields, Ronald.
Subjects: American studies; Biographies; Mass media; Motion Pictures; Religion; Religious congregations; Religious history; Theater
Keywords: performance studies; billy graham; elmer gantry; preaching; religion; richard brooks; burt lancaster; theatre
More Like This
11.
Ellison, Season M.
Towards the Horsewoman: Performing Femininity in the American Horse Training and Riding Arenas.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► In my dissertation, “Towards the Horsewoman: Performing Femininity in the American Horse…
(more)
▼ In my dissertation, “Towards the Horsewoman: Performing Femininity in the American Horse Training and Riding Arenas,” I explore how eight contemporary horsewomen perform femininity in their daily lives. I gathered my data over the course of nine months using ethnographic research methods including: conducting in-depth qualitative interviews, participant observation, and compiling a series of ethnographic and autoethnographic field notes. In order to analyze the interviews and my experience in the field, I turn to a variety of theories and theorists, most of which fall under the auspices of performativity, phenomenology, and feminist theory. I begin my analysis by articulating some of the ways in which the horse industry is often misperceived of as a “man's world.” What this misperception does not acknowledge is the large number of qualified and competent women who do participate in the horse industry, of which my eight study participants are only a sampling. In chapter two I discuss the ways in which the eight interviewees defined femininity. I analyze the ways in which the horsewomen perform femininity through their clothing and accoutrements in chapter three. Finally, in chapter four I examine the ways in which these women perform femininity through their bodily comportment and motility. Throughout these chapters, my overarching claim is that while these women's articulations of femininity are influenced by cultural constructions of traditional femininity, their lived experience of femininity, even from within a “man's world,” is much more various.
Advisors/Committee Members: Lockford, Lesa.
Subjects: American studies; Animals; Gender; Livestock; Philosophy; Theater; Womens studies
Keywords: horsewomen; femininity; feminist studies; corporeality; ethnography; qualitative inquiy; autoethnography; performance studies; embodiment; phenomenology; women; horses; horseback riding
More Like This
12.
Gavrila, Rebecca Lynn.
“If You Haven’t Made Somebody Angry, You Haven’t Done Something Right:” Larry Kramer’s Outsider Persona.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2005, Bowling Green State University
► This study offers an exploration of Larry Kramer’s outsider persona, and how…
(more)
▼ This study offers an exploration of Larry Kramer’s outsider persona, and how that persona affected both his writings as well as public perception of the author. A critical analysis of Faggots, several activist texts from the Reagan administration, and The Normal Heart provide the case studies from which I analyze Kramer’s persona/s/. This thesis analyzes these works and is informed by deconstructive terms, particularly those of Paul de Man and Jacques Derrida. In addition, Philip Auslander’s notion of persona provides the definition of a term that is continually explored in each of the three chapters. The outcome of this text is not whether Kramer has an outsider persona, but how that persona developed and became a permanent feature of his writings and public appearance. In the conclusion of this study I show through recent writings how Kramer’s persona and the public’s response to his words still are relevant today.
Advisors/Committee Members: Barnette, Jane.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Larry Kramer; Persona; Interdisciplinary; Gay Male Fiction; Gay Male Drama; Activism
More Like This
13.
George, Gerald D.
Earning a Living as an Author in Early Modern England: The Case of Anthony Munday.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► Anthony Munday (1560-1633) was one of Tudor/Stuart England’s most prolific writers. Over…
(more)
▼ Anthony Munday (1560-1633) was one of Tudor/Stuart England’s most prolific writers. Over the course of a literary career that lasted for more than fifty years, Munday penned over eighty works, many published more than once. Scholars have over the years constructed a framework that describes Munday variously as author, playwright, "our best plotter," pamphleteer, uninspired literary hack, translator, historian, and spy. Beyond these labels, Munday has received little attention from the academic community. A re-examination of his life and place reveals that Munday serves as a case study of an early modern author who also exemplifies the rising middling classes of early modern England. That perspective is grounded on two things. First, and most obvious, is a return to the primary sources, what they say and do not say. Conclusions about Munday’s career must reflect the sources themselves, rather than speculation spun out from those sources. Further, Munday’s stages in life and career need to be examined in totality, rather than concentrating on specific jobs, genres, or works. Munday’s life lends itself to such an examination because the clear-cut chronological delineations that are evident in his life and are united by the constant thread of writing for commercial gain. It is in that totality that a true picture of the professional writer as a member of the upwardly mobile, middling classes can be seen.
Advisors/Committee Members: Forse, James H.
Keywords: Munday, Anthonyl
More Like This
14.
Gretzinger, Matthew Christopher.
Staging Orson Welles.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► In this study I consider the legacy of Orson Welles as a…
(more)
▼ In this study I consider the legacy of Orson Welles as a stage figure puppeted in a collective theatre of memory. The study builds on Jonathan Rosenbaum's observation that Welles remains a "mythical and ideological creature" and a "site for the acting out of various fantasies." Referencing Marvin Carlson's The Haunted Stage and Joseph Roach's Cities of the Dead, I apply their insights to three plays that feature Welles as a pivotal character: Jason Sherman's It's All True, Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow, and the Naomi Iizuka-Anne Bogart collaboration, War of the Worlds. My central concern is to consider the ways we remember and stage Welles and, in light of Rosenbaum's insight, to also question the myths and ideologies those stagings act out. A corollary to my interrogation of Welles's stage figure as a site of memory is my conviction that the collective memory of Welles's life and work might be staged more usefully. The plays considered approach Welles from different perspectives. However, all – to varying degrees – assess negative judgments. Welles's legacy has been subject to conflicting interpretations, and the arbitration of his historical and remembered significance is a process with important consequences. I raise these consequences and read the plays as evidence in the debate over what Orson Welles's figure signifies. The introduction reviews the "Battle Over Orson Welles" and considers the source-texts that inform Wellesian stagings. The three middle chapters involve readings of each play, analyzing the playwrights and each script's source material in light of the scholarship of Carlson and Roach. The final chapter is a meditation on Welles's legacy. In it, I suggest alternative approaches to staging Welles's figure. On balance, my study finds that Welles's is a crucial figure in the staging of collective and cultural memory. I end by considering Welles's as an anxious figure – an American artist incapable of compromise whose genius was rebuked in a culture dominated by marketplace values – and by suggesting that his troubled surrogation on our stages may owe, in part, to a collective urge to repress the knowledge that we have somehow failed him.
Advisors/Committee Members: Chambers, Jonathan.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Orson Welles; Naomi Iizuka; Anne Bogart; Austin Pendleton; Jason Sherman; Marvin Carlson; Joseph Roach
More Like This
15.
Harrick, Stephen.
“Come Look at the Freaks”: The Complexities of Valorizing the “Freak” in Side Show.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► The Broadway musical Side Show, by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger, focuses…
(more)
▼ The Broadway musical Side Show, by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger, focuses on real-life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, performers in the middle part of the 20th century. Side Show dramatizes the Hilton’s rise to fame. Russell and Krieger’s presumed objective with Side Show is to represent Daisy and Violet as individuals, which they succeed at doing. However, Russell and Krieger specify that the performers playing Daisy and Violet be separated. Therefore, Side Show’s conjoined twins are not connected during the performance, taking away part of what made Daisy and Violet unique individuals. I begin with a brief overview of the historical Hilton sisters, then evaluating how Side Show succeeds and fails to valorize the Hilton twins. I conclude with a different way of performing the text than by following the specifications in the script, thereby offering a new mode to represent the “freaks” in Side Show.
Advisors/Committee Members: Chambers, Jonathan.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Conjoined twins, musical theatre, freak shows, American drama, Bakhtin, Side Show
More Like This
16.
Innes, Kari A.
Revelations of a Genealogy: Biblical Women in Performance during Twentieth-Century American Feminisms.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2012, Bowling Green State University
► This dissertation treats dramatic representations of biblical women by women that have…
(more)
▼ This dissertation treats dramatic representations of biblical women by women that have emerged in the last century within milieus informed by emerging and shifting feminisms. I begin my study with proto-feminist Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and then trace a genealogy of the dramatization of biblical women during twentieth-century American feminisms through the works of female artists. These performers and playwrights include Salome dancers, Florence Kiper Frank, Lorraine Hansberry, Marsha Norman, Madonna, and others. The goal of my project is to argue that theatre and performance provide what feminist theologian Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza describes as a “hermeneutics of creative imagination and ritualization” that “retells biblical stories and celebrates our foresisters in a feminist key.” Feminist religious scholars like Fiorenza, as well as feminists such as Hélène Cixous and artists such as Sandra Cisneros, have urged similar re-visionings of biblical women towards feminists ends. These projects, however, tend to privilege critical and non-dramatic texts, particularly the creative writings of contemporary women that endeavor to rewrite biblical women through a feminist perspective. Marjorie Procter-Smith, a scholar of feminist liturgy, ritual studies, and performance theory, cites the need for historical reconstruction, but that which “involves not only remembering with the mind but also remembering with the body.” While Fiorenza and Procter-Smith do not extend their claims to include drama in the reconstruction of feminine memory, the goal of my research is to argue that theatre and performance fulfill this type of hermeneutic. My project asks “Does, or how does, theatre and performance provide an embodied ‘creative and imaginative hermeneutic’ to reclaim and reshape feminine religious and social identity?”
Advisors/Committee Members: Magelssen, Scott.
Subjects: Theater Studies
Keywords: Biblical Women; Bible Plays; Bible in Performance; Feminist Theology
More Like This
17.
Jeff, List.
“From Hidden to (Over-)Exposed”: The Grotesque and Performing Bodies of World War II Nazi Concentration Camp Prisoners.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► World War II continues to carry considerable “cultural weight” in the United…
(more)
▼ World War II continues to carry considerable “cultural weight” in the United States. Many movies, documentaries, and television mini-series about the Holocaust seem to try to make sense of what can seem like a senseless act. The field of performance studies offers another avenue by which we can examine those events and our responses to them. In this paper, I apply a construct of the grotesque body, based primarily on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and Julia Kristeva, to the prisoners of World War II Nazi concentration camps to examine the social networks at play in current understandings of the Holocaust. In chapter one, I analyze the relationship between prisoners, guards, and prison officials by means of the grotesque body in the official and clandestine cabarets performed by the prisoners. In chapter two, I examine the role of the grotesque body in the photographs taken by Allied soldiers after constructing the premise of viewing photographs as performance. I argue that the prisoners’ bodies are integral in the maintenance of our collective memory. In chapter three, I track contemporary appropriations of one specific photograph of prisoners and the way the performance of reading the image has changed as the appropriations have become more politicized. The bodies of prisoners have gone from hidden to revealed to appropriated.
Advisors/Committee Members: Lockford, Lesa.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Grotesque; Cabaret; Photography; Performance of viewing; Concentration camp prisoners
More Like This
18.
Joyce, Parisa.
Lady Liberty: Intertextual Performances of Gender and Nation.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► This study explores how a variety of artistic representations of the Statue…
(more)
▼ This study explores how a variety of artistic representations of the Statue of Liberty have worked over the past half-century to reflect aspects of nation through the gendered performances of a particular set of American women as ideal constructs, objects for commodification and consumption. The first inquiry explores the play entitled Miss Liberty, written by Robert E. Sherwood, with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin, and first produced in 1949. Although conceived as an historical play loosely based on fact, the play provides a unique perspective on women's roles in society during the late 1940s. On the one hand the play forces nostalgic ideas of nationalism and outmoded views of women, while on the other, exposes a mid-twentieth century response to rising feminist thought and behavior. The second exploration discusses construction of the feminine ideal as presented through the popular film Miss Congeniality and the ritual of the national beauty pageant. As the bodies of the contestants conflate with those codes established by/for Lady Liberty in the film, they drive a more complex impulse that refashions women as adornments for a national concern. Consequently, this film works to strengthen our relationship with our most revered national icon, formalizing further our collective gender-driven national mythologies, and ultimately memorializing limiting conditions of feminine performance, agency, and ideals of American womanhood. The final chapter brings the themes investigated in the previous two chapters together in an original solo performance that both explicates and further parodies what I see as a national phenomenon. My scripted performance of Liberty Now builds upon our national construction of women as nation through the blending of "Miss Liberty" images with live performance. Designed to first perform the narrative currently in play and then to pull the audience into a complicit forum to deconstruct our national narrative, the satirical play of resistance within Liberty Now anticipates a utopian-like place (or point of imaginative speculation). To do so allows for the possibility of innovative and tangible, but most profoundly, equitable future narratives for women.
Advisors/Committee Members: Shields, Ronald.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Theatre; solo performance, gender performance, nationalism, Liberty
More Like This
19.
Koerner, Ethan.
Voicing an Other: Utilizing Puppetry and Pageantry for Community- Based Spectacle in America.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► Bread and Puppet, In the Heart of the Beast, and Redmoon Theater…
(more)
▼ Bread and Puppet, In the Heart of the Beast, and Redmoon Theater each utilize masks, puppets, and performance objects to create large-scale outdoor spectacles with the goal of creating, engaging, and/or building community. Each of these three companies can be seen as representative of one of Jan Cohen-Cruz's three strains of community-based performance: (1)"[A]ctivist performance as vigorous support for or opposition to sociopolitical circumstances," (2) "grassroots performance to retain and express collective identity grounded in tradition or place," and (3) "experimentation characterized by art blurred with life, whose everydayness welcomes broader participation and shapes and expands aesthetic impulses." This thesis will place these three companies into a historical context of puppet and mask traditions employed in the service of community, and will show the way in which each company corresponds to one of the three strains of community-based performance by discussing the companies' history, performance modes, and aesthetics.
Advisors/Committee Members: Magelssen, Scott.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Puppetry; Community-based performance; Bread and Puppet; In the Heart of the Beast; Redmoon Theater
More Like This
20.
Konesko, Patrick Mike.
Constructing a “Sense of Life”: Ayn Rand’s Night of January 16th from Conception to “Disaster”.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► During the course of her career, Ayn Rand published a number of…
(more)
▼ During the course of her career, Ayn Rand published a number of landmark novels, plays, and essays that, in many ways, influenced conceptions of the individual spirit, society, and government. With boldly drawn, individualistic characters battling against an oppressive and compromising society, Rand’s writing has inspired many devoted fans and passionate opponents. Even with her notoriety, and the frequent interpretation of her novels, her early work remains largely unexplored. In her play, Night of January 16th, Rand began with a simple goal: to adapt courtroom drama into an exciting and interactive form by including audience participation and frequent ruptures of the fourth wall. As the project began to develop, however, Rand’s work took on a new focus—to attempt, using the audience as the jury for the production, to gauge, and ultimately influence the audience’s “sense of life.”This study begins with in-depth exploration of Night of January 16th from conception to Rand’s ultimate declaration of failure. Then I compare two versions of the script in order to examine Rand’s later changes and updates. Throughout this process I suggest possible motivations for these changes, and their implications on the larger work. Finally, using a selection of reader-response techniques I examine the unique context in which Rand is attempting to stage her “sense of life” test, and explore other factors that conceivably influenced Rand’s experiment. Throughout the study, I work towards the question of whether or not it is possible, within the complex theatre environment, for Rand to effectively transmit a purely philosophical message or “test.”
Advisors/Committee Members: Shields, Ronald.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Ayn Rand; Night of January 16th; Objectivism
More Like This
21.
LaRocque, Jeffrey.
The Fragmented Artist: Representations of Tennessee Williams in Biographical Solo-Performance.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► Today, there is more information available about Tennessee Williams than ever before.…
(more)
▼ Today, there is more information available about Tennessee Williams than ever before. Yet, despite this deluge of information, I argue that we are no closer to defining who Tennessee Williams was than the day that he died. In fact, one might even go so far to say that with each publishing of a new, rediscovered play or correspondence, we move one-step further from a strict definition of Tennessee Williams. Indeed, our search for Tennessee Williams is a fruitless one as a platonic form of Williams does not exist. The real, complete, or authentic Tennessee is a mirage. For every text that is brought into the light another interpretation of Williams is born. This process is mimicked in the multiplicity of biographical solo-performances that playwrights keep writing about Tennessee Williams with each passing year. In this study, I examine the works of three different playwrights to see how they construct a fragmented image of Tennessee Williams within the genre of biographical solo-performance. I begin with an examination of Ray Stricklyn's Confession's of a Nightingale and how he fashions a performance of Williams's biography and celebrity. Next, I look at Will Scheffer's Tennessee and Me to examine how gay playwrights and activists have tried to reclaim Williams as a distinctly homosexual artist. Finally, I discuss Steve Lawson's A Distant Country Called Youth and Blanche and Beyond as performances that seek to objectify and sanitize the narrative of Williams. In addition to this "case-study," I also offer the political implications and consequences that each production has on our historical understanding of Tennessee Williams and on the genre of biographical solo-performance itself.
Advisors/Committee Members: Shields, Ronald.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Tennessee Williams; solo-performance; Confessions of a Nightingale; Tennessee and Me; A Distant Country Called Youth; Blanche and Beyond
More Like This
22.
Lee, Carrie Kathryn.
Something Beautiful: Craft and Survival in North American Alternative Theatre Companies.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► The strategies that North American nonprofit theatre companies employ to ensure pragmatic…
(more)
▼ The strategies that North American nonprofit theatre companies employ to ensure pragmatic survival and artistic advancement prove critical to their abilities to continue working. When the artists in these companies utilize alternative approaches to creation, the abstract quality of the resulting productions often exacerbates the need for successful survival tactics, as performances appeal to a limited number of paying audience members. Theatre practitioners who emphasize long-term performer training and the lengthy development of original montaged productions, such as companies building upon the artistic tradition of Jerzy Grotowski, represent one extreme sect of these marginalized artists. Relying on data gleaned from North American Cultural Laboratory (NaCl) in New York and Number Eleven Theatre in Toronto, two companies influenced by this artistic tradition, this study employs a grounded-theory method of analysis to examine the strategies marginalized nonprofit alternative theatre companies use to negotiate the tension between economic viability and artistic integrity. The study reveals that these groups engage in several common survival strategies with varying degrees of success. The major differences within the companies’ tactics derive from the groups’ varying working structures, locations, and economic conditions. As a result of these dynamics, each company relies on one particular survival tactic most fully to ensure continued existence and artistic refinement; NaCl orchestrates community-based events, whereas Number Eleven relies on an established leader. The results of the study suggest that through the practical action of employing strategies, transformations can truly arise. While Grotowskian practices can advance NaCl’s and Number Eleven’s quests for artistic refinement and fiscal survival, at times the practices also prove problematic in a contemporary North American context. The susceptibility to exclusionary politics within this artistic tradition compromises NaCl’s community-based survival efforts, while the performers in Number Eleven often perpetuate the tradition’s concept of a director as all-knowing guru, undermining the leader’s desire for more equality-based dynamics. The groups partially compensate for these weaknesses through cross-company collaboration. The artistic cross-pollination and fiscal benefits of these efforts prove integral to each group’s continued survival and artistic advancement, suggesting the appropriateness of this practice for North American alternative theatre companies.
Advisors/Committee Members: Shields, Ron E.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: North American Cultural Laboratory; Number Eleven Theatre; alternative theatre; survival strategies; Grotowski
More Like This
23.
Malone, Travis B.
Crafting Utopia and Dystopia: Film Musicals 1970-2002.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► With the end of the Hollywood studio era, big budget blockbuster musicals…
(more)
▼ With the end of the Hollywood studio era, big budget blockbuster musicals had to find ways to compete in the economic and cultural marketplace. Historical events such as the rise of television, the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal influenced the way American audiences saw, and continue to see, the world. Film, theatre, and other artistic disciplines helped audiences understand, cope, and criticize societal changes. As audience perceptions changed, the film musical faced a crisis. In an attempt to maximize profits, Hollywood business practices forced an evolutionary branch in the development of the musical. One fork took the genre towards the embodiment of capitalistic and cultural excess as pointed to by Altman, Dyer, and others. These film musicals attempt to present Utopia. Film musicals such as Grease (1978), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Evita (1996) are large spectacles that utilize the high concept business model, as outlined by Justin Wyatt, to please audience expectations by managing conflict at the expense of presenting the story world as a utopia. The other branch of film musical exemplified in the films of Cabaret (1972) and All That Jazz (1979) criticize the price paid by an individual in pursuit of ideals that lie beyond dominant social values. The dystopic film musical connects with audiences and critics by drawing on the cynicism and skepticism of contemporary historic and cultural events to forward a clearly dystopic view of society. This study utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the connection between selected film musicals and the American culture for which they were produced. The study shows that from 1970-2002 film musicals promoted and marketed visions of Utopia that were reflective of specific historical moments rather than ahistorical utopia ideals. While a film like Grease shows that Utopia is the ideal high school experience, later films like Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Chicago (2002) depict imagination as a utopia to escape otherwise dystopic social realities. The interdisciplinary critical frames applied in this study allow scholars to examine the fluid nature of the boundaries between film, theatre, and mass entertainment.
Advisors/Committee Members: Baron, Cynthia.
Keywords: Film Musicals; Utopia; Dystopia; Musicals; Stage Musicals; Film Industry; Broadway; New Hollywood; High Concept; Industry Studies; Reception Studies; Performance Studies; American Culture; 1970s; 1980s
More Like This
24.
Mancino, Nicole.
Woman Writes Herself: Exploring Identity Construction in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Pioneer Girl.”.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► For scholars of Theatre, Performance, and Women’s Studies, the problem of discovering…
(more)
▼ For scholars of Theatre, Performance, and Women’s Studies, the problem of discovering and resurrecting voices of those peoples who have been silenced, oppressed, and erased from traditional histories looms large. In particular, the force of a patriarchal culture, which privileges the masculine public and oppresses the feminine private, has proven a difficult negotiation for those who wish to rectify the historical imbalance. In this dissertation, I use Hélène Cixous’s concept of feminine writing as a method to explore the possibilities and connections between feminine writing and the female body, and to discover to what extent women have agency to construct who they are through writing, using Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Pioneer Girl” as my main primary source. While many scholars have focused attention on Wilder’s published “Little House” series, I center my study on her lesser-known, handwritten, unpublished, autobiographical manuscript. In an attempt to re-conceptualize what kinds of writing contain value, I examine how “Pioneer Girl” and a few other articles and personal letters are viewed in tandem with their “finished” counterparts. My three main chapters revolve around Wilder’s feminine identity, as connected to the process of writing her life and sense of Self in “Pioneer Girl”: Chapter 2 explores the social context and values of pioneerism and the American First Wave feminist movement as intertwined with the creation of Wilder’s subjectivity; Chapter 3 tracks the construction of “Laura” within the body of the text; and Chapter 4 concentrates on the identity of the text itself, viewing the process of its writing and audience as a performance. My work with Laura Ingalls Wilder and “Pioneer Girl” produces the author and text as exemplars of the notion that women who construct themselves outside of the strictures of andocentric culture is both possible and valuable. In placing different permutations of her work on an equal plane, I piece together a new framework of Wilder’s “body” of/as work.
Advisors/Committee Members: Chambers, Jonathan.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Performance; Theatre; Gender; Identity; Laura Ingalls Wilder
More Like This
25.
Markijohn, Andie Carole.
“Wet, Dirty Women” and “Men Without Pants”: The Performance of Gender at the American Renaissance Festival.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► Mention the words “Renaissance festival” to your average American adult, and you'll…
(more)
▼ Mention the words “Renaissance festival” to your average American adult, and you'll likely conjure up images of knights jousting on horseback, casually-dressed visitors gnawing on turkey legs, barely-restrained cleavage in tight bodices, comic variety performers on earthy wooden stages, and richly-dressed royals presiding over it all. More than diversionary entertainment, however, the American Renaissance festival provides visitors with a complex space in which elements of carnival create opportunities for identity and, most important for this thesis, gender play. Using a multidisciplinary approach that features Judith Butler's notion of performed gender as its foundation, I examine the performances of three specific groups'”the Queen and knight, the bagpipe and drum group Tartanic, and the Washing Well Wenches”in order to explore the complex gender messages each communicates both to and with their audiences. The Queen's royal privilege and “proper” performance of femininity affect each of the subsequent performances examined, either directly or tacitly sanctioning both the masculine performances of the knights and Tartanic as well as the (un)feminine performance of the Wenches. While each of the groups tend to favor a particular gender performance (either “proper” or “improper”), each also includes moments that allow for just the opposite, from the presence of a female knight at the Joust to a male-on-male lap dance by Tartanic to the bolstering of male egos through sexual objectification at the Wash Pit. In the end, this thesis claims that it is perhaps true that Renaissance festivals don't really change the world, but it seems that they may, in fact, release visitors from it in a way that allows them to examine "and play with" the ways in which “sedimented” notions of gender are constructed through performance.
Advisors/Committee Members: Magelssen, Scott.
Subjects: American studies; Gender; Theater; Womens studies
Keywords: Renaissance faire; festival; theater; gender; performance
More Like This
26.
Mateer, Shelley Megan.
Living History as Peformance: An Analysis of the Manner in which Historical Narrative is Developed through Performance.
Degree: PhD, Theatre and Film, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► Throughout the twentieth century, historians have sought a variety of new ways…
(more)
▼ Throughout the twentieth century, historians have sought a variety of new ways to engage history, many through the use of performance techniques. New methodologies aided by technology have allowed historians to gain new insights into the past and share those insights with the public. In this study I examine how four methodologies have influenced each other in attempt to achieve this goal: two living history museums: Colonial Williamsburg and Plimoth Plantation; one outdoor historical drama, Trumpet in the Land; three examples of experimental archaeology: the Pamunkey Project, Buckskinners, and the Washburn-Norlands Center; and two PBS productions about living in the past: Frontier House and Colonial House. These categories have two things in common. First they are all attempting to examine some aspect or event from the past, second they all use performance techniques to do this. My argument for this study lies in a two-fold examination. First, in discussing the constructs of each of these methodologies, I argue that it is apparent that the first three categories have been highly influential in the development of the fourth. Second, the misuse of performance techniques has proven ultimately problematic for the PBS productions in their declared efforts to take a step back in time. With the exception of the outdoor historical dramas, which I use as an obvious example of performance and history coming together, those involved with the other categories tend to distance themselves from being associated with other theatrical endeavors believing that such an association diminishes their efforts. These attitudes tend to be based in antitheatrical sentiments which prove to be counter productive to their goals of better engaging past.
Advisors/Committee Members: Forse, James.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Performance; Living History; Experimental Archeology; Outdoor Historical Theatre; Plimoth Plantation; Colonial Williamsburg; Pamunkey; Buckskinners; Frontier House; Colonial House; Washburn-Norlands; Trumpet in the Land
More Like This
27.
McCool, Lauren Zawistowski.
Religion as a Role: Decoding Performances of Mormonism in the Contemporary United States.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2012, Bowling Green State University
► Although Mormons have been featured as characters in American media since the…
(more)
▼ Although Mormons have been featured as characters in American media since the nineteenth century, the study of the performance of the Mormon religion has received limited attention. As Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) continues to appear as an ever-growing topic of interest in American media, there is a gap in discourse that addresses the implications of performances of Mormon beliefs and lifestyles as performed by both members of the Church and non-believers. In this thesis, I closely examine HBO's Big Love television series, the LDS Church's “I Am a Mormon” media campaign, Mormon “Mommy Blogs” and the personal performance of Mormons in everyday life. By analyzing these performances through the lenses of Stuart Hall's theories of encoding/decoding, Benedict Anderson's writings on imagined communities, and H. L. Goodall's methodology for the new ethnography the aim of this thesis is to fill in some small way this discursive and scholarly gap. The analysis of performances of the Mormon belief system through these lenses provides an insight into how the media teaches and shapes its audience's ideologies through performance.
Advisors/Committee Members: Magelssen, Scott.
Subjects: American History; American Studies; History; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Performing Arts; Religion; Religious Congregations; Religious History; Spirituality; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies; Theology
Keywords: Mormonism: Performance: Identity: Theatre: Mitt Romney: Big Love: HBO: Polygamy: Religion: Scott Magelssen: Lesa Lockford: Jonathan Lee Chambers: Big Love: Sister Wives: Mormon Mommy Blogs: LDS
More Like This
28.
Nicosia, Matthew.
Fear and the Dynamics of Identity Constitution in Battlestar Galactica.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2011, Bowling Green State University
► Science fiction often functions as a narrative that depicts the current climate…
(more)
▼ Science fiction often functions as a narrative that depicts the current climate of the socio-historical context in which it is created. It may be argued that science fiction represents an effective vehicle for the communication of concepts important in queer theory, including identity development, power and privilege, gender, reproduction, and technophobia. It is within these conceptions that the recently reimagined science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009), may be viewed as a commentary on current fears and struggles. In this thesis I review the ways in which Cylons, as hypersexualized beings, use their sexuality to manipulate humanity, and in doing so demonstrate the manner through which sex may influence identity. I argue that Cylon identity development mirrors the queer coming out process in contemporary society. Moreover, I argue that the conflict between the Cylons and humanity in Battlestar Galactica parallels the contemporary ideological debate between the essentialist and constructivist positions on identity constitution. Furthermore, I evaluate the power dynamic within the heteronormative family through the framework of Françoise Vergès’ theory of the colonial family romance. Central to this analysis is the concept of reproduction, and I propose that the Cylon attempt to control reproduction through technology defines them as queer and as a perceived threat to the heteronormativity of humanity. Battlestar Galactica may be seen as exemplifying the queering of the power relationship between Cylons and humans, through a blurring of distinctions between the two, thereby implicitly raising questions regarding the constitution and existence of identity. The series ultimately concretizes the perceived threats technological advances posed to the patriarchal, heteronormative family. Just as the humans of Battlestar Galactica fear the unrestrained freedom of the Cylons will lead to their extinction, so too do many in the current, dominant society fear their own obsolescence when faced with movements toward transhumanistic ideals. In science fiction, frequently the monstrous, the outsiders, and the problematic are presented. Battlestar Galactica is no exception to this. However, doing so in a way that honestly and openly reflects real social concerns is less common. It is in that way that Battlestar Galactica is exceptional and merits academic consideration.
Advisors/Committee Members: Lockford, Dr. Lesa.
Subjects: Performing Arts; Theater; Theater Studies
Keywords: Battlestar Galactica; performance studies; Cylons; identity; performativity
More Like This
29.
O'Connor, John T.
Stephen Sondheim and his Filmic Influences.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► While the work of Stephen Sondheim has been studied by scholars, frequently…
(more)
▼ While the work of Stephen Sondheim has been studied by scholars, frequently with examinations of his musical and dramatic influences, his filmic influences have remained relatively overlooked. I want to consider the many ways in which Sondheim's work in musical theatre and in film has been influenced by his admiration for and interest in cinema. First, I want to look at the work Sondheim did in film, from script writing to composing songs for film scores, helped expand his knowledge and appreciation of film. Second, I want to examine how the work of Sondheim and his collaborators furthered the larger aesthetic movement in which filmic techniques became implemented in the structure, staging, and choreography of American musical theatre. Next, I want to consider how Sondheim's interest in certain types of films and industry figures aligns with his collaborations on musicals. Finally, I then analyze the influence film composers such as Bernard Herrmann had on Sondheim's scores. After studying Sondheim's film experiences, links between staging practices in Hollywood and on Broadway, shared aesthetic choices in certain film and musical theatre narratives, and connections between aesthetic practices in Sondheim's compositions and those of significant Hollywood film composers, I determined that there are a wide range of connections between mainstream film and Sondheim's work in musical theatre. My argument is that a careful look at these connections fosters a greater understanding of Sondheim's work, his contributions to musical theatre, and the complex relationship between film and musical theatre in the twentieth century.
Advisors/Committee Members: Baron, Cynthia.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Stephen Sondheim; filmic influences
More Like This
30.
Rust, Colin Michael.
Bodily Awareness: The Theatre Writings of Michael Chekhov and Tadashi Suzuki.
Degree: MA, Theatre and Film, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► This thesis is an examination of the theatre writings of Michael Chekhov’s…
(more)
▼ This thesis is an examination of the theatre writings of Michael Chekhov’s To the Actor and Tadashi Suzuki’s “Grammar of the Feet,” to determine the fundamental aspects within each of these methods that leads the actor towards the development of bodily awareness. Moshé Feldenkrais’s understanding of developing bodily awareness as demonstrated by his book Awareness Through Movement will be utilized as a tool to examine the work of Chekhov and Suzuki. Through this examination I hope to develop a greater understanding of the fundamental principles within these two actor training programs that facilitate the awareness of the actor’s body, as well, I hope point up the importance of such physically-based actor training methods to the contemporary actor.
Advisors/Committee Members: Sherrell, Marcus.
Subjects: Theater
Keywords: Moshé Feldenkrais,Bodily Awareness,Michael Chekhov,Tadashi Suzuki
More Like This
[1] [2]
