Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, Germanic Languages and Literatures

Bertolt Brecht began an intense engagement with Marxism in 1928 that would permanently shape his own thought and creative production. Brecht himself maintained that important aspects resonating with Marxist theory had been central, if unwittingly so, to his earlier, pre-1928 works. A careful analysis of his early plays, poetry, prose, essays, and journal entries indeed reveals a unique form of materialism that entails essential components of the dialectical materialism he would later develop through his understanding of Marx; it also invites a similar retroactive application of other ideas that Brecht would only encounter in later readings, namely those of the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Initially a direct result of and component of his discovery of Marx, Brecht's study of Hegel would last throughout the rest of his career, and the influence of Hegel has been explicitly traced in a number Brecht's post-1928 works. While scholars have discovered proto-Marxist traces in his early work, the possibilities of the young Brecht's affinities with the idealist philosopher have not been explored. Although ultimately an opposition between the idealist Hegel and the young Burgerschreck Brecht is to be expected, one finds a surprising number of instances where the two men share an unlikely commonality of imagery. Sparked by that discovery, this dissertation locates important moments in the young playwright's work where a reading through and against Hegelian concepts opens not only a better understanding of his early writing but of the materialism that undergirds his entire oeuvre. Such moments become particularly apparent upon examination of the young Brecht's critique of language. I argue that his skepticism of language's capacity to express material reality, and its corollary tendency to support false idealisms, leads him to develop a metaphorically “material” language that draws on bodily and natural imagery in order to produce a more directly visceral exper (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Davidson (Advisor); Bernd Fischer (Committee Member); Bernhard Malkmus (Committee Member) Subjects: Germanic Literature

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1965, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2019, German

This thesis highlights the ways in which Bertolt Brecht's concept of epic theatre pertains to video games, more particularly, visual novels. Digital drama and romance genres (aka “dating simulators”) are known for their “realism” for their ability to make the player feel as if they are interacting with real people. Yet, the deceptiveness is their apparent inability to replicate fully the kinds of social interactions a person can have. The plot structure oftentimes is also rather simplistic: the goal of these games is that the player gets the girl of their dreams, despite any hardships. The horror game Doki Doki Literature Club (2017) by game developer Dan Salvato challenges these genre shortcomings and aspire to make productive, I will argue, a Brechtian notion of epic theatre. Salvato had a love-hate relationship with visual novels. To him, visual novels were nothing more than “cute girls doing cute things” where any tragic backstory or character arc is just another objective the player must overcome to make the girl of their dreams fall in love with them. Like Brecht, Salvato wants to destroy the illusions created by visual novels and shock people into reflecting about such illusions. He created Doki Doki Literature Club, a horror game disguised as a dating simulator, which takes a critical look at issues such a mental health that visual novels often gloss over and treat as plot points in the story.

Committee: Edgar Landgraf Ph.D. (Advisor); Kristie Foell Ph.D. (Committee Member); Clayton Rosati Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Germanic Literature; Mass Communications; Mass Media

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1975, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Literature

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1969, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Literature

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2014, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

Hans Jakob Christofell von Grimmelshausen personifies the unstable atmosphere of the Thirty Years War as the character Courasche, a chaotic, cross dressing woman, who, through multiple marriages and a “take no prisoners” attitude, traverses the physical landscape and social hierarchy of the war. Part of a trilogy of works, Courasche's impetus for this autobiography is a slanderous description of her after her involvement with Simplicissimus. His accusations of her morally bankrupt existence, made in the first book of the trilogy, are not countered, rather accepted. By bending her gender and challenging the stereotypical gender roles of the seventeenth Century, Courasche's untamed and destructive nature is a personification of the war and a critique of women's lack of a stable place in society and lack of representative voice. Nearly three hundred years later, Bertolt Brecht adapts the character of Courasche, transforming her into a mother of three and the personification of Capitalism as the character Mutter Courage. This is a transformation not only of genre, from prose to drama, but a change in narrative perspective, from a first person perspective to a third person perspective, creating a voice for women. Through this critique of Capitalism, Brecht connects the issues of the early twentieth century to those in the seventeenth century, pointing out congruent historical patterns and social circumstances. A closer look at these texts will highlight their similarities of perspective and differences in agenda, both working from the angle of gender dynamics and the Thirty Years War.

Committee: Tanja Nusser Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Richard Schade Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Germanic Literature

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Music History

German choreographer Pina Bausch (1940-2009) spent most of her career as the director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal dance company in Germany. She is known for her 1975 production of Le sacre du printemps, and later for her "World Cities" series of works (1986-2009) created during residencies in ten major world cities. In the 1970s Bausch transitioned from producing "ballet opera" (Ballettoper)−that is, works that closely followed the narrative "framework" of the operas they were based on−to Tanztheater ("dance theatre") which shied away from such explicit storytelling. Like most new theatre in West Germany in the 1970s, Bausch's Tanztheater had roots in Bertold Brecht's conception of epic theatre. Bausch became increasingly Brechtian in her use of music and movement as her style developed, as shown in her collage pieces that do not use entire works of music. Bausch's increasing reliance on collage and fragmentation can be best illustrated through her inclusion of opera music. In this thesis I argue that the influence of Brecht's epic theatre on Bausch's Tanztheater is essential to understanding the development of her aesthetic and, more specifically, her use of music. I discuss her two Gluck ballet operas, Iphigenie auf Tauris (1973) and Orpheus und Eurydike (1975), her Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht evening in 1974 featuring Die sieben Todsunden and Furchtet euch nicht, her non-linear take on Bela Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, titled Blaubart − Beim Anhoren einer Tonbandaufnahme von Bela Bartoks Oper "Herzog Blaubarts Burg" (1977), and Cafe Muller (1978), which is based on a collage of arias from Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen as well as Dido and Aeneas.

Committee: Eftychia Papanikolaou Dr. (Advisor); Susannah Cleveland (Committee Member) Subjects: Dance; Music

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2005, Arts and Sciences : Romance Languages and Literatures

Paloma Pedrero's hyperrealist theater provides a glimpse into the daily existence of a group of Madrid's outcasts as well as an analysis of the pertinent social issues that affect them. In her plays, characters suffer from numerous conflicts linked to financial and emotional alienation. Longing for solidarity and companionship, an atmosphere of rivalry and mistrust thwarts their attempts to establish effective dialogue or productive cooperation. Though role-play can bring about momentary connections, bonds are soon severed as characters fail at (self)expression and resort to mutual victimization. Spectators exit the theater perplexed since characters seem no better off at the plays' open-ended conclusions. In recent years, Pedrero is proving to be one of the most important playwrights to emerge on the Spanish stage. The growing number of critical studies on her plays attest scholars' interest to unravel the complexities of her thought-provoking texts. Although most critics concentrate on the theatric, erotic or feminine aspects of her writing, I believe an analysis of the psycho-sociological dimensions of her theater is essential to a greater understanding of her works, especially in light of her educational background in sociology. Consequently, my dissertation approaches Pedrero's texts uniquely within this social framework. Although Pedrero avoids writing plays with overtly didactic messages, in La isla amarilla, she offers rare insight into the concerns that characterize her Weltanschauung: i.e. dismay at contemporary society's thirst for material wealth and its individualistic nature. Commencing with these ideas, my aim is to delve into Pedrero's world, revealing the influences, theories and experiences which have shaped her discourse. The three primary points of my research, constituting my chapters, include: 1) Success and failure in Western society, the marginalization process and deviancy – Merton's theory; 2) Relationship disorders and the breakdown of i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Maria Paz Moreno (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2010, Music

Hanns Eisler, (1898-1962), remains today as one of the most fascinating and controversial composers of the Twentieth-Century. Schooled in the aesthetic style of the Second Viennese School of Schoenberg, Eisler made an ideological shift in the trajectory of his musical career in the mid-1920's, shifting the emphasis away from ‘art music' to music for the Worker's Movement. Enormously versatile, Eisler then found himself working in various genres, from the writing of ‘agitprop' style ballads and choruses, the Lehrstucke collaborations with friend and colleague Bertolt Brecht, and to the composing of film scores for many documentary and Leftist film producers. When the Worker's Movement was disbanded with the oncoming of Hitler in 1933, Eisler, now an exile, once again returned to more conventional musical forms such as the Symphony and the Art Song. It is during this exile period in both Europe and the U.S.A. that Eisler composed some of his greatest works, such as the Deutsche Sinfonie, the chamber work Fourteen Ways of Describing Rain, and the Hollywood Songbook (Das Hollywooder Liederbuch), to name just a few. Eisler's prolific Hollywood film score career was interrupted by the infamous 1947 HUAC hearings, which resulted in deportation. Eventually Eisler settled in the GDR where he composed and taught, but would find some of his compositional aspirations, such as the writing of a new opera, brutally attacked by criticisms of musical elitism. Probably no other composer has suffered more from the effects of the Cold War globally as has Hanns Eisler. Only in the last twenty years have serious efforts been undertaken to reevaluate his work through critical analysis, performance, and discussion. The goal of this document is to introduce Hanns Eisler and his music, presenting him as one of the great continuers of the genre of the Lied in the twentieth-century. This document begins with a brief biography of Hanns Eisler, and moves to a discussion of the Hollywood Songbook (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. John Robin Rice D.M.A. (Advisor); Professor Loretta Robinson M.M. (Committee Member); Dr. Charles Patrick Woliver D.M.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Theatre

As technology is altering the world, electronic games are changing the face of popular entertainment, infecting spectators with a craving for spectacle and interaction. Games allow viewers to become active participants in dramatic narrative, transforming audience into performer. The game player is joining in a mediatized theatrical experience that reshapes notions of performance, theatre, and audience. The first theatre scholar to connect theatre, computers, and performance was Brenda Laurel. Speculating on the nature of user interaction with the computer, Laurel used the Aristotelian elements of dramatic structure to create a new poetics for interactive fantasy generated in the computer realm. Since Laurel's initial work in 1986, games have evolved beyond those of her pioneering study, creating a level of theatrical experience worthy of critical examination. The games from the late 1990's and into the current century show a level of complexity in design and narrative that compels a re-examination of what has been dismissed by many as escapist entertainment. The electronic game industry has adopted theatrical devices and principles to produce a live, non-repeatable, and new form of theatrical experience. My research draws from traditional theatre theorists (such as Aristotle, Bertolt Brecht, Adolphe Appia, and Augusto Boal), modern theatre and performance theorists (such as Brenda Laurel, Janet Murray, Gay McAuley, and Richard Schechner), and game design theorists (such as Steven Poole, Bob Bates, and Richard Rouse), to assess the electronic game as a new and distinctive form of performance. This dissertation will examine a variety of computer and video games from five perspectives: 1) space 2) plot structures, 3) character, 4) theme, and 5) interactivity, with a view to articulating the modes of kinship between games and live performance. In recognizing and articulating such relationships, both gaming and theatre benefit, strengthening the aesthetic and structural (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lesley Ferris (Advisor) Subjects: Theater

BA, Oberlin College, 2008, English

My Honors thesis, An Infinity of Questions, explores the performance of science on stage using two plays: The Life of Galileo, challenging the status quo, by Bertolt Brecht and Copenhagen, examining the origins of intention, by Michael Frayn. I focus on these two plays because not only because they impress me personally, but both spring from historical events and are thematically concerned with physics and the atomic bomb. They also make an interesting juxtaposition since Galileo has a decidedly political agenda, while Copenhagen is a philosophic inquiry. I argue that these dramas are exceptional science plays because of how they literally enact the ideas that they examine and bring science to life on stage by means of modeling ideas.

Committee: Carol Tufts (Advisor); Phyllis Gorfain (Committee Member); Matthew Wright (Committee Member) Subjects: Astronomy; Atoms and Subatomic Particles; English literature; History; Nuclear Physics; Personal Relationships; Philosophy; Physics; Science History; Theater

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2007, Theatre

The Goat or, who is Sylvia? is a character-driven story about an architect whose life crumbles when he falls in love with a goat. The actual focus of the piece lies on where the boundaries of “love” within an allegedly “liberal” society are, and how incommunicable such inclinations are. The play also features many language games and grammatical arguments in the middle of catastrophes and existential disputes between the characters. As director of the play my production concept integrates two particular fields of my interest and knowledge: theatre and television production. The idea is to bring Albee's absurdist story one step further by combining the live theatre experience with the live television element. Besides a dramaturgical analysis of Albee's play, this thesis further investigates the influence of the classic Greek tradition of tragedy as well as a possible link between Albee's tragic comedy and Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, while also incorporating Bertolt Brecht's theories on Epic Theatre into the analysis and actual performance.

Committee: Roger Bechtel (Advisor) Subjects: Theater

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2010, Theatre and Film

Eric Bentley is arguably one of the most prominent theatre scholar-critics of the twentieth century. He is perhaps best known for translating and advocating for Brecht's plays in English-speaking countries. In books such as The Playwright as Thinker, he makes the case for non-commercial theatre as a political force and valuable form of cultural expression. In his later career, he turned his attention towards playwriting, which he identifies as his most worthwhile pursuit. His transition from critic to playwright is just one of many major shifts in his life and career, which I argue is defined by doubleness. Bentley even describes himself as living several double lives. These shifts involve politics, sexuality, culture, and artistic expression. In this study, I analyze various writings from throughout Bentley's career in order to examine the sociopolitical energies at play in his work. Early in this study, I establish post-structural analysis as my overarching theoretical frame. I specifically employ the writings and theories of Michael Foucault, Stephen Greenblatt and the new historicists. Leftist politics and Marxism provide another broad arc to my study of Bentley's work. My theoretical approach allows me to examine his position within a constantly shifting field of power relations as it relates to public and private social, political, cultural, and artistic issues. Specifically, I look at the circular effects of the relations between Bentley and socialism, anticommunism, the New Left, the counterculture movement, and gay liberation. Throughout my analysis, I view artistic and social performance as a vital cultural expression and a valuable way of exercising power. I look to the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, Vietnam War protests, the Radical Theatre Movement, and gay liberation as examples of how performance was at the foundation of various major social and political conflicts during the twentieth century. I believe that Bentley was very much aw (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jonathan Chambers PhD (Advisor); Ronald Shields PhD (Committee Member); Scott Magelssen PhD (Committee Member); Christina Guenther PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Theater