Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Ohio University, 2017, Theater

In our society, the topic of abuse has consistently made headlines—either for the severity of the abuse, the media shaming the of perpetrator, or in order to blame the victim. In an effort to confront this constant issue in our society, theater artists have portrayed acts of domestic abuse and violence onstage. These performances allow audiences to sympathize and empathize with victims while witnessing heinous acts on stage. This semester for my thesis project, I directed and produced the second production of Toni Kochensparger's play Milkwhite. Milkwhite had a total of three performances, February 26—28 in Putnam Hall's Create__space at Ohio University, and an audience talkback with the playwright after the final performance. This written portion of my thesis consists of case studies of four plays—Sarah Kane's Blasted, Harold Pinter's The Collection, Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, and Kochensparger's Milkwhite. Each case study analyses the types of abuse in the play, and the affect the abuse has on both abuser and victim. Additionally, the written portion contains a methods and reflection section about my production of Milkwhite. This research informed my directorial process this winter while directing Milkwhite. I believe that by researching other examples of abuse in dramatic literature, I can learn how to best use themes of abuse to tell Kochensparger's story.

Committee: Matthew Cornish Dr. (Advisor); Erik Ramsey (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Criticism; Fine Arts; Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies

Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, 2008, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Sarah Kane uses cruelty in her plays Blasted and Cleansed to shock the audience out of their indifference, which will then allow Kane to subvert gender norms, through performed acts on stage, and the heterosexual patriarchal authority that creates the Other in society. Kane uses the theories of Antonin Artaud and Judith Butler to create a new style that melds these two theories while bringing a fresh take to the theater. Kane was twenty-three when her first play, Blasted, opened at the Royal Court Theater Upstairs on January 12, 1995. It was met with hostility by the critics when it first opened, but after the shock had quieted, there were many positive critiques on her plays. Kane used Artaud's manifesto on The Theater of Cruelty to bring the physicality and importance of the image back to the theater. The violence done in her plays is the central action that forces the audience to be a witness to cruelty. Kane shows blatant acts of cruelty on stage in Blasted, with the homosexual rape and the sucking out of Ian's eyes, and in Cleansed, with Carl and Grace being beaten, Rod and Robin's deaths, and the forced sex change. These actions are used to present gender as culturally constructed and open up the allowance of difference. The gender theory of Butler helps to interpret the way Kane uses gender through Butler's representation of gender as repeated acts performed daily that can be subverted through the repetition of difference. Kane uses the homosexual rape of Ian in Blasted and the homosexual love and incest in Cleansed to allow the audience to see difference and break down the binary that governs gender.

Committee: Jennifer Jeffers PhD (Committee Chair); Michael Geither PhD (Committee Member); James Marino PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: English literature