Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Theatre

This thesis examines the creative and critical potentials of what I call “queer, mediatized dramaturgy.” I articulate the ways in which the multimedia play Circle Jerk by Brooklyn-based performance company Fake Friends brings together two artistic lineages of queer theater and mediatized performance. I elaborate how Circle Jerk makes use of this “queer, mediatized dramaturgy” to critique white gay male culture. Then, I embark on a practice-as-research investigation of the techniques of queer, mediatized dramaturgy. I reflect on my own rehearsal experiments with the queer, mediatized devising techniques of Fake Friends. Lastly, I consider the practical application of queer, mediatized dramaturgical principles in the creation of my (mostly) solo performance piece CANNIBAL is a SLUR, exploring its potential as a tool for performing sociopolitical critique.

Committee: Beth Kattelman (Committee Member); E.J. Westlake (Advisor) Subjects: Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2017, Theatre Arts

An exploration of the necessity of the dramaturg in theatre, beginning with an historical overview of the role. It also looks closely at three types of dramaturgical functions in theatre: production dramaturgy, new play development, and devised theatre.

Committee: James Slowiak (Advisor); Durand Pope (Committee Member); Hillary Nunn Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2011, Theatre

This thesis presents an approach to dramaturgical analysis for trial-based playscripts based on the works of Oscar Lee Brownstein, a textually based dramaturg, and Thadeusz Kowzan, a theatrical semiotician. The thesis then applies this pairing of dramaturgical approaches to three separate plays based on the original transcript of the trial of Jeanne d'Arc. By analyzing each play individually using these paired approaches, the different way each play works becomes more apparent. The three plays were written by the author of this thesis in conjunction with the thesis in order to illustrate the benefits of the pairing of these two dramaturgical approaches. These three playscripts are presented in their entirety in the back matter of the thesis.

Committee: Howard Blanning PhD (Committee Chair); Andrew Gibb PhD (Committee Member); Anna Klosowska PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Theater

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

This creative dissertation highlights the feminist leadership qualities of a social revolutionist, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, a native of Abeokuta, Nigeria. Her struggle for equity and justice profoundly encouraged the empowerment of Indigenous women during her time. The undeniable truth is that black women have played a pivotal role in the fight for equal rights and justice, particularly in the United States. While the social struggles of American black female revolutionaries such as Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Dorothy Height, Ella Baker, and Dorothy Cotton are documented and celebrated, little or nothing is known about their African counterparts. This creative dissertation attempts to fill that gap. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti mobilized Indigenous women to march in protest against unjust tax laws imposed on women by the Indigenous monarchy and the patriarchal agenda of her town between 1946 and 1949. Her social struggle would end the unjust tax laws that made way for Indigenous women's suffrage, a significant milestone in the history of women's rights. Funmilayo's life and achievements rank her as a foremost Yoruba feminist leader and a historical icon; her social struggle is contextualized into a two-act play titled Lioness of Lisabi to encourage and inspire change in postmodern and postcolonial women. The creative process is not an attempt to provide an accurate historical account of the social struggle that Funmilayo led; rather, it is to show how Funmilayo defied the odds and how her life and social struggles deconstruct Western constructs that paint women as weak, domesticated species, and inferior to men. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive (https://aura.antioch.edu/) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Diane Allerdyce PhD (Committee Chair); Woden Teachout PhD (Committee Member); Carol Barrett PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender Studies; Theater; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Theatre

Bud Coleman and Judith A. Sebesta in Women in American Musicals: Essays on Composers…. (2008) and Michelle Parke in Queer in the Choir: Essays on Gender and Sexuality in Glee (2014), all contend that “Musical theatre is arguably the most popular form of theatre in the United States” (Coleman and Sebesta, 6). Since the Nigerian tour of the Broadway musical Fela! in 2011, the form has generated a renewed excitement in that country's theatre culture, which was on the verge of extinction. A central contributor to this interest in musical theatre in Nigeria is producer Bolanle Austen-Peters (a.k.a., BAP). Inspired by Fela!, Austen-Peters has produced five Broadway-style musical theatre performances in the last decade, staged in Nigeria and abroad. In this study, I analyze three key works from Austen-Peters's still-in-process career while also providing documentation for this new art form to ensure its preservation and inspire prospects of future research. By using Ruth Little's, Cathy Turner's, and Synne Behrndt's definitions of dramaturgy, I critically evaluate and attend to how contemporary musical theatre in Nigeria functions. In addition, employing Marvin Carlson's concept of theatrical interculturalism, I endeavor to understand how traditional Nigerian performance elements are making their way into this reimagined art form. Following the introduction which lays out the topic and methodologies, chapter two is a critical exploration of Austen-Peters's first musical script, Saro, The Musical (2013). Specifically, I explore how she is modifying and modernizing traditional Nigerian performance practices to create a musical theatre production unique to Nigeria. My focus in chapter three is an analysis of a video recording of Austen-Peters's second work, Wakaa, The Musical (2015), which debuted in Nigeria before transferring to London in 2016 for a limited run. Building on the work done in chapter two, in this chapter I investigate how this performance combines el (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Michael Ellison PhD (Advisor); Timothy Pogacar PhD (Other); Jonathan Chambers PhD (Committee Member); Heidi Nees PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Literature; African Studies; Music; Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Theatre

While the past decade has seen a rapid increase in media visibility for transgender celebrities, it has not necessarily led to greater inclusion of transgender people within the United States' major performing arts institutions. The resulting increased awareness among the general public has reinforced the prevailing cultural narrative that the transgender community is a newly emerging population. The theatre has contributed to this perception, framing trans narratives as novel and “trending,” which perpetuates what ethnographer Andre Calvacante calls the ideology of transgender impossibility. This dissertation challenges the theatre industry's ideology of transgender impossibility by tracing the artistic and political origins of contemporary transgender performance and by illuminating the ways in which such an ideology obscures the history and distinct aesthetics of trans artists. Using interviews and what LGBTQ theatre historian Sean F. Edgecomb terms lateral historiography, this project locates transgender performance and aesthetic practices within communities practicing queer solo performance, the theatrical jazz aesthetic, and spoken word poetry. Building upon these varied queer legacies, transgender performers have developed a particular set of aesthetic practices and dramaturgical strategies based in embodied experience, queer time/transtemporality, disidentification, and community-building. The exploration of trans aesthetics here examines performance strategies which trouble the actor-spectator relationship through the lenses of Rebecca Schneider's explicit body performance, Jack Halberstam's transgender gaze, and accountable audience participation. The project closes with an illustration of how the ideology of transgender impossibility—as a function of the cis white gaze—operates within theatrical spaces, perpetuating a cycle of marginalization and delegitimization of trans aesthetics, histories, voices, and experiences.

Committee: Beth Kattelman (Advisor); Nadine George-Graves (Committee Member); Guisela Latorre (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Leadership and Change

In the first quarter of 2020, societal upheavals related to the COVID-19 pandemic included employers' work-from-home mandates and an almost overnight adoption of video meetings to replace in-person meetings no longer possible due to contagion fears and social distancing requirements. This exploratory study aimed to address, in part, the scientific knowledge gap about video meetings as a source of emotional labor. The study used mixed methods to explore three hypotheses concerning how the contemporary use of video meetings related to emotional exhaustion, stressors, and coping. Data were gathered through an online survey questionnaire. Emotional exhaustion, the dependent variable in the study, was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Schaufeli et al., 1996) General Survey emotional exhaustion subset of items. Stressors measured included surface acting, which was measured using items adapted from Grandey's (2005) scale. Coping was measured by perceptions about coping resources and cognitive coping. Socio-demographic characteristics served as control variables. Open-ended items produced data pertaining to emotional exhaustion, stressors, and coping related to video meetings. After data cleaning, the sample comprised 345 (n = 345) cross-sector professionals working for U.S.-based organizations. Findings based on a series of linear regression analyses and qualitative data thematic analysis showed video meeting hours and surface acting significantly related to a higher level of emotional exhaustion. Extrovertism, nonwork video gatherings, and social support from another adult in the home were nonsignificant in their relationships with emotional exhaustion. Perceptions that video meetings were too many for participants to accomplish their overall job responsibilities were significantly related to a higher emotional exhaustion level. Perceptions that video meetings were useful to the participant significantly related to a lower emotional exhaustion level. Perceptio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); J. Beth Mabry PhD (Committee Member); Michael Valentine PhD (Committee Member); Emily Axelrod MSW (Other) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Business Community; Business Education; Cognitive Psychology; Communication; Management; Occupational Health; Occupational Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Personal Relationships; Social Psychology; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology; Systems Design

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2007, Theatre

This paper supports Miami University's production of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros by providing a dramaturgical analysis of Ionesco's text, his characters, and his genre of anti-theatre. Through the research, the paper discusses director Dr. William Doan's concept of technology as a modern-day threat of mass conformity, how it was introduced as a metaphor for Ionesco's rhinoceroses, and how it was supported throughout the production process with directorical and design choices. Further, the paper questions whether Ionesco's Theatre of the Absurd and, more specifically, his anti-theatre are effective in 2006.

Committee: William Doan (Advisor) Subjects: Theater

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2005, Theatre

Theaters not only cast their audience in roles, but also cast themselves within specific functions in the community. This notion of duel casting produces the give and take between the theater and the audience, similar to the give and take between a production and an audience during a specific performance. When choosing a hierarchy of performance signs, a production team must take into account what the audience expects. If they choose to disregard expectations, they must do so purposely, and not by oversight. This is a possible new role for an American dramaturg, assisting in the understanding of audience expectations. Based on this notion of dramaturgs helping to prepare audiences for their role, this thesis will use Yuri Lyubimov's production of Crime and Punishment at the Arena Theater as a case study to explore what performance signs can differ.

Committee: William Doan (Advisor) Subjects: Theater