Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Contemporary Music

Luciano Berio's Sequenza IX continues to be a bifurcated work filled with incongruities between its clarinet (IXa) and alto saxophone (IXb) versions. Dozens of unexplained discrepancies exist between these two versions, such as differences in pitch, rhythm and temporal duration, missing material, and expressive markings. It also appears that many technical concessions were made in regard to the saxophone version's octave registration, low register articulations, and cut passages. Furthermore, some practical problems are associated with the saxophone version of Sequenza IX, such as unreliable multiphonic fingerings and difficult page turns. This study addresses these heretofore unresolved issues by interviewing musicians who collaborated with Luciano Berio in creating and performing Sequenza IXb, including Iwan Roth, John Harle, and Claude Delangle. This study also engages in comparative analysis of all published editions and examines Berio's primary documents, manuscripts, and correspondence archived at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland. The genesis, development, and evolution of Sequenza IXb are illustrated through establishing a new oral chronology. An exhaustive catalogue of every observed discrepancy and change between each manuscript and edition of Sequenza IXb is created, as well. Finally, this study synthesizes the aforementioned findings to produce practical recommendations for saxophonists, including suggested changes to the score, revised program note material, alternative options for multiphonic fingerings, suggestions for navigating the problematic page turns, and performance practice considerations. The findings from this study will allow saxophonists to achieve more authentic performances and teaching of Luciano Berio's cornerstone unaccompanied saxophone work, Sequenza IXb.

Committee: John Sampen D.M.A. (Committee Chair); Hyeyoung Bang Ph.D (Other); Ryan Ebright Ph.D (Committee Member); Marilyn Shrude D.M.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

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

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

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Art

Drawing on Helene Cixous' essay on women's bodies and performance in “Aller a la mer” (1984), I frame my research based on her concept of women taking control of their own fate in terms of the stage. Her essay refers specifically to her play Portrait of Dora (1976), which examined the story of a woman who was psychoanalyzed by Sigmund Freud. Like Ibsen's Nora in A Doll's House (1879) who slammed the door at the end of the play in order to find herself, Dora likewise left Freud, the great man, because she disagreed with his interpretation of her illness. Cixous' point in this essay—as well as in her essay the Laugh of Medusa (1976)—is that women must take control of their own stories, even if it means slamming the door on the past. My dissertation focuses on women who, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, have written their own narratives for performance and based their stories on their own lives. In particular, I focus on four female solo artists who created and performed autobiographical solo pieces in New York City between 2001 and 2010: Elaine Stritch (1925 – 2014) and her work Elaine Stritch at Liberty (2002), Lenelle Moise (1980 – ) and her piece Womb-Words, Thirsting (2005), Vanessa Hidary (1971 – ) and her creation Culture Bandit (2002), and Sarah Jones' (1970 – ) performance of Bridge and Tunnel (2002). These four women refused to be represented by someone else's narrative and chose to tell their own stories from their own point of view. While these four performers have key characteristics in common that they drew from their life narratives when creating and developing their solo works, at the same time, clear and identifiable differences emerge. The selected case studies are diverse not only in terms of performers' age and ethnicity, but also allow us to witness the wide range and variety of autobiographical strategies employed in the creation of their solo performances. Elaine Stritch's Elaine Stritch at Liberty demonstrates how an establis (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lesley Ferris (Advisor) Subjects: Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Theatre and Film

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 w (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ronald Shields PhD (Advisor); Jonathan Chambers PhD (Committee Member); Lesa Lockford PhD (Committee Member); Wendell Mayo PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Theater

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Contemporary Music

This paper will provide a resource for percussionists and composers interested in music for non-traditional solo instruments and electronics. The goal is twofold: first, to present a user-friendly guide with identification of required electronic equipment, an understanding of basic signal flow, setup and troubleshooting guides, compositional trends, and technical demands; second, to promote this repertoire through a performance and analysis guide of three prominent works - Javier Alvarez's Temazcal (1984), Matthew Burtner's Broken Drum (2003), and Christopher Tonkin's In (2005). These works are representative of the genre and incorporate either live or fixed electronics. The instruments featured in these pieces are often treated by other composers as having limited artistic potential; positioning them as solo instruments allows them to demonstrate their artistic capabilities. Pairing them with an electronic component expands the palate of sound, providing more sonic diversity and expressive potential to an otherwise monochromatic instrument. In addition to the in-depth profiles of these three compositions, a selected list of applicable works is included with identification of specific instruments and technical demands. This will provide students and teachers with a body of current works which will aid in awareness and selection of this music. This paper aims to diminish current knowledge gaps related to contemporary electronic music and to promote the performance and creation of new works.

Committee: Daniel Piccolo DMA (Committee Chair); Marilyn Shrude DMA (Committee Member); Piyawat Louilarpprasert DMA (Committee Member); Lee Nickoson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music; Technology

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2012, College-Conservatory of Music: Piano

The document presents a comprehensive survey of the solo piano works by an eminent contemporary woman composer Emma Lou Diemer, who is still alive and active as a musician of various roles, such as a composer, teacher, performer, and church musician. By keying into her representative solo piano works including her most recent output, the document's primary goal is to guide performers and piano teachers for understanding and playing the composer's piano works. Selected pedagogical and concert works will be given detailed analysis such as comparisons of styles, structures, and sonorities. In light of her collective output for piano literature, the significance of the composer's contribution to the 20th- and 21st-Century music making, especially for the history of piano literature, is examined, in the context of current musical culture and trend.

Committee: Jeongwon Joe PhD (Committee Chair); Michael Chertock MM (Committee Member); Elizabeth Pridonoff MM (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Theatre

This dissertation examines playwright and performer Anna Deavere Smith's critically acclaimed series, On the Road: A Search for American Character. Focusing on the project's thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth installments, Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities, Twilight, Los Angeles, 1992, and House Arrest: A Search for American Character In and Around the White House, Past and Present, respectively, this study demonstrates how diversity and doubleness serve as the foundation of Smith's dramaturgical investigation into the relationship between language and character. Smith focuses on communities experiencing socio-political duress and persons whose voices have gone largely unheard within those communities. In collecting, editing, and performing verbatim excerpts from interviews with white, African American, Korean, Latino, and Jewish women and men, Smith's interest in cultural diversity plays a crucial role in fulfilling the mission of On the Road: to make connections between the seemingly disconnected and spark productive discussion about matters of race. Characters in Smith's dramas regularly reveal a sense of double consciousness, to quote W.E.B. Du Bois's influential concept, grappling with their awareness of themselves as racial minorities and how their identities are viewed as “other” by the dominant culture. Furthermore, many events upon which the plays are based are shown to have double meanings and be open to a wide range of interpretation. The same holds true for the imperfect but poetic language employed by characters to describe these events. By presenting a panoply of voices and exploring events from multiple perspectives, Smith investigates how and why disagreements, tensions, failures to understand, and inabilities to communicate have plagued the diverse populations of Crown Heights, Los Angeles, and the United States. This dissertation also explores how Smith's multiple identities as African American, woman, interviewer (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Joy Reilly (Advisor) Subjects: Theater

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2010, Theatre and Film

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.

Committee: Ronald Shields PhD (Committee Chair); Lesa Lockford PhD (Committee Member); Scott Magelssen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Theater