Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies Theses and Dissertations
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Item Scenic Design for Anna in the Tropics(2009) Wheatley, Deborah; Conway, Daniel; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this Thesis is to provide research, supporting paperwork and production photographs that represent the scenic design for Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz at the University of Maryland, Department of Theatre. This thesis contains the following documentation: research images which contribute to the intellectual design of the production and visually communicate to the director the ideas of texture, color, scale, and mood; photographs of the ¼"; scale model; a full set of draftings communicating to the technical director the look of each scenic element; a unit list which gives detailed information on each element of the scenic design; the props list which details the construction and purpose of each type of prop used in the production; and the props and paint research book which visually supports the information in the props and unit list. Archival production photographs are included to visually document the completed final design.Item CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY-BASED PERFORMANCE PRACTICES IN CONTEMPORARY NORTH AMERICA(2009) Messer, Kristen Anne; Hildy, Franklin J; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation project examines contemporary North American conservative Christian performance practices. The study is in part ethnographic, taking into account the local context of these performances and attempting to situate their practices and techniques in relation to previous practices of religious performance, as well as within the field of community-based performance. Through contextualizing the performances discussed as part of ongoing theatrical/aesthetic conversations, interviewing participants, examining local and national press coverage, and in reading these events as locally rooted community-based performances, I explore why and how, when community-based and identity performance is often associated with the left and liberal concerns, it is thriving in communities that could, arguably, be understood as right and/or conservative. This study investigates how the elision of social and spiritual identity within the space of performance speaks to complex interactions between "American" identity and "American" spirituality.Item Sawing the Air Thus: American Sign Language Translations of Shakespeare and the Echoes of Rhetorical Gesture(2009) Snyder, Lindsey Diane; Hildy, Franklin J; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signed in1990 states that "no individual may be discriminated against on the basis of disability." The creation of anti-discrimination laws did not, however, legislate community understanding and equality of access. Focusing on access for the Deaf community to Shakespeare in performance, I am interested in developing both a theoretical and practical document. This document will explore the seemingly disparate fields of Performance theory, Shakespeare studies, Sign language studies, and Deaf studies in order to formalize a structure for interpreting text to create a communal experience for both Deaf and Hearing audiences. The virtuosity of Shakespeare makes his stories universal, enabling them to be translated into countless languages. Signed languages, as a part of the translation studies of Shakespeare, are often considered insignificant to the field because the interpretation into ASL is as temporal as a performance or is perceived by some to be limited to a small community of understanding. By formalizing a process of translation that uses elements of both ASL and gesture, not only does this research provide a structure for creating formal ASL translations, but reexamines the importance of rhetorical gesture in Shakespeare studies. I begin by providing an overview of my methodology and interdisciplinary approach to gesture, ASL, Shakespeare and performance theory. Next, I examine a historical and theoretical framework for gesture in both the D/deaf and performance communities. I go on to discuss the use of gesture (rhetorical, performance, and sign language) in production through an analysis of sketches, charts, and embedded video. Finally, I document my experiences as an interpreter in an original staging practices environment. This documentation illustrates the uses of the previously discussed elements converging in practice. This dissertation will serve as a first step towards practitioners, academics, and interpreters working together to fully interpret Shakespeare's texts and redefine the concept of access.Item Scenic Design of The Winter's Tale(2009) Urbantke, Sean Joseph; Conway, Daniel; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this Thesis is to provide all the paperwork, supporting research, and production photographs that were instrumental in the scenic design for The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare at the University of Maryland, Department of Theatre. This Thesis contains the following; Research Images collected from various sources to help develop the concept and design for the show and communicate between the director and other designers conceptual ideas over the course of the production, including inspirational images in texture, color, scale, proportion, and sculpture; Computer Generated Renderings detailing ideas for specific moments in the production; Drafted Plates consisting of both the general and specific details which the Technical Director uses to direct his construction and paint crews to build the design; Projection Images used in the production to serve as a backdrop to the action in the final design; Paperwork that communicates scenic shift, scenic scheduling, and properties construction ideas between the designer and the technical production crews that execute them; and finally, archival photographs that are included as a visual document of the final completed design.Item `SHE WILL NOT SUBMIT TO BE IGNORED': KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN AND PERFORMING AMERICAN FEMININITY AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY(2009) Cole, Carrie Jane; Nathans, Heather S; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)"`She Will Not Submit to Be Ignored': Kate Douglas Wiggin and Performing American Femininity at the Turn of the Twentieth Century" seeks not only to reintroduce Wiggin as an important American figure of her era, but to do so as an example of the complex restructuring of women's roles in early twentieth-century American culture via the public performance of self. This dissertation explores how Wiggin performed her different personae throughout her life, how she shifted between the different roles she personified, and how the fluctuation of the definition of "appropriate" feminine behavior affected when and how she performed. The multiple facets of Kate Douglas Wiggin's public personae have never received scholarly attention; this examination offers an ideal opportunity to simultaneously reinvigorate interest in her work and to develop scholarship based on theories of self-representation and performance. By defining and explicating a theory of the performance of self based on discrete acts of self expression, I open the door for scholars in theatre, performance studies, literature, history, and gender studies to re-interrogate and renegotiate previously held conceptions of women's roles in society in general and within the theatrical sphere in particular.Item Lighting Design of The Winter's Tale(2009) Engel, Brian; Burgess II, Harold F.; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this Thesis is to provide research, supporting paperwork and production photographs that represent the lighting design for by William Shakespeare at the University of Maryland, Department of Theatre. This thesis contains the following documentation: Research Images which contribute to the intellectual design of the production and visually communicate to the director the ideas of texture, color, quality, and angle of light; a preliminary, rough, and final wish list used in the design development process; the scenic ground plan and section; all three plates of the light plot communicating to the electricians where to hang each individual lighting unit; the channel hookup and instrument schedule paperwork which support the light plot; the cue track used to develop and record the cue structure; and the magic sheet used to efficiently access the design tools. Archival production photographs are included to visually document the completed final design.Item Lighting Design of Between Trains(2008) Dowhaluk, Sonya Yurkiw; Burgess II, Harold F; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Purpose of this Thesis is to provide all research, supporting paperwork and production photographs that document the lighting design for Juanita Rockwell's Between Trains produced and presented by the Department of Theatre at the University of Maryland, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. This Thesis includes: a design concept statement, research images that influenced the design of the production; draftings from the scenic designer; a rough, preliminary, and final wish list which were used in the design development process; all three plates of the lighting plot which display information needed by the electricians to implement the design; a channel hookup and instrument schedule used as supporting paperwork for the plot; a cue track used to document the cue structure of the design; a magic sheet which serves as a visual representation of all the lighting tools contained within the plot; and production photographs which document the final, realized design.Item The Persistent Pogoni at the Victory Parade of 1945: Stalin's Choice to Costume the Soviet Present in the Uniforms of the Imperial Past(2008-12-04) Dunford, Paul Alexander; Schuler, Catherine; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The military uniform in which the Imperial Army of Tsar Nicholas II marched westwards toward its disastrous confrontation with that of his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II was the culmination of three hundred years of dress reform on the part of the Romanovs. Each of the dynasty's emperors and empresses imparted their own particular stylistic mark on the uniform; it in turn was symbolic of that ruler's reign and communicated a complex package of political, cultural, and social messages. The uniform of 1914 was symbolic of the uneasy reign of Nicholas II and it was therefore a natural target for the Bolshevik revolutionaries who physically tore them apart. Yet when Stalin sent the Red Army west to meet Hitler's Wehrmacht his soldiers were dressed in a uniform nearly identical to that which had been ravaged and reviled over two decades prior. By 1941 Stalin transformed the uniform of Imperial Russia into that of Soviet Russia, even though the political and cultural life of these two periods stood in stark contrast to each other in many ways. This highly successful transformation will be examined through application of an adaptation of the theories of stage semiotics.Item 'I Should Go Near to Say He Lies With Her, Yet She's A Maid.' From Virgins To Whores, Actresses and Portraits, 1660 - 1737(2008-12-11) Castle-Smith, Heidi Lorraine; Nathans, Heather S.; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)During the early part of the eighteenth century, a number of single, wealthy independent actresses emerged who seemed to fascinate the public and who appeared to deliberately use and cultivate that fascination to foster their careers, be they risqué or virtuous. Theatre historians have numerous contemporary accounts and scholarly speculations about the meaning of women's bodies in the public marketplace of the theatre such as Samuel Pepys's diaries, as well as the theatrical prologues and epilogues of the Restoration, which describe the fluid boundaries between on- and off-stage worlds, in the pursuit and conquest of female virtue, with portraits "painting" an ideal picture of the women. This dissertation uses another tool to understand their visual impact on the social marketplace and their own ability to manipulate their images through the study of their representation in portraiture. While live performance is fluid and thus difficult to analyze in any concrete way, portraiture offers a fixed point of reference. Unlike a written text, portraiture also captures the embodied qualities of the performer for the spectator. An exploration of these women's portraits - portraits often presenting the actresses in characters they performed onstage - may provide clues to the created identity these actresses were presenting to the public. By shifting focus from the dramas to portraiture and painting where actresses play 'star' roles I hope to expand the discourse of Restoration theatre beyond the parameters of strictly literary terms, and to help illuminate and understand the visual presence of actresses and women during the Restoration period from 1660-1737.Item MARISOL(2008-08-12) Frank, Cory Ryan; Burgess II, Harold F.; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this thesis is to provide all paperwork and supporting research/production photographs that document the lighting design for Marisol by Jose Rivera at the University of Maryland, Department of Theatre. This thesis contains the following: research images collected from various sources to help develop the design for the show and communicate to the director and other designers conceptual ideas for the production (e.g. color palette, quality of light, and ideas of texture); draftings of the scenic ground plan and section; all four plates of the lighting plot that present the mechanics of the design; a rough, preliminary, and final wish list which are used to guide the design development process; a channel hookup and instrument schedule which are used as supporting paperwork for the plot; a cue track used to develop the cue structure of play, as well as to communicate to the stage manager the placement of each cue; and a magic sheet used during the cue writing process that acts as a visual shorthand of the design tools. Finally, archival production photos are included to visually document the completed.