Theatre Arts Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Representation of Land and the Female Body in Polish Dramatic Literature
(University of Oregon, 2024-03-25) Dulba-Barnett , Anna; May, Theresa
In this dissertation, I map how the authors of canonical Polish dramas from Romanticism to the present construct and solidify the ideals of womanhood and its connection to land and nature. I analyze how the use of the female body as a metaphor or personification of the nation-state, commonly used since the early eighteenth century in Polish art and literature, has created silence around the actual experiences of Polish women, who have suffered gendered violence during moments of turmoil in Polish history. I also expose how theatre has been participating in interweaving the national narratives with Catholic mythoi. These narratives have participated in creating and maintaining a national identity and have soften fueled the Polish will to fight against foreign aggressors. However, in times of Polish independence and national freedom these narratives have often served to define what belonging to a national community of Polish people means and therefore have enabled exclusion of various people who do not fit neatly into these narratives’ narrowly defined boundaries. My study exposes this narrative underpinning much of the current regressive political rhetoric in Poland. By examining this collective Polish imaginary, I call attention to the ways that contemporary Polish theatre-makers are attempting to subvert these old narratives.
Open Access
Two Sides of Intelligibility: The Practice and Perception of Performed Accents Onstage
(University of Oregon, 2022-02-18) Kress, Ellen; May, Theresa
The profession of voice and dialect is built upon the premise of maximum understanding for the audiences attending theatre. This maximum understanding, or intelligibility, has historically driven the practice and continues to shape the profession today. Intelligibility has been used as an objective measure for countless performers throughout the history of performance. However, intelligibility may not be an objective threshold of listening, but a socially constructed term used for both the practice and perception of voices onstage. The work of this dissertation unpacks the idea of audience intelligibility from two perspectives—a critical examination of the relatively short history of the profession of voice and dialect in English-speaking countries, and an empirical investigation into the audience’s role in building intelligibility for actors. Intellgibility is in fact susceptible to social structures and individual’s preconceived normative ideas towards language.Analysis in the history of voice and dialect reveals two recurring goals throughout the past two centuries. One goal of the practice was to eliminate any non-standard language usage in actors and students, to eliminate and traces of linguistic lived experiences for students onstage. The second goal is to replace these non-standard language varieties with sanitized or stereotyped versions of acceptable language varieties, appearing as either a general standardized accent, or stereotypical versions of foreign or regional dialects. The main results of the series of linguistic experiments appear in three main themes. The first main theme is the context of language (e.g., listening to a performance) will necessarily change how listeners perceive language. The second theme is that there are multiple ways to achieve maximum constructed intelligibility, which makes way for more diverse voices in performance. The third theme uncovers the ambiguous relationship between authenticity, imitation, and stereotype, which leads to bigger questions of the role authenticity continues to play in performance. I then offer modifications to a profession by taking seriously the notion of intelligibility as a socially constructed judgment that has a real-world effect on perception. The findings from the history and the experiments contribute to my position about the state of contemporary voice and dialect practices. I use the findings from the body of this dissertation to grapple with my own position as a white theatre maker and advocate for practices that respect the linguistic autonomy of students and actors while honoring the needs of theatrical production.
Open Access
Durable Whiteness: Structural Settler Colonialism in California and Southern Oregon Theatre, 1849-1860 and 2018-2019
(University of Oregon, 2021-09-13) Lenk, Waylon; Najjar, Michael
Theatre and Performance Studies have studied the ways in which theatre and performance act as auxiliaries of hegemonic state power at least since Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed explored the ways in which classical Greek dramaturgy coerced its audiences into pro-state behavior. Meanwhile, the theatre industry often makes interventions into the White racial hegemony that dominates the United States while in some ways reinstating the very dramaturgies that serve to oppress Indigenous Peoples, Black People, and other People of Color (Holledge & Tompkins, McDonnell). Professional theatre would be well served by looking to the critiques of scholars like Boal as well as Diana Taylor, Jisha Menon, and Rustom Bharucha. These scholars critique theatre outside the United States and since, as Laura Pulido observes, race is experienced locally, a regional analysis of theatre as an auxiliary of White hegemonic state power in the United States is needed. My dissertation focuses on the region directly affected by the California Gold Rush, which includes all of California as well as southwestern Oregon, to demonstrate how theatre participated and continues to participate in the establishment of power that oppresses Blacks, Indigenous Peoples and People of Color. I do so by using eventful historical-sociology (Sewell) to describe the Gold Rush as an event that restructured race in the Gold Rush region, and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to compare indicators of white hegemony in Gold Rush plays with plays produced in the same region in 2019. I conclude by offering policy recommendations which range from the industry-specific like emphasizing dramaturgies that highlight non-white histories and increasing access for non-white labor in professional theatre to broader reaching interventions concerning minority language rights for local tribal languages and Spanish.
Open Access
Interpreting the Game of History: Synthesis and Shortcomings Between Reenactment, Living History, and Roleplaying
(University of Oregon, 2021-09-13) Pointer, Mica; Najjar, Michael
Civil War reenactors claim to be educational through the nature of their bringing the past to life. Their claims place them among heritage and cultural interpreters in how they connect the past with the audience before them. However, the practice of Civil War reenacting has come under scrutiny in recent years for propagating a narrow view of history informed predominantly by nostalgic ideas of a Confederate lost-cause narrative. Through personal experience as a reenactor and living history interpreter, together with in-depth research of these practices, I propose that Civil War reenacting may at times include interpretive practices, however, its primary function as a hobbyist’s pastime places it in the realm of Live Action Roleplaying (LARPing) rather than heritage interpretation. From this, Civil War reenactments are largely based on the relationship between historically inspired personas and the actors’ own personalities rather than creating an interpretive experience for the public audience. It is the confusion between these two tendencies that has resulted in the fields of American Civil War reenactments becoming breeding grounds where ideologically narrow views of history and national identity may be perpetuated.
Open Access
A Fundamental Disagreement: Ongoing Discussions Concerning the Adaptation of Augusto Boal’s Practices
(University of Oregon, 2021-09-13) Evans, Joshua; May, Theresa
After Augusto Boal passed away in 2009, a significant dispute developed within the Theatre of the Oppressed community concerning whether his methods should be reimagined to combat structural oppression more effectively. There are some theatre practitioners, most notably Marc Weinblatt and Cheryl Harrison, who have advocated for recalibrating Theatre of the Oppressed for privileged participants to help them recognize their role in continuing oppression. However, there are others, like Dr. Tania S. Cañas, who contend that this goes against the liberationist attitude at the heart of Boal’s theatrical praxis. Accordingly, this thesis will contextualize this argument by analyzing these authors’ texts and situating them within the movement's larger discourse. Specifically, it considers their articles in relationship to Boal’s original writings and the work of other leading artists. In doing so, this discourse strives to elucidate how the theatre praxis's ongoing reconceptualization has been integral for facilitating political and social activism.
Open Access
The Latinx Theatre Commons: Feminist Decolonization in the Early Years of a Movement to Transform the Narrative of the American Theatre
(University of Oregon, 2020-02-27) Sanchez Saltveit, Olga; May, Theresa
The Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) emerged in 2012 in response and resistance to years of misrepresentation and erasure of Latinx artistic work and presence by the American theatre field in practice and in scholarship. This dissertation is the first comprehensive chronicle and study of the LTC, reviewing the movement’s methods, manifestations, and implications through interviews with key participants and my own reflections as a founding Steering Committee member, balanced against theories of Latinx feminisms, the Commons, and Latin American decolonization. My research spans the early years of the movement, from the impetus that generated the meeting of the “DC-8” in May 2012, the formation of its first Steering Committee (comprised of Latinx theatre makers, scholars, and advocates from all over the US) in the summer of 2012; through the launch of the LTC’s digital and social media presences; the 2013 Boston Convening; the 2014 Encuentro and the 2018 Encuentro de las Américas; the 2015 and 2018 Carnavals; the El Fuego initiative (2016-19); the Dallas, Seattle, New York City, and Miami Regional Convenings (2015-19); the Maria Irene Fornés Institute Symposium (2018); and the TYA Sin Fronteras Festival and Conference (2019). A review of the mid-twentieth century’s Teatro Nacional de Aztlán (TENAZ) and the rise of Latinx feminisms in Chapters II and III provide the foundations for the story of the LTC that is described in Chapter IV. In Chapter V, the movement’s activities and methods are investigated through the multiple lenses of Latinx feminisms, commons and decolonization theories. Intersectional, non-hierarchical, and radically inclusive Latinx feminist priorities align with commons ideologies, which champion community consensus when determining the care and application of mutually shared resources. This fundamentally anti-capitalist approach reinforces the work of decolonization, the intentional transformation of the way social, political, and economic processes are viewed and implemented. These three ideological frameworks at work within the LTC are mutually supportive and, interwoven, they sustain the LTC’s mission, to transform the narrative of the American theatre, with integrity. Chapter VI concludes with the greater implications and questions about the LTC’s work as a model for social justice and revolution.
Open Access
“Sisters of the Pen”: Restoring Women to Early Modern Theatre History Pedagogy and Practice
(University of Oregon, 2020-02-27) Rogers, Jessica; Najjar, Michael
This dissertation looks at current theatre historiography in terms of pedagogy and performance practices on the topic of early modern (seventeenth century) female dramatists, via select dramatic works of Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland; Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle; and Aphra Behn. As early modern feminists, Cary, Cavendish, Behn, writing in different eras of the seventeenth century, each impacted theatre historiography by providing their unique perspectives on the roles of women in their times. Each of these women have a substantial history of literary study extending back decades; however, current practices in the areas of theatre history and theatre production minimize or dismiss the dramatic contributions of these women, generally for reasons pertaining to gender, and as such, there has been considerable oversight in the theatrical field as a result. Additionally, this study looks at the social contexts of the seventeenth century and later as a means of addressing issues pertaining to early modern female authorship and why these women have been so neglected as dramatists according to genre. Furthermore, it identifies and examines some of the feminisms evident in their dramatic works, and how said feminisms can contribute to current discourse on theatre history pedagogy and performance. The objective of this study is to reiterate the necessity of revising current theatre pedagogical and performance canons to include these women as a means of further understanding their individual milieus by recontextualizing their work as part of, rather than separate from, theatre historiography and practice. In doing so, the hope is to continue advocacy for the importance of a more inclusive feminist theatre historiography and, subsequently the need for revisions to the dramatic canons. This dissertation includes previously published material.
Open Access
Traversing the Rift: Cultivating Climate Change Literacy Through Theatrical Performance
(University of Oregon, 2019-04-30) Borowicz, Lydia; May, Theresa
Climate change is a persistent and growing threat to the well-being of both humans and nonhuman species, and little action has been taken to halt it. It is imperative the public gains a sufficient level of climate change literacy to be able to take action to mitigate climate change. Theatrical performance offers audiences diverse ways to engage with climate change through both improving scientific understanding and connecting with climate change’s effects through live, embodied performance. Employing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s tenets of climate literacy, I examine how climate change plays (specifically Steve Waters’ The Contingency Plan, Chantal Bilodeau’s Sila, Duncan Macmillan and Chris Rapley’s 2071, and E.M. Lewis’s Magellanica) can cultivate improved climate change literacy in audiences. Halting climate change will require not just climate science knowledge but a shift in values toward an ecologically sustainable future, and theatre offers vital space and tools for reimagining that future.
Open Access
The Nether Worlds of Jennifer Haley — A Case Study of Virtuality Theatre
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06) Yeadon, Michelle; Najjar, Michael
Studies exploring the first wave of digital performance foregrounded technology by cataloging experimentation and novel interactions between liveness, projections and code. As exercises in medium, these high tech spectacles demonstrate the aesthetic potential of digital media while introducing key media concepts. Jennifer Haley is a writer with one foot in theatre and one in code. She is uniquely positioned in two interdependent spheres, which makes her particularly suited to engineer a theatrical bridge into the virtual, because at the heart of the contemporary technological revolution is a new level of writing and media literacy. Theatre has been effectively accessing the virtual imagination for millennia, and new technologies create new intricacies for engaging the virtual within theatrical space. Each is a medium defined by action, which host other media, and provide in depth simulations. Haley’s plays push beyond the fascination and spectacle of technology to incorporate the mundane reality of the digital into the structure of her work. Haley writes plays specifically to resonate with the similarities she sees between theatre and virtual worlds. Utilizing techniques and tropes from other media and then framing the narrative from within a theatrical world Haley exploits the essence of an active, critical audience and opens a dialog between virtual worlds and the perceptions of the audience. She treats her media generated worlds as places. Other digital theatre plays may peer through a window into the virtual by dramatizing a conversation through media; Haley sends an expedition over the threshold into another world. A flesh version of an avatar breathing before the audience establishes a material existence unattainable in two dimensional screen media. Haley illuminates the constructed nature of mediatized communication, but she does it dramaturgically deemphasizing the technology and re-centering the human within the virtual drama. Her approach builds a metaphorical bridge between theatre and virtual digital realities. Through a close reading of Haley’s plays I will demonstrate how Haley takes the artistic next step for computer technology and theatre.
Open Access
Moises Kaufman: The Search for New Forms
(University of Oregon, 2003-08) Brown, Rich
This study identifies and examines Moises Kaufinan's theoretical questions and rehearsal techniques from their development in initial works at New York University to their specific application during the creation of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project by his Tectonic Theater Project. Kaufinan's upbringing and major artistic influences are investigated in order to trace the origins of his current theoretical language and approach to making theatre. This dissertation primarily focuses on Kaufi:nan's approach to the workshop space as discussed in relation to his search for new theatrical forms, and his style of communication with company members. Such focus offers new questions regarding the basis and range ofKaufinan's aesthetic. The two guiding questions of the study ask: What is Kaufinan's directorial role in Tectonic Theatre Project's creation of new work? How does he ensure the "copulation" of form and content in the workshop space when creating new works? Chapter II outlines Kaufman's biography through detailing his education in Venezuela and in the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University, as well as traces his early production history. Chapter III investigates how Tectonic techniques led to the creation of Gross Indecency examining Kaufman's inciting hunch, the depth of his research, his organizing principle and expanding through-lines, and "moment work." Chapter IV continues to trace the development of these Tectonic techniques through the creation of The Laramie Project, highlighting the fact that no two Tectonic Theater Project productions have been created in the same manner. This chapter also raises the crucial question of Kaufman's role as Tectonic's workshop director in regards to the issues of authority and authoring. Chapter V arrives at concluding questions and thoughts on Kaufman's theoretical questions in traffic with his workshop techniques, and how these shape his directorial and authorial aesthetics. Chapter V concludes with questions for further study on Kaufman and historically based theatre.
Open Access
Roots in the Earth and a Flag in my Hand: Rural Gender Identity in American Musical Theatre
(University of Oregon, 2016-10-27) Cuskey, Lusie; May, Theresa
The integrated musical is a vehicle for the creation and communication of a national identity, created through the use of coded performances of gender and, at times, rural settings conceptualized as essentially “American.” There is, however, little research about the ways in which gender operates in rural settings in musical theatre, or the ways in which rural gender identities are utilized to communicate nationalist ideologies. This thesis seeks to address this gap in research by examining three contemporary American musicals – Carrie, Violet, and The Spitfire Grill – in light of both American musical theatre conventions surrounding gender performance and contemporary theory around gender, rurality, and intersectional rural gender identities. This thesis ultimately suggests that an approach to rural gender in musical theatre grounded in a specific physical and cultural moment and location is best equipped to both honor the narratives of rural communities and propagate appropriately complex narratives of national identity.
Open Access
A Home You Can’t Live in: Performances of the Black Body and Domestic Space in Contemporary Drama
(University of Oregon, 2015-08-18) Gray, Leslie; May, Theresa
Theatre is often an invitation to enter the black home subject to its violations and crisis; this thesis repositions the black home and body in contemporary American and British theatre as constructed by the narratives and transgressions of the moment they are in. I examine Suzan-Lori Parks’ In the Blood, Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop and Sabrina Mahfouz’s Chef as sites of memory, nostalgia, and trauma where what is considered “home” resists the safety of concrete walls and a white picket fence. Instead, I argue the playwrights suggest, with their black female protagonists, that home transcends the material. Parks, Hall, and Mahfouz each meditate on what it means for black women to dwell in unsafe places, the home you don’t want to return to. This is significant in that it encourages a respect for the lived experiences and cultural knowledge acquired in autonomous homes and bodies of black women whose narratives have often been made invisible.
Open Access
Practical Dramaturgy for Actors: Applying Resources of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to the Challenges of Language and Preparation
(University of Oregon, 2015-01-14) Rodley, Patricia; Schmor, John
This dissertation investigates the relationship between acting and dramaturgy. It proposes a change in the contemporary actor's work to more purposefully integrate practical dramaturgy as a preparation that parallels character analysis. Despite how the actor's focus frequently aligns with character, current trends in American playwriting suggest a need for a different approach as well because many plays defy expectations for the kind of naturalistic, character-driven acting that suits plays written in the style of realism. New playwriting, especially as codified by Paul C. Castagno, reflects a need for the actor to focus on other dramaturgical structures. In response, this dissertation considers the actor's dramaturgical approach. It expands upon Geoffrey Proehl's concept of "dramaturgical sensibility" as it relates to the dramaturg and explores the actor's dramaturgical sensibility. Research into production processes at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival reveals a scope for the actor's dramaturgical sensibility through three kinds of awareness beyond character: story, language, and performance structures. This foundation then informs a proposed process of dramaturgical script analysis, which functions as a practical dramaturgy for actors. This project also includes a secondary case study related to a University of Oregon production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, which helps to establish the components of dramaturgical script analysis for actors. In order to consider a benefit for actors in response to new playwriting strategies, the same components are then applied to two contemporary plays: Apparition: An Uneasy Play of the Underknown by Anne Washburn and God's Ear by Jenny Schwartz. The process overall reveals a persistent binary related to internal and external preparation for actors and a resistance to new methods owing to lack of time in processes of contemporary theatrical production. Ultimately, however, outcomes also suggests how a practical dramaturgy for actors may expand the actor's work in any context and may support various theatrical production processes in the United States by maximizing the actor's ability to discern the needs of a play.
Open Access
Amas Repertory Theatre: Passing as Black While Becoming White
(University of Oregon, 2014-09-29) Sidden, Jean; May, Theresa
Amas Repertory Theatre was founded in 1969 by Rosetta LeNoire, an African American actress who pursued a mission of developing original musicals while practicing interracial casting. The company's most successful show was Bubbling Brown Sugar (1975). Throughout Amas's history LeNoire's complicated perspective on what constituted discrimination sometimes caused her casting choices to be questioned. LeNoire believed in a colorblind theatre and society, however, as the decades passed, her colorblind perspective was challenged by neo-conservative philosophy which states that in a colorblind society no particular group should receive any more privilege than another. This definition of colorblind is used to justify conservative efforts to eliminate affirmative action and undermine race conscious legislation. In the late 1990s, at her retirement, LeNoire, who always believed that color did not matter, turned her theatre over to white leadership, who still operate Amas today. At that point, Amas changed from a company that had, from its founding, been considered to be a black theatre to one that is now white. As the history of Amas unfolds, my study examines the complex politics surrounding the concept of colorblindness. Efforts by Actors' Equity to promote interracial or, as it is often called, nontraditional casting are also investigated as well as the conservative backlash against race conscious policies, particularly during and after the administration of Ronald Reagan. In the present day Amas practices a multicultural mission, however, as my dissertation examines the company's programming decisions as well as its perspective on race, Amas is revealed to be an example of how white operated theatres, even if unintentionally, through the agency of white power and privilege, are affected by the same institutional racism that permeates American society. My dissertation then challenges Amas and other theatres to take responsibility for staying fully aware of the racially charged issues and tensions that exist in America today. When theatre professionals seek out and are committed to engaging in open dialogue on race they are in a stronger position to make knowledgeable decisions regarding the representation of race on stage.
Open Access
The Experience of Place in Performance: A Survey of Site-Specific Theatre
(University of Oregon, 2014-09-29) Rorem, Jacob; May, Theresa
For practitioners and scholars of site-specific theatre, attempts to understand the relationship between a site and performance have often focused on performance. The many ways a site can inform and enhance the audience's experience of performance has been thoroughly explored, but what about the reverse? How can performance facilitate an experience of place and inform audiences about the value and potential of the places around us? I contend that site-specific performance which privileges place--including its varied histories and meanings--can foster a more thorough consideration of the places we inhabit and equip us to make better decisions about them. This thesis uses three case studies to explore the experience of place in performance and its potential implications. My case studies are Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh's production of Macbeth at the 2013 Manchester International Festival, We Players of San Francisco, and PlaceBase Productions of Minneapolis.
Open Access
Presenting Oregon: Formative Forces of the Oregon Unit of the Federal Theatre Project
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Morris, Damond; May, Theresa
During the Great Depression President Roosevelt's New Deal brought relief to Americans through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was formed in 1935 under the WPA to lift spirits, educate, entertain, and put unemployed theatre artists to work. The FTP was national in scope, but administered at the state level. In the State of Oregon, former Portland Civic Theatre director, Bess Whitcomb, pulled together theatre professionals qualified for work relief to form the Oregon Unit. Ironically, the first productions of the Oregon Unit were not examples of Whitcomb's legitimate theatre work with the Portland Civic, but an expedient recouping of older forms. Vaudevillians were the first unemployed actors hired by the Oregon Unit because they qualified for relief and were ready to place their talents in front of an audience. This study historicizes the productions of the Oregon Unit of the Federal Theatre Project from 1936 to 1939 and examines the way its leadership negotiated with three forces existing in Portland and the Pacific Northwest. The forces include: the tradition of vaudeville, made up of unemployed professionals; the Little Theatre movement, through Bess Whitcomb's relationship with the Portland Civic Theatre; and finally, the government, at the state and federal level, which used the Oregon Unit as a mechanism of propaganda, to produce regionally based theatre which promoted the agenda of the New Deal while representing Oregon to Oregonians. Whitcomb negotiated through these forces to create a wildly popular vaudeville-based performance group. The vaudeville nature of the troupe conflicted with a need on the part of the FTP nationally to present "legitimate" scripted performances. The need to produce legitimate theatre brought Whitcomb to transform the Oregon Unit and start a "rehabilitation" program for the vaudevillians, effectively purging the vaudeville performance style. The legitimate mission placed Whitcomb in the middle of negotiations to create a WPA Art Center in Portland. This study places Whitcomb's negotiation in context of the Great Depression, and calls for a re-centering of her position as a theatrical pioneer in Portland, Oregon.
Open Access
Bill Talen and Reverend Billy: A Shared Journey
(University of Oregon, 2013-07-11) Thomas, Kathleen; Schmor, John
As the cultural upheaval of the `60s fought its way into the `70s, Bill Talen began his career first as a poet, hitchhiking the interstate highways from the Midwest to the Coasts eagerly engaging the literary, intellectual, and artistic opportunities offered by those cultural venues. He settled in San Francisco where he earned an M.A. in Theatre Arts and joined with friends to open a theatre, "Life on the Water." Here Talen met Sydney Lanier, a minister, who became his lifelong mentor and champion. Lanier recognized in Talen a bold presence which accompanies successful preachers and elevates their sermons. He promoted and supported Talen's move to New York City where Talen fully embraced his role as Reverend Billy and directed the full might of his talents against consumerism--especially Michael Bloomberg's socio-economic goals for the City. Eventually, Talen's critique came to challenge foreign policies that promote corporatism, environmental decline, and the global homogenization of culture. Talen's body of work is extensive and two strong threads run through it that are exemplary. One evidences a complete and purposeful disregard for any artistic borders, especially the edgy land between acting and not-acting, including the tiny gradients as one merges into the other. Talen's recognition of the porosity of borders likely facilitated his willing assimilation of his character, Reverend Billy, into his own daily life and persona, until the two merged, endowing Talen, the performance artist, with the skills and insights of a spiritual leader. The second thread is simply Talen's life's journey from reluctant performer of a religious role, to the willing engagement of that role, and finally the adoption of spiritual responsibility, eventually forming a church and a religion based on activism and a strong commitment to environmental causes. The performance artist became Reverend; the Reverend was born to act. This merging of talents, goals, and dreams created a character who would run for public office. It created a performance artist who would wed lovers, baptize new congregants, and console the grieving.
Open Access
Clowns Ex Machina: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Gender and Clown
(University of Oregon, 2012) Bates, Kimberly; Bates, Kimberly; Schmor, John
Historically, women have been largely discounted from the public comedic arena, typically serving as the butt of the joke or other various comedic fodder. As a female comedian, I became interested in how gender played into the performance of comedy, particularly in clown work. This case study follows an all female clown troupe called Clowns Ex Machina, based in New York, and investigates the impact of generating clown work in an all-female environment by all-female performers. The work that they do not only validates female participation in clown, but it also shows that the female experience is a human experience, and that gender lines do not have to prevent empathic identification.
Open Access
Sojourn Theatre Company: A Case Study in Community-Based Theatre
(University of Oregon, 2012) Madzik, Christine; Madzik, Christine; May, Theresa
This thesis examines contemporary community-based theatre processes and efficacy through a case study of Sojourn Theatre Company. Chapter II overviews Sojourn's production history and explores the company's style. Chapter III discusses the theatre-making process, from project conceptualization to performance. Chapter IV examines approaches for assessing Sojourn's efficacy. The research was based on company interviews, primary observation, archive materials, and audience reviews. The results of the study indicate that Sojourn relies heavily on audience engagement and community participation to assess its work. In addition, both a production's purpose and its target audience play a large role in determining efficacy.
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(In)famous Angel: The Cherub Company and the Problem of Definition
(University of Oregon, 2012) Cook, Brian; Cook, Brian; Freeman, Sara
This dissertation examines the effects of conventionally categorizing working artists and looks specifically at the Cherub Company, London, as a case study. Cherub was an alternative British theatre company whose work in the 1980s defied most of the categories which inscribed theatre practice in Britain. Because they did not fit canonical definitions, Cherub was said to be producing “bad” theatre. When governments, critics or historians use a canonical approach to separate the supposedly good from the bad, artists who do not conform are often ignored and become lost to history. In order to genealogically trace the influence of the Cherub Company and to accurately depict its legacy, this dissertation examines both the company’s archive and repertoire as well as the field of cultural production in which it operated. British theatre in the late 1970s was often hostile to foreign performance techniques, led by the opinions of the theatre staff of the Arts Council of Great Britain, the primary issuer of government arts subsidy. Cherub’s production of Two Noble Kinsmen melded a classic English text with Eastern European production methods and was derided by the ACGB. This response along with similar views on the company’s other early productions formed the backbone of the ACGB’s contention that Cherub should not receive subsidy. Despite the company’s maturation, demonstrated by the international success of their production of Kafka’s THE TRIAL,which won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival, the ACGB continued to refuse subsidy. Eventually the company was selected by the British Council, a government organization whose mission was to send quality British cultural products abroad, for numerous international tours. These tours allowed the company to stay alive during the difficult years of the mid-1980s, though this also meant they were rarely producing in the UK. Ultimately, the company would lose its prominence, and though they continued producing into the new millennium, they never regained their former stature. Cherub’s story demonstrates that historiographic impact and importance should not be limited only to those who achieve conventional success, and this dissertation represents a more inclusive and less power-centered model for documenting and writing history.