Thesis (M. A.)--Oklahoma State University, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-128).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oklahoma State University, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. A.)--Oklahoma State University, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oklahoma State University, 2009. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-82). / This dissertation explores the efficacy of workshop theatre processes in nurturing intercultural dialogue among members of a multicultural group. It investigates two kinds of intercultural dialogue - interpersonal dialogue and intergroup dialogue - which, it is argued, are each catalysed by different theatrical processes. Theatre games and improvisations seem to nurture an interpersonal dialogue, in which cultural differences are transcended as group members recognise each other's common humanity. Theatre research, on the other hand, seems more able to nurture an intergroup dialogue, in which group members acknowledge and contextualise cultural differences. At the same time, this dissertation proposes that it is unethical and ultimately ineffective for a facilitator to deliberately nurture a purely-interpersonal dialogue or a purely-intergroup dialogue. Rather, the group members themselves should determine the nature of the dialogue in which they participate. The dissertation therefore embraces Fred Casmir' s model of third-culture building, which conceptualises the multicultural group as a 'third-culture' that ideally evolves to accomodate the needs of all of its members.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-47). / This essay explicates the queering of a seminal realist text, Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, by means of a queer directorial aesthetic. Using queer theory, the heterosexual matrix (built on a rigid gender binary) and the nuclear family are posited as the crux of heteronormativity, which is the assumption and expectation that subjects are heterosexual.

Includes abstract.|Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-79). / As South African theatre artists we are both challenged and enriched by a diversity ofcultures, languages and traditions amongst both our practitioners and audiences. We are at the same time presented with a social environment that contains entrenched inequalities and divisions, profound trauma and unclear expectations. This affects us not only in the kind of theatre we create in response, but also in how we create theatre. Our rehearsal spaces and stages, like South African educational institutions, are concerned as much with integration and building communication bridges as with production.What I hope to glimpse at least, through this exploration, is a basis for practice that enhances the ability of an ensemble, no matter the degree of diversity, to actively participate in the process of interrogating the essence of a text or theme. I maintain that this collective process will develop open and authentic communication within the group,and that it will vitalize and enhance the impact of the resulting production by allowing the individual participants to make the concept, and its expression, their own.

Bibliography: leaf 40. / This paper is an exploration and explication of the ideas and theories that served to fire the journey of my thesis production, Hex, from conception through to performance. As a Masters student in Theatre-making with a leaning towards performance, my particular area of focus is the physical: female bodies as text. To delineate this further, I concentrate on disobedient representations of the witch: what are these; what do they mean and effect in our world and within women themselves? Since as Theatre-maker I variously switched mode from director (in the initial conceptual stages) to designer, writer and actor within the process, this written explication will similarly switch perspective as I weave through the issues at hand in the creation of Hex. I begin the paper with an introduction to the figure of the witch. A selection of examples of stage and screen portrayals of witches is given. I then describe the salient features of the witch's journey as represented from past to present, in order to shed light on the choice of witch characters which eventually formed the collage of Hex. This is followed by an exploration of the goddess I witch dichotomy, with specific reference to the presence or absence of her physical form as theatrically manifested in Hex. I delineate, define and exemplify the concepts of obedience and disobedience in witch representations. This leads to an in-depth look at the physiognomic I gestural language of the witch's body in performance, noting in particular its relation to a male gaze. The third and final section of the paper centres on the marginalisation of various witch figures. This serves to explicate the presence and meaning of certain key figures that appeared in various forms in Hex, such as the absent crone-wise-woman, and the happy childless mother. I conclude with a statement of my personal position in relation to the topic that inspired the explorative journey of Hex. The purpose of Hex was to imaginatively crack open the realm of the witch for the audience. For it is out of such pinholes that truth has a tendency to loom out, in her infinite number of gorgeous and appalling forms that, together, dance the jig of Life.

Includes bibliographical references. / The focus of this research is the translation of deconstruction theory into theatre practice. This is proposed as a way of challenging notions of truth and myths perceived as truth. In dealing with this challenge, notions of post-linearity were applied to text. The application of post-linearity resulted in a theatre collage reminiscent of collage as visual art form . The translation of deconstruction theory into theatre practice was explored by creating and directing a play entitled Trivial Pursuit with senior performance students from the Drama Department of the University of Cape Town. The play premiered at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown on 29 June 2001, followed by a short season at the Arena Theatre of the UCT Drama Department. The following written submission is divided into two parts. The first is an exploration of the theory and creative method that was applied in the process of creating and directing Trivial Pursuit. The second contains the theatrical form of Trivial Pursuit.