The roles of Melibea/Isabelle/Hippolyta in The Illusion, freely adapted by Tony Kushner, was selected as a thesis project in the fall semester of 2004. This thesis is a written record of the actor's work on the character throughout the rehearsal process and performance of the production. It contains four parts: an introduction, a character analysis, a four-column score and an appendix that includes production photos.

The role of Pridamant in Tony Kushners adaptation of The Illusion was performed in the Fall of 2004 and elected as a thesis role at that time. This thesis is a written record of the actors interpretation of the character. The thesis includes pre-production work, Character Analysis, and Four Column Score.

The role of Sylvester in MaRaineys Black Bottom by August Wilson was performed in the Fall of 2003, and selected as a thesis role in the Fall of 2004. This thesis is a written record of the actors interpretation of the character. The thesis includes Preproduction Work/Interview, Character Analysis, Four- Column Score, Production Run, and Personal Notes on the Role.

The role of Calisto/Clindor/Theogenes in Tony Kushner's adaptation of The Illusion by Pierre Corneille was selected as a thesis project in the fall semester, 2004. This thesis is a written record of the actor's interpretation of the character. The thesis includes a Character Analysis, Four Column Score of the Role and Personal notes on the role.

The role of Lady Macbeth in Shakespeares Macbeth was selected as a thesis project in the fall semester of 2004. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a written record of the actors interpretation and creation of the character through the rehearsal process. It contains five parts: an introduction, a character analysis, a daily actors journal, a physical score, and a conclusion.

The roles of Elicia/Lyse/Clarina in The Illusion, freely adapted by Tony Kushner, was selected as a thesis project in the fall semester of 2004. This thesis is a written record of the actor's work on the character throughout the rehearsal process and performance of the production in the form of a Rehearsal Journal. It also includes an Introduction, Character Analysis and a Conclusion.

This dissertation examines past cultural influences that have shaped theatre historians' perception of ancient Greek and contemporary Native American performance. It suggests that through a recognition of these influences, which have long tempered the Western narrative of theatre, ancient and Indigenous performance can be reviewed as similar forms of a lived exchange. The study tracks the formation of certain beliefs and assumptions within performance history through Roman, early Christian and Renaissance cultural identities. It notes the misrepresentation of oral and popular theatre within theatrical scholarship through its reliance upon the written remains of the ruling classes and confronts the notion of high and low forms of art as class-based within the theatre canon. Through an historical methodology the chapters attempt to disclose and refute long held assumptions within the discipline of theatre history. It explores ancient Athenian theatre as a sacred tribal ritual and an Apache puberty ritual as similar theatrical performances. The chapters also note the similar paths of ancient popular theatre and ritual performance of the Native American within Western theatre history. In conclusion the dissertation argues that Western definitions and ideology cannot be placed upon another separate and distinct culture and produce anything more than a distorted and fictionalized interpretation. It summarizes the impact of ancient social structures upon our view of Indigenous performance today and argues that without these religious and cultural biases from antiquity, the Apache ritual and fifth century B.C.E. theatre can be seen simultaneously as dramatic and sacred forms of equal importance with their own parallel history within the Western theatrical narrative. In conclusion the study offers an alternative historiography of both cultures through their performances.

The role of Matamore in Tony Kushners adaptation of Pierre Corneilles The Illusion was selected as a thesis project in the fall semester of 2004. This thesis is a written record of the actors work on the character throughout the rehearsal process and performance in the form of an Actors Score. It also includes an Introduction, Chapters on the Audition Process and First Reading, Character Analysis, a Production Photo and a Conclusion.

Nineteenth-century Americans took great pride in the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. This pride was not solely grounded in the knowledge that a grand, technological feat had been accomplished. When placed in its historical context, the celebration surrounding the completion of the railroad suggests a clear and visible statement of unity following a bitter and divisive civil war. The transcontinental railroad of 1869 undeniably unified the States. But any railroad simultaneously unites and divides, for while the tracks serve to link distant locations, they also produce a literal and metaphorical division in the communities through which they travel: the other side of the tracks. This study examines the intersection of performance, history, and politics in the historical glorification of the railroad and the simultaneous erasure and degradation of the men who built it. Specifically, this dissertation examines dozens of nineteenth-century plays, songs, and cartoons, exploring the power of performance in cementing a history of the railroad and the complicity of performance in a political movement that aimed to devalue the contribution of Irish, Mormon, and Black laborers and to expel the Chinese from the United States. This study ultimately engages the larger question of how performance can be used to shape collective memory, history, and a national definition of what it means to be a part of the United States of America.

The relationship between mother and daughter is an important one for many women. In learning how to best become a successful member of society, daughters look to their mothers to demonstrate the behaviors and beliefs appropriate to a female. Such explicit and implicit instruction makes the mother-daughter relationship a central one in the socialization of women. Because it is such a powerful site, the mother-daughter relationship has received attention in the world of representation. Of particular import to this study is the representation of the mother-daughter relationship in Twentieth-Century American drama. Recent scholarship has shown that such representations can, however, have greater import than simply as representations of an interpersonal relationship. Instead, representations of mother-daughter relationships often represent and reinforce patriarchal norms of feminine behavior and social constraints. This study puts this recent scholarship into dialogue with many plays from the twentieth century, in order to explore this relationship between dramatic and theatrical representations of the mother-daughter relationship and patriarchal conventions. It is arranged thematically, so that plays with similar features of the mother-daughter relationshiptropesare put into dialogue with one another. As a work of feminist scholarship, this work seeks to both identify patriarchal messages contained in plays throughout twentieth-century America, as well as the potential for resistance to those messages. It is not intended as a master-narrative of the discourse on the mother-daughter relationship, but rather as an opening of that discourse to the world of theatrical and dramatic representation.