Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Interdisciplinary Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-202). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR38768

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

I have been cast as "Bobby" in A Chorus Line at Orlando Broadway Dinner Theatre in Orlando. I will use this opportunity as my thesis role. As part of my thesis defense, I will combine an analysis of the character of "Bobby" in A Chorus Line with an assessment of Actors' Equity Association's audition policies from 1970 to the present, and investigate whether the audition held in the show abides by the policies established by AEA for Broadway calls. "Bobby" has an interesting arc of development as he actually gives the director what he (the director) does not want, yet is still cast in the fictitious Broadway show. Why he would choose to stray from the director's instructions is an interesting question and demanding study. To facilitate my research on the character (aside from script and score analysis), I will interview Thommie Walsh (about for whom the role was written and the original "Bobby" on Broadway) as well as other men who have played the role to get insights into the character that will enhance my performance. Mr. Walsh will also elaborate on his real-life relationship with Michael Bennett and how that compares and contrasts with the relationship between "Bobby" and "Zach." I also will interview as many of the original cast members as possible (namely Baayork Lee) to get contributing memories and anecdotal evidence from the original production. A Chorus Line captures the one element all performers experience – the audition. The audition process has changed over the years, and I will focus on the development of protocol from the early 1970's (when A Chorus Line takes place) to the present. I will explore the manner in which the process has evolved and what A Chorus Line's contribution was (if any) to that process. This show has become so much a part of the musical theatre vernacular that historical exploration of procedures would also clarify how this work was structured. Were actors subjected to that intense style of audition on a huge stage in the early 1970s? Are they still today? My research will trace the history and rules governing auditions, performers and staff as delineated by Actors' Equity Association. I will also include a comparison of Equity to the variety of non-Equity auditions. Other sources will include rulebooks from AEA and interviews with dancers (past and present), AEA staff and Patrick Quinn, President of AEA.

No description available.

The discourse of Western theatre practice is founded on, and maintained as, a legitimizing struggle between the terms “professional” and “amateur.” This study moves beyond the traditional signifiers of Canadian amateur theatre—the Little Theatre Movement, the Dominion Drama Festival and connotations of “inferior” and “dilettantish”—to examine two nonprofessionalized companies that have witnessed the professionalization of Anglo-Canadian theatre in order to argue for the relevance and vitality of contemporary “nonprofessionalized” theatre practices. By drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory and Michel Foucault’s discourse theory and theories of formations of disciplines, this study argues that theatre professions seek to discipline, delegitimize and exclude nonprofessionalizing practices in order to gain capital (economic, social and cultural) at the expense of the creative freedoms inherent in nonprofessionalized work. It also considers the ways in which theatre scholarship omits critical discussion of amateur practice and how the term “amateur” is co-opted as a clouded pejorative signifier and erased by the contested term “community” within theatre discourse (institutions, practices and the Canadian imaginary). Following a case study approach based on archival documents, the study provides the foundation for a social history of Alumnae Theatre Company (1918- ), beginning with its early years as part of the University of Toronto’s University College Alumnae Association, by examining the relationship between amateur theatre practice and campus philanthropy, followed by Alumnae’s impact on Toronto’s professionalizing theatre scene in the context of alterity in Canadian theatre discourse. It then examines Walterdale Theatre Associates’ (1958- ) relationship to the emerging theatre profession before and after the opening of Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre in 1965 to argue that Walterdale benefits the profession and its professionalizing artists while negotiating complex concerns over institutionalization. Their longevity is explained, in part, by the fact that both companies operate “as if” professional, yet outside of professionalized disciplinary regimes.

The discourse of Western theatre practice is founded on, and maintained as, a legitimizing struggle between the terms “professional” and “amateur.” This study moves beyond the traditional signifiers of Canadian amateur theatre—the Little Theatre Movement, the Dominion Drama Festival and connotations of “inferior” and “dilettantish”—to examine two nonprofessionalized companies that have witnessed the professionalization of Anglo-Canadian theatre in order to argue for the relevance and vitality of contemporary “nonprofessionalized” theatre practices. By drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory and Michel Foucault’s discourse theory and theories of formations of disciplines, this study argues that theatre professions seek to discipline, delegitimize and exclude nonprofessionalizing practices in order to gain capital (economic, social and cultural) at the expense of the creative freedoms inherent in nonprofessionalized work. It also considers the ways in which theatre scholarship omits critical discussion of amateur practice and how the term “amateur” is co-opted as a clouded pejorative signifier and erased by the contested term “community” within theatre discourse (institutions, practices and the Canadian imaginary). Following a case study approach based on archival documents, the study provides the foundation for a social history of Alumnae Theatre Company (1918- ), beginning with its early years as part of the University of Toronto’s University College Alumnae Association, by examining the relationship between amateur theatre practice and campus philanthropy, followed by Alumnae’s impact on Toronto’s professionalizing theatre scene in the context of alterity in Canadian theatre discourse. It then examines Walterdale Theatre Associates’ (1958- ) relationship to the emerging theatre profession before and after the opening of Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre in 1965 to argue that Walterdale benefits the profession and its professionalizing artists while negotiating complex concerns over institutionalization. Their longevity is explained, in part, by the fact that both companies operate “as if” professional, yet outside of professionalized disciplinary regimes.