This dissertation looks at some of the most famous structures by talented and cryptic American architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) for fusions of Aesthetic Movement surfaces and two-part Classical Monumentality. For architects, the Aesthetic Movement allowed for a greater amount of freedom when it came to sources, massing, and ornament, which resulted in the creation of more highly textured surfaces than ever before. Under raking light, this texture produces some scintillating effects. Sullivan used this textural freedom throughout his career, creating some surfaces that sparkle. It will also be demonstrated that Sullivan changed his drawing style to better articulate his textural visions to others. The second way in which this dissertation looks at Sullivan’s architecture is through the lens of Classical monumentality, specifically that used in Donato Bramante’s Palazzo Caprini (constructed ca. 1512), which is better known today as the House of Raphael. Composed of a basement surmounted by a major order, Bramante’s venerable two-part pattern spawned legions of descendants. This dissertation will demonstrate that Sullivan applied lessons from derivatives of this structure’s facade to a range of building types. Visual analysis of select building facades will demonstrate that Sullivan kept combining these two themes throughout his career.

This text is a partial record of the development of the Virginia Commonwealth University production of The Civil War: A Musical that opened on April 7, 2005 for a three-week run ending April 28, 2005. The greater part of the text is devoted to the evaluation of the underlying principles of direction and choreography applied in the creation of an artistically aid financially successful production of this size. Included in the evaluation of The Civil War: A Musical are analyses of the directors' --Patti D'Beck and David Leong --individual creative processes, aesthetics, and working styles. The result of this evaluation and analysis is a compilation of the fundamental principles of direction and choreography applied The Civil War: A Musical as a methodology for the creation of theatre. Further reflections on collaboration and artistry serve as the culmination of lessons inherent in both the creation of the Theatre VCU production of The Civil War: A Musical and in the author's three years of study in the VCU Master of Fine Arts program in Theatre Pedagogy with an emphasis in Movement Direction and Choreography.

Investigations into Social Game Theory is a document that describes my two-year exploration of the ritual encapsulated in our societal framework. It discusses the thoughts and processes that accompanied the three bodies of work that led to the creation of my final thesis exhibition.

ABSTRACT PEDAGOGY AND PERFORMING SHAKESPEARE’S TEXT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY By Sally Parrish Southall A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Director: Dr. Noreen C. Barnes Professor, Director of Graduate Studies School of the Arts In the Master of Fine Arts program in Theatre Pedagogy at Virginia Commonwealth University, and in a second program, the Master of Letters/Master of Fine Arts in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance at Mary Baldwin College - two specific pedagogical approaches to accessing and performing Shakespeare’s text, both in the post-graduate setting - provide significant analysis tools and performance techniques, yet they use different points of departure and areas of focus. Chapter 1 will give the background, design, and focus of the graduate programs at Virginia Commonwealth University and at Mary Baldwin College. Chapter 2 will discuss and describe Janet B. Rodgers’ teaching orientation and her particular pedagogy in “Shakespeare and Text: The War of the Roses” class at viii ix Virginia Commonwealth University. Chapter 3 will provide Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen’s professional background and the foundational structure and focus of the pedagogy in his class “Language and Performance” at Mary Baldwin College. Chapter 4 explores the parallel and overlapping methods demonstrated in these two classes as well as the contrasting specifics of their particular methodologies. Chapter 5 describes the value of the two approaches, both of which exemplify the individual strengths of the professors.

A MAGAZINE – A game of Chutes and Ladders – a network of pools connected by streams, rivulets, creeks and rivers. Concerns: aluminum, sculpture, film, an endless image or an image-object, cork, shoulders as the center of movement, archery, wicker, nystagmus, darkness or the penumbral near-darkness, constant movement, beer, tone, musical forms, bells, gongs, The Titanic, purple, black and white, indeterminacy, Ghostface, yodeling, John Smith, John Adams, David Hammons, Beyoncé, Honda CR-V’s, Har-khebi, Ahnighito, Hermann Doomer, Prince, Yvonne Rainer, perception, double rainbows, composers from Transylvania, Los Angeles, and chandeliers. “Everything is everything.” and “A woman is the first teacher.”

William Rimmer is an enigmatic figure in the history of American art. Works created by him are the single exception to an otherwise undistinguished body of mid-nineteenth century sculpture. Yet, Rimmer was virtually ignored by the art public of his generation. In his own lifetime the considerable skill and talent Rimmer evinced as a sculptor and draftsman were overshadowed by the novelty of his medical practice and teaching career. Rimmer's only true fame was to come not as an artist, but from the popular success of his "art anatomy" lecture courses in Boston and New York. Acknowledgement of the excellence of his teaching method and drawing skill, however, must have been insufficient praise to a man seeking artistic celebrity. The closed eye of the American art public could only have increased the existing feelings of frustration in Rimmer and made more bitter the fate he believed had been dealt him. Ironically, his fatalistic view of life became both the wellspring and circumscription of his artistic expression. William Rimmer's importance in the American art scene of the mid-nineteenth century is lost in the maze of contradiction that was his life.

This thesis explores the evolution of Alessandra Torres's work, from her early performances and installations, to her latest work with surrogate bodies, as she challenges the relationship between artist and their creation, body and object, and audience and art. Examining the work of artists such as Cindy Sherman, Rebecca Horn and Marina Abramovic, Torres explores the transformative capabilities of interactive sculpture and live performance. Join Ms. Torres as she transforms herself into everything from a paintbrush to a serpent, in her ongoing exploration of the body's ability to adapt and evolve.

I am a nomad. I have not had a place to call home in almost two decades. I wander around the world searching for a place to belong, only to discover the forgotten lives and silenced voices. I have come to realize that to find a "home," I need to first create a world in which to belong to. My recent works are investigations of possibilities for another world, a world of compassion, through a critique of our current society. I create as I rediscover the forgotten histories and lives. My work captures my process of remembering and celebrating while simultaneously imagining our capacity to function as philanthropists.

By altering the outward appearance of the gallery walls, I address the hidden inner temperaments and characteristics of these seemingly benign facades. Architectural rubble impacts with the gallery space in imagined collisions, exposing and distorting its hidden inner workings and structures. Sometimes my walls grow so fat that they need immediate and temporary structural solutions. They may even slump over in a pathetic heap under their own perceived mass.Using everyday wall building materials like 2x4s and drywall, or even harvesting the material directly from the gallery, I anthropomorphize the surface of the space. Rather than the architecture receding into the background in the service of art, the gallery walls break free of the architecture and become the art

Adaptive reuse of historic buildings is often a good way to make use of empty unutilized spaces that are architecturally valuable to function as desirable and pleasing environments. The inherited architectural features, large amounts of craftsmanship in the details that usually accompany these older spaces are the appealing traits, which make them exclusive. The design idea of faculty housing in an early twenty’s century Baptist church currently used as the Virginia Commonwealth University Music Center represent an alternative option to it’s existing use. The faculty housing idea in this thesis, as a second adaptive reuse option does not try to resolve any existing problem with the current use, but is introducing an alternative way of design using old and new. To help with the progress of this thesis the following question was explored How is the integration of historic and new create a new entity?