Crave, the play I chose to direct as my thesis final project, constitutes a complex and crude portrait of our time, a moment in history marked by violence and individualism. These themes permeate the whole script, with its experimental and poetic style constitutes a challenge at the moment of staging it. This document is intended precisely to register the whole process of staging Crave. The first chapter presents the pre-production research, in which I trace the artistic trajectory of the author, British playwright Sarah Kane, in the context of experimental theater. I also analyze the play, and I present my directorial approach to it. In the second chapter I register the actual process of staging it; the methodologies I used in working with the actors and the designers, as well as the challenges I faced in applying them. Finally, the last chapter is a reflection upon the whole process, with the intention of evaluating my growth as a theater director through this project, which constitutes my final step in these training years at SIUC.

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Thesis (MPhil)--Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Department of Critical and Cultural Studies, 2007. / Bibliography: leaves 241-251. / Introduction -- Re-devising theatre: towards a genealogy of devising practice -- Pre-devising: group formation, development and games -- Devising theatre: This is not an exit -- Conclusion. / This non-traditional thesis explores the practical and theoretical processes of group-devised theatre. The research informing this thesis is derived from two interrelated components - a practical project in group devising, and a theoretical study of alternative theatre, devising methodologies, and performance theory. -- Chapter One defines "devising" before tracing its origins through the development of experimental practices from the historical avant-garde to the present day. These practices include radical disruptions to discursive language and structure, increased multimedia, reconsiderations of the performer's function and the use of improvisation. This genealogy is argued to be a "literature of practice" capable of informing contemporary devising projects, as well as helping to establish the position of devising within contemporary performance theory. -- Chapter Two examines how creative collaborators begin to form and function as a devising group, a period I theoretically term "pre-devising". By examining the experiences of my group, gaps in devising literature concerning group formation and composition are identified, complemented by an investigation into the role of theatre games in building ensemble. -- Chapter Three draws upon the genealogy of devising, devising literature and performance theory to interrogate the process of devising our production, This Is Not An Exit. The theoretical and practical problems of our methods are explored. These methods include organising the group as an artistic democracy, developing naturalistic characters, and establishing a "postmodern aesthetic". By analysing our experiences, this chapter attempts to illustrate the complex tangle of influences informing contemporary performance practitioners, and highlight areas ripe for future critical research. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 251 leaves

Thesis (MPhil)--Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Department of Critical and Cultural Studies, 2007. / Bibliography: leaves 241-251.

This document describes and analyses the process of research and production for the experimental play Via Marina: A woman's journey. Based on a personal experience between the Mexican and the Canadian lifestyles, Via Marina presents a vision toward the benefits of transdisciplinarity for the stage. By definition, transdisciplinarity is a new approach marked by the rapid advance of technology that seeks to create new areas of knowledge working between, across and beyond disciplines. For my Master's project I expermented among New Media, Women's Studies and Theatre Arts to learn to intertwine these disciplines on stage by creating a theatrical production based on a transdisciplinary technique. As a result of two-years of practical and theoretical research, the creation of the production Via Marina tries to break the conventional theatre forms using a transdisciplinary mixture of video, dance and feminist exploration of gender roles. It is just beginning of the development of a new language transcending disciplines in my work as actress, director, artist - woman. / viii, 102 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.

Thesis (M.Arch.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-98). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-274).

On December 5, 1969, an experimental production of Neil Simon's A Star-Spangled Girl was presented at the Callier Hearing and Speech Center in Denton, Texas. On December 6, 1969, the production was repeated in the Studio Theatre on the North Texas State University campus in Denton, Texas. The production was experimental in that it was directed for a deaf audience.

Thesis (MDram)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis the author investigates aspects of the use of improvisation and improvisational methods, techniques and exercises by modem practitioners. The study commences with a look at the beginnings of modem improvisation in the nineteenth century, when improvisation was used only tentatively by performers as a preproduction aid to the exploration of character and personal response. In more recent times the process has become one of collaboration and research; as a means of selfdiscovery, as a means of text creation and as a vehicle for finding a 'voice' for the silent majority within a particular community or society. This study also traces the use of improvisation in South Africa where the improvisational process has been incorporated into democratic and collaborative forms like workshop theatre and workers' theatre, and serves as a useful method of political investigation and conscientisation. The study will also briefly touch what on is now termed 'theatre-fordevelopment', since its practitioners make extensive use of improvisational techniques, and its techniques are allied to those of workers' and workshop theatre. The final chapter provides an application of the theories discussed in the bulk of the study in a brief discussion of the author's own attempts at utilising improvisation as a directing and scriptwriting tool in a student production. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis ondersoek die outeur die gebruik van improvisasie en die verskillende metodes, tegnieke en praktiese toepassings daarvan deur moderne praktisyns. Die tesis begin deur te kyk na die oorsprong van moderne improvisasie in die 1ge eeu toe imporvisasie slegs tentatief deur akteurs gebruik is om vóór die produksiefase as 'n hulpmiddel te dien om 'n karakter en persoonlike reaksies te ondersoek. Die proses het onlangs tot een van samewerking en navorsing verander; as 'n methode tot selfontdekking, 'n hulpmiddel by teks-skepping en as 'n medium om 'n "stem te vind" vir die 'stille meerderheid' binne 'n gegewe gemeenskap of samelewing. Hierdie studie ondersoek ook die gebruik van improvisasie in Suid Afrika waar die improvisasieproses in demokratiese en spanwerk vorme soos bv. werkswinkelteater en werkersteater geïnkorporeer is, waar hulle as uiters nuttige vorme van politieke ondersoek en -bewusmaking dien. Die studie raak ook vlugtig aan 'teater-virontwikkeling', aangesien die praktisyns daarvan grootliks gebruik maak van improvisasie-tegnieke en die tegnieke wat hulle gebruik redelike ooreenstem met dié van werkswinkelteater en werkersteater. Die finale hoofstuk verskaf 'n toepassing van die verskeie teorieë wat in die hoofgedeelte van die tesis bespreek word, in 'n kort bespreking van die outeur se eie pogings om improvisasie as 'n regie- en teksskeppingsinstrument in 'n studenteproduksie, te gebruik.

Research Report required for the completion of Master of Arts – Applied Drama (MAAD) Drama for Life - Wits School of Arts - Wits University March 2015 / This study aims to explore ideas of liberation in relation to the present tendencies of gender representation in Tango. I argue that the traditional pedagogic model, observed in Johannesburg, tends to perpetuate hegemonic discourses mainly through terminology in which gender binaries, codes and subjectivities are normalized. Such representations reduce, or even reject, plurality and diversity by sustaining specific power dynamics, necessarily related to the role of men and women. Tango is characterized by certain aesthetic elements described in this thesis, and here I prioritize the analysis of its role as a social dance, in the category of couples’ dances. I argue that couples’ dances are embedded in historically and socially constructed stereotypes; thus, the dynamics observed in balls are not capable of reflecting present gender complexities and identities. To do so, I first present a critical reflection of the history of couples’ dances and Tango, along with my own lived experience as a movement facilitator. Then, I present descriptions of the first phase of the research, the Performance as Research (PAR) project in which I aimed to deconstruct hegemony by challenging gender fixities. The PAR included creative processes, interviews, performance, media and textual production, and the main outcome was related to the pedagogy of dance, presenting the DE-GENDERED MODEL of teaching-learning. In the second phase of research, or what I call the fieldwork, I engaged with different methods, such as dance meetings based on investigative approaches, body mapping, micro-performance, group discussions and questionnaires to collect data together with a group of 9 participants. I made sense of all the information collected during PAR, and, given by participants during fieldwork, by correlating theories of performance, critical pedagogy, gender and queer studies, with the purpose of including collaborative pathways of embodiment.