The beginnings of modern stage lighting emerged during the late 1800s when Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig theorized about the potential use of lighting to create plasticity in a theatrical production. Appia and Craig conducted experiments, only to find that the limitation of the instruments available at the time prevented the achievement of their theory. The next documented step was when Stanley McCandless proposed and published a system for implementing the Appia and Craig theory of plasticity. Stanley McCandless' lighting textbook, A Syllabus of Stage Lighting. The book broke down the elements and function of light; ultimately becoming the common practice of academic lighting designers. One of his students, Jean Rosenthal, studied the theory and became aware of its limitations. Jean Rosenthal attempted to apply the McCandless theory to dance and found that it was not useful for sculpting the body. She then developed a new technique that better served dance lighting and adhered to the ideas of Appia and Craig. Rosenthal's theory became the foundation of contemporary dance lighting practice. The aim of this thesis consists of four parts. First is to research the evolution of dance lighting, second is to explore and apply the Rosenthal Theory of Dance Lighting, third is to document the design process and the fourth part is the personal growth and development throughout this entire process. As the Lighting and Scenic Designer I will have extensive documentation of both the process of design and the production. I will also have documentation on my growth and development based on this thesis project.

Cloud Nine by Carol Churchill is a good example of non-linear play structure. Episodic plays are part of an even more disjointed time structure. There are both many different locations and characters in an episodic play; it is similar to a film script for that matter. Onstage, this was a revolution; how can a person be in one city and then the next shortly after? This was the rule of continuity that episodic structure broke. Bertolt Brecht did this throughout his movement in epic theatre, and traces of this structure can also be found as early back as Medieval plays. Therein lays the problem. If there are so many different way to write a play, how is it possible to just pick one? How does one even decide? There are many texts on playwriting that all say something different. In the end, the way you format a play script is decided by the structure in which you are writing your script, whether it be linear, non-linear, and episodic structures. This is an exploration to research possible methods of playwriting in the English language, choose a format, and create a story, ultimately forming a universally acceptable play script for a one-act production. Through my process, I researched various elements about play structure. I researched various types of formatting options found throughout texts, and the formatting options found in different publications of plays. I also researched the options of different software programs I could use to format my play. In regards to the show's content itself, I researched the personality disorders of my main character, John, in order to ensure I am staying accurate to the realistic expectations of the disorder. The possible disorders that might influence John included Bi-Polar disorder, Autism, Alzheimer's, or Narcissistic Personality Disorder. These disorders fit the characteristics of John and further research led me to finally adopt Autism as the end result.; David Ball's Backwards and Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays, Rosemary Ingham's From Page to Stage: How Theatre Designers Make Connections Between Scripts and Images, and Cal Printer and Scott E. Walter's Introduction to Play Analysis aided in ensuring the translation from the script to the stage works together fluidly. By understanding how the play will be analyzed, the potential flaws with the work can be identified before it is put in front of an audience, publisher, or director. A writer needs to know why they made certain choices with both script and character. When a writer can analyze how their script can be perceived, they can create a more solid structure. It also is useful to utilize available play scripts in order to understand the conventions through example. Works that were useful included: Proof by David Auburn, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Equus by Peter Shaffer, The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, Doubt by John Patrick Shanley, and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The Vagina Monologues follows the format of episodic structure because of its inconsistencies to time and the multiple characters included in its script. Equus, Proof, and Death of a Salesman are examples of non-linear play structure because of the non-specific timeline the characters follow between past and present. The Glass Menagerie, The Cherry Orchard, and Doubt are all examples of linear structure because a majority of their play's content was written within a specified chronological order.; I researched the historical significance of the car, an all-original, 1969 Stingray Corvette Convertible, in order to allow my characters to speak accurately about their knowledge of the car. I also researched how previous playwrights have accomplished their transitions between the world of the play and a character's alternate reality. This was done in order to provide both a believable and a sly transition so the audience is left unaware until the reveal. In the final stages of this process, I polished the script for inclusion in the Theatre UCF Spring 2012 One-Act Festival (OAF). As stated above, the process of writing a play can be taken down many different avenues; however, the format of a play script is something that remains constant throughout. Knowing the history from where plays derive and which movements created such is just as essential. W. B. Worthen's The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama and Living Theatre by Edwin Wilson and Alvin Goldfarb provide an adequate brevity into the history of theatre. The books Playwriting: Brief and Brilliant by Julie Jensen, Playwriting: A practical guide by Noel Greig, The Art and Craft of Playwriting by Jeffrey Hatcher, and The Elements of Playwriting by Louis E. Catron all provide an introduction to the structured format of the play. These books also contain sections on theory explaining how to create a storyline for a play, how to accomplish believable dialogue, and how to defeat writer's block. Jensen, Catron, and Hatcher all go one step further and take their readers through the processes of publications, copyrights, and productions. Those sources help create the play, but during the editing phase, it is wise to acknowledge how others may study and analyze the work.; Through exploration and research, I plan on combining my two degree tracks, Theatre Studies and Creative Writing, in order to create an original one-act play for production, utilizing the techniques of both fields. My education has been lagging in playwriting, specifically. Neither Creative Writing nor Theatre Studies have any courses geared towards playwriting. Students appear to be taught everything but this aspect. I will, therefore, complete in-depth research in playwriting techniques through literature studies and one-on-one consultations with my professors in both departments. There are many different types of writing structures and play movements. Play scripts can be written in linear, non-linear, and episodic structures. Each structure is measured by the action of a script. The action of a script is developed with each action a character completes that moves the script further along towards a conclusion. Linear structuring of a play is when a majority or all the action of a play occurs in a chronological order. The play, therefore, always will be moving forward in time without any disruptions of said timeline. In a linear play, it does not necessarily mean all the action occurs in this chronological sequence. Comparable to Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, the entire recollection of Tom Wingfield's story is told chronologically in linear structure, despite the fact that this story is from Tom's memory, about an event he is no longer part of at that time. Non-linear structure occurs when the chronological timeline of a play is broken. The play's action constantly moves backwards and forwards through time. This type of play is based on the ideology of the human thought process. As humans, we may not remember the exact order of how things are remembered; these images and events are distorted somehow by our subconscious in order to remember. Thus, a non-linear play erupts based on the infrequencies of a timeline.

This thesis examined the ways in which present-day 6th through 12th grade theatre educators approach the topic of mental health, both implicitly and explicitly, in theatre education. Through a survey of existing literature, as well as interviews with 6th through 12th grade theatre educators, the researcher examined ways in which theatre educators were aware of the mental health needs of their students in any of the following capacities: explicit discussions regarding mental health, theatre curriculum, show selection, script analysis, and casting choices. The reveal the educator perception that mental health issues are increasingly relevant to 6th through 12th grade youth, and that some educators have been taking specific and creative steps to incorporate explicit discussions surrounding mental health into their classroom and rehearsal processes. The researcher’s intention to conduct this study was to start a conversation about the needs students have for their mental health to be supported in the classroom; moreover, it was the hope of the researcher that this study would bring awareness to how students need more specific education taking place in their classrooms to understand this topic. The researcher specifically analyzed how theatre education spaces provide an opportunity to explore the topic of mental health with students using a unique, arts-based platform.

This collection of videos were created by Jonathan Taylor for THEA 4540 (Theatre Drawing and Rendering Techniques) and THEA 3330 (Scenic Design). The majority of the videos provide tutorials on using Vectorworks. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-oer/1011/thumbnail.jpg

Twelfth Night does not end with the acceptance and consummation of these “alternative couples.” Instead, the reveal of the twins has a clarifying effect and the characters are returned to the partner who is considered socially acceptable. The final relationships are heterosexual matches that do not stray from class or any other societal confines. Indeed, the story serves to reinforce common standards equating alternative love with madness and proper love with lucidity. Standing outside of the couplings are only bachelor men: Antonio, Sir Andrew, Feste and Orsino’s pages. In effect, these men are desexualized without romantic counterparts. While they are deemed outcasts in Illyria, one character in particular stands to gain from this seeming lack of sexuality and outsider status: the clown, Feste. Gender and power find clarification through the character of Feste because he is afforded all of the privileges of a male in a patriarchal society and in order to analyze him, his positionality within the function and structure of the story must be acknowledged. Usually the character of Viola holds this position in scholarship, but the possibility of Feste played by a female actor introduces similar themes of cross-gender disguise while decoding the heteronormative standards reinforced by the conclusion of the play.

During this course, upper-level VCUArts students are invited to join forces to become a part of a cross-disciplinary, ensemble-based exploration. Powered by Tectonic Theatre Project’s Moment Work, students will create new works and gain insight into the philosophies, purposes, and processes of Moment Work and other devised theatre techniques. The class will culminate in short, devised pieces, created and performed by the students. The focus of the class is on the creation of a harmonious ensemble amongst a varied group of young artists. I believe that in order to create a generation of innovative and forward-thinking artists, the segregation of the arts disciplines within academia must halt. Cross-disciplinary collaboration will invite varying perspectives to exist in a single setting, and hopefully lead to new forms of art.

The Michael Chekhov Technique is a unique approach to acting that has been successfully used by professional actors for many years. This thesis explores finding a strong understanding of the technique as well as discovering ways to incorporate it into an undergraduate actor training program. The examination aims to further my aesthetic both as theatre teacher and practitioner. It includes training with master teachers in the technique, incorporating Chekhov exercises into undergraduate acting and movement classes and use of the technique on a production of Pride & Prejudice.

This thesis details the Costume Design process for David Emerson Toney’s Frankenstein: Dawn of a Monster at Virginia Commonwealth University. Toney’s original adaptation interprets Mary Shelley’s genre-defying novel as biography, directly influenced by the tragic events of her young life. Costumes differentiate the two narratives, with Mary Shelly in gray scale, regency-inspired modern dress and the novel in period and color. This follows the design process from concept to production to execution.

Minority groups have long faced a lack of representation in the entertainment industry. Too often when representation does exist it relied on stereotype and convention. This too is often the fate of transgender individuals when they are depicted on the screen and stage. The majority of film and television depictions of transgender individuals are inadequate. When they are depicted at all the portrayals rarely rise above trope, archetypes, and conventions. Most often the identity of the transgender individual is invalidated. Very rarely are transgender people’s identities supported. This thesis explores my own personal connection with the topic, builds a vocabulary with which to discuss the subject, examines existing film and television performances of transgender characters, and finally examines how new portrayals might challenge the existing stereotypes. I hope that this thesis, which explores a topic not often discussed, will open the door for a new theatre that supports and affirms the identities of the transgender population while managing not to sensationalize or exploit their stories for the simple entertainment of a cisgender dominated society.

Really, Really, by Paul Downs Colaizzo, is loosely based on the 2006 Duke University sexual assault scandal resulting from what proved to be a false accusation of rape made against three members of the men’s lacrosse team. After individually reading the play, Jorge Burmudez and I both arrived at differing opinions of who was the true victim, in turn inspiring this thesis, which is an exploration of two separate productions of the play demonstrating contrasting perspectives/outlooks regarding sex crimes within sports organizations in the university setting. It will describe our process from conceptualization to a post-mortem talking about particular challenges we faced along with feedback from both casts and audience members who saw the shows. Included will also be my experience with pre-production, auditions/casting, rehearsal journals and post-production documentation of my individual directorial processes. In the end, we are researching where the blame lies in the crime detailed in this play.