My thesis argues that a critical study of the gay themes and issues in Finn’s work – both obvious and otherwise latent – elucidates historically specific and significant queer texts and subtexts, along with queer modes of reception. Queerness makes meaning of and in Finn’s works; reciprocally, Finn’s works also shape constructions and understandings of queerness in return. My thesis takes on queerness as the central lens through which to read Finn’s 1998 off-Broadway musical A New Brain. I provide queer readings of various aspects of the show; in other words, I queer the musical. In my first chapter (“Stories of Illness”: How AIDS Choreographies Haunt A New Brain), I investigate HIV/AIDS choreographies from both the concert stage (Neil Greenberg’s 1994 Not-About-AIDS-Dance) and the streets (ACT UP’s street protests in the ’80s and ’90s), alongside David Gere’s book How to Make Dances in an Epidemic: Tracking Choreography in the Age of AIDS, to determine patterns in movement vocabularies, aesthetics, definitions, and metaphors for HIV/AIDS-afflicted bodies and narratives. After describing and analyzing these performances, I then read Graciela Daniele’s choreography from the original 1998 off-Broadway production of A New Brain as AIDS choreography. I explain how the music, libretto, and choreography encourage an audience member to view the protagonist’s AVM as a metaphor for AIDS. In my second chapter (“I Should Try to Locate Roger”: Locating the Gay Male in Musical Theatre through Interpellation, Formation, and Simulation), I explain how A New Brain operates in a larger project of defining and shaping the gay male throughout the history of U.S. American musical theatre, specifically in the 1990s. I read D.A. Miller’s essay Place for Us with Louis Althusser’s “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” to illustrate how the Broadway musical hails a gay male subject into being. I include Baudrillard’s “The Precession of Simulacra” to pose that the construction of the gay male exists without a true origin or reference point; instead, the idea of the gay male is formed in a feedback loop between gay men in the real world (offstage) and the gay male characters represented onstage. I include Miller’s examination of three musicals of the 1970s and ’80s to provide a trajectory of gay male representation. Afterwards, I situate A New Brain in context with other gay musicals of the ’90s. From these musicals, I delineate the various narratives Broadway provided for gay male life in the period and compare how these shows represent gay males. My third chapter (“Where the Hell’s My Sense of Humor?”: Camping in the Hospital) argues that in A New Brain, the liminal space created by Gordon’s AVM serves as a productive camp/site for coping with his serious brain injury and questioning societal norms. With Gordon’s rejection of a camp strategy, audiences can drop their earnest responses to Gordon’s crisis and take pleasure instead in the camp aspects of the musical. Despite losing access to the neuroqueer camp/site after emerging from his coma, Gordon still ultimately learns to embrace camp. This lesson extends beyond Gordon; in fact, all of the characters in the musical articulate their newfound camp perspective. Camp creates a community of tangentially related individuals through their shared queer outlook on life. The musical offers this camp approach to its audiences, encouraging them to adopt camp in their own lives outside of the theater. With these approaches outlined above, my thesis provides an angled analysis of Finn’s work from queer perspectives, expanding the existing generalized, queer-averse body of scholarship. My specific focus on A New Brain not only brings attention to a neglected work in Finn’s oeuvre but also illustrates how understanding A New Brain is essential to understanding Finn as a whole. Examining both the original and recent revival productions presents how the reception and meaning of Finn’s work has changed over time. Finn’s musicals also become a case study for larger inquiries into the state of musical theatre and queer politics and histories. Studying A New Brain provides a new brain for thinking about and through William Finn. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Theatre in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester 2019. / April 16, 2019. / AIDS, camp, musical theatre, queer, William Finn / Includes bibliographical references. / Aaron C. Thomas, Professor Directing Thesis; Mary Karen Dahl, Committee Member; Chari Arespacochaga, Committee Member.

The goal of my final creative project was to receive instruction in the area of the visual arts, create a body of work that would be displayed in an art gallery or other appropriate setting, and emerge publicly as an artist. This goal was important to me for two reasons. The first reason was that for many years I had suppressed my own need to create and express myself through art for various reasons: lack of instruction and fear of stepping out of the box and expressing myself creatively. My final creative project has led to an awakening of my ability to express myself through my artwork and make personal connections with my paintings. Focusing on the basic elements of art in my instruction and integrating this new knowledge into each of my paintings has produced a great deal of personal growth as an artist. The second reason this goal was important to me was that integrating the fine arts into the curriculum of the public schools has always been a priority. Teaching visual arts to the students in my regular education classroom was something I have strived for, yet I felt I lacked the skills needed to teach it well. This project resulted in the realization that I was an artist who could produce works of art pleasing to others and myself as well. In addition to addressing my lack of personal art and development as an artist, I also resolved the problem of having the skills and knowledge to bring quality art instruction into the classroom. While this creative project has been focused primarily on my own artistic development, my students will reap the benefits of my growth for years to come.

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This thesis treats the composer-bandleader as a novel critical concept that illuminates the subtly complex relationship between musical culture, ideology and subjectivity during the interwar years of the twentieth century. Four case studies, based upon the work of Reginald Foresythe, Lil Hardin Armstrong, Raymond Scott and Duke Ellington, paint a picture of the composer-bandleader as a usefully discursive figure occupying a special position between, around or about the categories of genre and role that arose with music’s commodification. From this unique location composer-bandleaders are shown to explore socio-political issues in a usefully critical way that might otherwise be impossible within the standard ideological framework of music. The composer-bandleaders are used to reconsider critical theories as much as interdisciplinary critical approaches are utilised to examine the work of the musicians. Thus Theodor Adorno’s dismissal of a socio-political function for jazz is critiqued by Foresythe’s camp modernism. Louis Althusser’s notion of interpellation is articulated with John Mowitt’s concept of drumming in exploring the critical relationship between jazz culture and feminine subjectivity in Hardin Armstrong’s work. Scott’s “Quintette” compositions are subjected to a Lacanian reading to highlight music’s critical function in fantasising Jewish subjectivity and Michel Foucault’s notion of polemics and Henry Louis Gates’ concept of Signifyin(g) are articulated in the discursive relationship between musical culture and race politics in Ellington’s work. Ultimately these figures are taken to embody Slavoj Zižek’s “Spectre of Ideology” that covers over the Real of the antagonism within the musical-ideological system of Symbolic “reality” in which they operate. The thesis argues that by listening to, and fantasising about, such “spectral apparitions” we can hear things in music that might otherwise be silenced by the workings of ideology. In this way we can use the composer-bandleader figure to amplify how music can challenge ideological structures and shape society.

<p> Since the mid-twentieth century, many composers and performers have embraced the idea of synchronizing live musicians with electronic sounds to create a new musical experience, with organizations such as IRCAM advancing the development of electroacoustic music and technology. The genre of solo and chamber percussion music has also flourished since the twentieth century, with composers exploring the many sounds these instruments have to offer. Consequently, the parallel developments of electronic and percussion music eventually came together to form a new idiom. </p><p> One recent composer, Edmund Campion, helped propel electroacoustic music into the twenty-first century with many works incorporating electronics with live musicians. One of Campion's works, <i>Losing Touch</i> for amplified vibraphone and fixed electronic sounds (1994), pairs vibraphone with electronics to create a sound world unlike those before it. This project report provides a closer look at <i>Losing Touch</i> with a formal analysis and a guide to the performer on how to interpret this piece and navigate its technical challenges.</p>

<p> <i>Urinetown: The Musical</i> by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollman was produced by the Department of Theatre and Dance at George Washington University in the Fall of 2014. The show opened on October 30, 2014 at the Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre, part of the George Washington University in Washington DC. It was directed by Muriel Von Villas along with costume designer Reema Albawardy, lighting designer Carl Gudenius, and set designer Kirk Kristlibas. This thesis explores the costume design process for <i>Urinetown: The Musical</i> and the challenges of working with a large cast and dealing with many quick changes.</p>

<p> Extended techniques play an important role in flute repertoire today, as composers continue to explore the possibilities of the instrument in ways not previously done before the mid-twentieth century. Pioneers of flute extended techniques, including Edgard Var&egrave;se, Luciano Berio, and Robert Dick, have all played an important role in the progression of flute repertoire leading into the twenty-first century. </p><p> Ian Clarke, a British flutist and composer, uses extended techniques as a vital element in his compositions, and has gained a great deal of attention for his breadth of work, including one of his more recent compositions, <i> Hatching Aliens</i>. First published in 2010, this work utilizes a vast amount of extended techniques, all of which contribute to the eerie and mysterious qualities of this programmatic composition for flute and piano. This project report studies the notation and production of extended techniques and how Clarke incorporates them into his composition, <i>Hatching Aliens</i>. </p>

<p> The subject of this dissertation is the contemporary Russian composer and pianist Nikolai Kapustin. Being himself a virtuoso pianist, Kapustin has written a large repertoire for solo piano. During the last fifteen years, the popularity of Kapustin in the United States has grown enormously through performances, publications, presentations, and recordings. Kapustin's output has over 150 opus numbers in all major forms of Baroque, Classical and Romantic music, such as suite, invention, preludes and fugues, variations, sonata, concerto, and more. </p><p> Kapustin's style fuses the classical approach to form and the jazz approach to harmony and rhythm in a very unique way. His compositional style is strongly influenced by American jazz, particularly the style of Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Herbie Hancock, and Bill Evans. From the other side, his music is strongly influenced by composers of Classical music such as Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninov, Frederick Chopin, Maurice Ravel, and Bela Bartok. </p><p> Kapustin composed twenty Piano Sonatas during the period of 1984-2011. There has been little research to this point regarding the music of Kapustin and no formal research has been completed concerning Piano Sonata No. 3. This sonata is the particular scope of this dissertation, as nearly every aspect of Kapustin's compositional style can be found in this work. </p><p> Sonata No. 3 was composed in 1990 and was published in August 2014. The Sonata is a one-movement work and it contains a quote of the "Dies Irae" theme, which sets this work apart from his other sonatas. </p><p> This dissertation will provide biographical information on Nikolai Kapustin, historical and musical background, and will include an analysis of Piano Sonata No. 3. </p><p> Fortunately, the author speaks the Russian language and had opportunities to meet with Nikolai Kapustin. The information obtained in personal interviews with the composer will also be presented. </p><p> Hopefully, this dissertation will promote further research, performance, and understanding of the music of one of the most outstanding modern day composers, Nikolai Grigorievich Kapustin.</p>

<p> <i>The Againness of Vietnam in Contemporary United States Antiwar Choreography</i> examines eight twentieth- and twenty-first century postmodern antiwar choreographies in order to uncover the reverberations of Vietnam antiwar protests in these dances. The choreographies I examine in this study are Yvonne Rainer&rsquo;s 1970 <i>M-Walk</i> and 1970 (and 1999) <i>Trio A with Flags</i>, Wendy Rogers&rsquo; 1970 <i> Black Maypole</i>, Ann Carlson&rsquo;s 1990 <i>Flag</i> and 2006 <i>Too Beautiful A Day</i>, Miguel Gutierrez&rsquo;s 2001, 2008, and 2009 <i>Freedom of Information</i> (<i>FOI</i>), Jeff McMahon&rsquo;s 1991 <i>Scatter</i> and Victoria Mark&rsquo;s 2006 <i>Action Conversations: Veterans.</i> I theorize a concept called &ldquo;againness,&rdquo; in order to think through the multiple ways that repetitions specific to these particular choreographies continue to exist and to enact effects through time. I argue that repeated choreographic embodiment offers immediacy, nuanced response over time, expression through the bodies of former soldiers, and sites of mediated resistance such as live-streamed dance protest, to the United States public&rsquo;s commentary on and critique of war. I conclude that choreography&rsquo;s irregular and inexact repetitions are one of the ways that dance is especially apt for commenting on the large, never-ending, and ongoing traumas of the world such as war. My research extends established discussions about choreographic repetition and ephemerality, exchanging in questions of exactitude for conversations about impact. In particular, I show how the changes inherent to bodily repetitions reflect societal change, raise energy, garner power, and/or respond to current events. I study how politicized dances do not disappear after the time/space event of the initial performance, but instead linger on and reappear in unexpected moments. I thus parse out the many unbounded ways that protest choreographies happen again and again.</p>

<p> This treatise is meant to increase awareness of a lesser-known work by Joseph Canteloube entitled <i>L'Arada</i>, a cycle of six songs for voice and piano based on the sonnets of Occitan poet Antonin Perbosc. The cycle is unique in that it represents an original vocal composition by Canteloube, with freely composed music not based on pre-existing folk melodies. Background information to the cycle is provided through 1) biographical sketches of both the composer and the poet, 2) general discussions of the poetry collection and the cycle as a whole, and 3) an overview of Occitan pronunciation. The final section of the treatise addresses the performance of the songs more directly, providing word-for-word translations, IPA transcriptions, and musical commentary for each piece.</p>