<p> This thesis explores the application of Augusto Boal&rsquo;s exercises as a basis for an Introduction to Acting class, wherein students are required to move outside of their comfort zones in order to change their perceptions of themselves and of the world around them. I will demonstrate that Boal&rsquo;s <i>Games for Actors and Non-Actors</i> effectively challenges students&rsquo; boundaries in a fun and engaging way, thereby preparing them for the task of performing. Through his techniques, students find it easier to socialize, overcome shyness, and acquire the courage that is required to act.</p><p> Chapter 1 charts my introduction to Boal and the decision to explore his exercises as a basis for a non-major acting course. By describing what I deem necessary and strive to achieve in such a class, I explain the goals that I hope to accomplish each time I teach.</p><p> Chapter 2 outlines Boal&rsquo;s philosophies and his agenda for challenging social injustice. I will focus specifically on his Theatre of the Oppressed and Forum Theatre using the notion of the &ldquo;Actor and Spect-actor&rdquo;. </p><p> Chapter 3 details my own in-class application of Boal. In each instance of interactions with students, I compare the projected outcome versus the actual results, thereby evaluating the ii exercises&rsquo; success or failure. I discuss my students&rsquo; reactions to the exercises through collected written data.</p><p> Chapter 4 reflects on using Boal&rsquo;s exercises in the future. This includes the changes I would make in the presentation and set-up of the exercises, effective adjustments, and discussing his work as being appropriate for a beginner&rsquo;s class.</p>

<p> This thesis argues the importance of mining the student's faith and strengthening the student&rsquo;s creative individuality or uniqueness in actor training. I will argue that allying the pedagogy of past master teachers Konstantin Stanislavsky and Yevgeny Vakhtangov with the development of &ldquo;faith&rdquo;, in the secular understanding of the word set forth in this paper, will aid actors in implementing a strong technique. The first chapter of this thesis focuses on the broad concepts of faith, both religious and secular, in order to establish the necessary vocabulary for my argument. The second chapter presents the theories of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Yevgeny Vakhtangov, in particular the examination of justification, crossing the threshold, and creative individuality, to advocate for faith as a powerful tool in actor training. The third chapter demonstrates how three projects completed as part of my graduate actor training at California State University Long Beach, which facilitated actor development and created opportunity for the students, reinforced my conviction that teaching faith in action and creative individuality is both useful in the training of young actors&mdash;and urgent. The conclusion of this paper argues for the design of practical curriculum that deals with acting as a spiritual vocation in theatre departments throughout the United States. </p>

<p> This thesis analyzes Mark Morris' choreography for pedagogical purposes. It explores Morris' technique and style by investigating one of his most acclaimed works: <i>L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato</i>. Because this evening length piece offers a large selection of sections, a total of thirty-two, it provides many possibilities to investigate Morris' musicality, creative process, and style. The musical aspect of Morris' work is examined by focusing on how he often molds the dance to the musical score involving specific rhythms, canons and counterpoints. Analysis of his creative process investigates his use of individual and group work, with the implementation of complex choreographic systems. These contain intricate spatial and movement patterns and can reflect the musical structure of a specific composition or are created directly by Morris. Finally, the analysis of his style explores some of his characteristic forms utilized in <i>L'Allegro</i> with particular attention to detailed shapes and gestures, in addition to torso and foot work. For a greater insight, this thesis also includes interviews with Mark Morris, and some of his former company members who were part of the original production. These are Tina Fehlandt, June Omura, and Megan Williams. A second part of the thesis explores the pedagogical potential of <i>L&rsquo;Allegro</i>&rsquo;s material. The investigation is first conducted through the lens of Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), and then through the lens of LMA adaptations for younger student populations, as utilized in the dance education field, by the New York City based Dance Education Laboratory and Seattle based dance educator Anne Green Gilbert.</p><p>

<p> For the purposes of this thesis, I begin with an overview of theatre for social change in the introduction and then focus on the literature review as a way to introduce authors, ideas, theory and knowledge as background for the reader. This includes anecdotal accounts, reasoning for research and methodologies for carrying out research. I look at feminist theory, community-based theatre, education for liberation and decolonizing knowledge as a basis for my continuing ideas and theories. My emphasis is how to use expressive arts theatre as a way to connect people through dialogue in communities. One of the many ways is implementing curriculum through public school venues. I use theatre techniques that have been used successfully in a variety of global communities that help aide in focusing on certain issues a community is experiencing. I conducted a Women's Theatre Workshop that consisted of an intergenerational community of women whom embarked on a journey engaging in profound material exploring issues that women face. We found that this work was powerful in a variety of ways for them, some highlighting emotional abuse, oppression and double standards as well as theatre being a tool for non-traditional therapeutic use. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> praxis, theatre, education, freedom, decolonizing, feminist, theatre for social change</p>

<p> As the political and economic landscape of the United States shifts in coming years, American society&rsquo;s perception of the arts will likely change as well. Arts advocates must be ready to adapt their arguments for arts&rsquo; value to changing societal priorities. This paper summarizes the two leading frameworks for current arts advocacy arguments: extrinsic benefits and intrinsic benefits. The paper then introduces practical benefits, a pragmatic third framework for arts advocacy that focuses on skills gained through the creation of collaborative art that prepare participants for careers in the creative class, as defined by Richard Florida. The paper uses student-run theatre organizations on college campuses as incubators and case studies for these benefits, using original ethnographic research and surveys to develop assessment protocols for these benefits, with the intention of growing their applicability to larger and more varied arts organizations.</p>

<p> Ideally, undergraduates view their elective courses in general education curriculums as having value. Unfortunately, scant research exists on the value of theatre arts appreciation courses. This study addressed that void through hermeneutical exploration of experiences of a purposeful sample of seven students enrolled in theatre arts appreciation courses. Two research questions guided this study: &ldquo;For undergraduate students taking a general education theatre arts appreciation elective, what experience(s) allowed the course to transcend from perfunctory to inspirational?&rdquo; and &ldquo;To what degree did taking a general education theatre arts appreciation elective impact the students&rsquo; perception of their overall higher education experience?&rdquo; Methodologically, hermeneutic phenomenology was used to uncover data through conversational interviews with undergraduates. The works of Nakkula and Ravitch (1998), Seidman (2006), and Van Manen (1990) provided a foundation for data collection and analysis. </p><p> The findings of the study are represented through a one-act play to (re)present educational research that &ldquo;bring[s] the text to life in ways that the reading of it could not&rdquo; (Bagley &amp; Cancienne, 2002, p. 7) and to treat research participants as more than just &ldquo;text to be read or interpreted&rdquo; (Moustakas, 1994, p. 19). Profiles of the seven subjects were created to allow the reader to become more familiar and engaged with the participants. From the words and conversations of those participants, I amalgamated four characters, with a fifth, the facilitator, serving as the researcher&rsquo;s voice. </p><p> The results of this study suggest that students entered passively into their theatre arts appreciation course, engaged with it through discussions with students and the professor, and came out with the trajectory of their life changed. The findings suggest that becoming life-ready is a phenomenon that occurs when seemingly nonengaged or passive students enroll in a course that is broad, detailed, and subjective enough to allow them to transcend their world visions. This qualitative study offers insight into students&rsquo; thinking and feelings and contributes to the overall conversation and assessment of higher education elective courses in performing arts and the unique contributions they offer undergraduates. Based on these findings, conclusions and recommendations are offered.</p>

<p> Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience impairment in social cognition, which contributes to a variety of challenges for individuals with ASD, including elevated risks of loneliness, depression and anxiety. For this reason, various interventions have been developed to improve social ability in ASD populations. However, many existing interventions lack strong research support, or are inaccessible to many individuals with ASD due to high financial cost. Therefore, a need exists for affordable, effective psychosocial interventions for ASD that are widely accessible. One potential intervention is improvisational theater training (improv). Improv training for youth and young adults with ASD is already provided at multiple theaters across the US, and the current study collected information on one such program, measuring change in participant ratings of social ability, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and growth mindset as a result of participation. Participants reported a significant reduction in their perceptions of nervousness and being left out after completing the improv theater training, suggesting that improv theater decreases nervousness and feelings of exclusion among individuals with ASD. Participants also reported a significant increase in their perception of lacking companionship, suggesting that improv theater increases participant desire for companionship among individuals with ASD. Reliable Change Index analysis suggests that younger participants, male participants, and participants with greater social impairment were more likely to evidence reliable change as a result of improv theater training. Finally, positive correlations were found between social impairment and ratings of depression and loneliness and negative correlations were found between growth mindset and ratings of depression and loneliness. These findings provide preliminary evidence that suggests improvisational theater may be an effective intervention for reducing anxiety and nervousness among individuals with ASD.</p><p>

<p> This work explores the occurrence of school sponsored rock music ensembles and pedagogy in secondary education within the state of New Jersey. The purpose of this research was three&ndash;fold: 1) to document the occurrence of rock music performance ensembles in New Jersey secondary schools, 2) to highlight the details of a select group representing a sample of these programs, and 3) to contribute to the body of knowledge relating to rock music in the school curriculum. A two part, mixed&ndash;methods research process involved the use of both a quantitative survey instrument and a qualitative interview process. The part one survey was distributed to 720 public secondary schools across the state of New Jersey. Questions were written to seek data regarding school population, budget, types of music programs available to students, regional classifications, and enrollment. Based on survey data, five programs, in which students learn and perform rock music using authentic rock music instrumentation, were selected for part two faculty interviews. These interviews uncovered reasons for the existence of these programs (i.e. teacher and student interest), information about student participation, instrumentation, relationships to the other music programs within the school, intended outcomes, measures of success, and the existence of authentic learning, informal learning practices, and the concept of bi&ndash;musicality.</p>

<p>It?s Something About the Shoes: A Creative Thesis through Practice is an in depth, project-based study that follows the development and implementation of an intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. This paper illustrates how the Practice-led Research paradigm, when coupled with the Expressive Arts, can promote empowerment and transformation for all participants including audience members. Artistic practices and rehearsals realized through performance and analyzed through constant participant reflection constitute the research data. It?s Something About the Shoes is composed of a live performance installation that includes multimedia video sculptures, still images, and pre-recorded sound, all designed around the living exchange between a contemporary tap dancer and the indigenous Danza CAAS dancers. The inquiry lies in the dance shoes. What is it about these shoes that allows the dancers to connect and communicate? How can two very different dance genres and ontological cultures exist simultaneously within a space? What does a show about a tap dancer and traditional Sonajera dancers look like; how will the different cultures interact in this space? Will the common thread of percussive dance transcend cultural and language barriers or will the resulting rhythmic dialogue be too oblique for the dancers and audience to follow? In order to understand the foundational context in which this work is created, a Literature Review is provided that: defines Practice-led Research and the methods to be used in this study, acknowledges a brief historical review of tap dancing with particular emphasis placed on Hispanic and Native influences, and a metaphysical examination of the ecological intersection of performance, place and space. The literature is divided up into complete subsections or articles so that readers may access particular areas of interest with ease. Individual subsections of the Literature Review are composed of review, analysis, and application of literature sources complete with separate bibliographies for quick reference. All Reference Lists are also compiled into a complete Works Cited at the end of the thesis document. Methods used to address inquiries and provide structure to the Practice-led model include: Performance Research, Ethnodrama, and Socio-Narratology. Coupled with these ideologies are Organic Inquiry, Emergent Design Theory, and Collaborative Theory, which act as lenses through which the collaborative process and organizational development of the thesis may be viewed clearly and precisely. Together these methods are used to create the content of a performance. Utilizing interviews with co-participants, surveys, constant reflection, and video documentation, these inspirations are organized as a creative thesis. The findings are composed of raw audience data collected through surveys gathered before and after the performances. This, combined with personal reflections of the artist participants illustrate the type of knowing that is revealed through artistic practice and inquiry. The project convener provides the final synthesis and interpretation of data through a reflective narrative.

<p> The rate of playing-related neuromusculoskeletal disorders (PRNDs) in advanced pianists remains consistently high worldwide, often limiting or ending study and playing careers. Injured pianists&mdash;desperate for solutions&mdash;seek out allegedly scientifically-informed approaches to developing injury-preventive technique but none of these approaches have been seriously investigated. This mixed-methods study investigated one interdisciplinary, non-traditional approach (the &ldquo;Method&rdquo;) that had received considerable anecdotal support but had not been studied systematically to ascertain its efficacy in recovering from and preventing recurrence of PRNDs, as well as its effects on technique, musicality, and extra-musical factors. Participants included undergraduate and graduate students, independent piano teachers, college teachers, and professional pianists and organists who had studied the Method for at least two academic semesters between 1990 and 2015. An anonymous survey was administered to 103 pianists and organists aged 22 to 82, with 74 (<i>N</i>=74) pianists responding (71.8%), and 26 pianists and organists were interviewed in-depth. Survey and interview results established that participants perceived the Method as significantly helpful in facilitating recovery from PRNDs. Significance of relationships among codes included correlations of .70 between the code &ldquo;it works&rdquo; and &ldquo;playing without injury,&rdquo; and .66 between &ldquo;it works&rdquo; and &ldquo;playing again.&rdquo; Interviewees also perceived the Method as helpful in preventing recurrence of PRNDs, as shown by the high correlation between the codes &ldquo;will help prevent injuries&rdquo; and &ldquo;learned a lot from studying the Method&rdquo; (.67). A one-sample t-test performed on the survey data also showed a positive perception (p &lt; .001) of the Method in helping recovery from and prevention of recurrence of PRNDs. Additionally, both the survey and interview participants reported improvement of technique and musicality with many also reporting enhancement of their extra-musical lives. A one-sample t-test on the survey data showed these improvements to be significant at a 5% level or better. Research also yielded data on psychological, emotional, and professional challenges to learning the Method, as well as reactions to specific aspects of the Method. It is hoped that the data might serve as a baseline and become a useful model for the investigation of other approaches for teaching injury-preventive piano technique.</p>