A performance and examination of the self-conceived play entitled, “The Red Box.” An exploration into the devastating loss of a loved one and what, after such a loss, a person remembers and holds dear. / text

A short solo-performance piece adapted from Mark Haddon’s novel, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." The following is a step-by-step documentation of my process of developing, rehearsing, staging and performing my piece, and finally, reflecting back on the performance. / text

This comedic short theatre piece follows the main character as she applies the five stages of mourning a death (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) to her recent break-up. The process section then details the writing, development, and performance of the piece for the first time, as well as plans for its future iterations. / text

This thesis is an examination of autobiographical solo performance. It explores the use of personal trauma and illness in the dramatic form. In addition to investigating how other solo performing artists utilize their medical conditions in their work, this thesis gives some historical context to the author’s own process and development. The thesis culminates in the author’s solo performance script and a desire for its audience to find solace and compassion through the experience of witnessing it being performed.

The problem of this study was a comparison of the responses of students to three techniques of teaching literature: silent reading, solo performance, and readers theatre. Students in three classes of grade eleven were selected at three high schools in the north Texas area.

No description available.

This research explores the validity and value of ‘solo devising’ as a means for specifying a category of theatre-making that has been little discussed, compared to group devising, in existing literature on devising and postdramatic theatre. Primary source material was obtained through carrying out extended interviews with five experienced British theatre practitioners who have made work that could be described as solo devised performance: Tim Etchells, Bobby Baker, Mike Pearson, Nigel Charnock and Wendy Houstoun. In analysing these interviews, referred to in detail but not reproduced in full, the enquiry draws on a range of writings, including Oddey, Heddon, Harvie, Alexander and George, on devising and making performance and in particular on Melrose’s concept of practitioner-centred expert knowledge, Lehmann’s notion of the postdramatic and Sennett’s specification of expertise in craftsmanship. Chapter One considers solo practice in relation to the idea of a solo devising economy, the interviewees’ professional work and other experimental solo practices within theatre, performance, dance and art. Chapter Two explores how the interviewees create multiple performance personae, doing and undoing notions of individuality and autobiography through strategies of working ‘about’, ‘from’ and ‘beyond’ the self. Chapter Three explores solo devising processes, involving research, generation of material, composition, performance and ‘orchestration’. Chapter Four scrutinises different kinds of collaboration, including ‘audiencing’, as both enabling and productively confounding activities occurring within solo devising. Chapter five specifies some findings about solo devising: that it both involves expert, crafted, individual working, requiring orchestration of a high number of activities and skills, and, simultaneously, practices of negotiated authorship with other artists and audiences, enabling a potentially political reading of its distinctly ambiguous working. An additional finding is that close attention to what expert practitioners say about their work can yield rich information about a specific practice.

While most undergraduate theatre programs value the concept that their students should be acquainted with all areas of theatre, (acting, directing, design, playwrighting), they implement it by asking students to take classes in each area of specialization, which can reinforce the natural division between the fields. This thesis aims to create four courses that would be a part of a larger undergraduate curriculum that focus upon training the theatre student in a holistic manner through developing knowledge and skill in all fields of the theatre simultaneously and within a single class. Significantly, this process begins with a course in collaboration that consciously draws attention to the components and abilities necessary for fruitful ensemble work. Students participate in non-hierarchical methods for creating theatre and then apply these same concepts to the elements (actor, text, light, sound, etc.) that contribute to creating theatrical moments. This type of training encourages students to view themselves not just as an actor or director or designer or playwright, but as theatre artists who have a sense of ownership of the knowledge of how these various fields work together within him or herself, but also within the theatre as a whole. My experience has been that after such courses students have an even greater sense of respect for what it means to make theatre with a group of people, and as theatre is never done in isolation, this is a step toward more empowered theatre artists.

This thesis studies the process of creating, producing and performing a solo performance titled UNLISTED PROPERTIES. We intend to intertwine historical text and contemporary narratives to create portraits of women throughout different periods of history/her-story dealing with the theme of women as property or owning others as personal property. The historical text will be taken from the self-written works of Mary Chesnut, Harriet A. Jacobs, and Elizabeth Packard. The contemporary pieces have been pulled from a variety of sources, which include an interview with Mary Ford, an Army bride during World War II, Pagan Moss, a website blogger describing her experiences working in the sex industry, and Bhumika Ghimire a New York freelance writer who recalls her trials as a new housewife in an article for American Chronicle. Lauren will discuss her roles as actor, co-writer, and dramaturge, and Jason will discuss his work as a director, co-writer and producer.

This thesis studies the process of creating, producing and performing a solo performance titled UNLISTED PROPERTIES. We intend to intertwine historical text and contemporary narratives to create portraits of women throughout different periods of history/her-story dealing with the theme of women as property or owning others as personal property. The historical text will be taken from the self-written works of Mary Chesnut, Harriet A. Jacobs, and Elizabeth Packard. The contemporary pieces have been pulled from a variety of sources, which include an interview with Mary Ford, an Army bride during World War II, Pagan Moss, a website blogger describing her experiences working in the sex industry, and Bhumika Ghimire a New York freelance writer who recalls her trials as a new housewife in an article for American Chronicle. Lauren will discuss her roles as actor, co-writer, and dramaturge, and Jason will discuss his work as a director, co-writer and producer.