The purpose of the study was to investigate the possibilities of an enhancement program for the blind using actor training techniques. The study includes research and investigation into problems concerning the blind, along with the implementation of an actor training program for blind students at the Florida State University. / An important conclusion is that the program aids the visually handicapped in diminishing distracting behaviors known as mannerisms, and in acquiring successful expressive skills. Additional benefits to the blind person are provided in developing the remaining senses, stimulating creative thinking abilities, increasing self-confidence, and building a more positive self-image. / In order to obtain an accurate record of events, each class meeting during the program was recorded on videotape. The written account of the study comprises a major portion of the dissertation, with the accompanying master videotape on record in the Special Collections Department of the Florida State University library. / In addition to the benefits experienced by the blind students participating in the program, this type of program also demonstrates its own value to the theatre. The theatre can provide a forum for outreach and involvement in solving the problems of the community. Aiding the blind in an enhancement program introduces a new segment of the population to the theatre, as well as demonstrating the importance of theatre as a vital part of contemporary society. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 0853. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The purpose of this study is threefold, (1) to describe the major physical characteristics of theater structures located in communities located along the four trunk line railroads chartered by Congress in the Land Grant Act of 1856, (2) to classify theater structures, dependent upon design and construction, within three categories, general utility halls, opera halls and opera houses, and (3) to record the important changes that took place in the development of theater structures during the time period. The study concentrates upon the outstanding structural characteristics, decorative motifs and theatrical equipment. / Each of the theater structures is discussed by focusing on the following data: name and population of community; cost and size of structure; type of construction; name and location of architectural firm; exterior architectural design; location of the hall within the structure; description of ancillary areas--lobbies, restrooms, etc.; size of auditorium; seating design motifs; source of illumination; proscenium size; stage size; stage equipment; scene painters and safety features. / Included in the study are twenty-seven general utility halls, twelve opera halls and nineteen opera houses. General utility halls were public rooms located on the second and third floors of business buildings. They were multi-purpose social halls used for dances, bazaars, sociables, suppers, community meetings and theatrical productions. They were rectangular rooms with portable chairs arranged on flat floors and illuminated by gas or kerosene lamps. Small poorly equipped stages usually had primitive lighting systems and a minimum of scenery which ran in grooves and consisted of rolled drops. / Opera halls were rooms in upper stories of business buildings designed primarily as theaters. They had seating capacities ranging from five hundred to twelve hundred, and usually had flat floors, portable seating and single balconies. At times private boxes were installed near the proscenium. Dressing rooms were constructed on the stage or in close proximity and dimming systems were sometimes employed with gas light. Stages were of moderate size. Scenery ran in grooves. / Opera houses were usually ground floor theaters designed exclusively for theatrical productions. They were often built with stone facades of elaborate design. They had well designed and expensively furnished lobbies, retiring rooms and auditoriums, permanently installed opera chairs on sloped or tiered floors, large and well equipped stages, double balconies, numerous built-in safety features and experienced scene painters creating the original scenery. Later opera houses had electricity and scenery flown from fly galleries. / The general design and construction pattern of theaters progressed from general utility halls to opera halls and subsequently to opera houses. Design and construction features of the theaters were generally quite similar to theaters built at about the same time elsewhere in the Mississippi River Valley. Exterior design followed already familiar architectural trends. Interior design and decoration continued well established and popular modes. Stage construction reflected almost universal practices. The incorporation of improved ancillary areas and safety features were part of an overall improvement in theater design found throughout the Midwest. / The bulk of the resource materials for the study was drawn from community newspapers, county and community histories, city directories and local maps. The prime sources for these materials were the libraries of the communities involved and the libraries of the state historical societies of Iowa and Nebraska. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-01, Section: A, page: 0021. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

There were two basic purposes of this study: to determine the condition of secondary school curricular Drama in Florida, and to study the secondary school superintendents' and principals' evaluation of the drama program. The hypothesis was that curricular Drama was deficient to the other fine arts in terms of extent and size of program and numbers of students enrolled and that there had been little or no growth in the program for the past decade. One of the major obstacles to the curricular growth of the program was believed to be the less positive attitude of the secondary school administrators to include Drama in their curriculums, when compared to the other fine arts. / In order to determine the present curricular condition of the program and to measure the growth during the past decade, the Accreditation Files of the Florida Department of Education were utilized. The data collected from these files included the curricular programs in Drama, Art, Band, Chorus, and General Music. The data was then analyzed and the following conclusions were determined: (1) curricular drama is deficient in size and enrollment to every other program in the fine arts; (2) during the past decade, there has been little or no growth in Drama and it has not kept pace with the growth in the other fine arts programs and the secondary school population. / Data for determining administrative evaluation was collected through a questionnaire which requested the superintendents and principals to evaluate the curricular programs in Music, Drama, and Art. The questionnaire was mailed to the administrators and elicited a response of approximately seventy-eight percent. / The conclusions of the study showed that the administrators consistently evaluated Drama as less effective than the other fine arts in every area of comparison. There was little difference between the evaluations of the superintendents and the principals. / In addition to the evaluations, the administrators' reasons for their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the curricular programs in Music, Drama, and Art were presented. Their major reasons for satisfaction were as follows: (1) contributes to the educational goals of the school system; (2) involves students not reached by other programs; (3) students display interest and support. Their major reasons for dissatisfaction were as follows: (1) inadequate facilities; (2) money needed for other required school units; (3) only a limited number of students may benefit. / The possible influences of the following factors on the administrators' evaluations were considered: (1) location and school population of the county; (2) size of the school; (3) extent of the fine arts and drama programs; (4) length of administrative experience. / In the final chapter, the following possible solutions for the problem were presented: (1) the Florida Department of Education should consider creating the position of Drama Consultant and improve certification requirements for teaching Drama; (2) the Florida Legislature should consider including Drama in recent legislation which places Art and Music in Basic Education; (3) state university theatre departments should consider programs for preparation of Drama teachers and provide greater support for secondary school drama in terms of research, sponsoring workshops, and writing articles; (4) secondary school drama teachers in Florida must form a viable state organization; (5) a regularly occurring periodical concerned with Florida secondary school Drama should be published; (6) Florida drama teachers should consider alterations in both the extra-curricular and curricular programs. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-02, Section: A, page: 0462. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This is a study which amalgamates into one complete work the essential information and patterns needed to aid the costumer in cutting and constructing all the basic ecclesiastical garments which may be used as costumes. / Every garment has been placed into one of two basic divisions, ecclesiastical vestments or ecclesiastical dress. Ecclesiastical vestments includes those special garments which a minister must wear in performing liturgical functions. Ecclesiastical dress includes all other articles of clothing worn by members of the clergy in everyday life. / A separate chapter is devoted to the major items in each division. In ecclesiastical dress the following garments are examined: the cassock, simar and sash; the collar and rabbi; the rochet and surplice; the skullcap, biretta and hat; the choral cape, ferraiolo, tabarro, mantelletta, mantellone, almuce, mozzetta and cappa magna; and the gloves, stockings and shoes. / In the section on vestments the following items are examined: the amice; the alb; the cincture; the stole and maniple; the dalmatic and tunic; the chasuble; the cope; the mitre; the pallium and rational; and the liturgical gloves, buskins and sandales. / A chapter entitled Pontificals includes items that are neither vestments nor dress, but are still used by the clergy on various occasions. / In each chapter the ancient religious significance and symbolism of each garment is discussed along with a brief description of the garment's historical development. This includes a notation of which ranks of the clergy are permitted to wear each garment and on what occasions. Then, accurately scaled patterns are used to show the correct shape and size of each item. This is followed by a brief discussion of the procedure for cutting and constructing the garment as a stage costume with suggestions as to the types of fabric and decorations to be used. Finally, each chapter finishes with a description of the procedure for putting on and wearing the garment, including the Latin version of any prayers which might need to be said. / The study concludes with a series of color plates of statues, paintings and actual garments showing many examples of ecclesiastical vestments and dress. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-09, Section: A, page: 3782. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The theatre in Black Africa is a social activity which usually concerns everyone in the society as a collective. In traditional African Society, the theatre helped to bring about the control and the integration of communal feelings and beliefs by promoting the acceptance of common values. During the colonial era, the African theatre was used as a weapon to deal with the excesses of the colonial regimes. Since independence in the 1960's, the focus of most theatrical productions has been on the problems of nation-building. This study describes the operations of the Chikwakwa Theatre from 1969 to 1979 against the background of the massive social transformation taking place in Zambia, generated by the national ideology of Humanism. / The Chikwakwa Theatre has made its contribution to nation-building in Zambia by launching a popular theatre movement aimed at developing and taking to the local people drama which reflects Zambian social reality. The programs of rural drama workshops and the traveling theatre tours form the core of the Chikwakwa Theatre's activities. / The Chikwakwa plays are constructed in the manner of agit-props and have simple plots and themes which are presented with minimum complexity. The Chikwakwa productions address local problems in order to raise the level of socio-political awareness of the mass of the people. / The audience reaction to the activities of the Chikwakwa Theatre has been favorable. The audiences are mainly students, workers and peasants who are mostly spontaneous in their reactions. / This study helps to establish the following: First, there is a growing theatre consciousness on the part of the masses in Zambia. Second, the medium of the live theatre is being used to develop critical awareness among the people and also to foster the Zambian revolution. Third, the attempt to use the theatre to propagate self-dignity, national unity and self-reliance, is a clear indication of a realization by Zambians that a high level of socio-political awareness is a prerequisite for any meaningful modernization. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-11, Section: A, page: 4649. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

This document studies and chronicles a tradition of popular theatre which began with Jacques Copeau at the Vieux Columbier, and was continued by his nephew Michel St. Denis at the London Theatre Studio and Old Vic Theatre Centre (comprising the Old Vic School, the Young Vic company and the proposed experimental New Vic). This tradition has its clearest modern evocation in Frank Dunlop's Young Vic, opened in 1970. / The first part of the dissertation is a study of Copeau's tradition and aesthetics. The history and evolution of Copeau's work is detailed. The document then picks up the work of St. Denis, who had worked with his uncle in France, as he relocates in England and founds first the London Theatre Studio and (with George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw) the Old Vic Theatre Centre. The history of the Centre is elucidated and its teaching and production methodologies explored. Finally, the collapse of the Centre and resignation of the directors in the early 1950's is chronicled. Throughout, the document stresses the importance and effect of the techniques and outlook espoused by St. Denis. This section was researched with the assistance of much uncatalogued material from the Old Vic archives. / The second half of the document is a history and examination of the Young Vic Theatre under Frank Dunlop. Areas explored include Dunlop's professional background and early affiliation as a student with St. Denis, his preferred production style, the intent and certain alterations of intent of the Young Vic company and the company's success in reaching both their designated young and disaffected audience and a much broader public. Much material in this section is derived from in-person interviews with administrators, directors and performers. The conclusion compares the two entities, their effect and the possible future of the tradition. The importance of St. Denis' school as a mechanism for dissemination is reemphasized, and the history of this approach is once again outlined. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2834. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Peter Schumann's creative method and his Bread and Puppet plays reflect his belief that theatre is spiritually important and as necessary as food. His process and products are founded on noncommercial attitudes and practices, and very little difference between the performers' daily lives and their artistic lives can be found in the work. / Part I of this study provides a picture of the development of the Bread and Puppet Theatre and its work. This history is discussed in three major periods which cover the troupe's initial work in New York City in 1961 to the disbanding of large group work on Cate Farm in 1974. Summaries at the end of each of these chapters enumerate the most important dynamics and developments in Schumann's creative process and its products. Twenty-eight pages of photographs, detailed descriptions of representative plays from each of the three major periods, the author's taped interviews with Schumann and the puppeteers, and his observations of rehearsals and performances are utilized to aid the reader's sense of the plays and the working process. The final chapter of Part I gives a profile of Schumann, his troupe, and his philosophies, including his aversion to the idea of a professional theatre and the nonacting performance style of his puppeteers. / Part II describes and analyses Schumann's unique creative process and his unusual mixture of sculptured shapes, movement, sound, and space or location. From this analysis the author codifies a set of seven creative principles inherent in Schumann's goal of gettting a communication: (I) Starting From An Intense Interest in One Element, (II) Combining Contradictory Elements, (III) Pushing the Extremes to Contradict Normal Expectations, (IV) Simplification, (V) Finding A Literal Action, (IV) Chance, (VII) Nonacting. The application of these principles to contemporary theatre training and production shows a connection with Piaget's research in human intelligence and with E. Paul Torrance's creativity theory. Further, these principles reflect significant aspects of child development, and therefore they have important implications for the organismic training of the actor. Schumann, like other rebellious figures in the development of contemporary theatre, contributes specifically and generally to our theatre's growing eclecticism. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-08, Section: A, page: 3347. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

An examination of the Performance Group's origins and subsequent development as one of the leading theatrical companies in the Off-Off Broadway movement of the late 1960's was undertaken by the author, one of the Group's founding members and a principal actor in the Group's production of Dionysus in 69. Using an analytical approach suggested by methods of psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology, key features of the Group phenomenon were identified--both in the Group's evolution as a creative organism and in the manifestation of the Group dynamic in the performance of Dionysus in 69. / Three principal areas of study were thus identified: (1) the Group dynamic founded on the libidinal, emotion-based ties between members of the collective; (2) the Group Mind, or intentionality of the whole as distinguished from its parts; (3) the Group structure, or interplay of personal forces which were subsequently recollections form the basis of the study; however, his observations were augmented by other primary sources, including interviews with other members of the original Group, inspection of personal papers and letters of those involved in Dionysus in 69, and review of critical responses to the production. / The sociocultural significance of Dionysus in 69 was examined in terms of the Group's use of "environmental theatre" staging techniques and moments of audience participation where spectators were encouraged to interact with the performers. Abandoning the conventional approach towards theatre as a medium for the playwright's "word," the Group attempted to rediscover a form of ritual theatre where actors and spectators could search for communion through shared experience in an aesthetic context. As a result the production changed considerably during its year and a half run--changes which reflected the Group's evolution as a creative body and its attempt to find a common ground of understanding with its audiences. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-03, Section: A, page: 0556. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

Considered an indigenous art form and the one unique contribution the United States has made to the theatre, musical theatre has now become a focus of study in the curricula of American colleges and universities. The purposes of this study were (1) to identify the four-year colleges and universities in the United States that are teaching courses and awarding degrees in musical theatre and (2) to examine and compare the scope of courses, degree programs and instruction of these institutions. Through this examination and comparison, implications from the conclusions and recommendations for further study were suggested. / The study was limited to classes or workshops offered for academic college credit that deal exclusively with musical theatre. In order to have access to this information, two survey questionnaires were designed and mailed to four-year colleges and universities offering either a music or a theatre degree or both. The first survey was a comprehensive postal card questionnaire sent to twelve hundred such schools to determine which ones did include musical theatre courses and degrees in their curricula. The second survey was a detailed questionnaire designed to gather information concerning descriptive data on the type and scope of courses and degrees being offered. / Chapter I presents the introductory material of the study, including a brief historical sketch of both music and theatre as they became college academic subjects. Chapter II explains the methodology of the study and offers reasons for the inclusion of each question in the survey. Chapter III analyzes and compares each aspect of the musical theatre course categories offered by both degree and non-degree schools. Chapter IV summarizes the developmental problems, pedagogical concepts, goals and objectives offered by the respondents. Chapter V presents the summary, conclusions, implications and recommendations made from the study. / Interest in musical theatre courses, degrees and productions on American college campuses has been growing for a number of years. It is appropriate that they be given serious academic consideration. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-04, Section: A, page: 0843. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The concern with man's duality and the desire to resolve it is still part of the ongoing debate among acting theorists. While the "externalists" advocate technical acting from the body, the "internalists" claim that acting must stem from the soul and emotions. This polarization within acting theory can also be seen in the idea of the puppet which expresses itself as the dualism between body and spirit. Such theorists as Heinrich von Kleist, however, suggest the marionette as a means to resolve the dichotomy, for within the figure of the animated puppet, mind and matter are unified. / The purpose of this study is twofold. It examines Kleist's "On the Marionette Theater" in conjunction with Diderot's The Paradox of Acting as a basis for understanding how the metaphor of the marionette can be used in performance theory. The second task is to examine how the metaphor has been realized on stage through the work of Craig, Meyerhold, and Schlemmer. Because of its dual purpose, this study divides into two parts: the first three chapters present the theory of the marionette as an ideal, while the last three chapters (IV-VI) demonstrate how the theory was technically applied with the aim to achieve form, grace, and perfection in art. / One of the most important contributions this study may make to performance theory is to show that there exists an indigenous Western puppet tradition whose influence is no less important than that of the more exotic East. This Western tradition, exemplified in this study by the two essays, the puppet aesthetics, and the stage-work of three artists, is aimed at reconciling the many dichotomies inherent in the theatre experience: the dichotomy between nature and art, body and mind, and self and role. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: A, page: 2308. / Major Professor: Stuart E. Baker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.