My thesis addresses the role of the assistant director within the realm of today's American theatre. I determine who the assistant director is in today's theatre, what qualities they need to possess, and how a director can use an assistant director most effectively. To come to these conclusions, I analyze my experiences as an assistant director and a director over the last four years, as well as conduct interviews with directors and assistant directors currently working in professional and academic.

This paper describes my learning journey as I began to flesh out my system of devising and the resultant aesthetic. The research subject was the production of a new movement play titled Medea Myth. This one act play is a totally devised piece without any text. Unlike some devised work, this play is meant to tell a clear story and was focused on cross-disciplinary collaboration. In investigating the work, I have broken it up into three distinct phases: Inception, beginning at the inciting incident and ending with the first clear storyline; Development, picking up that storyline and developing it to a sequence of full scenes; Production, where the scene sequence is finalized and the show is polished. Concluding each chapter is a section on the learning outcomes of each phase and how I will adjust my methodology in the future. I chose to write this paper in the style of a guide to producing similar work using my experiences with Medea Myth as an object lesson.

American theatre and media contribute to the violent systems of thinking around size and weight and its correlation to health. The argument that correlates higher body mass to lower overall health has been continuously disproved, and yet is still used as a tool to shame and justify sizeism. Educating the general public about health and size can assist in creating new models of representation and bodies can start to reclaim the space they deserve to take up, moving beyond the societal shame they currently face. In this thesis, sizeism is explored and unpacked through careful analysis of contemporary plays, television shows, and movies.

This thesis documents my rehearsal and performance of the role of Tiger in Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, including research, character analysis, role development, rehearsal journal, and an evaluation of my performance. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was produced by the UNO Department of Film and Theatre, under the direction of David W. Hoover. The play was performed at the Robert E. Nims Theatre of the Performing Arts October 2 - 4, 9 - 11 at 7:30pm, and October 12, 2014 at 2:30pm. The play was performed at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 6 in San Angelo TX, February 23, 2015 at 8pm, February 24 at 11am and 8pm. It was awarded the Director’s Choice Trophy, receiving awards for Distinguished Director (David W. Hoover), Lighting Design (Diane Baas), Scenic Design (Kevin Griffith), and Actor in a Principal Role (John Neisler).

This thesis explores how we understand and articulate the idea of ‘absorption’ as a necessary aspect of an ‘optimal’ ‘mode of being/doing’ for the performer. By drawing upon pertinent aspects of the fields of phenomenology, consciousness studies, cognitive neuroscience and play theory coupled with Csikszentmihalyi’s notion of ‘flow’, the study develops a lexicon of terminology with which to articulate and understand the nature of ‘absorption’ for the performer in the context of ‘dance theatre’. By developing a focused articulation of the actual nature of ‘absorption’ for the performer in performance, seen as necessary to an ‘optimal’ ‘mode of being/doing’, the study intends to contribute to the language of discourse in this area of performance studies, and, importantly become a useful resource for the enquiring performer and practitioner. Consequently, in developing an understanding of ‘absorption’ for the performer, in order to edge closer to articulating an ‘optimal’ ‘mode of being/doing’ for the performer, the work and actions of the performer remain the focus of the study. The study is anchored in practice through examination of the work of three companies working within the genealogy of ‘dance theatre’. This multi-company approach gives a chronological and genealogical overview of ‘dance theatre’ practices useful in understanding ‘absorption’ for the performer, whilst also facilitating examination of individual points of practice within that overview. The companies profiled are: Pina Bausch, DV8 and Vincent Dance Theatre (VDT). The examination of work by Bausch and DV8 draws upon and reframes extant documentation of performance currently in the public domain. Examination of VDT’s work draws on original footage and interviews undertaken by the researcher during fieldwork.

Abstract The Winter Summer Institute in Theatre for Development (WSI) is a biennial inter university programme that integrates a number of already established methods and ideas charted by other theorists in drama and theatre. As a pedagogical approach, its generative process relies on employing techniques such as improvisation and spontaneity. This study endeavours to unpack the principles and strategies that inform the generative process of theatre - making in the WSI. It emerged from the perception that the notion of ‘theatre without script’ (Fox 1994) underpins the work of the WSI, as it offers experiential and experimentational theatre-making. ‘Rapid cognition,’ a theory concerned with the ability to think instinctively, circumventing time and logic was used as the theoretical framework. Gladwell (2005) maintains that the life experience that individuals possess has enough power to intuitively and rapidly guide them to correct understanding, without necessarily complying with the formal procedures of time and logic. Qualitative research was used, particularly phenomenology, as a research methodology involving a choice of complementary methods. Findings reveal that for ‘rapid cognition’ to manifest itself, the environment, time pressure and planning are crucial. Although ‘rapid cognition’ falls within the mode of the “right hemisphere” of the brain, evidence in the study suggests that it can be trained. The benefits of which would include a heightened awareness in decision making, thus increased appropriateness in the choices of content and form in the WSI theatre-making. The study goes further in making theorized demonstration of ‘rapid cognition’, in many ways; it offers an affirmation of the power of theatre beyond mundane entertainment.

Sound on-stage has always been part of the theatre experience. Today the usage of microphones to amplify speech is very common and has become more of a rule rather than an exception. This study investigates amplified speech in live theatre. The goal was to understand the sound engineers’ choice in how, when and why they would apply certain techniques when amplifying speech in live theatre. Six theatre sound engineers were interviewed using a semi-structured form and the analysis was of a grounded theory. The interviews were conducted via skype where both video and audio were recorded. Four main categories were created; microphones, voices, aesthetics and technical, and subcategories were developed from the interviews. The research showed that theatre engineers strive to optimize the illusion for the theatre audience to believe that during the performance, they’re located in the same world as the actors are located in.

This paper is a qualitative study based on a phenomenological perspective. The purpose of the study has been to examine how the artistic work with a Community Theatre can visualize the beliefs held by young girls in Skellefteå today regarding the power structures that exist in their lives and how they affect them. Furthermore, the study aims to examine how the work of a theater can provide participants with the opportunity to visualize these structures of power to the public. Questions raised in the study concerns the power structures the young girls are experiencing in their daily lives, how they affect them, how to through a theater approach them in an artistic practice and how the participants' experience of existing power structures is influenced by the work of a theater. The study began with a focus conversation about the participants' view of power in different areas. Based on the conversation, we decided to revise and orchestrate a part of Shakespeare's Othello, focusing on jealousy and men's violence against women in intimate relationships. This was rehearsed and performed to an audience during Trästockfestivalen in Skellefteå. The study ended with a further focus conversation which concerned the work of the theater production and how it affected the participants' view of power. The results show that participants believe that it has been useful to work with the power structures in this way. In particular, they have appreciated the discussions and the opportunity of amateurs to work with the profession, and in this work get visibility to real-life, current issues for an audience.

I expanded a ten-minute play that I had written in my sophomore year, Bob and Carson on a Couch, into six ten-minute plays. Each play can stand on it's own to be performed, or they can be done in order to tell one story.

This thesis includes the journey of Michael Lee becoming a professional actor by performing several characters within two contrasting productions. The first, "The Trojan Women", by Euripides, Michael portrayed Poseidon, Talthybius, and The Guard in ETSU's very own Bud Frank Theatre. Michael's second production included the character of Charles in the modern drama "Race" by David Mamet, which was held in the newly renovated Studio 205. Michael documented his growth as an actor through daily journal entries and analyzing the final performances.