This thesis places a selection of performances that took place in Toronto’s commercial theatres during the eighteen nineties in their historical context in order to consider determinants of meaning that influenced the social practice in one Canadian city - Toronto. These performances are selected to explore a range of performance activity across the decade and include: the debut performance by Canadian violinist Nora Clench at the Academy of Music in 1889; a fund-raising amateur “entertainment” The Marriage Dramas, performed for local adolescents at the Grand Opera House in 1892; The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, an example of the touring legitimate drama, performed by veteran acting couple the Kendals in 1894; another touring performance , in this instance a popular- theatre favorite, True Irish Hearts, by Dan McCarthy at the Toronto Opera House in 1893 and a rare example of Canadian playwriting from the decade, a performance of Catherine Nina Merritt’s United Empire Loyalist history play When George the Third was King in 1897. The analysis of all performances in this dissertation considers a range of determinants of meaning that Toronto audiences may have drawn upon when viewing a given performance and argues that the following constraints not only influenced the construction of a situated identity in Toronto but also suppressed domestic professional theatre production: a) a system of patronage that stigmatized the professional commercial theatre as frivolous or decadent; b) a utilitarian bias that was at odds with the post-materialist sensibilities of newer and more innovative forms of the late nineteenth-century drama; c) an economic and business practice that centralized production outside of the country to assure profit; and perhaps most significantly: d) a cultural hegemony that deemed Canadian drama to be immature and thus deterred works of aesthetic expression. This thesis is further informed by an understanding that history is written under the influence of the author’s own situated set of determinants and its goal in conducting an associative reading of Toronto’s nineties theatre practice is to locate theatre and performance history as part of a struggle among social, economic, cultural and political hierarchies.

This thesis is titled Lost Lesotho Princess/Landlord Ears. It consists of an original play of the same name based upon the life-story of the author’s paternal grandmother and an accompanying essay titled “Lost Lesotho Princess/Landlord Ears: Visibility, Invisibility, Roots and Liminality in the African Diaspora.” The play falls under the following theatrical categories: African Diaspora drama, black theatre, western Canadian black theatre, realism, the memory play and to some extent, contemporary existentialism. The essay is a discussion by the author regarding the dramatic, social and political context of the play. The following themes are highlighted: history — pertaining to a collective black history and individual histories and (her)stories, regarding and respecting ones’ elders as a link to history and Africa, and notions of commonality and difference within the African Diaspora with attention paid to myths and narratives about what it means to be ‘dark-skinned’ or ‘light-skinned’ in various black communities around the world. The methods of investigation were: a study of the drama and literature of the African Diaspora, the dramatic literature of other post-colonial societies and marginalized groups, one-on-one interviews with Rose Landers, whose experiences are represented by Carrie, the main character in Lost Lesotho Princess/Landlord Ears and field research at JazzArt - a dance-theatre company in Cape Town, South Africa. The view-point the play lends itself to and the conclusions drawn by the essay are: that black people and black communities need agency and healing, that being of mixed race does not have to equal psychological confusion and that mixed communities, families and cultures have been and will continue to be relevant to the universal black experience and the artistic representation of the African Diaspora. The importance of writing as a form of healing, resolution and revolution for members of the African Diaspora and the importance of authorship of ones’ own history is highlighted.

First Hand began as a singular iPhone application designed to aid in the collection and dissemination of information within a costume shop. The project was created to push the boundaries separating the costuming world from current computer technologies. The integration of new computer programming is possible, but currently there are too few programs dedicated to the costuming field that often costumers become frustrated and disinterested. By creating a user friendly, simple, non-invasive application that focused on a single daily task, taking notes during a costume fitting, I hope to introduce costumers to the possibilities available to them in the near future. Since the start of this project First Hand has become an app development company geared towards the custom garment making industries including stage and film costuming and the fashion industry. / text

This thesis details the theoretical and practical implications of utilizing applied theatre as a tool for the exploration of youth identity and relationship to community. Drawing on traditions of ethnography and reflective practitioner research, this document explores the roles of identity and identity-based inequities as they relate to Mart Theatre Project, an applied theatre project aimed at engaging students in Mart, Texas in a larger community development initiative taking place in their town. The document comprises critical analyses of the roles of student identity, facilitator identity, and community identity as they pertain to a community-based applied theatre process and product. The resulting discussion argues for a continual awareness that that the applied theatre process is impacting and impacted by the identities of the facilitator and the participants. / text

As the number of non-native English speakers in US schools continues to rise, there is growing need to find a way to teach English while still engaging with students’ fluid identities around citizenship and national identity. This MFA thesis document explores the impact of an autobiographical playbuilding project with refugee and immigrant youth. The mixed-methods study uses a quantitative performance assessment scale and grounded theory analysis of playscript and performance to examine how students’ definition and understanding of citizenship is activated through the pedagogy and practice of theatre. Throughout, this document argues that arts-based research practices can support both qualitative and quantitative research goals. However the findings suggest that qualitative research offers a more complex understanding of potential program impacts. The document concludes with a discussion of the tensions between research and practice when applied theatre is facilitated in an educational context. / text

This paper serves as a reflection on my journey to pursue graduate studies in Acting, the specific tools acquired through training at UT Austin, the development of my particular methods of approach in response to such training, and the intention/s with which I now continue my career as a performer and theatre practitioner. / text

This paper is a reflection on an actor’s journey through the Graduate Acting Program at the University of Texas at Austin which culminated in a thesis production of Intimate Apparel directed by Melissa Maxwell. This paper examines the tools and techniques acquired in training both in the classroom, production and outside experiences. In addition, this paper will provide an in-depth examination of how the character of Mayme in The University of Texas’s production of Intimate Apparel was created using said tools and techniques as well as new skills acquired during the process. / text

On January 30, 1972, in Derry, Northern Ireland, British soldiers opened fire on Irish citizens participating in a peaceful civil rights march, killing thirteen men and injuring as many others. This event, called “Bloody Sunday,” was the subject of two formal inquiries by the British government, one conducted by Lord Widgery in 1972 that exonerated the British soldiers and one led by Lord Saville, which published its findings in June 2010 and found the British troops to be at fault. Before the second investigation gave its report, a number of dramatic productions had contradicted the official British version of events and presented the Irish point of view. Two films and two plays in particular—the drama The Freedom of the City (1973), the filmed docudramas Bloody Sunday and Sunday (both 2002), and the documentary theater production Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry (2005)—were aimed at audiences that did not recognize the injustices that took place in Derry. All four dramatic presentations in some way replicate the words and actions of one or more significant individuals involved in the march or in the investigation that followed it. This report examines the possibilities and limitations of the three different genres the authors used to present the truth about the atrocity that the British government refused to acknowledge for thirty-eight years. It also reassesses the success and value of each production in the light of the Saville Inquiry findings. / text

This thesis is titled Lost Lesotho Princess/Landlord Ears. It consists of an original play of the same name based upon the life-story of the author’s paternal grandmother and an accompanying essay titled “Lost Lesotho Princess/Landlord Ears: Visibility, Invisibility, Roots and Liminality in the African Diaspora.” The play falls under the following theatrical categories: African Diaspora drama, black theatre, western Canadian black theatre, realism, the memory play and to some extent, contemporary existentialism. The essay is a discussion by the author regarding the dramatic, social and political context of the play. The following themes are highlighted: history — pertaining to a collective black history and individual histories and (her)stories, regarding and respecting ones’ elders as a link to history and Africa, and notions of commonality and difference within the African Diaspora with attention paid to myths and narratives about what it means to be ‘dark-skinned’ or ‘light-skinned’ in various black communities around the world. The methods of investigation were: a study of the drama and literature of the African Diaspora, the dramatic literature of other post-colonial societies and marginalized groups, one-on-one interviews with Rose Landers, whose experiences are represented by Carrie, the main character in Lost Lesotho Princess/Landlord Ears and field research at JazzArt - a dance-theatre company in Cape Town, South Africa. The view-point the play lends itself to and the conclusions drawn by the essay are: that black people and black communities need agency and healing, that being of mixed race does not have to equal psychological confusion and that mixed communities, families and cultures have been and will continue to be relevant to the universal black experience and the artistic representation of the African Diaspora. The importance of writing as a form of healing, resolution and revolution for members of the African Diaspora and the importance of authorship of ones’ own history is highlighted.

Over the past three decades, the plays and productions of Theatre de la Vieille 17 have made significant contributions to French Canadian children's theatre. Their productions embrace a fantastical and imaginative narrative that make them accessible to most audiences. As much as this company shows a remarkable openness to the world, it maintains strong ties to the Franco-Ontarian theatre milieu. This thesis examines key elements that have contributed to La Vieille 17's continual commitment to children's theatre as well as ways in which its productions and policy making have resulted in its increasing artistic and financial success. This study begins by looking at La Vieille 17's three most significant plays: Le Nez, Mentire, and Meta. This analysis takes into consideration the narrative of each play, production elements, co-producers and collaborators, funding, the scope of their tour, and awards and recognition. Each of these aspects contribute to giving these productions a broader world view and help to establish La Vieille 17 as a leading producer of children's theatre. The second part of this thesis analyses key moments during the company's history as well as moments in which it has acted as a common front with other Franco-Ontarian theatre companies. Both of these activities have shaped La Vieille 17's children theatre programming and have led the company to create a successful model in which to produce their works.