The Sanford Meisner Technique is among the most mysterious and misunderstood approaches to the craft of acting. Very often, it is taught poorly, incompletely, or even dangerously. Through the exploration of Meisner’s private life, as well as a detailed analysis of his system, this work aims to dispel some of the common misconceptions which plague the Technique and its most fervent supporters. After being made privy to his biography, readers will be taken through Meisner’s foundational exercises, beginning at the first phase of Repetition and ending with the introduction of text. In addition to the descriptions of student responsibilities, the conduct required of a Meisner teacher, both in a studio and in a university setting, will be discussed at length. Finally, to complete this comprehensive view of the Meisner Technique, there will be an analysis of its application to Longform Improvisation.

Technological growth has changed our relationships and interactions within society and theatre artists are calling into question the future of our art form. Are we still essential? And if so, how do we renovate our form in order to relate to our changing society? In my experience, I’ve found that all renovations of our art have one thing in common: the empowering nature of story. Story helps us to understand our experiences in life. It is not the self, the cause, or the goal that is behind the wheel, but the story itself. This thesis explores three instances of the empowering nature of story during my graduate studies.

This is an outline of the journey of James Campese’s La Vita Nuova. It began as a raw script entitled Sunsets in Nantucket, which I originally encountered during the spring of 2006. After edits, research and meetings it became a successful work which was presented as a staged reading on March 1st, 2009. This thesis describes how I worked with James to transform the script into its final product, managing both the delicacy of the script and the writer. Included is research on New Play Dramaturgy that helped me find the most effective way to work with the script, then taking the final version and preparing it for a reading, inserting actors into the world James and I had created and exposing that world to an audience. The results were positive as we had a very receptive audience who enjoyed the play.

Over the course of the past ten years, both studying and teaching Voice & Speech for the Actor, I have become frustrated with the status quo of so called 'standard speech'. The two dialects that I have studied in depth are Edith Skinner's 'American Classical Stage Standard' and Kenneth Crannell's 'Career Speech'. I have found something lacking in both the Skinner dialect and Crannell's 'Career Speech'. Yet, I believe that each has a strength from which the other could benefit. The specificity of the Skinner dialect makes 'American Classical Stage Standard' not only easy to learn but also an excellent tool in ear training. The problem with this dialect is that before its artificial creation, it did not exist in the American English language. Additionally, 'American Classical Stage Standard' is not appropriate for theatrical works in a contemporary setting. Conversely, the 'standards' that have been formed in reaction to Skinner's method, such as Crannell's 'Career Speech', are rooted in American English Speech. But since Crannell's 'Career Speech' relies heavily on observation, the resulting paradigm avoids specificity because in the real world not everyone speaks in the same way. The dialect that I am setting forth in this project is my attempt to combine the Skinner dialect and Crannell's 'Career Speech' to create a dialect that is contemporary but non-geographic specific in sound. My American Actor's dialect will be simple and efficient to learn and teach and will provide the student with a base dialect for further study in voice and speech for the stage and for contemporary American theatrical works set post 1980 if there is no dialect called for in the script or if the director chooses not to include dialect work in that specific production.

The purpose of this thesis is to detail my first professional costume design job after my unofficial graduation in May 2008. This thesis will serve primarily as a design thesis, and will concentrate the majority of its efforts in the presentation of a final, original costume design for a realized production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as produced by Duke University. During the course of this presentation, I will seek to detail my own design process and the inspiration and research I used to achieve my goal. I will also discuss the execution of the design, problems that arose within, and my interactions with the shop, staff, and other members of the production team before summarizing my experience and discussing what I learned from the project, and what I took away from it personally.

This text is a partial record of the development of the Virginia Commonwealth University production of The Civil War: A Musical that opened on April 7, 2005 for a three-week run ending April 28, 2005. The greater part of the text is devoted to the evaluation of the underlying principles of direction and choreography applied in the creation of an artistically aid financially successful production of this size. Included in the evaluation of The Civil War: A Musical are analyses of the directors' --Patti D'Beck and David Leong --individual creative processes, aesthetics, and working styles. The result of this evaluation and analysis is a compilation of the fundamental principles of direction and choreography applied The Civil War: A Musical as a methodology for the creation of theatre. Further reflections on collaboration and artistry serve as the culmination of lessons inherent in both the creation of the Theatre VCU production of The Civil War: A Musical and in the author's three years of study in the VCU Master of Fine Arts program in Theatre Pedagogy with an emphasis in Movement Direction and Choreography.

ABSTRACT PEDAGOGY AND PERFORMING SHAKESPEARE’S TEXT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY By Sally Parrish Southall A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Director: Dr. Noreen C. Barnes Professor, Director of Graduate Studies School of the Arts In the Master of Fine Arts program in Theatre Pedagogy at Virginia Commonwealth University, and in a second program, the Master of Letters/Master of Fine Arts in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance at Mary Baldwin College - two specific pedagogical approaches to accessing and performing Shakespeare’s text, both in the post-graduate setting - provide significant analysis tools and performance techniques, yet they use different points of departure and areas of focus. Chapter 1 will give the background, design, and focus of the graduate programs at Virginia Commonwealth University and at Mary Baldwin College. Chapter 2 will discuss and describe Janet B. Rodgers’ teaching orientation and her particular pedagogy in “Shakespeare and Text: The War of the Roses” class at viii ix Virginia Commonwealth University. Chapter 3 will provide Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen’s professional background and the foundational structure and focus of the pedagogy in his class “Language and Performance” at Mary Baldwin College. Chapter 4 explores the parallel and overlapping methods demonstrated in these two classes as well as the contrasting specifics of their particular methodologies. Chapter 5 describes the value of the two approaches, both of which exemplify the individual strengths of the professors.

"Unsex Me Here…" is an examination of our bodies, what they mean in terms of gender and power, and why they mean what they do. Plucked from Lady Macbeth’s infamous soliloquy, the title suggests the stripping away of something essential that transforms. Sex is not the right word, but gender is. Often, these two are mistaken and interchanged. Myths that support our social structure exist at the intersection of sex and gender. In this production, I collaborated with Pete Guither of the Living Canvas to challenge notions of gender in different textual mediums (via the written text of Shakespeare’s "Macbeth" and the text of the body itself) ultimately moving towards a space in which greater body understanding and acceptance exists. Our goal was a theatrical event that was both artistically beautiful and transformational not only for the artists involved in the process of making the piece but the audience as well.

This thesis is an exploration of the novella The Malady of Death by Marguerite Duras and my subsequent production of this book. It covers Duras' history and influences in writing this book while at the same time gives an account of all my directorial attempts with this piece. With regards to Duras, the influence of the nouveau roman writers in the mid twentieth century and her relationship at the time of her writing Malady is discussed. For my part, I divulge my initial exposure to the piece, the previous attempts to stage the work, my latest attempt with extensive research, and finally providing self analysis with regards to this latest production. It is my hope that after reading this thesis the reader will immerse themselves into the world of Duras while at the same time rethink their approach to theater.

This thesis is written to detail the process and results of the theatre history class that I assisted in teaching during the fall semester of 2005. It details the process of formulating the class structure, how the class proceeded, my lecture process, and finally the responses that the students had to the class. The first chapter of this paper goes into the process of getting the class formulated. When Shaun McCracken and I were asked to take over instruction of THEA 307 for the fall during Dr. Barnes' sabbatical, rather than exactly following the process that the class had previously taken, we decided to alter some of the elements of the class. We added in a response system for the reading that the students would be doing through the semester. In addition to this, we put together a course packet of readings from plays and other books and essays to supplement the main book we would be using, rather than have the students buy another expensive book for the course that they would not entirely use throughout the semester, indeed the rest of the year. For the second chapter, I go into the class itself, its environment, the physical shape of the class as it went on and the grading for the semester. Third in this thesis is a look at the lectures that I performed for my section of the class time, the rationale behind the section layout, and where some of the readings had their basis in my assignment. Finally, the paper looks at the responses that the students had to the class itself and any possible improvements that I could be made in future classes of this type.