For children to enjoy theatre they must see a story played out physically. The same is true when children act. Young performers must be taught to act using a simplified version of the Stanislavski System that puts emphasis on playable action. This thesis evaluates current acting texts for youth based on whether or not the author is able to outline a method that is accessible for children, and highlights the importance of playable action in scene work. It also provides a guide to teaching theatre for youth based on a class of the author’s design where students developed curriculum, managed classes of students, and executed lessons that emphasized the importance of physicality in acting. It includes the process and script of a devised play based on Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky where the story was told through movement. The final section is results of these experiments and feedback from children.

The aim of this paper is to examine the Estill Voice Training System to explain how it may be used in tandem with widely accepted voice and speech methodologies such as those developed by Kristin Linklater, Patsy Rodenburg and Dudley Knight/Phil Thompson in order produce versatile performers able to meet the vocal gauntlet flung at the feet of the contemporary actor. Students must be able to effectively function as voice-over talent, sing musical theatre, rattle off classical text with aplomb and work in film, all with superior vocal health. Synthesizing proven techniques with the skills presented in the inter-disciplinary Estill Voice Training System, I hope to develop a new, anatomically specific, voice and speech training progression to efficiently assist the student actor discover the physical and emotional vocal ranges demanded of the contemporary actor.

Most scholarship regarding Shakespeare’s King Lear rests on the analysis of Lear and Cordelia, with the odd reference to the eldest daughter, Goneril, and brief homages to the Gloucester subplot. Lear’s middle daughter, Regan, is rarely mentioned at all, unless it is in conjunction with one of her more scholastically popular sisters. Within these marginalized moments of notice, Regan is routinely simplified as being just another sinful sister, fitting nicely into the accepted binaries of good and evil outlined within the play. Despite the fact that most binaries, like characters, are flawed, Regan has been given little to no chance to be absolved of her supposed offenses. By looking at Regan through the lenses of a theatrical character study and also as a subject of iconography within the realms of classical art, film, graphic novels, and the stage, I aim to prove that Regan, despite her consistent relegation to the shadows, is a three-dimensional character who has simply been dealt a difficult hand by her creator.

I have seen a trend in the teaching of technical theatre towards a more practical and less theoretical education. This has brought about a change in viewpoint by professional technicians, as well as students, in regards to an academic degree. Due to this change and the rise of student debt, the impulse has been to encourage going directly into the field and learning the craft there instead of spending four years in an academic institution. There has also been increased pressure on theatre departments to produce larger and more involved shows; both to draw in new students and to justify budgets for productions, particularly musicals. This has led to a greater rate of burnout for graduating students who have spent less time in actual classes than in working on productions. In studying and working in the academic environment I have made insights into ways in which these problems may be alleviated and academic training can remain relevant to the demands of the professional world.

My thesis explores the process involved in adapting Sheri Reynolds' novel, Bitterroot Landing, into a stage play. During the adaptation process I faced numerous challenges, including structural issues, expanding or changing dialogue, omitting or melding scenes and characters, and dealing with the serious themes of incest and sexual abuse. This thesis describes these challenges and the steps I took to overcome them.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the members of the woman’s suffrage movement in the United States and Britain looked to soften their hard masculine image given to them by the press and to increase participation in the cause. They found that by including theatrical performances and benefits at meetings, and hosting tea socials afterwards, they could motivate many women to join without alienating or threatening men. This study looks at how tea socials and theatrical performances were used subversively to recruit new members, to debate ideas, and to disseminate information about the cause. Playwrights wrote plays that examined the questions and issues surrounding this movement, and upstart, female-operated theatre groups and social clubs presented these plays to the public, allowing the debate to reach a wider audience. Actresses themselves joined clubs to increase their presence in society, to help out other actresses, and to find political agency.

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.