This statement of my process is a written description and analysis of my personal approach to developing a role or character for a performance. My approach to character development is vastly different today than it was three years ago. This statement of process describes the core of my work as an artist and what I value as an artist. It is an in depth perspective of what I do as a performer. It is what I value in acting, what I find relevant, and a personal evaluation on where I lie in attempting to achieve those aesthetics. It is the process and product that I currently value and pursue; its strengths and weaknesses, and what I would like to change about it in the future. In better clarifying what my process is, I can define what the missing elements are and uncover my work for the future.

Thesis advisor: Ellen Winner / Actors make imagined characters in imaginary circumstances come alive, as if they were real. What cognitive processes make it possible for actors to accomplish this feat? The goal of this dissertation was to examine three characteristics that actors may possess and that might make this possible: dissociation, flow, and empathy. Acting students (n = 44) and non-acting students (n = 43) first completed a baseline measure of dissociation, and then performed a monologue that was given to them. This performance was recorded and later rated on dimensions of acting. Participants next completed self-report measures of dissociation, flow, and empathy. It was hypothesized that acting students would score higher than non-acting students on all three measures, and that dissociation of all participants would increase post-performance. I also assessed whether acting experience, dissociation, flow, empathy, and/or the time taken to prepare the monologue for performance predicted performance ratings. The results revealed that acting students scored significantly higher than non-acting students on flow (and some of its subscales) and empathy (and some of its subscales). Although no group differences emerged on pre-performance levels of dissociation, only acting students significantly increased their level of dissociation post-performance. Finally, acting experience was the only significant predictor of performance ratings for both acting and non-acting students. This research demonstrates that, compared to non-acting students, acting students report higher levels of empathy and flow immediately after performing a monologue. Additionally for acting students, levels of dissociation rise after performing the monologue. Empathy and dissociation are likely important tools used by actors to “become” a character, and flow is likely the result of actors’ ability to immerse themselves fully in the performance. Nevertheless, acting experience is the strongest predictor of how a performance will be rated. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

Introuction: The sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region is making progress in its contraceptive policies that allow for the provision of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC). Despite this, the overall utilisation of contraception, especially LARC is low while the burden of unintended pregnancies remains high. Unintended pregnancies pose a significant threat to global public health with far-reaching consequences. There is a need to explore all the reasons for the low uptake of effective LARC methods. The objectives of this systematic review and meta-analysis, was therefore to determine the state of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of LARCs among healthcare workers (HCW) in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted of published qualitative and quantitative studies. A search strategy was developed and applied to three major databases (PubMed, Ovid (Medline), and Scopus). Studies of both a qualitative and quantitative nature were included if they assessed either the knowledge, attitude, perception or a combination of the concepts among HCWs toward a LARC method. Data were extracted using a pre-determined data extraction form to conduct a qualitative synthesis using a thematic content analysis framework using ATLAS.ti version 8. In addition to this, data was specifically extracted relating to 11 pre-determined questions to conduct proportion meta-analyses using Stata version 15. Heterogeneity was further explored using the I2-statistic and publication bias using funnel plots and Egger’s tests. Results: A total of 3616 records were screened, of which 3510 were excluded. From 106 full-text articles assessed for eligibility, 50 were included for qualitative synthesis and 21 included in the meta-analysis. From the studies, a total of 12 356 participants were included in the analysis. From the meta-analysis, the overall proportion of HCWs with training in family planning was 62% (95% CI: 48%, 76%) while 60% (95% CI: 41%, 80%) reported providing family planning counselling to their clients. Forty-one percent (95% CI: 20%, 61%) of HCWs had received IUCD insertion training with 63% (95% CI: 44%, 81%) expressing a desire for additional training. Only 27% of HCWs (95% CI: 18%, 36%) deemed IUCD appropriate for HIV-infected women. Moreover, restrictions for IUCD and injectables based on a minimum age were imposed by 56% (95% CI: 33%, 78%) and 60% (95% 41 CI: 36%, 84%) of HCWs, respectively. Lastly, minimum parity restrictions were also observed among 29% (95% CI: 9%, 50%) of HCWs for IUCDs and 36% (95% CI: 16%, 43 56%) for injectable contraceptives. Conclusion: The study revealed that there is a gap in knowledge of HCWs regarding family planning counselling and LARC provision. In addition to this, the results indicate that unnecessary provider-imposed restrictions may hinder the uptake of LARC methods by women in sub-Saharan Africa. With the deadline for the Family Planning 2020 initiative and the 2030 SDGs quickly approaching, there is a need to address these issues. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH) / MSc (Epidemiology) / Unrestricted

Emotional labor can be defined as the degree of manipulation of one's inner feelings or outward behavior to display the appropriate emotion in response to display rules or occupational norms. This study concerns the development of an emotional labor model for the hospitality industry that aims at identifying the antecedents and consequences of emotional labor. The study investigates the impact of individual characteristics on the way emotional labor is performed; it investigates the relationships among the different ways of enacting emotional labor and their consequences, and addresses the question of whether organizational characteristics and job characteristics have buffering effects on the perceived consequences of emotional labor, which are emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. This study involves the rigorous development of a 10 item scale, the Hospitality Emotional Labor Scale, to measure the emotional labor that employees perform. the results of the study conformed to a two-factor structure of emotional labor: emotive dissonance and emotive effort. these two dimensions tap three types of service-acting that employees perform: surface acting, deep acting, and genuine acting. The scale was used to survey 285 hotel employees. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and moderated multiple regression (MMR) were employed to examine the proposed model, as well as to test the hypotheses. It was found that both surface acting (high emotive dissonance) and deep acting (emotive effort) associate positively with job satisfaction and negatively with emotional exhaustion. Genuine acting (low emotive dissonance) was found to associate positively with emotional exhaustion and negatively with job satisfaction. This study did not find strong relationships among the antecedents (affectivity and empathy) and emotional labor factors. Similarly, the proposed moderators (job autonomy and social support) were not found to moderate the relations between emotional labor and its consequences. In sum, this study found that both deep acting and surface acting lead to positive work outcomes, but genuine acting leads to negative work outcomes. The results provide support for prior qualitative studies. Further, deep acting plays an important role in determining employees' work outcomes. Based on these significant research findings, detailed theoretical and practical implications were discussed. / Ph. D.

Bibliography: pages 279-292. / This study attempts to explore the ways in which Rosalie Van der Gucht influenced and contributed to Speech and Drama education during the second half of this century in the Cape. The writer takes the view that although Van der Gucht was not particularly original in her work - dramatically, socially or politically - she had an impact which is still felt in the Cape Province and beyond, because of her outstanding qualities as a leader, teacher and play director; effected through her special skills as a communicator. The chosen form is a critical biography, which makes it possible to investigate the impact of Van der Gucht's initiatives within the contemporary context. Given that there are only a handful of books which deal with the theatre of this period in the Cape, and they contain few specific references to Van der Gucht; the chief sources for this topic were unpublished written material, and interviews with Van der Gucht's past students, colleagues, friends and relations. Of special importance were Van der Gucht's unsorted collection of papers (bequeathed to the Human Sciences Research Council), the Little Theatre Press Cutting books and the University of Cape Town Archives. In Chapter One the formative influence of her parents, her education, and her first working years in England prior to the Second World War are traced. The following six chapters cover, decade by decade, the period from 1942 to 1971 when Van der Gucht was at the University of Cape Town, training aspirant Speech and Drama teachers, actors, and students taking general Arts degrees. Her influence upon the teacher and actor training courses, including a scrutiny of curriculum developments, is examined; as is her membership of the South African Guild of Speech Teachers and her foundation and leadership of Theatre for Youth which aimed to reach young people beyond the University. Chapter 8 covers the years after her retirement from the University, when she launched upon a second career as a play director, and attempts to pinpoint the chief characteristics of her directing. Chapter 9 deals with the events leading to her death in 1985 - which shed new light on Van der Gucht as a person. The conclusions drawn from this study pertain to Van der Gucht's quality as a person and teacher. The writer takes the paradoxical view that this woman of British origin and education; was, first and foremost, an educator of the traditional kind found in Africa: an oral educator, who used oral material, verbal communication and social situations to inspire and direct those with whom she worked to greater efforts for the benefit of their society, themselves and the discipline of drama. The study is intended to be a useful historical resource for students of drama and the theatre in South Africa.

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Acting is a fascinating phenomenon whereby individuals modify their physicality to portray another person and persuade audiences that they are indeed said person. Historically, and with the goal of creating realistic characterizations, acting theorists have debated if actors must begin either from the internalized driving forces of the characters or from external manifestations of the characters’ physical expression. However, regardless of whether actors have to actually feel the emotions of the characters who they portray during a performance, the challenge for the actor remains the same: to produce compelling representations of persons who they themselves are not. This production is physical by its very nature and can therefore lend itself to being gesturally coded, systematized, and modeled. To explore the question of whether character performances can be modeled, I designed and validated a classification scheme of character conceptualizations. I examined if a set of prototypical characters extracted from the literature were conceptually shared amongst a large group of raters, and found that character concepts were indeed shared. In addition, I found that character concepts could be modeled along the two orthogonal personality-trait dimensions of assertiveness and cooperativeness. I then sought to validate this model behaviourally. I designed a novel performance experiment whereby a group of professional actors performed a subset of characters from the model while I recorded their vocal and facial gestures. I found that actors used their vocal and facial gestures contrastively to differentiate between the characters, as well as between their performance-related and non-performance selves. Furthermore, I found that vocal gestures could be predicted by changes in the level of a character’s assertiveness. Complementary to this, I v found that facial gestures could be predicted by changes in the level of a character’s cooperativeness. Finally, I conducted a cross-modal examination of character and emotion performances and found that characters and emotions, as testable or “functional” units of performative behaviour, share a similar dimensional relationship. My data provide validated support for a dimensional behavioural model of character performance and character classification. My research extends previous findings on acting and emotions and provides new evidence for the quantification and predictive modeling of the products and processes of acting as a whole. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / When acting, actors change their outward physicality to portray another person and persuade audiences that they are that person. Regardless of training or method employed by an actor, this production is ultimately physical and can therefore be recorded, analyzed, and modeled. I investigated this using a novel character classification scheme. I found that stock characters taken from Western literature were shared conceptually amongst a large group of raters and could be modeled along the two personality-trait dimensions of assertiveness and cooperativeness. I tested this new model in a performance experiment, measuring the vocal and facial gestures of a group of professional actors. I found that actors used their vocal and facial gestures to differentiate between characters that differed in personality. I discovered that vocal gestures could be predicted by changes in the level of a character’s assertiveness and, complementary to this, that facial gestures could be predicted by changes in the level of a character’s cooperativeness. Finally, I examined character and emotion performances in both the voice and face and found that characters and emotions share a similar dimensional relationship. My research extends previous findings on acting and emotions and provides new evidence for modeling of the products and processes of acting as a whole.

This thesis examines the portrayal of multiple roles in a production of Camelot, written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Performance and content analysis identifies and explores the difficulties and challenges in portraying multiple roles in this production, including the understudying of the leading role of Guenevere. A detailed historical analysis provides background into origin of the Arthurian legend and an examination of its historical development. A social analysis provides information on the role of women in medieval society with a discussion of the customs and laws that applied to them. Furthermore, a structural analysis of the script examines the plot and play structure. In addition, in individual sections is formal scene-by-scene analysis of the role of Nimue, Lady Anne, and Guenevere. A comprehensive rehearsal and performance journal also addresses the rehearsal and script development process and challenges faced as well as discoveries, adjustments, and choices made in performance from April 14 to May 30, 2004 at the Orlando Broadway Dinner Theatre. Specific entries include discussion of the challenges of playing minor roles while understudying the role of Guenevere, eventually played in one performance. Belinda Boyd and Christopher Niess, my thesis committee, have each provided a performance analysis of my portrayal of Nimue and Lady Anne. J.J. Ruscella, another committee member, has provided a performance analysis of my performance as Guenevere.

Constantin Stanislavski developed a method for actors in bringing to life characters for the stage. Even though Stanislavski developed his theories in response to the stage climate of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many of his ideas remain relevant today. In this study, parts of his system were applied to the roles performed in Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project. Those roles were Moises Kaufman, Jonas Slonaker, Doug Laws, Anonymous, Detective Rob Debree, Governor Jim Geringer, Reverend Fred Phelps and Dennis Shepard. The purpose of this exploration was to create unique, believable characters and develop solutions for personal acting problems. Through this study, it was concluded that this method empowered me as I sought ways to personalize with the reality of the characters.

This thesis will examine the character of Mrs. Medlock in the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre's "Theatre for Young Audiences" stage production of The Secret Garden. While recording my preparation and performance of the role, I will be drawing on and integrating many of the skills I have been acquiring in my Master's Degree program at UCF, including not only acting, movement, and voice, but also theatre research. My goals are twofold: first, to document the method of creating a rich, multi-layered, remarkable character, and second, to try to solidify what I have learned about this process and thus prepare for future roles in my career.