Enjoining improvisation as chrysalis for dissertation creation, I draw upon immediate responses, surprise, familiarity, and diverse knowers. Being engaged with improvisation as topic and methodology reveals my assumptions and vitality. What matters is my decision not to primarily describe experience as much as express from experiencing. And I acclaim my readers, valuing others' felt experiencing. Along with shaped expressions of my present-time improvisations, improvisation as variously conceived in education, culture, and other meaning-making is reviewed. Throughout this text, intertwining in my ongoing awareness, are feminist, nonlinear systems, hermeneutic, and postmodern theories. Improvisation—approached intentionally—is not reducible to knowledge acquisition nor learned accomplishment. Shaping expression improvisationally activates unbidden responses, events, and textual artifacts. Generative structures include creative dialogue, impressionistic writing, explication, poetry, and letter-writing, along with spatial design and invitations for participation. Improvisational structures and possibilities invite the protean manifestations of themes. Improvisation calls discipline into play, requires paying attention to what is happening with possibilities. Discipline abides with freedom. Constraints—what's a river without banks?—are associated with shaping expression while freely generating movement, sound, concepts, or concrete forms. Improvisation :? Motions for Living Texts is organized in four sections. The first section considers kinesthetic, or movement, improvisation and related awareness, or felt life. The creative work and pedagogy of Barbara Mettler and Viola Spolin are introduced along with Eugene Gendlin's philosophy of experience. The second section elaborates my transition from moving to writing as an improviser. In the third section, meaning becomes expressly engaged and associated further with Gendlin and with diverse proponents of improvisation. In the final section perspectives on language intersect articulation of “living in situations,” where knowing remains in motion. Overall this improvisational discourse valorizes experience as well as knowledge, participation as well as accomplishment. / Graduate

This study proposes a view of theatre voice as central to performance. It proposes a shift in paradigm through the foregrounding of the function of theatre voice as one of the creative strands of the theatre matrix. The function of theatre voice becomes a theatrical function. Theatre is created in the voice and, therefore, any act of theatre should include conscious questions about the meanings that are, or can be evoked through the voice in theatre. A second thrust to this study is that theatre voice practice should be included in, and theatre voice practitioners should actively engage in, broader debates about theatre. Introduction: The idea that the voice in performance is the enactment of conscious theatrical choices is set up through the notion of the theatrical use of the voice. The introduction outlines the kinds of performance contexts in which a theatrical use of the voice takes shape. This includes an assessment of the degree to which the specific South African context of the writer is useful to questions about a theatrical use of the voice. The concepts which are central to such a view of theatre voice are expanded. These are: the theatrical agency of the actor, theatre voice, the theatrical use of the voice and praxis. Selected examples from local and other productions are offered to illustrate a range of interpretive possibilities open to the voice when considered, in the first instance, as performance. Chapter one: The actor’s relationship with voice is explored through the notion of actor agency. Historically, actors were theatrically empowered by a closer involvement with playwriting, staging, apprenticeship forms of actor training and theatre management. It is argued that the emergence of the director as a new theatrical agent has diminished this actor agency. On the other hand, the introduction of a realist acting methodology has given the actor autonomy of craft, empowering the actor in unprecedented ways. The theatrical agency of actors, directors and theatre voice practitioners is explored as influencing the status and the perception of theatre voice within theatre. The proposal of the centrality of voice to performance is dependent on the agency of actors, directors and theatre voice practitioners. Chapter two: It is argued that an Aristotelian Poetics of Voice has, under the influence of realism, developed into a “Poetics of the Self”. The paradigmatic shift proposed through a view of the voice as central to theatre, is explored through a post realist, intertextuality of voice. This includes a re-consideration of the contemporary theatre voice notion of the “natural” voice. Chapter three: Cicely Berry’s work, with particular reference to The Actor and his Text (1987), is analysed in terms of realism and the theatrical use of the voice. A second focus in the analysis of Berry’s work supports the argument that voice practitioners theorise positions for theatre voice even though their texts are practical and technically orientated. Berry’s work is singled out here because the contemporary practice of the Central School tradition is the generic tradition of South African English theatre voice practice. Chapter four: Strategies and constructs are proposed in support of the centrality of voice to the theatre. Ways of realising a theatrical use of the voice are also suggested. This is based on a shift in the way in which practitioners think about theatre voice. In the first instance, it is suggested that practitioners move beyond positions of polarity and actively embrace that which is contradictory in theatre and theatre voice practice. Secondly, a traditional hermeneutic understanding of the interpretation of voice is challenged. Thirdly, the use of metaphor which is pertinent to actors, directors and voice practitioners is explored as a means to vocal action. Concrete examples of the creative use of the voice, are provided through the sonic texts of Performance Writing. By way of conclusion, some ideas are offered about the issue of empowering the actor in a theatrical use of the voice. This study is intended to contribute to a theoretical and practical debate which will promote the argument for the centrality of voice to performance.

This thesis examines the link between sports and theatre from the actor's perspective and concludes that these two practices should be used together to achieve optimal performance. Using context provided by great physical theatre practitioners such as Jacques LeCoq, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and Rudolf Von Laban, the candidate used his past experience as a gymnast and a soccer player, and the teachings of Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis, to craft a rehearsal and performance regimen for Theatre UCF's production of Paula Vogel's Indecent. This regimen included an experiment where he alternated days in which he swam to days in which he did yoga flow, in order to analyze his physical awareness and mental focus on stage every night while using some of Laban's effort actions; the result being that yoga benefitted his process more.

Using techniques from acting scholars and practitioners, this practice as research study seeks to lesson anxiety in actors by measuring the actor's preparation, rehearsal and performance process against each of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's conditions of flow. Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory describes flow as an "optimal experience" in which a person is so invested in their goals, there is "no threat for the self to defend against" (M. Csikszentmihalyi 76). His research identified conditions that when present, can induce a state of flow. However, actors can be plagued by negative thoughts and self-consciousness. While a certain amount of anxiety is expected and normal, for some actors it can become debilitating, preventing them from entering a state of flow. Why? What causes this anxiety and how does it interrupt flow? Is there a way to stay in flow and stop anxiety from effecting performance? In rehearsals, directors guide actors on a quest to enter flow. However, few known pedagogies use flow theory as a basis for training. This thesis documents one actor's quest to create conditions that will allow a higher frequency of flow, thereby stopping anxiety from overtaking the process.

Actors are tasked with the opportunity to perform roles from multiple assorted styles of theatre performance throughout their career. How can performers best create an effective acting process that allows them to develop a pathway that is unique and dynamic across all styles to best embody the characters that they are cast as? I am seeking to refine and develop an approach that will be comprised of a series of steps which include exercises from the acting techniques of Jerzy Grotowski, Michael Chekhov, and Konstantin Stanislavski to create a character that is unique and dynamic. Through the investigation of the psychophysical connection, I will be analyzing how this dichotomy can support the actor when approaching the character development process to result in a specific and successful performance. I will be using my performances in The Amphibians, Welcome to the Moon, and Shrek, as a case study for the development of an effective acting process

This thesis research and practical application focuses on rediscovering the playfulness of the actor's process and evaluating how that translates into an actor's performance. An actor's confidence can be found in their willingness to play with vocal placement, physical tensions, and emotional and mental patterns and depth. As an actor, my definition of play theory is the act of choosing to be spontaneous, creative, and explorative in the process of storytelling to ultimately lead to stronger choices that develop rich connections. Through the lens of play theory, I demonstrate how play affects our mind, emotions, body, and voice. This thesis presents research on how play affects humanity from childhood to adulthood. I offer practical applications that actors can bring into their individual exploration, audition room, rehearsal process, and performances with the hope that the actor and the audience experiences their storytelling with a deeper level of connection to the text and to their scene partners. I argue that by choosing to approach a story as a means of play, actors can find freedom in their work.

Learning to act is a difficult process, particularly for a young adult who is still discovering the wide variety of human experiences that make up much of dramatic literature. As an actor in training, I have struggled to play characters whose experiences and given circumstances differ from my own. I am not resistant to this idea, I have, however, come to realize that my own personal habits continue to get in the way of making a full transformation into the inner life of the character. As a result, my characters are often similar to one another, even if these characters exist in different time periods, styles, or genres. This thesis will explore a personally concocted methodology that will lead me to depart from my typical process of character development. To begin developing my methodology, I will employ various techniques, some gained from my graduate training and some I'm researching independently for the first time, as I prepare for the role of Belvile in The Rover by Aphra Behn. Belvile is a banished English Colonel in 1600s Naples, which is very different from my own life as an American actor in 2000s Florida. It is an important developmental stage in my training to utilize a transformative methodology to build the life of this character. The techniques will focus on opening my senses and inner life to a new perspective: the Belvile perspective. The physical senses will be developed through stretches and warm-ups all through the lens of Viewpoints. My inner life will be expanded through the creation of different supplemental paintings from the perspective of Belvile. These paintings will be done in the expressionist style outlined by Die Bru¨cke and their expressionist manifesto. The results of these experiences will be logged in a journal to inform my future processes.

The Death of Beowulf: Exploring the Conception, Process, and Lessons of an Original Solo Performance Based on a Classic is the exploration of a performer's journey understanding how their own identity and aesthetic has been defined by other works of art and how it affects their creative expression. The author examines the nature of classics as culturally and personally formative texts, and how the artist's experiences and interpretation can potentially deliver fresh understandings of a familiar text. Then, by applying this to his own process of devising a script based on the epic poem Beowulf, he grapples with the challenges of encountering and freeing the authentic self to create art that reflects an honest refraction of the artist's experiences and interpretations. How does one adapt a classic text based on one's interpretation? What value does one's personal voice have in a centuries-old conversation about a classic? What challenges does solo performance present to the performance of a fictional work? How does one implement an identity-driven lens to craft a fictional character based on source material without sacrificing the exposure of self? By utilizing the techniques of Jerzy Grotowski and Michael Chekov's concept of creative individuality through the process of retelling a classic story, the author frames the necessary value of one's own personal aesthetic, interiority, and authenticity in creating personal and potent works of art.

Satire is having a unique cultural moment. Conversations about what constitutes satire, why it should be performed, and how can it be done ethically are abundant in American popular culture. As with many forms of art and entertainment, satire has become a major subject of discussion in the great American Culture Wars: the conflict between the highly stratified ideological poles of right and left over the dominance of each's closely held social values, political ideals, and aesthetic sensibilities. Divides, real and imagined, in the American public have given popular discourse a sharp and biting edge, driven by growing political polarization and rampant misinformation, spurred by completely new forms of online communication, and exacerbated by a publicly ineffectual government. The use of art as political propaganda is nothing new; what is unique is the degree to which taste culture and artistic preference are now markers of identity and allegiance. The stakes of the discourse surrounding nearly all art and entertainment feel considerably higher than in other recent periods in America's history. Satire's strengths lie in its ability to wound its target and reveal truth to its audience. Thus, is the form an answer to our collective crisis of national dividedness? A means of dispelling the fog of fraudulence and holding to account those responsible for its existence? Or is satire kindling for the Culture Wars' blaze: an accelerant to America's growing mean-spirited, bad faith, point scoring political actors? Through utilization of several modern and historical theoretical perspectives on the form in performance, as well as a personal reflection on my own work producing and acting in a reading of C.J. Hopkins play The Extremists, I seek to probe satire: our understanding of what it is, how it works, and if it is useful.

Acting is a discipline that changes over time not only for the audience, but for the actors who create it. Not only is their craft shaped through study, practice, and repetition that we as individuals have towards the art form, but it is strongly influenced by our environment and personal histories. As actors, we have to bear in mind what we are presenting, when we are presenting it, and why. These choices are a collaborative effort made through the discussion of various artists including, actor, director, writer, etc. For my thesis, I would like to show you what my journey and shortcomings have been one year after an acting intensive internship, and two years out of academia at the University of Central Florida. Through my rehearsal process and performance of George Banks in Mary Poppins at the Hale Centre Theatre in Sandy, Utah, I will analyze my unique experience being double cast, how my personal experience colored my understanding and choices while creating a character, and the pros and cons of being in a professional theatre in the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic