Generally speaking, scholarship in the field of Germanistik has taken an interest in Friedrich Schlegel’s early publication, “Vom aesthetischen Werte der griechischen Komoedie” (1794), either because of its perceived influence on German Romantic Comedy [(Catholy 1982), (Kluge 1980), (Holl 1923), (Japp 1999)], or else because of its relevance as an example of Schlegel's still inchoate aesthetic philosophy [(Dierkes 1980), (Behrens 1984), (Schanze 1966), (Michel 1982), (Dannenberg 1993), (Mennemeier 1971)]. As a theory of comedy in its own right, Schlegel’s essay has garnered little attention, in part because of its supposed inapplicability to comedic praxis and at times utopian implications, in part because of its seemingly contradictory argument, and lastly in part because Schlegel himself abandoned the essay’s central premise soon after its publication. However, it is the central argument of the present study that Schlegel’s essay can be shown to be interesting and relevant precisely for the theory of comedy it contains. Through a close reading of Schlegel’s essay on Old Greek Comedy, as well as an examination of Schlegel’s early political and aesthetic beliefs, which will help render Schlegel’s theory more intelligible, it will be shown that Schlegel’s theory of comedy is novel in so far as it is one of the first aesthetic theories to claim that comedic practice is necessarily deprived of aesthetic validity unless it exists in a social atmosphere of freedom of expression, namely, such as that of the Athenians. The implication is that Schlegel here predicates an aesthetic theory upon one of society. Schlegel’s theory is also interesting for the peculiar type of comedy it advocates, namely a joyous comedy (Comedy of ‘Freude’), which stands in direct opposition to the ‘Satirische Verlachskomoedie’ of the Enlightenment and makes use of a comedic mechanism (joy) that is anathema to traditional negative comedic elements (satire, derision, mockery etc.). The conclusion discusses what the relevance and value of these implications might be for future research.

This thesis deals with the “item number” genre of Bollywood song and dance sequences. I argue that the item song has evolved from a combination of the historically rich culture of prostitution in old India and the western influence of modern times; and that it contributes highly to the male dominated patriarchal society perpetuated by Hindi films by means of the voyeuristic male gaze and objectification of the female body. In conjunction with this research I choreographed a dance called Item No. 3 that was performed in Scripps Dances 2013. A discussion of the significance and decisions behind the choreography is also included in this written document. A record of the performance as available on DVD through the Scripps College Dance Department or at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVNztFuezEc.

ix, 203 p. : ill. / As critic Jonathan Gottschall notes, "The literary scholar's subject is ultimately the human mind - the mind that is the creator, subject, and auditor of literary works." The primary aim of this dissertation is to use modern cognitive science to better understand the early modern mind. I apply a framework rooted in cognitive science--the interdisciplinary study of how the human brain generates first-person consciousness and relates to external objects through that conscious framework--to reveal the role of consciousness and memory in subject formation and creative interpretation, as represented in period drama. Cognitive science enables us as scholars and critics to read literature of the period through a lens that reveals subjects in the process of being formed prior to the "self-fashioning" processes of enculturation and social discipline that have been so thoroughly diagnosed in criticism in recent decades. I begin with an overview of the field of cognitive literary theory, demonstrating that cognitive science has already begun to offer scholars of the period a vital framework for understanding literature as the result of unique minds grappling with uniquely historical problems, both biologically and socially. From there, I proceed to detailed explications of neuroscience-based theories of the relationship between the embodied brain, memory, and subject identity, via detailed close reading case studies. In the primary chapters, I focus on what I consider to be three primary elements of embodied subjectivity in drama of the period: basic identity reification through unique first-person memory (the Tudor interlude Jake Juggler ), more complex subject-object relationships leading to alterations in behavioral modes (Hamlet ), and finally, the blending of literary structures and social context in the interpretation of subject behavior (Middleton's A Trick to Catch the Old One ). / Committee in charge: Lisa Freinkel, Chairperson; George Rowe, Member; Ben Saunders, Member; Lara Bovilsky, Member; Ted Toadvine, Outside Member

This written portion of my thesis documents how I, as director, conceptualized, devised and staged an immersive adaptation of August Strindberg’s A Dream Play, with the support of a large team of collaborators including: assistant directors, dramaturgs, designers, stage managers, and actors. In this document I attempt to synthesize the discoveries I made in this process regarding the challenges and experience of directing immersive theater, including the importance of giving up directorial control and relying on my collaborators as partners in the creation of the production. I begin with an introduction to the research I conducted into the field of immersive theater as well as my research on the work of August Strindberg, with a specific emphasis on the themes and context of A Dream Play. I then describe how I led my creative team through the process of designing a devised immersive theater production by encouraging open communication and fostering an atmosphere of trust. I also discuss the casting process and my efforts to establish an autonomous ensemble by allowing the actors to choose their own parts, write their own scripts, and devise their own scenes. I reflect on how I navigated the unpredictable nature of immersive theater, through a careful balance between detailed planning and free exploration, all the while embracing the possibility of failure as an expected part of the process. Finally, I attempt to assess the success of the production through examination of the impact it had on its audiences based on my own personal observations, as well as feedback collected through formal methods of survey.

This written portion of my thesis is aimed at documenting and synthesizing how I, as director, staged an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler through ongoing collaboration with a creative team comprised of dramaturges, designers, and actors. I walk the reader through my exploration of Ibsen’s life and work through travel to the International Ibsen Festival in Oslo, Norway, and describe how I endeavored to lead the production’s creative team by applying feminist theories in directing and embracing the possibility of failure as a means of discovery. I discuss the casting process and establishment of an all-women ensemble, explore the major themes I identified in the play, and reflect on how the creative team strove to subvert the societal expectation of a historical production rooted in realism through designs and artistic choices inspired by the western canon’s ongoing grasp on contemporary theater programming.

Conceived in the wake of a global pandemic and the unanticipated need to create digital theatre, COVEN-19, or Magicks for Unprecdented Times as a devising project consisted of two witchcraft-inspired performances: a fall 2020 Samhain ritual and a spring 2021 Beltane ritual. The company of undergraduate and graduate theatre witches explored decentralized, iterative, slow, caretaking, queer forms of devising over digital platforms. The written portion of this thesis takes the form of a digital tarot blog: 22 (plus a bonus) interconnected essays and spells that interrogate feminist and queer theories as they pertain to the Coven’s devising process. This digital format not only reflects the malleable nature of the creative process, but it is also a kind of praxis that invites the reader to take an active role in meaning-making and resists an objective, singular narrative. Woven through these tarot cards are threads of utopian futurity, situated subjectivities, and anticapitalist temporalities. The essays and spells are primarily in conversation with adrienne maree brown, Judith Butler, Audre Lorde, Jose Estaban Munoz, and Starhawk – engaging with these theorists as thought-ancestors in order to activate rather than regurgitate their knowledges of radical hope and nonlinear process. The tarot deck takes a situated, backwards glance toward these ancestors as it grasps at seemingly impossible utopian horizons of collaboration and creation.

The question of the authorship of the plays, poems, and sonnets traditionally attributed to the pen if William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon has now been before the public for over one hundred years. Many of the most noted poets, playwrights, and nobles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been assigned the authorship of these works. The controversy can be compared to the controversy over Homer’s authorship. In 1975, Friederick Augustus Wolf proposed that Homer did not write The Iliad and The Odyssey. By 1900, Wolf had been disproven, but the question was one of great importance when it was first introduced. The anti-Shakespearean contention has never actually been proven or disproven, and it remains important in the field of English literature. However, from the time the question first came before the public in 1856 until this study was first begun, no extensive and readily available history of the subject had been written. It is the purpose of this study to make a historical survey of the major theories of the controversy and put them under one cover. A further purpose is to evaluate them wherever necessary, although many of the theories refute themselves.

In the Renaissance drama, revenge is known as a revenge of blood, generally the “eye for an eye” variety of retaliation. The revenge of late periods deals with the return injury directed not only to the body of the opponent but also to his mental discomfort. It is the aim of this thesis to present the different types of revenge in tragic dramas and by means of them to show how the life, manners, and attitude of the various nationalities are reflected in dramas dealing with this theme.

This thesis describes how the experimental process of exploring ritual as a foundation for creating contemporary theater can be applied to staging a classical European play, in this case, Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, adapted by Constance Congdon. Based on research into the influences of Commedia Dell’ Arte in Molière’s plays, the directorial concept of “Mask and Duplicity” influenced all the artistic areas of the production and design (costume, sound, lighting and set). The process described includes the development of a physical vocabulary with the actors, exploring animal movements based on “The Dance of the Deer” (a hunting ritual from the Mayo and Yaqui traditions in Mexico), and Commedia Dell’ Arte character archetypes. In addition, this thesis supports character analysis with research on the phases of Carnival and the structure of rites of passage (separation, transition and reintegration), and how these ritual elements were applied to the blocking and choreography of the play. As a result of the exploration and the use of ritualistic structures, The Imaginary Invalid had two stories happening at the same time: the public story, what the audience gets from the flow of the text; and the private story, a rite of passage that happens within the narrative of The Imaginary Invalid.

Considered one of the greatest playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age, Tirso de Molina (1580?-1648) lived something of a double life, alternating—much like the characters in his plays—between two separate and often conflicting lives. Though Tirso, whose real name was Gabriel Téllez, spent the greater portion of his life in the church as a Mercedarian friar, his dramatic output as a playwright was prodigious in scope. Fewer than 90 of his plays survive today, and only a handful have been translated into English. This M.F.A. thesis therefore presents the first-ever English-language translation and adaptation of one of Tirso’s plays, El amor médico, translated as Love the Doctor. The translation/adaptation is preceded by an introduction, as well as by chapters contextualizing the play in the writing of Tirso, the comedia, and the world of seventeenth-century medicine and cross-dressing. The thesis concludes by examining both the translational strategies and artistic choices made at various stages in the process of translating and adapting Tirso’s circa 1621 comedia .