In a modern theatre increasingly preoccupied with the mundane, the sordid, the perverse, and the hopeless, Christopher Fry's plays loom like beacons~ For Hr. Fry finds the world, however chaotic, magnificent; and he chooses to explore its more civilized areas in a language undauntedly poetic, through characters cultivated enough to speak that poetry...

abstract: In this dissertation, I focus on a subset of Native American theatre, one that concentrates on peoples of mixed heritages and the place(s) between worlds that they inhabit. As it is an emergent field of research, one goal of this project is to illuminate its range and depth through an examination of three specific points of focus - plays by Elvira and Hortencia Colorado (Chichimec Otomí/México/US), who create theatre together; Diane Glancy (Cherokee/US); and Marie Clements (Métis/Canada). These plays explore some of the possibilities of (hi)story, culture, and language within the theatrical realm across Turtle Island (North America). I believe the playwrights' positionalities in the liminal space between Native and non-Native realms afford these playwrights a unique ability to facilitate cross-cultural dialogues through recentering Native stories and methodologies. I examine the theatrical works of this select group of mixed heritage playwrights, while focusing on how they open up dialogue(s) between cultures, the larger cultural discourses with which they engage, and their innovations in creating these dialogues. While each playwright features specific mixed heritage characters in certain plays, the focus is generally on the subject matter - themes central to current Native and mixed heritage daily realities. I concentrate on where they engage in cross-cultural discourses and innovations; while there are some common themes across the dissertation, the specific points of analysis are exclusive to each chapter. I employ an interdisciplinary approach, which includes theories from theatre and performance studies, indigenous knowledge systems, comparative literary studies, rhetoric, and cultural studies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Theatre 2011

Noticeably, there is little to no cross-cultural analysis of Black queer women artists of the African diaspora in Diaspora, Literary and Theatre and Performance studies. These disciplines tend to focus on geographic locations with an emphasis on the United States, the Caribbean islands and Europe in relation to the African continent. In addition, the work of Black men artists holds precedence in discussions of blackness, diaspora, and performance. Overwhelmingly, the contributions of Black women artists in the diaspora pales in comparison to their male counterparts, especially in number. More drastically, the voices of Black queer women artists actually published are few. Because of these discrepancies within scholarship and practice, I follow the footsteps of the late scholar Gay Wilentz to advocate a diaspora literacy of Black women writers across the diaspora. I employ a transnational feminist approach to survey the work of Sharon Bridgforth and Trey Anthony, two Black queer women artists who explore intersectionality in regards to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and nationality. I also curated and produced Black/Queer/Diaspora/Womyn Festival, a festival of staged readings and panel discussions that placed both artists at the center. This thesis fully details the planning and execution of the festival, an evaluation of the successes and pitfalls of the festival, and then draws conclusions on how both scholars and practitioners can further engage in a diaspora literacy for Black queer women artists.

This written portion of my thesis documents my process as a director in composing the Performance of Ōto Shōgo’s The Water Station in collaboration with a creative team of designers, dramaturgs, stage managers and performers. I share with the reader my processes toward fostering cohesion and collaboration among a team while composing a theatrical experience that departs from many theatrical conventions. I discuss significant learnings from several areas of dramaturgical and performance research that dovetail within the performance: aesthetics of divestiture, dramaturgy of simultaneity and composition of psychophysical score, and how I used this research to support the communication with my design, performing and managerial collaborators. This thesis includes dramaturgical research, production design process, documentation of the training and rehearsal process, and documentation of audience perception.

In his works such as Andre’s Mother; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; and Love! Valour! Compassion!, playwright Terrence McNally utilizes categorically gay themes such as homophobia and living with HIV and AIDS in a time when little was understood about the illnesses. For these reasons, McNally critics customarily analyze McNally’s plays with a queer theory lens. This work examines those same topics and others, but with a critical disability lens. Inspired by Robert McRuer’s analytical partnership of queer, AIDS, and disabilities studies, this work assesses McNally’s use of various types of languages and finds the figures who are characteristically presented as the contrast to normalcy are in fact normalized and hegemonized.

Tennessee Williams, Paul Ibell (2016) London: Reaktion Books, 192 pp., ISBN: 9781780236629, p/bk, $19

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The purpose of this study is to show how dramatization of significant historical themes can be more easily realized in high school American history classes.

This thesis is the written portion of my experience as a director, staging an adaptation of the traditional Iranian theater form, Ta’zieh, for my thesis project. I start with a brief description of our adapted performance, followed by the inspirations that led to the creation of the piece. I then trace the evolution of the idea from the initial stage to the final performance. I describe the adaptation process in three sections, the story, form, and practice. In each section, in a comparative manner, I write about the ways in which Ta’zieh is traditionally done and elaborate on our decisions while adapting it for a new audience. I explain the challenges of adapting and directing the play outside of its original context and discuss how I worked on making this performance an intercultural experience. I conclude to write how I think these artistic cultural exchanges can connect us between countries and cultures, shed a light on our shared struggles and hopes, and lead us to connect on deeper levels of understanding.

The intent of this thesis is to investigate the prominence of audience ridicule in the French theatre from the medieval sottie to Ionescan Absurdism of the mid-twentieth century. Throughout the history of French drama, playwrights have exploited this tactic with either the purpose of invoking an emotional or intellectual response or inciting a social or political call to action. This exploration takes particular interest in shaming theatrical audiences during periods of political unrest, analyzing the ways in which playwrights employed language, studies of characters, and plot-related content to highlight the prevalent and pervasive ills of society and of humanity. The majority of the literature from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries criticizes the aristocracy, the clergy, and the crown. As we approach revolutionary France, the theatre all but abandons intrigue in favor of the tears that flowed that from the ocean of English Sentimentalism. Melodrama and the well-made play adorned the early-nineteenth century, while the later part of the century brought French theatre Jarry’s pataphysics and his affinity for audience shaming that set the stage for the impending onslaught of twentieth-century ridicule. The avant-garde movement flourished at the beginning of the century with the Dadas and the Surrealists responding to humanity’s response to the War to End All Wars. When Ionesco arrived at the forefront of the French theatre mid-century, he employed the most effective audience ridicule tactics invented by his predecessors and created his Absurdist theatre. Ionesco writes: “take a circle, caress it, and it will turn vicious” (38). From the fifteenth century to the twentieth century, the cycle of audience ridicule was indeed vicious in a theatre that sought to effect positive change in a rapidly changing society.