AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Lillian Casey Watkins, for the Masters in Fine Arts degree in Theater, presented on May 2, 2014, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: DIE FLEDERMAUS: OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE TRIM MAJOR PROFESSOR: Wendi Zea In February of 2014, the School of Music and the Department of Theater at Southern Illinois University presented a production of the operetta Die Fledermaus. This thesis is a presentation of the process and final product of the costume design of that production. Die Fledermaus exhibits the best of carnival escapism, with daring disguises, topsy turvy scenarios, opulent scenes and extravagant use of alcohol. This design project was an attempt at capturing that escapism and expressing it through costuming, paying particular attention to detail and trim and actor movement and dance, creating the bubbly, champagne-filled fantasy that is Die Fledermaus. Chapter 1 contains research and analysis of the script, including information about the composer, cultural and historical occurrences that inform the script and previous production history and critical analysis. Chapter 2 focuses on analysis of the characters and their relationships, and how those inform the design of their costumes. The goals that I wished to accomplish with the design and production of the show are covered within Chapter 3. Chapter 4 documents my design process, leading to Chapters 5 and 6, which document the build and production processes, respectively. Chapter 7 is an analysis of the full process and production itself, in regards to the fulfillment of the aforementioned goals. The appendices contain renderings, research, production paperwork and photos.

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Le sacrement de confession, dont l’obligation annuelle est décidée par le concile de Latran IV (1215), est une pratique religieuse qui marque profondément la civilisation du Moyen Âge finissant. Le motif remporte un succès franc dans le théâtre profane des XIIIe XVIe siècles. Les farces montrent des scènes de confessions burlesques, toujours déviantes, dans lesquelles les travers des pénitents et des confesseurs apparaissent et dont la mécanique formelle est utilisée à des fins dégradées. La moralité favorise l’exploitation des métaphores de ce sacrement ou son allégorisation divisée en de multiples personnages qui gravitent autour de ses trois grands moments : contrition, confession et satisfaction ou pénitence. La figuration imagée est mise au service du sens théologique du sacrement, la confession étant un moyen de salut, une étape capitale par rapport au devenir éternel de l’âme. Enfin, les mystères de la Passion font adopter aux saints antiques le langage du sacrement, manifestant l’identité, dans la civilisation médiévale, entre conversion et confession. Malgré des élaborations esthétiques différenciées selon le genre théâtral, les fortes convergences entre les pièces du corpus montrent des dramaturges attentifs aux mêmes aspects du sacrement : les difficultés qu’il y a à accepter cette démarche d’auto-accusation, l’effort pastoral déployé par les contemporains pour en persuader le bien-fondé et en expliquer le déroulement et enfin, quand ils se font jour au XVIe siècle, les affrontements doctrinaux avec les protestants. Le théâtre est en cela le témoin de la théologie moyenne des hommes de son temps. / Confessing sins is a yearly duty for all Christians since the council of Lateran IV (1215). The broad impact of this religious practice on late medieval civilization is patent through the French theatre of the xiiith – xvith centuries. Comic short plays (farces) show realistic scenes of confession: but, due to the confessor’s or the sinner’s attitude, none is right. The comical and critical distance allows the use of the ritual form, disconnected from the preoccupation of heaven and hell and applied to terrestrial purposes. On the contrary, the use of allegory in morality plays (moralités) aims at showing the signification of the sacrament: images emphasize the meaning of this sacrament which provides ways of salvation to the soul of the sinner. The moments of the rite, contrition, confession, and penance, are, like every other notion in connection with them, impersonated by allegorical characters who explain and perform the sacrament. Eventually, in the Passion plays (mystères), saint characters tell their conversion to the ritual forms of the sacrament, showing the equivalency, in that civilization, between conversion and confession. Despite esthetic differences depending on the theater genres, all plays show a similar interest on some aspects of the sacrament: the reluctance every man must overcome to formulate his self-accusation, the pastoral care with which the institution keeps explaining and convincing people of its use and finally, as it rises in the xvie Century, the protestant contestation of the sacrament. Theatre thus appears to be a testimony of the average late medieval theology.

En 1920, au sortir de la Grande Guerre qui sonna le glas de quatre siècles de domination ottomane, le Grand Liban fut proclamé, d’abord mandaté par la France, avant que le pays n’obtienne l’indépendance politique, en 1943. La politique économique libérale propre au Mandat français s’imposa alors, préfigurant le style gouvernemental qui s’instituera durant les trente glorieuses de la République. Cette période s’achèvera avec la guerre du Liban en 1975, faisant émerger des forces miliciennes avec leur corrélat de découpage géographique et social. Ainsi, en guise de réponse au délabrement des institutions symboliques régissant le lien social, l’on assista au surgissement d’une langue provocatrice, dont on trouve une anticipation dans les inventions littéraires de grands auteurs (Ionesco, Céline). Nous allons ici soutenir que ce qui a permis au vivre-ensemble libanais de résister à toutes les colonisations, à la domination du discours capitaliste, puis au désastre de la guerre, procède d’une tournure de l’esprit relevant du registre de la farce. Conçue dans cette recherche comme une modalité contemporaine du rire, elle semble être une réponse à la faillite des ontologies au temps de la postmodernité. Or ce style subjectif, tel que nous le débusquerons dans le parler des sujets libanais, loin d’être une idiosyncrasie libanaise, une sorte de « folie » isolée, pourrait être annonciateur d’un mode d’être au monde voué à se généraliser bien au-delà des frontières du Liban. / Greater Lebanon was founded in 1920, at the end of the Great War, which sounded the death knell for four centuries of Ottoman rule; the country did not gain independence until 1943. The French Mandate of the intervening period included free-market economic policies that foreshadowed the governing style of the trente glorieuses of the Lebanese Republic. That era drew to a close with the Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975 and led to the emergence of militia forces and a corresponding geographical and social division. At this time, and in response to the deterioration of the symbolic institutions responsible for the social bond, a provocative language began to be heard, one that had been anticipated in the literary work of authors such as Ionesco and Céline. This thesis will show that what has allowed the Lebanese way of coexistence and togetherness to resist these colonial occupations, as well as the domination of the capitalist discourse and then the disaster of war, proceeds from a specific mindset that has its source in farce. Conceived here as a contemporary mode of laughter, farce seems to be a response to the bankruptcy of ontologies in the post-modern epoch. This subjective style, which will be explored on the basis of the spoken words of Lebanese people, is in no sense an idiosyncrasy found only in that part of the world as a sort of isolated “madness,” but could instead be a precursor of a mode of being in the world destined to become widespread and to be transmitted beyond the borders of the country of Lebanon.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1965 M835 / Master of Science

Piñata: A Dark Comedy is a dark comedy written to explore what an audience is willing to laugh at and what remains when the laughter has finished. Set in a tavern, Piñata showcases the comedic on goings of a few young adults. Stephen enacts an extensive scheme to show Marcy that her boyfriend is no good for her. Stephen’s friend Wick attempts to cope with haunting trauma as his sister, Lily, does what she can to get Stephen’s attention. The characters navigate each others desires and needs through witty banter and outrageous stories. These comedic antics build in intensity until the play reaches a shocking climax. This moment thrusts the audience into a state of discomfort. The play is prefaced with a critical chapter that explores the way in which the play deals with its audience and how the play utilizes audience laughter. / February 2016

Noises Off is the epitome of farce. Doors everywhere, mistaken identities, and unrequited love. The characters push themselves to the limit, both mentally and physically. They stop at nothing to put on their production and their stage manager, Timothy Allgood, becomes the babysitter of the group, which at times becomes comparable to herding cats. This document describes the journey made from casting to final bows. It contains biographical research on the playwright, Michael Frayn, as well as a historical look at the genre of farce, techniques pioneered by Sanford Meisner and Konstantin Stanislavski, along with materials, including a scored script, character analysis, personal evaluation, and rehearsal reflections.

Submitted by William Justo Figueiro (williamjf) on 2015-07-15T19:24:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 06c.pdf: 821941 bytes, checksum: 15529bbcc8a54525c08a9c29ce1e1ff9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-15T19:24:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 06c.pdf: 821941 bytes, checksum: 15529bbcc8a54525c08a9c29ce1e1ff9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-21 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / PROSUP - Programa de Suporte à Pós-Gradução de Instituições de Ensino Particulares / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / Esta dissertação investiga as formas de instauração do humor na literatura carnavalizada, de acordo com Bakhtin, em A cultura popular na Idade Média e no Renascimento: o contexto de François Rabelais (2008a), no intuito de desvelar sob que formas o humor emerge na obra A Farsa da Boa Preguiça, de Ariano Suassuna (2008), e em quais condições promove a singularização dos traços de carnavalização nela presentes. Buscou-se a compreensão do humor no estudo clássico de Freud (1977, 1996) e em estudos linguísticos Possenti (1998), França (2006) e de Ducrot (1988), em cuja teoria polifônica o humor é abordado como exemplo, e trazido sob a perspectiva de que, na enunciação humorística, há a presença de um ponto de vista absurdo que não é atribuído ao locutor. As referências teóricas orientaram a construção de categorias de análise, num processo de relação constante com a obra. Nesse processo, cada conceito, embora participe do conjunto, perde sua identidade, ou seja, adquire traços do ato de enunciação, que implica a singularidade da obra e da pesquisadora. O estudo confirma que o humor carnavalizado em A Farsa da Boa Preguiça, de Suassuna, se dá de forma singular, pela incorporação de traços da situação de produção da obra e da visão de mundo do autor. / This dissertation investigates the ways of establishment of the humor in the carnavalized literature, according to Bakhtin, in A cultura popular na Idade Média e no Renascimento: o contexto de François Rabelais (2008a), in order to uncover ways in which the humor emerges in the work A Farsa da Boa Preguiça, from Ariano Suassuna (2008), and under what conditions promote the individualization of the traits of carnavalization within it. We sought to understand the humor in the classic study of Freud (1977, 1996) and in linguistic studies Possenti (1998), França (2006) and Ducrot (1988), whose theory polyphonic humor is approached as an example and brought under the view that, in the humorous utterance, there is the presence of an absurd point of view that is not assigned to the announcer. The theoretical references guided the construction of categories of analysis, a process of constant relationship with the book. In this process, each concept, although participates of the group, loses its identity, in other words, acquires traits of the act of enunciation, that implies the uniqueness of the work and of the researcher. The study confirms that the carnavalized humor in A Farsa da Boa Preguiça, from Suassuna, occurs in a unique way, by the incorporation of traits of the production situation of the work and of the worldview of the author.

La thèse commence par une ébauche sur l'apparition et l'évolution de la farce, en prenant comme exemple la troupe des Deschiens qui s'en est inspirée, et a créé un théâtre typiquement farcesque, décalé et différent

Si le genre théâtral de la farce médiévale est un sujet exploré depuis longtemps par la recherche théâtrale, l’étude de sa postérité au XVIIème siècle en est encore à ses balbutiements. En particulier, il n’a pas encore été élaboré de système conceptuel global qui permette de rendre compte des spécificités de la « forme moderne » de ce genre marginal basé sur les traditions culturelles populaires, dont restent de nombreux témoignages polymédiatiques, attestations littéraires ou représentations visuelles. Ce travail se propose donc de fournir une codification structurelle du genre, appuyée sur une base documentaire cohérente, qui permette de rendre compte à la fois de ses spécificités de construction dramaturgique et des modalités concrètes de sa pratique. Dans ce but, il sera procédé à une analyse des éléments constitutifs de cette forme scénique à l’aide de l’outillage développé dans le champ de l’anthropologie des médias populaires afin d’aboutir à la mise en place d’une typologie articulée sur les rapports fonctionnels des personnages récurrents ou « Masques » créés par les farceurs, interprètes polyvalents spécialisés dans cette forme théâtrale. Ce découpage typologique en sept personnages-fonctions sera précisé par la constitution d’un inventaire détaillé des interprètes de « Masques » actifs sur la scène parisienne depuis l’organisation des groupements de farceurs au sein des troupes de théâtre de la capitale dans les années 1610, à la fin du genre sur les théâtres officiels durant les années 1680. Ce catalogage systématique des farceurs en lien avec leur fonctionnalité scénique permettra ensuite de reconstituer la chronologie de l’activité de ces praticiens au sein des différentes troupes de la capitale en resituant précisément leur production dans le contexte plus large de l’évolution de l’ensemble des pratiques théâtrales de l’époque, donnant ainsi l’occasion de mesurer précisément l’influence qu’exerce tout au long du siècle la farce sur les formes théâtrales régulières. / Whereas the theatrical genre of medieval farce has been an area explored since a long time, the study of its successors in the 17th century is at its very beginning. In particular, a comprehensive conceptual system that could account for the specific features of the modern form of a marginal genre based on popular cultural traditions has yet to be developed, despite a great numbers of polymediatic records of this theatrical practice, in visual or written form. This work propose a structural codification of the genre, based on a coherent and consistent documentary base, in order to account for the specifics in the construction of its dramaturgy as well as of the practicalities of its practice. To this end, we will conduct a thorough analysis of the structural components of this theatrical form with the help of the methodological tools used in anthropological studies of popular media in order to establish a typology based on the functional relations of the stock characters (or “Masks”) created by the actors specialized in this particular theatrical genre. The typological division into seven character types will be exemplified through the creation of a detailed inventory of the performers in “Masks” on the Parisian stage, from the emergence of farces players in theatre troupes in the 1610s to the end of this theatre form in the official theatres in the 1680s. This systematic approach linking the farce players to a specific dramaturgic functionality will allow reconstructing a chronology of this practice in the different Parisian troupes. This will give the opportunity to replace the activity of the farce performers in the global evolution of the theatrical practices during the century, in order to the show the influence of the farce on the contemporary regular theatre forms.