abstract: This dissertation uses constructivist pedagogy to teach acting via Practical Aesthetics, a system of actor training created in the mid/&ndash1980s; by David Mamet and his college acting students. Primarily taught at the Atlantic Theatre Acting School in New York City, Practical Aesthetics has been the focus of little academic research. The same lack of research regarding constructivist pedagogy exists in academic theatre scholarship. The author takes a step toward rectifying this situation. Using an action research methodology, based on approximately thirteen years of teaching experience, the author suggests that Practical Aesthetics and his accompanying voice and movement exercises can be effective in training novice actors. The author melds theory and practice into the educational approach called Praxis to create specific detailed lesson plans which can be used to implement Practical Aesthetics. These lessons constitute primary research on this topic. Compatible voice and movement exercises are also included to provide a comprehensive semester length digest. The first chapter is an introduction, the second outlines Practical Aesthetics, the third focuses on constructivism, the fourth discusses teaching acting using Constructivist Learning Design, the fifth provides narrative lessons that can be used in the classroom, and the closure provides a review as well as suggestions for further research. An intriguing point made in the closure is a call for studies that might determine Practical Aesthetics' applicability and usability in other fields such as law, business, politics, public speaking, and even non-profit work. Although the primary audience for this dissertation is secondary school and college acting instructors, any scholar studying acting theory or constructivist pedagogy may find value in its contents. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Theatre 2014

This thesis is an inquiry into the position of concrete as an architectural material in architectural production and expression. With increasing use of concrete in architecture not only technical properties but also aesthetical ones of the material came to foreground. Reconsidering concrete as a building material, the thesis aims to find out tectonic possibilities of concrete as an architectural expression tool. The purpose to search for concrete&#039 / s tectonic potentials is to rescue it from its bad connotations and reveal it as an architectural tool instead of being mere constructional mean for an end. In order to explore aesthetic qualities of concrete as a part of architectural production, the scrutiny of tectonic theories provide a conceptual framework for a contemporary interpretation of concrete usage in architecture. Kenneth Frampton, Karl B&ouml / tticher, Gottfried Semper and Martin Heidegger are the key references to understand the tectonic potentials of concrete material in architecture. Within the framework of Semper&#039 / s abstract procedures, manipulation of concrete material is analyzed through the specific examples. Structure and symbol, material and method, clear structure and joint are the consulted binary keywords related to the evaluation of tectonic aspects of concrete in architecture. By the technological developments, concrete material -both as a science and art- has been freed from the constraints of traditional production techniques and generated a field for the imaginative creations of the architect. When considered as a part of architectural design, concrete constitutes not only the &quot / core-form&quot / , but with its innate qualities revealed by the designer it transposes the building into an &quot / art-form&quot / . Constituting the structure, surface, or detail of building, concrete material has the ability to express architectural meanings behind design concept. This study attempts to identify concrete material as a value indicating to tectonic, craft, &quot / poiesis&quot / , technology connotations and emphasizes its architectural expression power.