Upon receiving a role, an actor must research the major themes, concepts, and relationships associated with the play, its collaborators, and the character they are to portray. Only by layering this combination of research and analysis to the rehearsal process and performances in a detailed format can an actor cohesively transform the learned knowledge from the performer's training and research to a finished product on stage. Many forms of art are created using a similar process. This thesis will explore the similarities between the Post-Impressionist technique of pointillism and the actor's process in developing a role. Upon observing the basic process of each technique, one can conclude that the method of consistently adding many specific elements eventually creates a finished product whether it is in the form of a painting on a canvas or a performance on a stage. By paralleling these two artistic techniques, a new contribution to musical theatre is made by presenting a fresh outlook for performers in their approach to creating roles. Research on pointillism and George Seurat's painting technique when interwoven with Stephen Sondheim's techniques in music theory (specifically the examples derived from the score of Sunday in the Park with George), and compared to my technique and process as the actor playing the role of Dot in the University of Central Florida Conservatory Theatre's 2006 Spring production of Sunday in the Park with George, demonstrates how the theories of pointillism and the actor's process are clearly comparable and arguably inseparable.

This thesis explores the use of the Estill Voice Model, in particular six voice qualities (Speech, Twang, Falsetto, Cry/Sob, Belt and Opera) and their permutations, to define character, character traits and emotions. Traits and emotions that specific voice qualities can influence are, but are not limited to, location, age, background, socioeconomic status, genre, intelligence, nationality, class, culture, gender, promiscuity, disposition, pain and revelations. In particular, this thesis explores the use of voice qualities to show specific human qualities of the character "George" from Sondheim and Lapine's "Sunday in the Park with George" and the people he imitates in his painting by letting the characters' given circumstances (textual and subtextual), the way other actors portray the characters and the director's and musical director's input inform the choices in voice quality. By using the specific technical aspects of the Estill Voice Training System and combining them with the limi