The thesis assignment began with one simple question, Can we conceptualize, compose, and create a one-man show, where we hold an audiences attention, for no less than 30 minutes? We were encouraged to find a piece that we could live with over the course of the next 9-12 months. Not wanting to carry around some heavy emotional weight, and knowing that I cant take anything seriously for more than a month at a time without making fun of it, I went in the opposite direction of drama and dove head first towards the land of comedy. From the moment that I entered LSU, George Judy, the Head of the MFA program, insisted to our ensemble that the theater is a safe place to do dangerous things. Wanting to take full advantage of the graduate school safety net, I took the leap. From the beginning, I set out to create and execute a show that could have a life beyond the LSU Studio Theater. My first swing was a 30 minute filmed sketch comedy pilot. This first iteration of my show was crushed by the weight of its own technical demands. What I ultimately created is a show that I can take to any major comedic market and perform a set multiple times a week with minimal production requirements. One man, one microphone and dozens of joke. Over the course of the next subsequent months I conceived and wrote stand-up and sketch comedy material. Some of it was horribly offensive; a lot of it was quirky, and throughout I discovered a strong comedic voice, which I suspected was always inside me. This thesis paper will document the process of creating a one-man show, and serve as the final step in three years of intense classical acting training.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-03172013-162846 |
| Date | 20 March 2013 |
| Creators | McMurray, Anthony Michael |
| Contributors | Judy, George, Battles, Joanna, Erickson, Nicholas |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03172013-162846/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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