Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Theatre: Directing

Department

Theater

First Advisor

Donnell Walsh

Second Advisor

Larry Quiggins

Third Advisor

S. Jones

Abstract

Even though, the text of Diaspora was technically "mine" in the sense that J wrote Diaspora, the play text itself became a separate creature at its completion. So the production of Diaspora was not so much my directing a play I wrote, as much as it was an agreement between me and the new text, an autonomous life. In this exacting negotiation, I had to chose where I reside on the spectrum directing philosophies, whether I would embrace complete fidelity to the text or would I see the directing process as more intuitive and flexible (Benedetti 14-15)?

The writers and directors that informed my directing choices included Antonin Artaud, Paul Claude!, Bertolt Brecht, and Peter Brook. Reading their works and what the critics wrote about them illuminated my directing preferences. Aspects of their work fortified my own developing directing philosophy. In the process of researching and directing, the influence of these authors coalesced (Director's notes). In the process, I found myself in harmony with Benedetti's liberal directing category, which honors both the author's assumed intent and a particular era's sensibilities (Benedetti 14-15). Artaud made me desire the truth of the theatre of cruelty. Claude! encouraged me to seek the spiritual and beautiful aspect of theatre. Brecht's relentless bravery in seeking new forms and expressions made me question techniques and directing choices l had taken for granted. Brook made me want to seek the grand and imaginative. After all, theatre should be an original, questioning, and lush in the sense of engaging the mind, heart, and senses (Director's notes).

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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