Current Search: Department of Theatre and Dance (x) » Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (x)
View All Items
- Title
- Documentary theatre: pedagogue and healer with their voices raised.
- Creator
- Morris, Kathryn M., Gamble, Richard J., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Theatre and Dance
- Abstract/Description
-
The beginning of the new millennium finds documentary theatre serving as teacher and “healer” to those suffering and in need. By providing a thought provoking awareness of the “other,” it offers a unique lens with which to examine the socio-political similarities and differences between various cultures and ethnicities in order to promote intercultural understanding. Documentary is also used by teachers, therapists, and researchers as a tool for healing. By sharing personal stories of trauma...
Show moreThe beginning of the new millennium finds documentary theatre serving as teacher and “healer” to those suffering and in need. By providing a thought provoking awareness of the “other,” it offers a unique lens with which to examine the socio-political similarities and differences between various cultures and ethnicities in order to promote intercultural understanding. Documentary is also used by teachers, therapists, and researchers as a tool for healing. By sharing personal stories of trauma and illness with others who are experiencing similar difficulties, emotional pains are alleviated and fears are assuaged. Documentary theatre has expanded in definition from the “epic dramas” of German playwrights Erwin Piscator and Bertholt Brecht during the height of the German Weimar Republic to the recent “verbatim” scripts of playwrights such as Anna Deveare Smith, Emily Mann, and Robin Soans. The dramaturgical duties of the playwright along with the participatory role of the audience have grown in complexity. In verbatim documentary the playwright must straddle a fine line between educating and entertaining while remaining faithful to the words of the respondents as well as to the context in which they were received. The audience, by responding to questionnaires and by engaging in talk-back sessions, plays a pivotal role in production. Documentary serves as an important vehicle for informing and inspiring audiences from all walks of life. In 2010, researchers Dr. Patricia Liehr of the Christine E. Lynn School of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University and Dr. Ryutaro Takahashi, Vice Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, approached me to create a documentary based on their combined interviews of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima survivors. The resultant script, With Their Voices Raised, is included as an appendix to this dissertation as an example of the documentary genre and its unique capacity for research dissemination. With Their Voices Raised not only conveys the memories and fears of the survivors, but in its conclusion reveals how these victims of war have elected to live their lives in a quest for peace- choosing “hope over hate” in a shared world
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004142, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004142
- Subject Headings
- Atomic bomb -- Japan, Hiroshima shi -- Personal narratives, Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.), Documentary mass media -- United States -- Social aspects, Experimental theater, Liehr, Patricia -- With their voices raised -- Criticism and interpretation, Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) -- Attack on -- 1941 -- Personal narratives, Takahashi, Ryutaro -- With their voices raised -- Criticism and interpretation, Theater -- Social aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Matters of life and death: a comparative analysis of content in Maori traditional and contemporary art and dance as a reflection of fundamental Maori cultural issues and the formation and perpetuation of Maori and non-Maori cultural identity in New Zealand.
- Creator
- Zaitz, Cynthia Louise., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Theatre and Dance
- Abstract/Description
-
Maori art forms are replete with symbolism entrenched in Maori cosmogony, as well as with political issues arising from the relationship of colonizer to colonized. This interdisciplinary project examined the core symbols, issues and stories present in Maori traditional and contemporary art and dance to determine the way in which the content present in these art forms acts as an active agent in the formation and perpetuation of Maori cultural identity in New Zealand. A secondary aim of the...
Show moreMaori art forms are replete with symbolism entrenched in Maori cosmogony, as well as with political issues arising from the relationship of colonizer to colonized. This interdisciplinary project examined the core symbols, issues and stories present in Maori traditional and contemporary art and dance to determine the way in which the content present in these art forms acts as an active agent in the formation and perpetuation of Maori cultural identity in New Zealand. A secondary aim of the project was to examine the relationship of Maori to the greater Aotearoa/New Zealand culture thereby identifying common and contrasting themes and issues present within both cultures. Aotearoa/New Zealand is unique in that the indigenous society has equal rights with the British, now New Zealanders, who colonized them and, through the arts, Maori have gained tremendous ground in becoming a vital partner in the ongoing creation of New Zealand's cultural identity. One of the central issues that repeatedly appeared in all the art forms analyzed was the push and pull that exists for Maori struggling to retain a Maori identity and compete in the non-Maori world. Identity for Aotearoa/New Zealand Maori and Pakeha, or non-Maori, alike is created in response to, in conflict with, in tandem with, and in spite of their respective cultures, thus creating yet another aspect of push and pull dynamics in New Zealand., Within the context of dance ethnology and visuals arts methodologies several methods were employed including: archival reviews; in situ examination and visual analysis of the meaning and value of these Maori art forms; information exchange sessions, which have been presented individually within the text, with Maori elders, educators, traditional and contemporary choreographers and performers, traditional and contemporary visual artists, and other knowledgeable individuals; the identification of recurrent themes and symbolism, which provide the basis for the synthesis of the information collected. The project involved nine years of research prior to a two-month in situ examination of Maori art, dance and culture.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210449
- Subject Headings
- Maori (New Zealand people), Ethnic identity, Folk art, Art, Modern, Primitive influences, Social life and customs
- Format
- Document (PDF)