Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
Spring 2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
School of Theatre and Dance
Advisor(s)
Zachary A. Dorsey
Dennis Beck
Ingrid DeSanctis
Abstract
This project asked the question: What is the role of the undergraduate liberal arts institution in American society, now? I initially searched for answers through secondary research. This did not provide me with a single, concrete answer, but contextualized the topic and showed me that there is a multitude of roles that the university plays in society. I then formed and trained an ensemble and together we explored these roles through group discussion and exhaustive improvisation. Out of the many answers that presented themselves, we focused on the concept that the primary purpose of the university is to create the ideal democratic citizen. This proposition raised more questions such as: how does the university select who is fit to be developed? How do they go about developing these students? And what defines the ideal democratic citizen? Our presentation was an eight hour long site-specific performance art piece called School. It was composed primarily of long-form improvisational games. In the end, we not only learned an enormous amount about the university but also gained experience creating a durational performance and through all of this expanded our understanding of the relationship between the content and the structure of a theatrical piece.
Recommended Citation
Carter, Melissa F., "School" (2017). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 306.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/306
Included in
Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Higher Education Administration Commons, Liberal Studies Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Performance Studies Commons, University Extension Commons
