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Faculty & Student Scholarship

Faculty & Student Scholarship

In the theatre, scholarship is usually public in nature, from performing a role to designing the sets, lights, or costumes for a production. BSC’s Department of Theatre emphasizes this public type of scholarship and also highly values traditional academic scholarship, from publishing articles and even scripts to the senior paper, which articulates each student’s capstone experience in the major.

Here are just a few examples of scholarship in theatre here at BSC:

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    "Free the Hand. Do not Fear the Drum: Teaching English as a Second Language through Theatre in Ghana" by Christie Connolly

    "Free the Hand. Do not Fear the Drum: Teaching English as a Second Language through Theatre in Ghana" by Christie Connolly
    Christie Connolly fuses three passions in her Service Learning experience at BSC: theatre performance, service learning, and African culture. Read Christie's insights in her thought provoking senior paper

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    Leadership in the production of "The Who's Tommy"

    Tommy


    Two outstanding seniors served in significant leadership roles on the January 2013 production of The Who's Tommy, one as Assistant Director and the other as Scenic Designer. Their senior research papers detail their rich experiences working on the ground-breaking musical

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    "The Cornerstone" by John McGinnis


    For his senior paper, John McGinnis reflected on the development of his process as an actor. He wrote in detail of his work on the challenging characters of Captain Keller in The Miracle Worker and Hamlet in Shakespeare's great play.
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    Lighting design for "You Can’t Take It With You" by Elisabeth Tutwiler


    The production was staged on the BSC Mainstage in April 2009. Here is a copy of her light plot. She drafted it in Vectorworks 12.5 CADD software.

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    Study guide for "Dead Man Walking" compiled by Skyler Vallo


    BSC produced the play Dead Man Walking in 2009. The play, which was adapted by Tim Robbins from the book with the same title written by Sister Helen Prejean, focuses on the relationship between a nun and death row inmate Matt Poncelet. As part of her senior interim project, Musical Theatre major Skyler Vallo compiled a study guide to be used for area high schools who came to see two special morning performances of the production.

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    From the Deep South to the Far North: How to Take a Show to the Fringe in Edinburgh - by the Miss Julie Company

    The Miss Julie Company


    Faculty, students and staff collaborated on an article about the process of taking productions to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. The article was published in Southern Theatre, a publication of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, the largest regional theatre conference in the country. Our collaboration, The Miss Julie Project, was supported by an Undergraduate Collaborative Research and Engagement Grant from the Associated Colleges of the South and the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. The project also produced a study guide. Reprinted with permission from Southern Theatre, quarterly magazine of the Southeastern Theatre Conference.

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    Study Guide for "A Doll’s House" compiled by Sarah Jones

    Nora & Kristine from Dollhouse


    Rebecca Gilman ’87 wrote an exciting and contemporary adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic, A Doll's House. Her version was originally produced by Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, and BSC was granted permission to perform the play in 2006. Theatre major Sarah Jones, as a part of her senior project, compiled a study guide for use by four area high school theatre programs, all of whom came to see a special morning performance of the show.

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    Student set design for "The Diary of Anne Frank"

    Anne Frank Set Model


    Faculty and student collaboration is at the heart of Theatre major Brie Quinn's set design for The Diary of Anne Frank. Mentored by BSC faculty members Alan Litsey and Matthew Mielke, the culmination of many months of work is seen here in this photo of her set model and the paper she wrote as a part of her senior project in theatre.

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    "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in...Agnes of God" by Katie Holmes

     
    For her senior project, Katie Holmes wrote about her four years at Birmingham-Southern, focusing on her experience playing Mother Miriam Ruth in the Interim 2005 production of Agnes of God.

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    "What Century is it, Anyway?" by Nira Pulllin and Alan Litsey


    Dr. Alan Litsey, Associate Professor of Theatre and Chair of the Division of Fine and Performing Arts, collaborated with a colleague at Wayne State University on an article about period movement in the theatre. The article was recently published in Southern Theatre, a publication of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, the largest regional theatre conference in the country. The photographs, taken by BSC theatre professor Matthew Mielke, are from previous theatre department productions.


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    Professionalism within the Theatre Rehearsal Process


    Senior Anna Rose MacArthur examines the meaning of professionalism within the context of her four years at Birmingham-Southern College. Anna Rose’s diverse challenges at BSC include: actor, dramaturg, assistant and co-director, and assistant stage manager.