Doctoral Projects in Progress in Theatre Arts, 2004

This is the fifty-second annual report of dissertations in progress in theatre arts in the United States. The entries contained in this report were solicited from those universities offering a doctoral degree in areas related to theatre, and the completeness and accuracy of the report depends largely on the immense cooperation of those students and faculty members who were kind enough to submit complete and timely information—either on-line (preferred), by e-mail, regular postal mail, or fax. A future request for information will be mailed in October 2004 for the 2005 edition. Please contact the researcher if an institution is not already receiving the annual call for submissions.

This report lists (in order) the doctoral student's name, dissertation title, university, department affiliation, faculty supervisor, and projected year of completion. Dissertation topics are arranged in two parts: in Part One, topics are listed first geographically and secondarily by time periods; Part Two provides additional divisions for those projects that do not fit easily according to geography or time but conform to the growing areas of contemporary research.

As the new compiler of this fifty-second annual report, I have learned a lot, toiled to assure that all information is accurately reported, and am intrigued over the provocative and stimulating topics of research proposed by my up-and-coming colleagues. The work of this compilation has provided an eye-opening experience that confirms my faith in the scholarly and practical future of our unique and unparalleled discipline.

Part I

Canada

Tyler, Jennifer. What Is Canadian?: Struggling Toward Identity in Contemporary Canadian Drama. University of Georgia. Drama. Freda Scott-Giles. 2005.

Czech Republic

Grapko, Andrea. The Work of Czech Director, Evald Schorm. University of Colorado, Boulder. Theatre and Dance. James Symons. 2004.

England

Medieval

Crane, Christopher E. "Now menys oure chere from sorrow": The Rhetoric of Humor in Middle English Drama, Spiritual Instruction, and Chaucerian Religious Comedy. Catholic University of America. English. Stephen K. Wright. 2005.

Lapeyre, James Edward. The Towneley Cycle's Passage from Manuscript to Modern Edition. Baylor University. English. Thomas Hanks. 2004.

Renaissance

Easterling, Heather. Cohering the City: Jonson, City Comedy and the Problem of the Vernacular. University of Washington. English. Sara van den Berg. 2004.

Fogerty, Hillary. Sex(ed) Acts: The Performance of Gender and the Maternal in Shakespeare Films. University of Washington. English. Jennifer Bean. 2004.

Moffatt, Laurel Reames. Shakespeare's Use of "Nothing." Catholic University of America. Michael Mack. 2005.

Schillinger, Stephen. Reading Unread Plays From the Early Modern Stage: Obscure Drama and the Problem of Literary History as Cultural History. University of Washington. English. Barbara Fuchs. 2004.

Restoration and Eighteenth Century

Bowen, Julia Anne. From Poetic Persona to Dramatic Character: The Rake in Selected Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Literature. Duquesne University. English. Albert Labriola. 2004.

Cooper, Karol. Transactional Anxiety and the Plight of Language in the Comedies of Aphra Behn. University of Washington. English. Herbert Blau. 2006.

Klekar, Cynthia. Fictions of the "Gift": Benevolence, Obligation, and Economy in Eighteenth Century England. West Virginia University. English. Robert Markley. 2004.

Overton, David. Performing Deformity: Physical Interpretations of Richard III in the 19th and 20th Centuries. University of Colorado, Boulder. Theatre and Dance. James Symons. 2004.

Ryner, Bradley David. Economic Theory on the Stuart Stage before 1640: Phillip Massinger and his Contemporaries. University of Delaware. English. Lois Potter. 2006.

Nineteenth Century

Wilson, Cheryl A. Choreography and Counterpoint: Dance and Narrative Structure in Nineteenth-Century British Women's Writing. University of Delaware. English. Maria Frawley and Margaret Stetz. 2005.

Twentieth Century

Bryan, Richard A. From the Voice to the Violent Act: Language and Violence in Contemporary Drama. University of Tennessee. English. Stanton B. Garner, Jr. 2004.

Santirojprapai, Anthony. Brutal Spaces: Political Discourse in the Later Plays of Harold Pinter, 1980-1999. Saint Louis University. English. James Scott. 2004.

Greece

Corte, Denise. Ethnic Performance and Transculturation in the Americas. University of Maryland, College Park. Theatre. Franklin J. Hildy. 2004.

White, Andrew. Byzantine...