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The Revenge of the Second Banana: A Female Sidekick's Survival Guide
Title
The Revenge of the Second Banana: A Female Sidekick's Survival Guide.
Creator
Mason, Melissa, Weaver, Earl, Ingram, Katelyn, Lee, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
I returned to school to receive an MFA in Musical Theater for many reasons, but paramount was the need to further explore and develop my range as an actress. Throughout my career, I have played a variety of roles, but none as challenging or possibly as rewarding as the man-hungry secretary "(")Charlie"(") in James Valcq''s Zombies from the Beyond, produced by the Jester Theatre in Winter Garden, FL. Performing this role allowed me to achieve one of my objectives when entering the grad program...
Show moreI returned to school to receive an MFA in Musical Theater for many reasons, but paramount was the need to further explore and develop my range as an actress. Throughout my career, I have played a variety of roles, but none as challenging or possibly as rewarding as the man-hungry secretary "(")Charlie"(") in James Valcq''s Zombies from the Beyond, produced by the Jester Theatre in Winter Garden, FL. Performing this role allowed me to achieve one of my objectives when entering the grad program at UCF: to transition from a classical ing(&)#233;nue or soubrette into a leading lady or character actress; making Zombies from the Beyond the perfect capstone to my graduate experience.During the 1950s, American cinema was filled with sci-fi movies such as Forbidden Planet, The Thing from Another World, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Each movie depicted an otherworldly creature as the villain (a metaphor for the relationship between the United States and the USSR) who had only one purpose: total domination. Zombies from the Beyond aptly reveals the absurdity of the hysteria and paranoia surrounding the "(")cold war"(") and the "(")space race"(") that dominated America in the 1950s. The play makes comic use of the "(")double-red agent"(") and presents the belief that the space race and cold war inevitably were tied together, while examining Russia''s dirty tactics in the struggle for power.In addition to the historical ramifications of Zombies from the Beyond, post WWII America saw an explosive growth in female empowerment. Through each female character''s thoughts and actions on stage, Valcq''s musical tackles the struggle many women faced between the new feminist ideals and old-fashioned morals. My character, Charlene "(")Charlie"(") Osmanski, is the iconic man-hungry, working girl with a big heart (aka "(")The Sidekick"(")). She is a woman very much caught between the traditional values of the 1950s and the progressive, more feminist attitudes starting to take hold in the country.After accepting the role in Zombies from the Beyond, I realized my responsibility was to breathe new life into the role of the comedic sidekick while remaining true to the original vision and traditions that had been set forth by such brave comic pioneers as Rose-Marie, Thelma Ritter, and Vivian Vance. Faced with this daunting task and the enormity of creating a role with such a prominent historical and societal lineage, I asked myself, "(")What does an actor need to know in order to become the perfect sidekick?"(")To answer this compelling question and to ensure I did not fail in my task, I researched actresses who play a similar archetype; studied the evolution of the female comedienne; examined the audience''s relationship to the sidekick; and discussed the character''s future as an integral force in contemporary theatre, all in a convenient survival guide.Ultimately, the evolution of the mainstream audience and their shifting requirements for entertainment impact the sidekick''s portrayal on stage; however, since post-modernistic audiences no longer need one definitive stereotype or archetypal character, the ideas I set forth are not finite or absolute in nature. Instead, they create a basic foundation that serves as a guide for the actor when creating a similar character while ensuring the sidekick''s place as a relevant and sustainable character for generations to come.
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Date Issued
2011
Identifier
CFE0004135, ucf:49110
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004135
The Many Pedagogies of Memoir: A Study of the Promise of Teaching Memoir in College Composition
Title
The Many Pedagogies of Memoir: A Study of the Promise of Teaching Memoir in College Composition.
Creator
Lee, Melissa, Wallace, David, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Marinara, Martha, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis examines the promise and problems of memoir in the pedagogy and practices of teaching memoir in college composition. I interviewed three University of Central Florida instructors who value memoir in composition, and who at the time of this study, were mandated to teach memoir in their composition courses. The interviews focus on three main points of interest: (1) the instructors' motivations behind their teaching of memoir, (2) how these instructors see memoir functioning in their...
Show moreThis thesis examines the promise and problems of memoir in the pedagogy and practices of teaching memoir in college composition. I interviewed three University of Central Florida instructors who value memoir in composition, and who at the time of this study, were mandated to teach memoir in their composition courses. The interviews focus on three main points of interest: (1) the instructors' motivations behind their teaching of memoir, (2) how these instructors see memoir functioning in their classes, and (3) what these instructors hope their students will gain in the process of writing the memoir essay. By analyzing these interviews, I was better able to understand the three instructors' pedagogical choices and rationales for teaching memoir in their classes. I have also collected data and research from scholarly journal articles, books, and from my experiences teaching memoir in the composition classroom. This thesis challenges the widely accepted notion that memoir and the personal in composition scholarship, pedagogy, and teaching practices are (")'touchy-feely,' 'soft,' 'unrigorous,' 'mystical,' 'therapeutic,' and 'Mickey Mouse'(") ways of meaning-making and teaching writing (Tompkins 214). My findings show that memoir in the classroom is richer and far more complex than it might appear at first, and that the teaching of memoir in composition can, in fact, be greater than the memoir essay itself. Even though each instructor I interviewed values the personal and believes memoir belongs in composition curriculum, it turns out that none of these instructors' core reasons for teaching memoir was so his or her students could master writing the memoir essay, although this was important; rather the memoir essay ultimately served in the instructors' classrooms as a conduit through which they ultimately could teach more diverse writing skills and techniques as well as intellectual concepts that truly inspired them. Since the teaching of memoir seems to be even more dynamic and versatile in process and pedagogy than many of the other essay genres traditionally taught in college composition, this thesis makes recommendations for how memoir needs to be viewed, written about, and taught in order to harness the promise of this essay genre more consistently in the discussion of composition pedagogy and in the teaching of memoir to our students in the composition classroom.Thompkins, Jane. A Life in School: What the Teacher Learned. Reading: Addison-Wesley. 1996. Print.
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Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFE0004293, ucf:49469
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004293