Cry Hard: An Original One-Man Show as Insight into Historical Adaptation and Comic Theory

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dc.contributor.advisorToten Beard, Dr. DeAnna
dc.contributor.authorMeis, Calder
dc.contributor.departmentTheatre Performance.en_US
dc.contributor.otherShane Cearnalen_US
dc.contributor.otherRahjon Singletonen_US
dc.contributor.otherAlly Variteken_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-20T18:32:33Z
dc.date.available2022-05-20T18:32:33Z
dc.date.copyright2022-05-02
dc.date.issued2022-05-20
dc.description.abstractThis thesis centers on the writing and production of an original one-man show about Alexander the Great, CRY HARD. The popular action film Die Hard (1988) apocryphally misrepresents the words of Alexander as noted in Plutarch's Moralia, creating the opportunity for dramatic conflict and comic subversion as Alexander attempts correct his misaligned legacy. This creative product serves as a vehicle for an exploration of the intersection of two narrow narrative fields. Adaptation of biographical history into a comic form is without much scholarship. The one-man show is a challenging narrative form with its own set of insular rules dissimilar to those of traditional stage-plays. This thesis posits two inter-connected methodologies to overcome these narrative obstacles. First, when adapting history into comedy, I posit that the primary intent of the playwright should be to make the fact familiar. That is to say, one should distill the essence of the historical fact and connect it to something more universal, so that into it the entire audience can vest emotional interest. More, I assert that a character-writing model centered on the principle of laughter as a socially corrective gesture, as found in Henri Bergson's Laughter: An essay on the meaning of the comic, is an effective approach that generates empathetic ambiguity and comic potential.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2104/11856
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rightsBaylor University projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.accessrightsWorldwide accessen_US
dc.subjectTheatreen_US
dc.subjectComic Theoryen_US
dc.subjectHistorical Adaptationen_US
dc.subjectSolo Performanceen_US
dc.titleCry Hard: An Original One-Man Show as Insight into Historical Adaptation and Comic Theoryen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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