Honors Program Theses
Award/Availability
Open Access Honors Program Thesis
First Advisor
Jay Edelnant
Keywords
Acting;
Abstract
My honors thesis project took the creative/performance-oriented form. I embarked on (in the words of my advisor, Jay Edelnant) a "self-pedagogical case-study centered on role preparation." My task was to prepare the role of Cathy from the musical The Last Five Years using a process I developed based on combining my musical and theatre training with outside resources.
I chose to do this project for my honors thesis for many reasons. First of all, I was always looking for more opportunities to do musical theatre. I have learned that in order to get anything you want in life, and especially in art, you have to be a go-getter. Instead of waiting for opportunities to fall in your lap, you have to search for them, and sometimes make your own. I hoped that through this project I would not only reinforce this idea for myself, but inspire other students to take their goals into their own hands.
In creating this opportunity for myself to play a role in a musical, I wanted to make sure I was choosing a role that would help me grow. I wanted to play a character with whom I could connect deeply. I needed a role that would both challenge me to expand and develop my vocal skills, and allow me to really dive into the acting - my main focus in school - and bring to the stage a substantial slice of the human experience. There is no point in performing if one doesn't consider the audience, so I needed to make sure their experience would be worthwhile. I wanted to entertain them of course, but I also wanted to inspire them, connect with them, and leave them with something to think about.
Year of Submission
2010
Department
Department of Theatre
University Honors Designation
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors
Date Original
2010
Object Description
1 PDF file (20 pages)
Copyright
©2010 Katy Slaven
Recommended Citation
Slaven, Katy, "Playing the Part: An Actress Prepares the Role of Cathy in The Last Five Years" (2010). Honors Program Theses. 841.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/hpt/841
Comments
The creative work (video) referenced in this Honors Program thesis is currently not being made available in electronic format through UNI ScholarWorks.
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.