Heidi Singe

Date of Award

2019

First Advisor

Aimee Michel

Second Advisor

Wesley Brown

Abstract

The nature of performative art allows people the opportunity to share and relate to each other on a more explosive, more potent level. A metamorphosis occurs for actor and audience alike when a player transforms into another being entirely within the span of a step over the threshold onto the stage. Of course, this is neither simple nor immediate; it typically takes months, maybe years, to find a character in oneself and embody them sincerely and truthfully. But, when the actor fully commits to this work-when they truly understand and become the character - the preconceived veil of one's real life can be removed, forcing the audience to see themselves and their world in a newly discovered light. In exploration of this, I have produced and starred as Woman in a production of Not Medea, a play by Allison Gregory. To do so, I worked closely with a team of five other students and alumni over the span of eight months to fully stage this two-hour production. Simultaneous to navigating the complex world of putting up a theatrical production, I embarked on a personal journey to figure out what "embodying the character" meant to me and my work as a theatre artist. I took inspiration for embodying Woman from my own life experience, work within the rehearsal room, and in-depth research into topics including Euripides' Medea and Jungian and classical theatrical archetypes. Through this holistic, personal research, I challenged the audience and myself to look at this classic story of tragically epic proportions through the eyes of a woman who cannot escape her life or her motherhood, and through her, explore what it means to play a certain "type" of role in the theatre or in everyday life.

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