Womyn's Spaces: Revision of the Portrayal of 'Woman' on Stage and Direction of Plays by and about Women

Abstract

One of the main factors that affected my choices of Senior Individualized Project was my double major in Theatre and Anthropology. I needed to stay on campus for my SIP in order to also take my Senior Seminar in Anthropology. I also wanted to work within the theatre department in order to strengthen my abilities as a director. "eve-teasing: an evening of plays by and about women" began to take shape in the end of Fall, 1991. Megan Carney and I decided that we wanted to collaborate on the project and that the project would have to in some way concern women and gender politics. Trifles and Rites were chosen to be the student productions in the Dungeon Theatre for Winter, 1992. My interpretation and presentation of Rites by Maureen Duffy grew through the growth of the cast in the rehearsals and changed throughout the process. My analysis of the script and what went into the production is used and referred to in the latter section of my SIP. I wanted my SIP to reflect the culmination and continuum of collective insights in my studies of sexual politics on the stage. I also wanted my SIP to reflect upon my experience as a female director and as a woman in the Kalamazoo College Theatre Arts Department. I intend for the written portion to stand as a comprehensive understanding of how significant and relevant the process of revision is to the portrayal of women on the stage and as a reflection and development of my concepts and research on the revisions of sexual politics on the stage.