Dramatism and Musical Theatre
教授essor 金伯利比斯利 is a leader in the Linda Berry Stein College of Fine Arts
as Associate 教授essor of Voice, Department Chair of Music, Coordinator of the Music
Therapy Planning Committee, director (and performer) of many musicals, and soon, published
co-author of the book, Dramatism and Musical Theater: Experiments in Rhetorical Performance
(Peter Lang Publishing, 2020).
教授. 比斯利 has a passion for musical theater, both on the stage and on paper: her
archival research of theater pieces allows her to uniquely deepen shows and bring
her characters more to life. “I always have an archival element to my direction - I research the show and bring
that back to the student experience in the show教授说。. 比斯利, who has been directing at 杰克逊ville University since 2009.
Her book is co-written with her husband, Dr. James 比斯利, rhetorician and 教授essor
of English at the University of North Florida (UNF). The work of philosopher Kenneth
Burke has informed much of 教授. 比斯利的 exploration of dramatism and directing,
and is a topic area on which Dr. J. 比斯利 has written extensively. 在A语法中
of Motives (1945), Burke outlined his conception of dramatism, which is a method to
identify the rhetorical nature of any text, allowing for different parts of a play
to be emphasized more than others according to the unique interpretation of the director.
Thus, the two decided to combine their expertise for this book. “My research directly informs my teaching as far as directing shows at 杰克逊ville
University, something required of me and my colleagues in voice. I choose to combine
archival research into the production elements as a way to teach students both how
to research and how to perform教授说。. 比斯利.
The first show where the implementation of dramatism played a major role in 教授.
比斯利's directing was Little Women, the Musical. Although very familiar with the
book, she had not directed the musical before. “I love this story, as many of us do, and wanted the students to get into the details
as much as possible,教授说。. 比斯利. She began researching the Louisa May Alcott letters in the archives
at Harvard University and brought some of the archives back to her students. 与
piqued student interest, both 教授. 比斯利 and her students dove into character analysis
work, using Burke's concept of dramatism as a bridge between the typical singer/actor
approach and the literary and rhetorical approach. For this show she decided on a
theme using pentad structure, focusing every scene on the act and building acting
strategies around that. Subsequently, every show 教授. 比斯利 has directed at 杰克逊ville
University has incorporated the pentad structure into every scene and character, teaching
this method to her students along the way. 同样,教授. 比斯利和Dr. J. 比斯利的
book takes each of five shows, Little Women, Into the Woods, 援助a, the Musical, Children
of Eden, and Street Scene and describes this literary, dramatistic intersectionality.
The book's purpose is to inform both directors and student actors of this approach
to character and scene development.