O'Malley, Kristin
(2020)
Performances of Faith: Post-Vatican II American Catholicism on the Professional Secular Stage.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
In the United States, Catholicism as a subject matter for theatrical performance was predominantly relegated to amateur, parish, and educational stages prior to the 1960s. From the 1960s through the present day, however, New York City has hosted an influx of representations of Catholicism on Broadway and Off-Broadway stages. In my project, I investigate how productions featuring representations of Catholicism engage with aspects of history to portray Catholicism as lived relationships between humans and the supernatural. My project turns to Broadway and Off-Broadway stages to examine how these lived relationships are recognized in commercial secular theatre. In that Broadway and Off-Broadway highlight artists from a variety of backgrounds and seek to serve diverse audiences, productions in these spaces provide the opportunity to examine how representations of Catholicism are crafted to broadly engage with American society. Insofar as Broadway and Off-Broadway is the center of commercial theatre in the United States, the productions provide opportunities to consider how representations of Catholicism differently resonate with New York audiences. My dissertation identifies common dramaturgical strategies used within productions to craft iterations of lived relationships between humans and the supernatural. It explores how these dramaturgical strategies represent and/or engage with aspects of history to further frame narratives of Catholic experience. Thus, my project illustrates how secular, commercial theatre in the United States gives credence to how Catholics experience the divine historically and in contemporary life in order to reflect on the acceptance of American Catholicism post-Vatican II.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
16 January 2020 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
14 October 2019 |
| Approval Date: |
16 January 2020 |
| Submission Date: |
5 December 2019 |
| Access Restriction: |
2 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 2 years. |
| Number of Pages: |
287 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Theater Arts |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Theatre, Catholicism, American Catholicism, Vatican II, Dramaturgy, Historiography, Broadway, Off-Broadway |
| Date Deposited: |
16 Jan 2020 19:31 |
| Last Modified: |
16 Jan 2022 06:15 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/37947 |
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