Abstracts Category : Other

Lightyears away from you: an exploration of "non-normative" characters in musical theatre

by Lauryn Morgan Thomas

In this thesis I explore the ways in which musical theatre is uniquely suited to tell stories about characters who are considered non-normative. My research includes in-depth character study and performance-based practice of four characters in theatre that have been othered and outcast for their mental illness, sexual orientation, physical appearance, and perceived existence on the Aspergers spectrum. This project culminated in a one-woman cabaret in which I performed each of these four characters for an invited audience, and added to my intellectual understanding of each of these characters, and discovered how music and extended text can enhance a characters journey through non-normativity. Upon completion of this research, I found that theatre has a specific power to teach and inspire audiences to reach across difference. In my one-woman cabaret I had the opportunity to put three musical theatre characters and one play character in conversation with each other and present them to an audience as whole individuals. I conclude both my performance and my thesis with a series of pondering statements, leaving it open-ended for both viewers and readers to draw their own conclusion about the people they have just learned about and how one might approach them. Through this research I have had the opportunity to ask, if you were to disregard the differences that define these characters, What would you see?