Contemporary Developments in Theatre Paper

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 11:42am

Hi Guys,
I am writing a paper in medicine and psychology in the theater post 1970s. If anyone can just throw out some shows that come to mind that include ANY (preferably in-your-face) examples of Psych and Medicine in the theater.

DISCLAIMER FOR ANY WHO MAY BE "ANNOYED"
This paper is not suggesting that there were never shows before the 1970s that addressed these issues or that ALL SHOWS after the 1970s address these issues. It merely addresses a pattern of growing popularity from the 70s to the end of THIS SEASON. I do address Spring's Awakening and The Children's Hour as examples of earlier works that addressed these issues in an appendix.

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 9:17pm

Mental Illness in recent theatre (some are more obvious, some more subtle, some can be argued):

Next to Normal (obviously)
Grey Gardens
Elling
Rabbit Hole
August: Osage County
Distracted
The Pillowman
Psychosis 4:48
Wishful Drinking
Proof

Please research these yourself because I may be completely off. Just shows coming to mind.

[wonkit]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 10:38pm

Medical more than psych, but the psychology of illness is dealt with:

Wit
The Year of Miraculous Thinking
33 Variations (main character dealing with terminal illness)

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 10:48pm

Octavio Solis' play "Lydia" comes to my mind.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 10:58pm

Equus. (That was IN the 70s)

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 11:17pm

Do you do any of your own homework?

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=984742#3720549

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=996563#3831328

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1005814#3928716

Next semester, pick paper topics you can do yourself. Otherwise, make sure you post your final grade, because BWW shares half of it.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 11:37pm

Normally, I agree with you^ but the OP WAS just asking for titles that might occur to us. The OP wasn't asking for analysis or opinions....so I don't have a problem with his/her original post. He will still need to actually research to be able to use any of the titles in the paper.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 11:57pm

It still takes a huge chunk out of the research on her part to give her the short list of shows to work from. She had a thesis on a topic she knew nothing about and now she's got all her supporting paragraphs lined up. The rest is just filling in the blanks, which could probably be accomplished from other BWW threads and Wikipedia.

Normally, I ignore these threads, but this poster has done this once a semester for 2 years. As a mother, I would hope you expect better of your own children than to cheat off the internet on their school work.

Updated On: 12/13/10 at 11:57 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 6:49am

^ I think it's comical that you consider this "cheating".

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 7:15am

I agree with the defenders of the original poster. If I were studying a topic related to the (Broadway) theater, I'd come here to seek everyone's thoughts every time I had a major paper. Asking for other people's thoughts on a topic is not asking them to write a paper for you, and it does seem to me that the poster has already done some research anyhow.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 7:25am

Cheating may be an overstatement, but as I said, I would hope parents like dramamama especially would have higher standards for their own children than what DancerGirl apparently holds herself to. Every semester she comes to BWW for "help" on her theatre topic paper. At this point, when every single board post is for "help" on her school work, feigning innocence is just pathetic.

[dramarama3]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 7:27am

Watcha gonna do?

Coram Boy? It's a stretch, but meh...

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 8:30am

In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play

[bjh2114]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 8:50am

It still takes a huge chunk out of the research on her part to give her the short list of shows to work from.

But we're NOT giving her the short list. We're giving her the long list. A short list would be the definitive ones that she SHOULD use, accompanied by reasons the examples are appropriate. The long is is basically anything that the posters can think of that could be seen as relevant. She still has to go through and choose which ones to write about and do the research on. This isn't any different than her asking her theatre friends at college for some good ideas. That's totally legal, so why shouldn't this be?

If you were taking an English class, would you consider it taking the easy way out if you were writing a paper on the way religion is depicted in literature and you asked your friends if they could think of any books that have strong religious themes? She's not saying she hasn't done any thinking on her own already. Perhaps she's going into it with her own ideas but wants to see if there is something better she hadn't thought of. That's hardly a crime. In fact, it's pretty standard for college.

[wonkit]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 9:32am

Taking this kind of shortcut is not, IMO, cheating but it is risky. The OP is relying on a bunch of unknown persons to do some thinking for him/her. We could be Sondheim but we could also be nuts. In fact the structural thinking underlying a paper is what you are supposed to be learning. SO when you have a job in five years and are asked to write a memo about a corporate problem, who you gonna call??

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 9:46am

If the paper consists of a list of shows suggested by posters on a web forum, it's going to get an F. The original poster is just looking for some ideas and feedback, and then she'll have to do the work of developing a thesis. Whether I'm working on an important project from school or work, one of the first steps I take is consulting with people whom I regard as knowledgeable about the topic at hand, to see if they have any ideas.

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 11:12am

Angels in America

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 11:46am

Exactly my point, wonkit. It just sets a bad precedent when she does this year after year.

I can't wait for the threads once DancerGirl gets a job.

"I'm choreographing Oklahoma. Can anyone tell me what steps I should use in the dream ballet?"

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 12:46pm

I think I would be more inclined to help with these "homework" threads if I saw some evidence that the poster has already done some of the preliminary footwork. Such as "I'm writing on such and such a topic. I've already looked at (list of plays/musicals here). Does anybody have any other suggestions as to any other pieces I may look at?"