About this project
From critical inquiry to the stage, The Electric Current was a theatrical investigation to challenge the representations of gender and sexuality in theatre. The study of these problematic identities developed into a devised performance as part of my independent study at The College of Wooster. The following abstract offers a complete description of the project:
“This independent study poses the following critical question: How can I as an actor negotiate the signifiers of gender and sexuality in performance and recognize the fluidity between both ends of the gender spectrum? To answer my question I studied representations of gender and sexuality in twentieth-century American drama to identify American theatreʼs problematic history with gender and sexuality. I utilized methodologies from Judith Butler, semiotics, Sue-Ellen Case, and Diane Torr to analyze how gender and sexuality are constructed and perpetuated in a Western culture.
I then applied these methodologies to a textual analysis of scenes from the plays Take Me Out, Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches, and Cloud 9. These scenes were then presented in a devised performance titled The Electric Current to question how we construct and represent identities based on gender and sexuality and to demonstrate how those identities are oppressed and unacknowledged by patriarchal ideology.”
From critical inquiry to the stage, The Electric Current was a theatrical investigation to challenge the representations of gender and sexuality in theatre. The study of these problematic identities developed into a devised performance as part of my independent study at The College of Wooster. The following abstract offers a complete description of the project:
“This independent study poses the following critical question: How can I as an actor negotiate the signifiers of gender and sexuality in performance and recognize the fluidity between both ends of the gender spectrum? To answer my question I studied representations of gender and sexuality in twentieth-century American drama to identify American theatreʼs problematic history with gender and sexuality. I utilized methodologies from Judith Butler, semiotics, Sue-Ellen Case, and Diane Torr to analyze how gender and sexuality are constructed and perpetuated in a Western culture.
I then applied these methodologies to a textual analysis of scenes from the plays Take Me Out, Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches, and Cloud 9. These scenes were then presented in a devised performance titled The Electric Current to question how we construct and represent identities based on gender and sexuality and to demonstrate how those identities are oppressed and unacknowledged by patriarchal ideology.”
Full Title - The Electric Current: Presenting the Changing Waves in Sexuality and Gender
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Performance & Production Credits
The Electric Current
Devised Performance by George Myatt
February 10, 12, 2011
Shoolroy Theatre
The College of Wooster
Scenes from:
Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg
Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner
Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
Devised Performance by George Myatt
February 10, 12, 2011
Shoolroy Theatre
The College of Wooster
Scenes from:
Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg
- Danzinger: Maria Cox
- Kippy: Matthew Simpson
- Darren: George Myatt
Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner
- Louis: Kevin Glass
- Joe: George Myatt
Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
- Clive: Kevin Glass
- Betty: George Myatt
- Joshua: Maria Cox
- Edward: Bridget Hillyer
Original between scenes dialogue by:
George Myatt
Costumes by:
Hannah Middendorff
Production and I.S. Advised by:
Shirley Huston-Findley
Stage Manager:
Ben Pfister
Technical Director:
Jody LS Tidwell
Lighting Designer:
James Lance
Assistant Lighting Designers:
Kaleigh Richards, Kent Spargue
Stage Crew:
Lindsey Allen, Chelsea Gillespie,
Janna Haywood, Paul Swanson
Light board: Kaleigh Richards
Sound Board:
Maria Janasz
This performance was presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Senior Independent Study at The College of Wooster.
Photos by Alyssa Lee Wilmot
George Myatt
Costumes by:
Hannah Middendorff
Production and I.S. Advised by:
Shirley Huston-Findley
Stage Manager:
Ben Pfister
Technical Director:
Jody LS Tidwell
Lighting Designer:
James Lance
Assistant Lighting Designers:
Kaleigh Richards, Kent Spargue
Stage Crew:
Lindsey Allen, Chelsea Gillespie,
Janna Haywood, Paul Swanson
Light board: Kaleigh Richards
Sound Board:
Maria Janasz
This performance was presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Senior Independent Study at The College of Wooster.
Photos by Alyssa Lee Wilmot