Constructing the youth in commercial musical theatre: an intersectional case study
Description
This dissertation considers how adolescent identity is constructed and represented in commercial musical theatre for youth (e.g. Broadway and Disney Theatrical Group) by examining two commercial productions with adolescents in lead roles--Spring Awakening and Disney's High School Musical. My theoretical framework is intersectionality which creates a foundation for my research within the field of childhood studies, gender studies, and performance studies to illuminate current US American trends in youth oriented art and research. My framework extends into a case study methodology exploring the world of childhood and youth sexuality through a close read of the popular Broadway musical adaptation, Spring Awakening. In addition, a second investigation chronicles the world of Disney's High School Musical through my own intersectional tool, the Disney Industrial Complex. I claim that adolescence, as a constructed identity, exists as a multi-faceted intersectional category composed of multiple and conflicting intersections such as gender, race, sex, ethnicity, and so on. These intersections develop over the course of the period known as "adolescence" and "youth." The goal of this dissertation is to serve as a reference for other theatre educators and their work with young people creating art.
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2012
Agent
- Author (aut): Bliznik, Sean J
- Thesis advisor (ths): Etheridge-Woodson, Stephani
- Committee member: Saldana, Johnny
- Committee member: Adelman, Madelaine
- Publisher (pbl): Arizona State University