Institutions of higher learning can be centers of meaning-making and learning and are expected to play a pivotal role in a global shift toward sustainability. Despite recent innovations, much sustainability education today is still delivered using traditional pedagogies common across higher education. Therefore, students and facilitators should continue innovating along pedagogical themes consistent with the goals of sustainability: transformation and emancipation. Yet, more clarity is needed about pedagogical approaches that will transform and emancipate students, allowing them to become innovators that change existing structures and systems. My dissertation attempts to address this need using three approaches. First, I present a framework combining four interacting (i.e., complementary) pedagogies (transmissive, transformative, instrumental, and emancipatory) for sustainability education, helping to reify pedagogical concepts, rebel against outdated curricula, and orient facilitators/learners on their journey toward transformative and emancipatory learning. Second, I use a descriptive case study of a sustainability education course set outside of the traditional higher education context to highlight pedagogical techniques that led to transformative and emancipatory outcomes for learners partaking in the course. Third, I employ the method of autoethnography to explore my own phenomenological experience as a sustainability student and classroom facilitator, helping others to identify the disenchanting paradoxes of sustainability education and integrate the lessons they hold. All three approaches of the dissertation maintain a vision of sustainability education that incorporates contemplative practices as essential methods in a field in need of cultivating hope, resilience, and emergence.

“Mierda.” was an original 50-minute solo dance and theater performance by Jordan Klitzke along with guest artist Gina Jurek that premiered from September 6-8, 2018 at Arizona State University. The creative tools of sensation, presence, and fantasy were applied in the development of an individualized movement vocabulary focused on the artist’s embodiment of contrasting ideas. That research was then further cultivated into an immersive theatrical collage that stimulated relational thinking and heightened consciousness. “Mierda.” was an example of a contemporary creative process that utilized the languages of dance and theater. The performance was a unique continuation of artistic research undertaken by pioneers in the dance and theater fields such as Danielle Agami, Lloyd Newson, Hofesh Schechter, and Anne Bogart. It was documented and created over a nine-month period including the three final performances. The form and content of “Mierda.” was not predetermined, but emerged throughout the creative process and performance of the work. The resulting narrative demonstrated the revelatory potential of this style of theatrical inquiry. Precise energy, tension and questioning formed an immersive, intimate experience for the viewers and performers and invited the audience to “fill in the blanks” as they connected with the emerging narrative. The final work was a collage of surprising juxtapositions on both the micro-level of individual movements and the macro-level of theatrical structure. Analysis of the work resulted in a critical understanding of the creative tools used along with future proposals for continued research. Not only did the research enlighten and contextualize the practices of an emerging choreographer, it also argued for a new understanding of the value of Dance as a personal practice of reflection and growth.

Original Sin is a new play and poetry collection that tells the stories of mythological women and femmes, including Eve, Niobe, Queen Isis, Hera, Athena, Demeter, Ganymede, and Persephone. The words are comprised of the monologues of living women interviewed specifically for the purposes of this project, fighting to "take their stories back" from the monolithic male voices which have held them fast. These words were converted into a free verse poetic series of monologues intended to be presented on the stage. At its core, Original Sin is about the relationship between hope and loss, and how empowerment is born from their collision. Original Sin was first written, directed and staged by Emily Adams at Binary Theatre Company in Tempe, Arizona. The first production opened at the Prism Space on February 23rd, 2018.

Over the course of my undergraduate experience, I have grown significantly as an artist - developing an assortment of strengths in a variety of cinematic disciplines ranging from screenwriting and producing to post-production and cinematography. All the while, I have been giving back to the Sun Devil community by serving in a number of leadership positions around campus which exposed me to a plethora of communities differ from my own. The combination of these experiences allows me to continuously explore new passions in synergy with my art. Two of these standing as the concept of live performance and the work of William Shakespeare. Through this exploration of artistic synergy, I have experimented with integrating the works of the Bard of Avon into the realm of cinema. From the beginning of 2105, I have been drafting a feature-length screenplay which serves as a quasi-prequel to Shakespeare's The Tempest. Under the title of A Kingdom or a Cure, it tells the story of the revolutionary war-hero Miguel Prosperiti as he struggles to save his daughter form a mysterious disease which has baffled the best medical minds while the country he has rebuilt comes crumbling down in post-apocalyptic Italy. Deposed and left to die at the hands of his brother, Miguel must defend his child from the evil witch Sycorax who attempts to kill the pair in order to feed off of their suffering and prolong her own life. Serving to fill the requirements for the Film and Media Production Capstone, A Kingdom or a Cure reimagines the world of Shakespeare's play and creates a new context for the words and actions of its leading characters. Such stands as the foundation of what I have created for what I have created as my applied project - a stylistic re-imagining of William Shakespeare's The Tempest which draws from multiple interpretations of the narrative to be performed as a piece within a larger theatrical presentation staged with only the classical techniques which stand contemporary to the Bard of Avon. The remainder of this document shall lie in six primary sections. The first two establish the project and detail its evolution over the course of the thesis process. Next stands as the production log which chronicles my journey over the Classical and Poetic Drama course as well as the rehearsal process for Mythfest and the Chaucer Festival. Fourth shall consist of a bibliography of all the texts which I have worked with over the course of this thesis experience. Fifth rests A Kingdom or a Cure - the screenplay which inspired me to embark on the grand journey which this thesis has taken me. Sixth shall assume the form of the PowerPoint Presentation which I presented at my thesis defense which contains a collection of images which have provided me with artistic inspiration throughout the thesis process. In conjunction with one another, these pieces serve as the written elements of my applied project.

This paper proposes that mindfulness should be integrated into the culture and pedagogy of educational institutions like Barrett, the Honors College. Research suggests that members of the millennial generation experience higher levels of stress due to the conditions of their upbringing. The text explores the author's experience of mindfulness practice both outside of the classroom and as integrated into pedagogy through transformative learning courses. This paper shows that practicing mindfulness, improving self-talk, transformative learning, increasing social connection, and practicing Free Listening will help to cultivate a more mindful culture in Barrett and help to reduce stress-levels in students.

The desire for normalcy is constant, regardless of how unattainable one knows it is. As it seems, the harder one tries for a normal life, the harder it becomes to find it. The more life I experience, the more I realize that normalcy is a construct, completely based in generalizable concepts. Normal will vary from person to person, and even within that, life always provides plenty of deviations from the norm. Within those deviations lies trauma. Trauma is difficult to handle, period. It is even more difficult to handle alone. You Can't Cry While Drinking (Coffee) follows a collegiate arts student as she strives for normalcy while dealing with her mother's terminal diagnosis. This piece focus on alienation, mental health, relationships between women, and the damage that ignoring trauma can cause. It views her actions through the lens of comedy, as laughter can convey a vast and accessible range of emotions. Throughout my college career, I have gone through a significant amount of life stressors, beyond the traditional college work load. Instead of becoming overcome with grief from the traumas I have dealt with, I decided to analyze my life from an outside perspective, taking pieces to share with others. In my observations and experience, sharing stories of hardships with others is mutually beneficial. It allows the individual to come to terms with what they have experience while allowing others to not feel alone if they are struggling with their own lives. There is a considerable amount of comfort in the realization that one does not have to go through traumatic experiences alone. This creative project was performed March 2nd through the 5th. The public exposure was a substantial portion of the process, as sharing trauma was integral to the study of this thesis.

Female social stereotypes paralyze female actors when approaching roles in theatre. This thesis discusses some of the social stereotypes I have encountered in theatre and how I have chosen to orient myself through those stereotypes. Combined with a 45 minute performance, I took iconic female roles that embody stereotypes such as, the girl-next-door, the mother, the ugly girl, the naïve virgin, and the tomboy, and tried to approach them through the given circumstances and not the stereotypes. The result ended in a powerful, vulnerable presentation that ignited the human truths under each stereotype. In order to create insightful, empowering female characters, actors must look at the given circumstances for the subtextual truths.

This dissertation uses constructivist pedagogy to teach acting via Practical Aesthetics, a system of actor training created in the mid/&ndash1980s; by David Mamet and his college acting students. Primarily taught at the Atlantic Theatre Acting School in New York City, Practical Aesthetics has been the focus of little academic research. The same lack of research regarding constructivist pedagogy exists in academic theatre scholarship. The author takes a step toward rectifying this situation. Using an action research methodology, based on approximately thirteen years of teaching experience, the author suggests that Practical Aesthetics and his accompanying voice and movement exercises can be effective in training novice actors. The author melds theory and practice into the educational approach called Praxis to create specific detailed lesson plans which can be used to implement Practical Aesthetics. These lessons constitute primary research on this topic. Compatible voice and movement exercises are also included to provide a comprehensive semester length digest. The first chapter is an introduction, the second outlines Practical Aesthetics, the third focuses on constructivism, the fourth discusses teaching acting using Constructivist Learning Design, the fifth provides narrative lessons that can be used in the classroom, and the closure provides a review as well as suggestions for further research. An intriguing point made in the closure is a call for studies that might determine Practical Aesthetics' applicability and usability in other fields such as law, business, politics, public speaking, and even non-profit work. Although the primary audience for this dissertation is secondary school and college acting instructors, any scholar studying acting theory or constructivist pedagogy may find value in its contents.