2015 Belmont Undergraduate Research Symposium
Theatre
Moderator: Jim Al-Shamma, Ph.D.
April 16, 2015, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
McWhorter 112
3:30-4:00 p.m.
Clytemnestra as Femme Fatale
Nikki Sneed
Faculty Advisor: Jim Al-Shamma, Ph.D.
Although the classification of femme fatale was not widely established until the twentieth
century, the image of a strong female using seductive charm for malicious purposes has been
prominent in art, and especially theater, for centuries. Clytemnestra proves herself one of the
earliest examples of a deadly dame by viciously murdering her husband in an attempt to avenge
the daughter he sacrificed. As shown in Agamemnon, by Aeschylus, Clytemnestra is independent
and intelligent and she uses these skills, combined with her womanly wiles, to create a trap for
Agamemnon. The murder is obviously premeditated, showing that she is cold and calculating
and willing to go to any means to achieve her goals. In addition, upon Agamemnon’s victorious
return to his home, Clytemnestra lures Agamemnon into a false sense of security by being both
submissive and coy. She does not aggressively attack him the moment he arrives. She does not
even object to him bringing home another woman. She simply plays the part of simpering wife
until he gets into the house. Clytemnestra embodies every characteristic of a classic femme
fatale.
4:00-4:15 p.m.
Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice: A Contemporary Myth
Ara Vito
Faculty Advisor: Jaclynn Jutting, M.F.A.
Eurydice explores the universal truths within the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as retold by
twenty-first century playwright Sarah Ruhl. Despite the sadness of the classical myth, the
contemporary adaptation lends a sense of wonder and hope to the deeper themes of death, love,
and loss. Through simplistic dialogue and a skillful reimagining of the time period to evoke the
youthful innocence of the 1940s and 50s, Ruhl tells the story of a young woman who is caught
between unity and disunity, romance and family, the world of life and the world of death.
Without lessening the importance of the other characters, Ruhl artfully focuses on a female
figure that has not been given a strong voice in previous adaptations, exploring the active inner
life of a character that literary history has viewed as passive. This depiction of Eurydice, while
whimsical and unorthodox, shows the power art holds to mirror the realities of the human
condition.
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2015 Belmont Undergraduate Research Symposium
Theatre
Moderator: Jim Al-Shamma, Ph.D.
April 16, 2015, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
McWhorter 112
4:15-4:30 p.m.
Characters in Search of a Purpose: Meaning in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Are Dead
AEvar Jonsson
Faculty Advisor: Jaclynn Jutting, M.F.A.
What is the meaning of life? Humankind has been obsessed with finding an answer to this
question for millennia. Despite the countless men and women who have offered their opinions on
the matter, the world is no closer to reaching a consensus on our ultimate purpose as a species. In
fact, as society progresses, our uncertainty only seems to increase. However, Tom Stoppard’s
play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead unabashedly poses many questions on the subject
of life’s meaning. Of course, no clear answers are provided, but Stoppard demands that the
questions be seriously considered in a play that is equal parts comedy and philosophy. My aim is
to thoroughly analyze Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead through its characters, themes,
ideas, and events and determine what it has to say about both the world of theatre and the world
at large. While extremely entertaining, this play packs a surprising amount of highly intellectual
and complex material into one show.
4:30-4:45 p.m.
“Escaping from the Inescapable”: Looking at Familial Abuse in August:
Osage County
Johnna McCarthy
Faculty Advisor: Jaclynn Jutting, M.F.A.
Tracy Letts wrote his award winning play, August: Osage County, based on his own personal
experience. With resilient truth, Letts shows how familial influences have both a positive and
negative impact on an individual’s mental, physical, and emotional health. Whether one is from a
healthy, communicative family or from a cocaine-addicted one, it is inevitable that family ties
will have a direct influence on an individual’s view of herself and her future. But is this influence
set in stone? The question becomes, not whether family ties impact one’s wellbeing, but whether
or not one is able to escape those ties in order to separate oneself from one's family and
determine one's own future. In August: Osage County, Letts explores an individual’s need to
determine her own path through his characters’ relentless attempts to escape their dysfunctional
family ties.
4:45-5:00 p.m.
An Analysis of Waiting for Lefty
Daniel Baumgardner
Faculty Advisor: Jaclynn Jutting, M.F.A.
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2015 Belmont Undergraduate Research Symposium
Theatre
Moderator: Jim Al-Shamma, Ph.D.
April 16, 2015, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
McWhorter 112
The year Waiting for Lefty was published, its author, Clifford Odets, was officially a member of
the Communist Party, the ideology of which is clearly expressed in the play. From his ideas
about the toil of the working man to his antagonizing of the wealthy during the Great
Depression, this play might well be read as clever propaganda. Indeed, Odets was tried many
years later by the House Committee for Un-American Activities as a Communist sympathizer.
Waiting for Lefty remained popular and will remain relevant as an artifact of this time period as
an expression of the ideology of American communism.
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