Murder Upon Murder
Murder Upon Murder Patricia Rose McKown Schuelke Primary Thesis Sponsor Dr. Elissa Harbert First Reader Dr. Andrea Sununu Second Reader Dr. Kerry Jennings DePauw University Honor Scholar Program Class of 2020 Acknowledgement and Dedication Thank you to my committee, Dr. Elissa Harbert, Dr. Andrea Sununu, and Dr. Kerry Jennings, my cast and crew, Suzette Hartsfield, Noelle Johnson, Genevieve Miedema, Serenna Jones, Anna Roth, Melanie Roma, Jonathon Tebbe, Sarah Hennessy, and Eric Boylan, my family, and Jules Shinkle for your support. This is dedicated to you. 1 Table of Contents Creative Statement…………………………. 3 Murder Upon Murder: live version……….. 21 Murder Upon Murder: remote version…… 75 2 Creative Statement Introduction Writing and producing this play became a much more intense experience than I ever expected. I first conceptualized the project last spring as a traditional academic thesis that would cover popular culture’s fascination with murder ballads through lenses I discovered in my Honor Scholar classes like human evolution and religion. This summer, I realized I wanted to reach a general audience with the project and that I wanted to work in public musicology as a career. My 2019 play Somber and Wild interested an audience outside the School of Music and even outside of DePauw, so I felt confident that a play could attract the audience I wanted to entertain and educate. When fall came, it was clear that a play would suit my artistic and career goals better than a traditional paper. “Down in the Willow Garden” from Mike Block’s album Final Night at Camp was the first murder ballad that I ever noticed.
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