The Nether Worlds of Jennifer Haley —
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THE NETHER WORLDS OF JENNIFER HALEY — A CASE STUDY OF VIRTUALITY THEATRE by MICHELLE YEADON A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Theater Arts and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2018 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Michelle Yeadon Title: The Nether Worlds of Jennifer Haley — A Case Study of Virtuality Theatre This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Theater Arts by: Michael Najjar Chairperson Theresa May Core Member John Schmor Core Member Biswarup Sen Institutional Representative and Sara D. Hodges Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2018 ii © 2018 Michelle Yeadon iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Michelle Yeadon Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theater Arts June 2018 Title: The Nether Worlds of Jennifer Haley — A Case Study of Virtuality Theatre Studies exploring the first wave of digital performance foregrounded technology by cataloging experimentation and novel interactions between liveness, projections and code. As exercises in medium, these high tech spectacles demonstrate the aesthetic potential of digital media while introducing key media concepts. Jennifer Haley is a writer with one foot in theatre and one in code. She is uniquely positioned in two interdependent spheres, which makes her particularly suited to engineer a theatrical bridge into the virtual, because at the heart of the contemporary technological revolution is a new level of writing and media literacy. Theatre has been effectively accessing the virtual imagination for millennia, and new technologies create new intricacies for engaging the virtual within theatrical space. Each is a medium defined by action, which host other media, and provide in depth simulations. Haley’s plays push beyond the fascination and spectacle of technology to incorporate the mundane reality of the digital into the structure of her work. Haley writes plays specifically to resonate with the similarities she sees between theatre and virtual worlds. Utilizing techniques and tropes from other media and then framing the narrative from within a theatrical world Haley exploits the essence of an active, critical audience and opens a dialog between virtual worlds iv and the perceptions of the audience. She treats her media generated worlds as places. Other digital theatre plays may peer through a window into the virtual by dramatizing a conversation through media; Haley sends an expedition over the threshold into another world. A flesh version of an avatar breathing before the audience establishes a material existence unattainable in two dimensional screen media. Haley illuminates the constructed nature of mediatized communication, but she does it dramaturgically deemphasizing the technology and re-centering the human within the virtual drama. Her approach builds a metaphorical bridge between theatre and virtual digital realities. Through a close reading of Haley’s plays I will demonstrate how Haley takes the artistic next step for computer technology and theatre. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Michelle Yeadon GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Portland State University, Portland, Oregon Oregon State University, Corvallis Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Theater, 2018, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Theater Arts, 2011, Portland State University Bachelor of Science, Liberal Studies, 1995, Oregon State University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Playwriting and Dramaturgy New play development, women in playwriting Theatre History Shakespeare, Ancient Greek theatre, theater architecture Acting Classical acting, stage dialects Cinema and media studies PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon 2011-2015 Theatre History, Acting, Mad Duck Children’s Theatre Graduate Teaching Fellow, Portland State University 2010-2011 Publicity Coordinator Reader, Portland State University 2010 Introduction to Film Senior Instructor, New Horizons Computer Learning Center 2003-2008 Photoshop, InDesign, Project, Illustrator, Microsoft Office vi GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: University of Oregon Theatre Department: Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2012-2013 Academic Years Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Portland State University, 2010-2011 Mortarboard Senior Honor Society, Oregon State University, 1994-1995 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My sincere thanks to my advisor and Chair, Michael Najjar for his guidance, patience, and support. Many thanks to John Schmor, Theresa May and Bish Sen for their encouragement and assistance in the completion of this project. I’m so very grateful to Jennifer Haley, Matt Morrow, Pier Carlo Talenti, and the workshop cast of FROGGY at Center Theatre Group for inviting me to their reading and discussion. I want to thank the UO Theater Arts faculty for generously supporting my research trips to London, New York, and L.A. in order to see productions of The Nether and to interview Haley. This project would not have been possible without the guidance and insight of Karin Magaldi who introduced me to dramaturgy and the magic of Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom. I really appreciate the help joyfully given by May-Britt Ostersen, Marie Greig, and Alohi Wright. They made life easier. Thanks to Patricia D. Rodley, Damond Morris, Rachel Froom, Sherry and John Wanczyk, and Jennifer Young-Pauley for wisdom, humor, and a little perspective. A special thank you to Brian Yeadon for his loving support and especially for keeping everything else working while I hyper-focused. viii For Brian and Life 2.0 ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THEATRE AS A BRIDGE INTO THE VIRTUAL ................................................................ 1 Theatre and New Media Literacy, A Writing Problem.......................................... 2 The Virtual — Playing with Giants ............................................................................ 15 Jennifer Haley: A case study of Virtuality Theatre .............................................. 25 II. STAGING THE APPARATUS: UTOPIA, DYSTOPIA, AND NOISE ............................ 31 Histories .............................................................................................................................. 32 Remediation ....................................................................................................................... 37 Interfaces and Code ......................................................................................................... 39 New Poetics — Writing Beyond Aristotle .............................................................. 44 The Virtual .......................................................................................................................... 52 Posthuman .......................................................................................................................... 60 Liveness, Images and a Sense of History ................................................................. 62 III. DIOPTRIC UNRESOLVED METAPHOR: MEDIAPHOR AS STRUCTURE IN NEIGHBORHOOD 3: REQUISITION OF DOOM ............................................................... 67 Suburban Zombies: a collective algorithmic simulation .................................. 67 Synopsis and Structure .................................................................................................. 77 A Certain Dissonance: diopters and play structure ............................................ 80 Mediaphor: a mise en abyme of the actor ................................................................ 82 x Dictating Focus: diopters and split screens ........................................................... 90 POV Perspective: seeing what’s real ......................................................................... 99 Morning in America ...................................................................................................... 107 Consumers There to be Damaged: N3RD and the Zombie MacGuffin ....... 116 Disturbing Reflections of Us ...................................................................................... 121 IV. THE NETHER AS AN INTERFACE: MELODRAMA IN THE RHIZOME ............... 123 Synopsis and Structure ................................................................................................ 140 Sims in Control: working as intended .................................................................... 143 Complexities of Metaphysical Certitude ............................................................... 151 Consequences: a child's body onstage ................................................................... 161 V. EMBRACING NOVUM: THE PLACE FOR TECHNOLOGY ON STAGE ................. 168 An Aesthetic of Innovation ......................................................................................... 170 Embracing Novum: World Building L.A. Stories ................................................ 174 APPENDIX: INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER HALEY AND MATT MORROW ........... 194 REFERENCES CITED .................................................................................................................. 228 xi CHAPTER I THEATRE AS A BRIDGE INTO THE VIRTUAL “We’ve been talking about communication and technology, but somehow at the core of