ROOTS IN THE EARTH AND A FLAG IN MY HAND: RURAL GENDER IDENTITY IN AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE by MEAGAN M. LUSIE CUSKEY A THESIS Presented to the Department of Theatre Arts and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts June 2016 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Meagan M. Lusie Cuskey Title: Roots in the Earth and a Flag in my Hand: Rural Gender Identity in American Musical Theatre This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of Theatre Arts by: Theresa May Chair John Schmor Member and Scott L. Pratt Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2016 ii © 2016 Meagan M. Lusie Cuskey iii THESIS ABSTRACT Meagan M. Lusie Cuskey Master of Arts Department of Theatre Arts June 2016 Title: Roots in the Earth and a Flag in my Hand: Rural Gender Identity in American Musical Theatre The integrated musical is a vehicle for the creation and communication of a national identity, created through the use of coded performances of gender and, at times, rural settings conceptualized as essentially “American.” There is, however, little research about the ways in which gender operates in rural settings in musical theatre, or the ways in which rural gender identities are utilized to communicate nationalist ideologies. This thesis seeks to address this gap in research by examining three contemporary American musicals – Carrie, Violet, and The Spitfire Grill – in light of both American musical theatre conventions surrounding gender performance and contemporary theory around gender, rurality, and intersectional rural gender identities. This thesis ultimately suggests that an approach to rural gender in musical theatre grounded in a specific physical and cultural moment and location is best equipped to both honor the narratives of rural communities and propagate appropriately complex narratives of national identity. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Meagan M. Lusie Cuskey GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, Theatre Arts, 2016, University of Oregon Bachelor of Fine Arts, Performing Arts, 2013, Western Kentucky University Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, 2013, Western Kentucky University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Musical Theatre Queer and Feminist Performance Depictions of Faith in Drama New Works Development Theatre in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood Acting Pedagogy PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2014 - 2016 Tour Director and Actor, Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre, Minnesota, 2013 – 2015 Instructor, Super Saturdays, Kentucky, 2010 – 2013 Director, Arts Education Task Force, Kentucky, 2013 Director, Public Theatre of Kentucky, 2012 Education Intern, Lexington Children’s Theatre, Kentucky, 2011 v GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Theatre Arts, University of Oregon, 2014 to present Miller Professional Advancement & Training Endowment Grant, University of Oregon, 2015 Jack B. Watson Memorial Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2015 S. Whitney Combs Scholarship, Western Kentucky University, 2012 - 2013 Hallmark Scholarship, Western Kentucky University, 2008 - 2012 PUBLICATIONS: Cuskey, Lusie, and Nicole Carlson. "Little Miracles." New Voices Ten Minute Play Festival 2008. Ed. Katie Blackerby Weible and Jess Jung. Louisville, KY: Actors Theatre of Louisville, 2008. 49-60. Print. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to my thesis committee, Drs. Theresa May and John Schmor – Dr. May for her wonderful patience and guidance as my advisor (as well as for teaching the graduate seminar in Eco-Theatre and Theory in which the idea for this thesis was first formed), and Dr. Schmor for being willing to devote his time and thought to this project. I would like to thank my family and the beautiful friends both near and far who offered ears, advice, and distractions at exactly the right moments. Finally, I am eternally grateful to the women in the grad office for their encouragement and support – we finally learned how to whistle! vii For my old Kentucky home, far away. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Rurality .................................................................................................................. 5 Gender .................................................................................................................... 8 Rural Gender Identity ............................................................................................ 10 The Musicals .......................................................................................................... 12 Violet ................................................................................................................ 13 The Spitfire Grill .............................................................................................. 14 Carrie ............................................................................................................... 15 II. ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS: IMAGINING AMERICA ................................ 18 Violet’s Interrogation of Masculinities .................................................................. 21 Masculine Femininity and Military Masculinity ............................................. 23 Consent and Declaring Desire ......................................................................... 31 Romance and Reinscriptions............................................................................ 34 Convenient Colorblindness: A Problem with Race ......................................... 39 A Partial Subversion ........................................................................................ 43 Exploring Alternatives in The Spitfire Grill .......................................................... 46 A Cautionary Tale ............................................................................................ 48 Silent Strength and Room for Redemption ...................................................... 49 Love and the Land ........................................................................................... 55 Revisiting Representation ................................................................................ 61 Carrie is Missing the Point at the Prom................................................................. 63 ix Chapter Page Sexuality and Shame ........................................................................................ 65 A Quartet of Conventions ................................................................................ 68 Denying Desire ................................................................................................ 73 An Unexpected Subtext ................................................................................... 76 A Muddle of Misogyny .................................................................................... 79 Conclusion: Three Views of America.................................................................... 81 III. MOTHERHOOD: AN ESSENTIALIZED IDENTITY ........................................ 85 Motherhood in Absentia in Violet .......................................................................... 88 Demythologizing Motherhood as Morality in The Spitfire Grill ........................... 93 Exploring Expectations .................................................................................... 94 Reframing and Redemption ............................................................................. 97 More than Motherhood .................................................................................... 102 Failures of Femininity in Carrie ............................................................................ 103 Conclusion: Motherhood…and More? .................................................................. 109 IV. COMMUNITY: BOUNDARIES AND BALANCE ............................................. 112 Social Exclusion in Violet ...................................................................................... 113 Ignoring Economy in The Spitfire Grill ................................................................. 119 Shirking Specificity in Contemporary Carrie........................................................ 124 Conclusion: Challenges in Responsible Representation ........................................ 130 V. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 132 REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................ 140 x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The musical, one of the few art forms that originated in the United States, “has been a primary and widely accessible voice through which the so-called American way of life has expressed itself to people in the USA and to much of the rest of the world,” particularly after Oklahoma!’s premier during WWII (Miller; Karp; Filmer, Rimmer and Walsh 381). Oklahoma! reminded soldiers of the American values for which they fought, and its rural setting is no coincidence as rural places and spaces have always held a prominent position in American national imaginations