Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Theatre and Dance

First Advisor

Professor Daniel Inouye

Abstract

As an actor, creative, and writer, I’ve always been fascinated by shows that explore the “behind-the-scenes” of a real life. In particular, I am intrigued by stories which feature an iconic individual only to peel away the layers of their life, ultimately revealing them as human: flawed, beautiful, and far more accessible. This was further evidenced for me as an audience member for shows such as Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Barnum, Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, and reading about shows such as The Cher Show and Always, Patsy Cline. When tasked with creating an hour-long show for my senior theatre project, I chose to center my storyline around one of my childhood heroes: Julie Andrews. Over the course of many months and thanks to the help of my very talented peers, Where the Apple Falls: A Julie Andrews Story made its debut at the Poorman Blackbox on November 20th, 2020. I am very grateful that despite the numerous challenges of 2020, my project could be performed safely with masks and a small audience, and could even be live streamed to the Messiah University Community. The following document details all that transpired after this show, touching briefly on how the script was conceived and brought to fruition, but focusing on my efforts during the Spring of 2021 while completing my senior honors project. The honors project, which culminates in the writing and presentation of this paper, is directly adjacent to Where the Apple Falls. The established goal for my honors project was to pursue the rights of the music and contents of my script in hopes of eventually publishing and even licensing it. Nothing went to plan, but I learned far more than I ever expected, even more so because of the many pitfalls I experienced along the way. My sincere hope is that my lessons learned are a foundation for future projects and similar endeavors at Messiah University.

Comments

Written as part of HONR 498

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