S00165700 Zac Boyd

Hannah Forsyth

12:00pm Tuesday

Project Title: History and the Theatre: How History Can Shape a Performance
Rationale: Woy Woy Little Theatre (WWLT) is a community driven organisation that is run
solely by volunteers. WWLT requires the skills of a historian to complete a dramaturgical
research and analysis for an upcoming play, Wait Until Dark, set in 1960s New York. The
dramaturgical analysis, once complete, will set the foundation for the play-building process
of the play.
Aims: The dramaturgical analysis results in an insight to language, costume, physical settings
and props. Through making the play historically accurate by the standards of the sociohistorical context of the time, it will be wholesomely enriched.1 To achieve this aim I must
research:

Costuming, in relation to characters social status, era and climate.

Props and technology: What utilities (refrigerator, clothes washer) were available to
a lower class family? To what standard had technologies such as photography and
visual aids been developed?2

The language and vernacular of the time.

Geographical setting of lower Manhattan New York- what social classes and people
inhabited this area in the 60s.

Contribution to the Organisation: Dramaturgical work plays a vital role in such plays where
there is heavy reliance on maintaining a sense of historical accuracy. The play will benefit in
successfully replicating the original tone of which it was written, herein conveying a sense of
professionality to the audience.3 In cooperation with director and stage crew the completed
project will create a cohesive view of the historical context within the play.
Methodology: The nature of this work requires a study of the time period of the play
(1960s), and how events in the play link to that era.

Synne Behrndt and Cathy Turner, Dramaturgy and Performance (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008),
150.
2
Due to a characters in the play being a photographer and another blind.
3
Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Introductory Essay: Poetica Nova. In The Philosophical Reflection of Man in
Literature: Selected Papers from Several Conferences Held by the International Society for Phenomenology and
Literature in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel
Publishing, 1982), 56.

S00165700 Zac Boyd

Hannah Forsyth

12:00pm Tuesday

I will be conducting a decade study to gain insight to technology, fashion, language and
geography of 1960s New York.
I will be utilising sources such as online archives to resource shopping catalogues from the
time period to give me an idea to what fashion was popular.
Background reading about the chronology and developments of technology in regards to
cameras and visual aids.
This project will take place over three weeks before auditions for the play begin. In that time
an open dialogue will be maintained with the director of the play in regards to progress
and/or issues encountered in gathering the information.
Projected Outcomes: It is expected that this work will contribute to the play-building
process of the play. It will inform the director and stage manager of historically accurate
information pertaining to the play, a crucial factor to the success of the performance. 4 The
completed project will be offered as a reference document, including index and references.
Approach to Complications: In terms of ethical considerations due to the focus of the
project being a fictional text that intertwines history, there are little issues when it comes to
this due to the nature of the play. Additionally, the possibility of limited sources which offer
an authentic insight to the parameters of the plays context (lower class, New York, 60s) will
be addressed by broadening source types to include books, articles, pictures, catalogues,
oral recordings, and television.
Concluding Statement: By undertaking my independent research, in collaboration with
WWLT, the production will utilise history to create an authentic representation of the time
period.

Paul Ricoeur, From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, II. Translated by Kathleen Blamey and John
Thompson (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1991), 175. Ricoeur patrons the term reference
effect meaning that fiction redescribes reality, meaning that reality is inherent to fiction also.

S00165700 Zac Boyd

Hannah Forsyth

12:00pm Tuesday

Bibliography
Behrndt, Synne, and Cathy Turner. Dramaturgy and Performance. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2008.
Davenport, Alma. The History of Photography: An Overview. 2nd ed. Albuquerque, US: University of
New Mexico Press, 2000.
Dray, W. On The Nature and Role of Narrative in History. In The History and Narrative Reader,
edited by Geoffrey Roberts, 25-50. New York, US: Routledge, 2001.
Koestler, Frances. The Unseen Minority: A Social History of Blindness in the United States. 2nd ed.
New York, US: AFB Press, 2004.
Lankevich, George. New York City: A Short History. 2nd ed. New York, US: New York University Press,
2002.
Ricoeur, Paul. From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, II. Translated by Kathleen Blamey and
John Thompson. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1991.
Mink, Louis. Narrative Form As A Cognitive Instrument. In The History and Narrative Reader, edited
by Geoffrey Roberts, 211-234. New York, US: Routledge, 2001.
Norman, Andrew. Telling It Like It Was: Historical Narratives On Their Own Terms. In The History
and Narrative Reader, edited by Geoffrey Roberts, 181-197. New York, US: Routledge, 2001.
Strausbaugh, John. The Village: 400 Years of Beats and Bohemians, Radicals and Rogues, a History of
Greenwich Village. New York, US: Harper Collins, 2013.
Tymieniecka, Anna-Teresa. Introductory Essay: Poetica Nova. In The Philosophical Reflection of
Man in Literature: Selected Papers from Several Conferences Held by the International
Society for Phenomenology and Literature in Cambridge, Massachusetts, edited by AnnaTeresa Tymieniecka, 1-93. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing, 1982.

S00165700 Zac Boyd

Hannah Forsyth

12:00pm Tuesday

White, Hayden. The Question of Narrative in Contemporary Historical Theory. History and Theory
23, no. 1 (1984): 1-33.
White, Hayden. The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality. Critical Inquiry 7, no. 1
(1980): 5-27.