This thesis includes a full length play and a separate section describing the creation of this play. The play depicts family members struggling with the direct and indirect ramifications of alcoholism, depression, and suicide. The play is composed of two acts; act one contains eight scenes, and act two contains six scenes. It is set in the 1950s and 1960s and takes place in various areas of the family home, at a wedding reception, and at a funeral. The essay section includes a description of the process, a record of changes in the play's direction, notations of personal discoveries, and a self evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the play.

This project in lieu of thesis identifies successful methods of fundraising utilized by a sampling of three secondary theater arts programs from North Texas. Programs were evaluated on their ability to fund their programs and provide a quality arts education for their students. Guidelines for fundraising were developed that allow secondary theater programs to flourish without placing an additional burden on already overextended tax system. Findings were framed in a Marxist socio-economic context, seeking to find some relation between supply-side economics and the failure of certain communities to offer quality arts programs. Marxist philosophy, emphasizing the values of community and shared wealth, served to frame findings in the context of arts programs serving and enhancing their own communities.

This feminist study examines women's use of improvisation in discovering, creating, and articulating various self-identities. To create a theory of identity formation, two feminist theoretical position, essentialism and poststructuralism, are analyzed and merged. This hybrid theory addresses the interplay between the self and society that women must recognize in order to form satisfying identities. Improvisational practices, involving bodily awareness and movement, are demonstrated to have the potential for helping women to actualize themselves in these various identities. For this study, the writer uses her experience as an improviser and interviews three women who use improvisation in their choreographic processes. She also discusses performers whom she has seen and performers about whom feminist performance critics have written. This study examines improvisation in dance and performance art from a feminist perspective. I clarify what improvisation entails and, by doing so, illustrate how improvisational movement in dance and performance art can enhance the lives of women as viewers and performers. Through exploring improvisation from this feminist perspective, I demonstrate the psychological insights I have gained from practicing improvisation and document performances that have been improvisationally inspired by women who feel dissatisfied with the manner in which this society shapes and limits their identities.