Award Date

1-1-2007

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Journalism and Media Studies

First Committee Member

Paul Traudt

Number of Pages

190

Abstract

Human communication is often thought of in rather limited terms, such as rhetoric or media effects or interpersonal exchanges. While many sub-groups lurk beneath these broad categorical trench coats, forms of artistic expression such as music, theater and humor find themselves in other intellectual clothing; yet, it is undeniable that most---if not all---human endeavors can be viewed through a communicative lens. Other disciplines are obviously worthy in their own right and contain enough distinct characteristics to keep scholars from exploring additional contexts, but why limit the study of music to the music department? Or the study of Literature to the English department?;This project drags the elements of musical theater across campus from the Fine Arts Building to the Department of Journalism and Media Studies by framing them as a means of communication, rooted in the rhetorical and supplemented by historical, emotional, and psychological underpinnings. It is steeped in popular culture and contains an original musical comedy within its bindings, complete with a CD recording of its 16 songs. However unique, its academic aperture is intended to illustrate how theory merges with practice; how the technical melds into the creative. It is the art and the artifact, the microscope and the amoeba, relying on itself as the primary data and emphasizing a communicative theme on a qualitative level in what is intended as a scholarly hodge-podge of the rigorous and the riotous.*; *This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer.

Keywords

Effects; Communication; Musical; Original writing; Play; Rhetorical; Stage; Theater

Controlled Subject

Theater; Music; Mass media

File Format

pdf

File Size

5376 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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Rights

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