Author

Cole Schmidt

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Villada, Diego

Area of Concentration

Humanities

Abstract

This thesis project is a creative one, seeking to employ theory through practice, for my own betterment as a scholar and artist. I sought to explore the ways in which audience feedback and re-performance affect my own engagement with my work in disability poetics and spoken word performance. Due to the necessity of a global pandemic, this thesis also explores this through the lens of digital performance. I utilize theory from three main disciplines of study -Music, Poetry, and Performance- to begin to answer my research questions. These questions include: how is effective performance produced and received, what techniques and theories can aid in the construction of my work, and finally, how does my exploration of performance shift my relationship with my identity and my body, and the audience’s relationship with their bodies? Through the course of two separate performances and reception of audience feedback, I find that poetry can be a powerful tool for cultivating community space, even virtually, for us to be collectively stimulated and engaged in meaningful conversations about our bodies, performance, and the effect of events like a global pandemic, like COVID-19.

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