Playing with the Kersley Players : contemporary folk drama in a British Columbia community a thesis in five acts
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2011. Folklore Bibliography: leaves 409-431. This dissertation is an ethnographic analysis of the community, as accessed by its theatrical play form, examining the amateur community theatre troupe, the Kersley Players, of Kersley, British Columbia...
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ftmemorialunivdc:oai:collections.mun.ca:theses5/30943 2023-05-15T17:23:28+02:00 Playing with the Kersley Players : contemporary folk drama in a British Columbia community a thesis in five acts Grant Jørgensen, Jessica, 1975- Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Folklore Canada--British Columbia 2010 xxi, 601 leaves : ill. (some col.), col. photos, maps. Image/jpeg; Application/pdf http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses5/id/30943 Eng eng Electronic Theses and Dissertations (22.52 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Jorgensen_JessicaGrant.pdf http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses5/id/30943 The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries Teed Roy Kersley Players Folk drama English--British Columbia--Kersley Working class--British Columbia--Kersley--Folklore Kersley (B.C.)--Folklore Text Electronic thesis or dissertation 2010 ftmemorialunivdc 2015-08-06T19:22:53Z Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2011. Folklore Bibliography: leaves 409-431. This dissertation is an ethnographic analysis of the community, as accessed by its theatrical play form, examining the amateur community theatre troupe, the Kersley Players, of Kersley, British Columbia. In short, I set out to document and analyze, so fully as possible, a contemporary, original, grassroots theatre and its context. This is especially significant considering that much prior folk drama scholarship has tended to focus on the text-centric documentation of vestigial traditional and/or religious forms to the general neglect of the emergent and the contextual. Further, by situating the field of research in the West, this doctoral thesis addresses the underrepresentation of British Columbia in Canadian folklore studies. - To contextualize this emergent, vernacular theatre, this dissertation roots the plays and the Players in their community, analyzes the significance of the plays as texts and investigates the dynamics of enactment. Since plays do not write themselves nor do they form or perform in a vacuum, it is apparent that they reflect a place-its people, history, culture, sensibilities and values-and I provide an historical and contemporary understanding of the area in which these Kersley Player plays have developed and found form, not forgetting the fertile setting of the playwright himself, Roy Teed. Indeed, this is an area indelibly marked by its frontier placement and the consequent boom ‘n’ bust development of rapacious colonial economics with its alienated workforce. Considering this setting, the plays’ generic, textual form, namely, farce, and all the thematic elements and characteristics of a so-called “Roy play,” are especially significant, since-through their hyperbolic mirroring of the daily mechanization and routinization of an alienated working class-they cathartically release those fun-seeking workers. Pulling the spatial and textual contexts together, I finally assess the enacted reality of the plays’ playground, looking at the physical and theoretical grounds upon which this play takes place, joining the Players themselves for the performative process and exploring the conflicting audience-performer dialectic over the years, a tense tug of war spurred on as the Players have increasingly moved beyond their roots. Thesis Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) Canada British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) |
op_collection_id |
ftmemorialunivdc |
language |
English |
topic |
Teed Roy Kersley Players Folk drama English--British Columbia--Kersley Working class--British Columbia--Kersley--Folklore Kersley (B.C.)--Folklore |
spellingShingle |
Teed Roy Kersley Players Folk drama English--British Columbia--Kersley Working class--British Columbia--Kersley--Folklore Kersley (B.C.)--Folklore Grant Jørgensen, Jessica, 1975- Playing with the Kersley Players : contemporary folk drama in a British Columbia community a thesis in five acts |
topic_facet |
Teed Roy Kersley Players Folk drama English--British Columbia--Kersley Working class--British Columbia--Kersley--Folklore Kersley (B.C.)--Folklore |
description |
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2011. Folklore Bibliography: leaves 409-431. This dissertation is an ethnographic analysis of the community, as accessed by its theatrical play form, examining the amateur community theatre troupe, the Kersley Players, of Kersley, British Columbia. In short, I set out to document and analyze, so fully as possible, a contemporary, original, grassroots theatre and its context. This is especially significant considering that much prior folk drama scholarship has tended to focus on the text-centric documentation of vestigial traditional and/or religious forms to the general neglect of the emergent and the contextual. Further, by situating the field of research in the West, this doctoral thesis addresses the underrepresentation of British Columbia in Canadian folklore studies. - To contextualize this emergent, vernacular theatre, this dissertation roots the plays and the Players in their community, analyzes the significance of the plays as texts and investigates the dynamics of enactment. Since plays do not write themselves nor do they form or perform in a vacuum, it is apparent that they reflect a place-its people, history, culture, sensibilities and values-and I provide an historical and contemporary understanding of the area in which these Kersley Player plays have developed and found form, not forgetting the fertile setting of the playwright himself, Roy Teed. Indeed, this is an area indelibly marked by its frontier placement and the consequent boom ‘n’ bust development of rapacious colonial economics with its alienated workforce. Considering this setting, the plays’ generic, textual form, namely, farce, and all the thematic elements and characteristics of a so-called “Roy play,” are especially significant, since-through their hyperbolic mirroring of the daily mechanization and routinization of an alienated working class-they cathartically release those fun-seeking workers. Pulling the spatial and textual contexts together, I finally assess the enacted reality of the plays’ playground, looking at the physical and theoretical grounds upon which this play takes place, joining the Players themselves for the performative process and exploring the conflicting audience-performer dialectic over the years, a tense tug of war spurred on as the Players have increasingly moved beyond their roots. |
author2 |
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Folklore |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Grant Jørgensen, Jessica, 1975- |
author_facet |
Grant Jørgensen, Jessica, 1975- |
author_sort |
Grant Jørgensen, Jessica, 1975- |
title |
Playing with the Kersley Players : contemporary folk drama in a British Columbia community a thesis in five acts |
title_short |
Playing with the Kersley Players : contemporary folk drama in a British Columbia community a thesis in five acts |
title_full |
Playing with the Kersley Players : contemporary folk drama in a British Columbia community a thesis in five acts |
title_fullStr |
Playing with the Kersley Players : contemporary folk drama in a British Columbia community a thesis in five acts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Playing with the Kersley Players : contemporary folk drama in a British Columbia community a thesis in five acts |
title_sort |
playing with the kersley players : contemporary folk drama in a british columbia community a thesis in five acts |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses5/id/30943 |
op_coverage |
Canada--British Columbia |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
Canada British Columbia |
geographic_facet |
Canada British Columbia |
genre |
Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
op_source |
Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries |
op_relation |
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (22.52 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Jorgensen_JessicaGrant.pdf http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses5/id/30943 |
op_rights |
The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. |
_version_ |
1766112476711092224 |