Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Department

Theatre and Dance

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

This Capstone Experience/Thesis Project, made possible through the WKU Mahurin Honors College, is a study of historiography, or the way history is written. Joan of Arc is used to explore historiography because she is a figure that is written in many ways, each version giving us a snippet of the whole picture. The show written based on my research is titled Jehanne. I wanted to tell Joan’s story, but not just one version of it; I wanted to tell the whole story of who she is, not just what she did or what she believed. Not only does Jehanne tell the story of Joan of Arc, but it also illustrates historiography’s effect on her story; we see two playwrights’ versions of her, where they differ and where they merge; The audience is confronted with the differences and discrepancies between the versions, leading them to ask, “What is the truth?” Further, Jehanne allowed me to be a historian myself in the writing of my show by changing the plays and trial record to meet my needs as a playwright. The root of historiography shaped my show and trickled into every choice I made along the way. Perhaps it is impossible to capture the essence of a person in words, but I wanted to put my voice in the mix of Joan’s story which has been told and retold so often; the voice of a twenty-two-year-old Catholic woman from Nashville, TN in 21st Century America.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Michelle Dvoskin, Ph.D.

Disciplines

History | Other History | Theatre and Performance Studies

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