Table Of ContentTHE SPACE BETWEEN:
UNCOVERING THE LIVED EXPERIENCE
OF ACTOR COMMUNICATION
A Dissertation
presented to
the Faculty of the Graduate School
University of Missouri - Columbia
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
by
SHAWNA MEFFERD KELTY
Dr. Cheryl Black, Dissertation Supervisor
MAY 2009
© Copyright by SHAWNA MEFFERD KELTY 2009
All Rights Reserved
The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School have examined the
dissertation entitled
THE SPACE BETWEEN:
UNCOVERING THE LIVED EXPERIENCE
OF ACTOR COMMUNICATION
Presented by Shawna Mefferd Kelty
A candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
And hereby certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance.
Professor Cheryl Black
Professor David Crespy
Professor Clyde Ruffin
Professor Ellie Ragland
Professor Michael Kramer
To the shoemaker and his wife.
and
To you…each and every one of you.
Yes, even you.
Strange how I knew you’d open this book, isn’t it?
Life’s uncanny like that.
What is canny?
Lollipops are canny.
You can’t pull the wool over their eyes.
…they don’t have eyes, silly.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are so many people I need to thank for making this endeavor possible. I am
grateful to you all.
First of all, to my crazy awesome committee: you rock the block!!!
To Clyde Ruffin, for giving me wings and for helping me keep the faith.
To Michael Kramer, for his methodological know-how, keen insight, rigor, and great
advice.
To Cheryl Black, for all of her tweaking, editing, and awesome support and all those
“I’ve got a quick question” conversations that turn into 2 hours of exploring the world of
acting theory, theatre history, and life in general.
To David Crespy, for believing in my love of Lacan and the reality of its practical
application in theatre.
To Ellie Ragland, for being my mentor and my friend and for helping me understand
when it seemed understanding was impossible.
To Charles E Willis 3d, for his friendship, encouragement, humor and for listening to all
my kooky ideas, even when they weren’t so kooky, sometimes down right dull, like
oatmeal, and for learning more about my dissertation than any one person should ever
have to know.
To my mother and father, for their constant faith in my ability and talent…and for having
me in the first place.
To all my family for their support and for putting up with me and to my brothers in
particular for not tickling me to death in my youth.
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To my participants for their drive, insight, humor and utter glee over participating in the
project, even down to the smallest detail such as project code names, as if we were all on
a deep-cover espionage mission or members of a secret society…maybe we were.
To my dear friends and colleagues: Haidee Heaton, Kate Sinnett, Chad Doering, Mike
O’Donohoe, Melissa Alpers-Springer and Dan Springer, Ronny Zank, Clay Baker, Matt
Heapes, Cece McFarland, Adrianne Adderley, John Moran (my LCB), my murder of
queens, IAT, the BMOC, the Poppettes, and the Lacan Study Group.
To Becky Rowson, for helping me understand my own strengths.
To Dean Packard, for loaning the recording equipment and the dose of sanity and calm in
the crazy of theatre – thank you, Uncle Luan.
To Weldon Durham, for being a great advisor and encouraging me to pursue my Ph.D.
To Julia Curtis and Bob Welk – without you, I wouldn’t be here doing what I’m
doing…and when this is over I’m tracking you down and giving you a piece of my mind.
To my acting students, for their enthusiasm and their ability to teach me a thing or two.
To my great acting partners who still inspire me: Aaron Zavitz, Scott Kurz, Lissa Hall,
Heather Jones, Megan Murphy, Kyle Roper, Stephen Van Hooser, Josh Clayton, Lauren
Palmer, Charles E Willis 3d, Kevin Babbitt, Dewey Caddell, Weldon Durham, and many
others.
To Sesame Street & the late Jim Henson, for instilling in me the belief that learning is the
best activity ever. (This dissertation is brought to you today by the number 437, the color
red, and the letter B.)
To KBIA’s wonderful classical programming, for keeping my mind focused while I
wrote.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………..…i
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………ii
CHAPTERS
1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………….…1
2. DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF LITERATURE…………………...……..18
3. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………..65
4. FINDINGS…………………………….…………………………………….89
a. INTRODUCTION
b. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
c. THEMES
i. CONNECTION
ii. NECESSARY CONDITIONS
iii. KNOWING
iv. BLURRING/BOUNDARIES
v. LOCATION
vi. IMPACT OF PRESENCE
vii. IMPACT OF ABSENCE
d. THEMATIC SUMMARY
5. THE STRUCTURE OF TRANSFERENCE………..……………………..228
a. TRANSFERENCE
b. TRANSFERENCE EFFECTS
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c. SUBJECT SUPPOSED TO KNOW
d. DESIRE
e. SUMMARY
6. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS………………………………….…242
a. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHAPTER
b. REVIEW OF THE STUDY
c. FINDINGS IN CONTEXT – UNBRACKETED
d. SIGNIFICANCE
e. FUTURE RESEARCH
APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………273
1. INFORMED CONSENT FORM
2. PARTICIPANT SELECTION EMAIL
3. FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW GUIDE
4. SAMPLE OF HORIZONALIZATION
5. INVARIANT HORIZONS AND THEMES
6. SAMPLE OF CODING/ANALYSIS
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………..290
VITA…………………………………………………………………………………..305
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THE SPACE BETWEEN:
UNCOVERING THE LIVED EXPERIENCE
OF ACTOR COMMUNICATION
Shawna B Mefferd Kelty
Dr. Cheryl Black, Dissertation Advisor
ABSTRACT
Using the qualitative methodology of hermeneutic phenomenology, this
dissertation documents student actors’ lived experience of actor communication in
performance. The author locates this study in relation to actor training, rehearsal
methods, director training, and psychoanalytic theory.
This hermeneutic phenomenological study examines the lived experience of eight
undergraduate student actors who had performed at the University of Missouri and had
experienced actor communication in performance and/or rehearsal. Participants were
interviewed in two semi-structured focus group interviews with follow up individual
interviews. The data collected from the participants was transcribed, coded, and
managed with HyperResearch software. Max van Manen’s thematic analysis was
employed and participants verified the final analysis of the lived experience of actor
communication. A brief secondary analysis using the critical lens of Lacan’s
psychoanalytic theory was used to explore the unconscious structures of transference in
actor communication.
The actors’ lived experience of actor communication was found to be a complex
multi-dimensional phenomenon described as: a connection between actors which is only
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understood through feeling or sense, having certain necessary conditions, obstacles and
variable conditions which may impact the connection; a blurring of reality, identity,
relationships, and emotions; and having a specific location with defined limits – a space
between actors. The absence or presence of actor communication has significant impact
on an actor’s process and perception of her acting partner. The strong emotional
responses towards acting partners suggest that the structure of transference is also a part
of the process of actor communication.
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