Honorary Degree Recipients and Commencement Speakers 1851-2023

https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/commencement_programs/1189/thumbnail.jp

Towards “Safe Spaces to Do Dangerous Things”: Safety and Accountability in Educational Theatre

Theaters in both educational and professional environments can be wonderful spaces for artistic growth, but they can also play host to significant and continual issues that make the space unsafe and uncomfortable at all levels. This is especially the case when sensitive or otherwise high-risk work, such as those featuring intimacy, is involved. This thesis analyzes professional theatrical institutions’ histories of, and policies for, maintaining healthy internal environments for approaching this work. Through this analysis and my personal experiences as a stage manager, I propose several such policies for potential adoption by Oberlin College’s Department of Theater, as well as any other organizations interested in making similar changes. I argue that these policies will help ensure that the Department of Theater can continue to ensure that it is creating and supporting safe, accountable, and evolving spaces for theatrical education

The Power of the Child’s-eye View: Reflections on Victor Erice’s El espíritu de la colmena and El Sur and Carla Simon’s Estiu 1993

The Franco dictatorship left an indelible mark on Spanish society. Those who lived during and after the conflicts were left with unresolved feelings and traumas that have been explored through countless art forms, including film. Two directors in particular, Victor Erice and Carla Simon, showcase what it was like to live through these events as children through their use of child protagonists in the films El espíritu de la colmena, El Sur, and Estiu 1993. In this project, I aim to explore how the use of child protagonists affects the storytelling and audience experience of watching a film. I argue that there are three main ways in which these films utilize their young protagonists to achieve a deeper impact on the audience: the “child’s-eye view”, the presence/absence of narration, and narrative parallels. Combined, these tools allow the audience to connect more fully with the embodied experience of living through these events and encourage the audience to approach difficult concepts with fierce curiosity, humility, empathy, and a childlike open mindedness

Hierarchical Interactions and Compliance in Comparative Courts

Given their place within the judicial hierarchy, judges on lower courts face a complex array of challenges including heavy caseloads, mandatory dockets, and the threat of Supreme Court reversal. Despite the extensive scholarship on the American courts, little is known about judicial interactions in comparative contexts. We articulate and evaluate a framework for lower court adherence to Supreme Court precedents by leveraging a cross-national design in three countries-Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States-with similar systems but meaningful institutional variability. We find that the mechanisms promulgating adherence to Supreme Court precedents do not substantially vary across design or institutional context. Instead, our results demonstrate that legal factors exert a consistent, homogeneous effect on lower court compliance across judicial systems. Our work offers new and important implications for studies on law and courts and comparative institutions, more broadly

Ophelia: A Prism (2023) Image 25

Ophelia: A PrismFebruary 2-5, 2023 Irene and Alan Wurtzel Theater, Oberlin College By Mieko Gavia \u2711Directed by H. Harvey \u2711https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/images_ophelia/1024/thumbnail.jp

Stonewallin\u27 (2023) Image 13

Stonewallin\u27April 13-16, 2023Irene and Alan Wurtzel Theater, Oberlin College Written and directed by Kari Barclayhttps://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/images_stonewallin/1012/thumbnail.jp

Stonewallin\u27 (2023) Image 21

Stonewallin\u27April 13-16, 2023Irene and Alan Wurtzel Theater, Oberlin College Written and directed by Kari Barclayhttps://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/images_stonewallin/1020/thumbnail.jp