'Liberating Women', a play in three acts and contextual essay: Is feminist theatre a method of social change?

This dissertation combines creative work and research: it includes an original play, written for this purpose, and scholarly research/analysis done to support and foster the writing of the play, including interviews with actors and audience discussion, an analysis of the process of defining, writing and producing feminist theatre, and an examination of feminist theatre's potential for social and pedagogical change. I also assess the impact of theatre as a method of social change, using my original play Liberating Women as an example.;For this dissertation, I created an example of the art I was studying. The creative work and the scholarship are indissolubly interwoven for my purposes here. Liberating Women examines the current antagonism to feminist reproductive rights activism in the USA, specifically focusing on the legality of abortion. In the play, female superheroes save women from the actions of extremist politicians and their secret underground forces. The play was presented at UMass Dartmouth on November 4 and 5, 2005. Over 140 people attended the production and approximately half of them stayed for post-show discussions.;The accompanying scholarly essay, designed to offer an academic context for the creative work, defines feminist theatre, offers a brief history of it, and discusses whether feminist theatre may be considered a method of social change, using Liberating Women as an example. Responses collected for this analysis involved post-show discussion, focus groups with the sixteen actors, and individual spectator email questionnaires.;The conclusion reveals that my play met the prescribed definition of feminist theatre. Actors were politically motivated by being in the play while audience members were "affirmed" by seeing the play. While this play, in many ways, "preached to the choir," I posit that the choir needs to be reaffirmed and that affirmation can lead to social change and the building of community.