| In her play, An Experiment With An Air Pump, British playwright Shelagh Stephenson questions the nature of progress through the vehicles of science and art. Within the framework of an unapologetically theatrical presentation, the play depicts two historical time periods and two sets of characters. The created counterpoint challenges science and gender-related archetypes and exposes social prejudices without prescribing "correct" outcomes. This thesis documents and examines, from a director's perspective, the process of production of An Experiment With An Air Pump staged at Baylor University in November 2016. Discussions of the playwright, dramaturgical analysis, and directorial conceptualization were incorporated by the director as she collaborated with designers and actors in the creation of a compelling piece of theatre. |
