2022 SETC Young Scholars Award Winners

GRADUATE WINNER: GARRET LEE MILTON Absurd Audiences: Considering Reception Theories for the Premieres of Waiting for Godot

Garret Lee Milton (he/him) is a playwright, theatre scholar and educator from Washington, DC. He is currently a doctoral graduate student in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Texas Tech University, where he also teaches theatre appreciation and playwriting. Abstract: Much has already been said about Samuel Beckett and Waiting for Godot, but what this paper examines are the audiences who were present at the various premieres of this polarizing play. What this essay proposes is a consideration and application of contemporary audience reception theories to the French world premiere of Waiting for Godot in 1953 at the Théâtre de Babylone, the expurgated London premiere in 1955 at the Arts Theatre, and the notorious failure of the American premiere in 1956 at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami. Each one of these global premieres experienced vastly different popular and critical receptions, and the theories applied herein illuminate the contributing factors and prove to be quite helpful when assessing the historical, artistic and cultural perspectives of the audiences who would have been present. By analyzing the audiences and their sociopolitical spheres of influence, this paper demonstrates how audience receptivity is responsible for the perplexing and volatile premieres of Waiting for Godot.

The Franciscans took multiple conscious steps to build up an understanding. The closest thing Europe offered to Aztec temple rituals was religious theatre. The friars specifically authorized scripts, but they were translated and copied, as well as performed by the Nahues themselves for their altepetl (“community”). Translation processes, metaphorical differences, and cultural and religious misunderstandings issued shifts of power. The paper combines Postlewait’s “(Re)construction” of events, Burkhart’s “Native Christianity,” broader postcolonial approaches, and the Cultural Transfer Theory (Espagne/Werner) in order to interweave theatrical practice and historiography. Between Native agency and Spanish oppression, it stresses the importance of multifaceted approaches and findings, when trying to understand the art form’s intricate power complexity.

UNDERGRADUATE WINNER: BERIT SCHÖNEGGE Between Colonial Imposition and Native Christianity: Nahuatl Theatre “Under?” the Influence of Spanish Occupation and Catholic Mission

Berit Schönegge (she/her) is an international exchange student from University Leipzig, currently studying at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She is pursuing a BA in musicology and a concentration in theatre studies. Abstract: This paper seeks to map out the field of tension that brought forth Nahuatl-Christian theatre. When Franciscan friars arrived in “New Spain” in 1524, the Aztec empire had already disintegrated – Mexico was under colonial rule. Both friars and Nahues were shocked upon witnessing each other’s religious practices. To successfully indoctrinate the native population, common ground was needed.