Distinction Projects
The Graduation with Distinction program in theater studies recognizes students who demonstrate excellence through the successful completion of a project in writing, directing, design, acting, literature, history, or theory. All projects have a research component and a substantial written portion. Many projects, such as these, also have a production component.
Blue
Samantha Meyers
Senior Samantha Meyers (director of Me Too Monologues 2018) spent last semester working with Duke playwright Neal Bell to create her original script. This semester, Sam is working with faculty director Jody McAuliffe to get the script on its feet for the first time. She is casting the...
The Fame of the Aeronaut
Wesley Caretto
Wesley Caretto has written an original script investigating his fascination with the life of Jean Pierre Blanchard, the French inventor who manned the first balloon flight across the English channel in 1785. After working with playwright Neal Bell on the script over the fall semester, Caretto...
The Curse of the Wendigo
Rory Eggleston
Senior distinction candidate Rory Eggleston has worked with project advisor Jody McAuliffe to create an original adaptation of Rick Yancey's horror novel The Curse of the Wendigo.
An Indictment
Kari Barclay
An Angier B Duke scholar in his final year at Duke University...
Dancing in the Bonehouse
Kelly McCrum
Adapted from Davida Wills Hurwin's novel A Time For Dancing by by Kelly McCrum for her Senior Distinction Project, the play is told through movement as much as dialogue, and follows two high school seniors trying to finish their final year and pull off a showcase that could send their...
Mukwerere
Jamie Bell & Austin Powers
Mukwerere captures a moment in the lives of four characters who call Zimbabwe home, according to Bell.
Wittgenstein's Hamlet
Michael Myers
Ludwig Wittgenstein, the most influential philosopher of the 20th century, relentlessly endeavored to solve ALL the problems of philosophy by cultivating a fresh understanding of language.
The Man Who
Sam Kebede
The Man Who by Peter Brook is the senior distinction project of Sam Kebede. The work was inspired by "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," Oliver Sacks's best-selling collection of case histories about the neurologically impaired.