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.
The Road Kill Club
Valerie Muensterman
When a seventeen-year-old girl named Roy is forced to move to the middle of nowhere with her obsessive older sister, Nan, she plots to make an escape. Her plans change, however, when Nan’s boyfriend brings a menacing teenage boy from under the bridge to stay at Nan’s place.
Daddy Issued
Morgan Fears
Morgan Fears' autobiographical screenplay Daddy Issued will be presented as her senior distinction project, in a work-in-progress reading. The screenplay was developed under the guidance of Morgan's distinction advisor, playwright Neal Bell.
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 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.
