Til Death Do Us Part: Adapting Drama Therapy Techniques for Solo Performers

Author

• Sean Thomas Earl Maulding, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

5-1-2026

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Communication Studies

First Advisor

Gray, Jonathan

Abstract

This dissertation is an exploration of my attempts to engage with healing parts of my self and psyche through performance theory and adapted drama therapy techniques. This includes a literature review of how “persona” is used in both performance studies and drama therapy in order to discuss how “persona” is used more generally within these disciplines and more specifically within this project. There is also a discussion of how I conceptualize persona for the particular needs of using extended persona work in an attempt to heal through a staged performance. The dissertation uses as a case study the hour-long conspicuously aesthetic performance, Til Death Do Us Part, I devised and performed using an extended persona and a blend of adapted drama therapy techniques and performance theory. The case study is used to explicate a set of possibilities that a bespoke methodology might allow for solo performers, as well as to propose and justify a set of stages future solo performers may use or adapt for their own attempts to engage with healing through performance.