Updated Statement of Purpose / Personal Statement 2010.
In 1997, I was in my final year of an undergraduate degree in Drama and Theatre at the University of Liverpool, UK. As part of my studies I directed an obscure one-act play from 1938 called The Man Who Wouldn't Go To Heaven by F-Sladen Smith. In this play the main character, a staunch atheist named Alton, finds himself at the gates of Heaven. He argues with the angel Thariel that he cannot possibly be there because he doesn't believe in it. As part of this production, I edited together an eight-minute atonal montage comprised of thousands of horrific images of war, death, violence, torture and human suffering. I projected this short film on the rear wall of the stage toward the end of my theatrical production, integrating it with the story and text, then returning to the original script to finish the last five minutes of the play.
I was very proud of my interdisciplinary production and was mortified when the evaluating professor pointed out that, despite the standing ovation, the audience had lost interest in the end of the play. The film montage and accompanying soundtrack had been so overwhelming that the audience could not switch back into theatre watching mode. They could not reassert their suspension of disbelief after being bombarded with thousands of potent images each lasting only milliseconds. In essence, their role had switched from that of "audience" to that of "viewer" and they were unwilling, or unable, to switch back. That comparison between the power of film imagery and theatrical storytelling has been a motivating aesthetic in my work ever since.
At that time I also wrote an undergraduate thesis entitled, To What Extent Can The Aesthetics Of Postmodernism Be Divorced From Socio-Political Ramifications? In researching this work, I became aware that many of the seminal ideologies of post-structuralist theorists such as Baudrillard, Foucault and Derrida are encompassed in the moment when multi-media and live performance intersect; when the audience becomes the viewer; when participant becomes consumer.
After undergrad I was employed as a professional theatrical lighting and sound technician for over 12 years. I worked on over 100 different live productions, in Britain, America and aboard international cruise ships. Many of these productions involved the projection of film, still images, live video feeds and other multi-media effects. I soon concluded that the theatrical image, regardless of poetic dialogue, commanding performances or clever design, cannot manipulate an audience's experience as masterfully as the prerecorded image can.
I was able to continue research on the interaction of multi-media and live performance during my MFA at Towson University. I undertook a period of sustained academic research over two years, culminating in a written thesis on cultural aesthetics; exploring the connection between audiences of contemporary live performances and the cultural products of theatre criticism. I was able to take my research into the areas of literary criticism, audience psychology and the statistical analysis of audience demographics. However, the research which interested me most related to concepts of truth in the artifacts of popular culture, and the analysis of the creation of truth through the semiotics of technology and the linguistics of multi-media. I found that I was using the works of structuralist thinkers to contextualize my research in theatre criticism, but I was simultaneously drawn to works of post-structuralist thinkers such as Douglas Rushkoff, Pierre Bourdieu and Slavoj Žižek. Particularly to those works pertaining to the conditions of postmodernism and popular culture.
My primary research intrests are centered around the reception of truth in experiences of simulation. More specifically, how visual reception of live performance and performance art is altered by the inclusion of multi-media, film and the recorded images. It is my goal to concentrate on how the semiotics of film and video in multi-media elements of live performance events intersect with, transect and manipulate the audience/ viewer/ consumer's experience. How do these pre-determined elements contribute to the "truth" of the live event? At this time it is my intention to focus the scope of my research to multi-media performances in New York city, but I will be happy to reevaluate and reframe my content as my research develops
My other research interests include: the place of semiotics and non-linear narratives in contemporary media, the use of classic Hollywood continuity editing techniques in live multimedia productions, self-referentiality and the ouroboros of the postmodern cultural artifact, Russian formalist montage theory in postmodern production practices, definitions of postmodernism from a (post-)post-structural perspective and, most recently, existential thought and its relationship to contemporary atheism, and performativity in the actions of cult and religious leaders.
After completing my Ph.D. thesis my goal is to obtain a tenure track position at an accredited university where I can continue teaching and engage in post-doctoral research as both an academic and practicing artist; not in the fields of theatre, television, film and new media but in the intersection where the boundaries and definitions of these media overlap, develop and synthesize.