When Avery McGarry returned from England last November, she brought back more than memories of seeing six theatrical productions — she returned with a deepened understanding of how centuries-old texts continue to speak to contemporary audiences through innovative staging and design.
McGarry, a double major in English and theatre, spent time immersed in Britain's theatrical landscape, attending performances at Shakespeare's Globe, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. The experience has become central to her senior thesis, which examines how modern productions of early modern plays use staging and design to illustrate themes of queerness that exist within the original texts.
"These were contemporary productions, using the original text but adding modern spins on them too," says McGarry, who is also an Eckardt Scholar. "The plan for my thesis is to show how staging illustrates themes in the original texts that aren't visible to someone if they're just reading the script. I'm looking at their staging in a very particular way, specifically how themes of queerness are illuminated."
Spotlight Recipient
Avery McGarry
Undergraduate Student