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Rowan University

A study of the life and work of Christopher Durang: laughing wild amidst severest woe

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>This thesis maps Durang's struggle with faith and demonstrates how his personal journey to discover and document his pain acts as a catalyst for his creative work. It will explore his style of masking and unmasking himself in his characters revealing his innermost pain and suffering. I also surmise that his work serves as a kind of therapy by allowing him to constantly unravel and unveil his investigation of self.</p> <p>This thesis examines Christopher Durang's personal history and family struggles in an effort to understand the experiences that shaped the work of one of America's premier authors of absurdist comedy. It explores the work of Durang as it relates to his own grief and grieving process and chronologically places his work into the standard matrix of grief defined by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, which is now commonly accepted by psychologists.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
M.A. in Theatre
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Theatre & Dance
Year dc:date.available
2008

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • James, Jeannine M.
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Hostetter, Elisabeth

Subjects

dc:subject × 2

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/768
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:rdw.rowan.edu:etd-1765

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Rowan University
Base URL
rdw.rowan.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

James, Jeannine M.. A study of the life and work of Christopher Durang: laughing wild amidst severest woe. Thesis thesis, 2008. https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/768