Date of Award

Spring 6-15-2025

Document Type

Thesis (Master's)

Department or Program

Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

First Advisor

Eugenie Carabatsos

Second Advisor

William Phillips

Third Advisor

Tom Zoellner

Abstract

You’re Such a Princess is a five-play anthology that reimagines well-known folk tales. By re-imagining four Brothers Grimm tales and one by Hans Christian Andersen, I follow a centuries-old tradition. As scholar Donald Haase explains, folk tales evolve with each retelling, allowing their ‘morals’ to shift over time. I have created encounters between real people (extending characters beyond Vladimir Propp’s Dramatis Personae) and revised the endings to challenge the audience. My Snow White character hews closer to the pejorative implications of calling someone a ‘princess’ in our society: entitled, arrogant, spoilt. Two of my storylines (Little Red Cap and The Little Mermaid) revert closer to their original versions emphasizing female agency and desires, which differ significantly from their respective Brothers Grimm and Disney versions. All of my renditions highlight the care of friends and family in creating a happy ending. My interventions may subvert dominant paradigms (e.g., heteronormative marriage) but also deal more broadly with contemporary issues. The spindle prick of Sleeping Beauty translates to the opioid crisis, and the transcendence of sea foam in The Little Mermaid translates into the fading away of an eating disorder. While the thesis addresses the one-dimensionality of the ‘princess’ archetype (all the protagonists are young women), the role of ‘prince’ is also subverted in ways designed to explore masculinity in our society. Rather than simply being a trophy to be won, men have vulnerabilities, dreams and power issues, ranging from self-medicating for mental health problems to a reliance on transactional sexual power. I chose playwriting for this storytelling, both as a return to the oral tradition but also to underscore the tradition of allowing future interpretations. Stagecraft is malleable and can render visual key themes, for instance a gigantic mirror divides the stage in Snow White to emphasize that the heroine mirrors the villain. Song, both original and copyrighted, features throughout to convey emotional tone. In the Little Mermaid, it goes further in representing song as the main character’s ‘voice’/agency and joy. I have written these plays to reflect contemporary mores that I believe should be reinforced, particularly the importance of human connection.

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