About two weeks ago it was announced that there would be 16 funding opportunities at Exeter University for Drama PhD students. Since then, staying here in England is actually attainable, where as before there was no funding for non EU, non British students. Now, it's actually a possibility, no matter how slim it may be. So I've been killing myself trying to figure out what I may want to spend three years of my life studying. I've gone through about four different ideas but I can't get the idea of the Federal Theater Project out of my head. There's so many interesting aspects I would like to explore. For example, the ideas and reactions of unions to the FTP, or the ideas of artists and censorship by the government with in a system where you are trying to make are that will speak to a society with in a government funded medium. Along with that is the fear of Communism and the House of UnAmerican Activities.
I have a few problems. First, I feel a little bit like a hypocrite. I'm an American who comes to the UK to study American theater? Something in that doesn't add up. But it isn't the biggest problem I have. Secondly, I'm having trouble trying to find an original thought. I did speak with some friends yesterday and that made me feel better. They reassured me that you might not need an original thought, as such, but it could be a different way of looking a things or a different take on what has already been written. That put to rest (at least for a little while) some of my worries. Finally, my biggest problem is how do I define this as a theater paper? Yes, it's theater history and looking at plays to come to conclusions, but how is this not a history paper? Does this idea belong in the realm of theater history or just history? I'm going to speak with my tutor about this. I am a fan of definitions. That's probably not the best thing in a lot of ways, but it will help me make sense of this at least...I hope.
P.S. This is just for my PhD proposal. I still need to figure out what I want to do my Master's dissertation on. *sigh*
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