I’m so excited to announce that I will be presenting at the Agnes Scott Spring Annual Research Conference (SpARC) not once, but twice! Below are the abstracts of my presentations that were approved. To learn more about SpARC, visit the SpARC page on the Agnes Scott College website.

Pathways: A One-Act

Pathways is a one-act play that follows the lives of a recent high school graduate, James, and his girlfriend, Sarah, as they navigate the murky waters of future after high school. At the crux of their relationship, James cannot pay for college and is planning to enter the army instead, while Sarah is both financially and academically able to stay home and attend school. When James joins the army and prepares for his departure, the audience sees Sarah become desperate to make him stay. She proposes losing her virginity to James, and he disagrees, and their relationship dissolves into an argument just days before he leaves. This play explores the notions of virginity in adolescent sexuality, as well as toxic masculinity within teenager’s lives, and enters into a new genre of playwriting rarely explored, a juncture of theatre and adolescence.

A directed reading utilizes a cast and direction to bring a play to life without traditionally staging it. By staging a reading of Pathways, the Spring Annual Research Conference allows important sociological and psychological phenomenon to take the stage in a non-traditional presentation of experience, research, and craft. Pathways utilizes the traditional one-act format and linear narrative alongside a small cast and engaging dialogue in presenting common yet under-discussed themes of adolescence. Pathways is a finalist in the One-Act category of the 47th Annual Agnes Scott Writers’ Festival Writing Contest and is Zoe Katz’s first play.

The Enlightened Pirate

The Enlightened Pirate is a digital research project conducted in History 309: The Enlightenment in Europe. The Enlightened Pirate examines the Golden Age of Piracy (1700-1750) as an actualization of Enlightenment ideals. My research examines primary sources such as accounts, Captain’s accords, and historical texts as evidentiary support to the claim that men and women of the 16th century became pirates as an expression of enlightenment ideals. Supplemented by secondary sources such as Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age by Marcus Rediker, The Enlightened Pirate crafts a thorough argument that combines the excitement of the Golden Age of Piracy with the revolutionary ideals of the great Enlightenment thinkers such as Kant, Rousseau, and Locke.

The Enlightened Pirate is a web-based research project, rejecting the conventions of typical research essays. Utilizing a sub-domain of the Summit Digital Portfolio dedicated to the topic, The Enlightened Pirate uses multimedia, primary sources, quotes, and text to create an accessible and entertaining format to present the argument the findings that pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy were more than petty thieves or criminals, but had legitimate intentions to create a new society as defined by Enlightenment ideals. The presentation at the Spring Annual Research Conference would combine the website with a powerpoint to discuss methods of research, arguments, and application of findings as well as the tools utilized to create the digital research project.