One semester
Credit: One unit General Elective credit.
Meeting pattern: One 100-minute evening class meeting.
This course focuses on the craft of stage performance beginning with the rudiments of stageworthy presence and building outwards to develop the skills and vocabulary of the theater artist. Using the foundational work of Stanislavski and a range of other methods, students work from the inside out, exploring acting as decision making and strengthening their artistic choices to create more complex characters and scenes from both devised and existing texts. In doing so, they work as individuals and cooperative ensembles to synthesize multiple training experiences and develop their own unique understanding of the creative process in a positive, supportive, and welcoming environment. No previous experience is required. Repeatable for credit.
One semester
Credit: One unit General Elective credit.
Meeting pattern: One 100-minute evening class meeting.
This course focuses on the craft of stage performance beginning with the rudiments of stageworthy presence and building outwards to develop the skills and vocabulary of the theater artist. Using Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints as the foundation of our study, students work from the outside in, employing methods which focus on movement, kinesthetic response, and clarity to create bold, engaging, and honest story on stage. In doing so, they work as individuals and cooperative ensembles to synthesize multiple training experiences and develop their own unique understanding of the creative process in a positive, supportive, and welcoming environment. No previous experience is required. Repeatable for credit.
One semester
Credit: One unit core English credit.
Meeting pattern: Three periods per week. E13L5
If “it's wanting to know that makes us matter,” as Tom Stoppard suggests in Arcadia, then it’s little wonder that the endeavors of STEM fields to understand the mysteries of our universe have proven such fertile ground for dramatists. In this page-to-stage style class, we examine how theatrical art wrestles with the implications and repercussions of STEM discoveries to explore larger questions of our humanity, purpose, and meaning. In addition to plays that include Life of Galileo, Copenhagen, and Arcadia, we consider a range of historical, literary, and scholarly texts that inform and contextualize these works. Through close reading, we strengthen our communication skills by analyzing the way an author orients a lay audience to complex STEM concepts and connects them to larger thematic ideas. In a broader sense, our chief concern is to investigate how the efforts of science, mathematics, and the humanities to explain our world intersect, inform, and challenge one another—how in mapping the stars, we might also map our hearts and minds. Creative, stage-related projects and formal academic writing assignments provide substantial opportunities for students to experiment with their own ideas and demonstrate their learning throughout the course.
Musical Theater Workshop
The Play's the Thing: Writing for Stage
Coal: The Musical (A Workshop)
Sound Art: Words, Music, and Recording Technology
Devised Theatre: New Work For Stage
Dionysus Now: Greek Tragedy From Page to Stage
Devise, Design, Install: Theater in the Pandemic