This course is offered every semester, but I teach it every other year, in the Spring of even numbered years. The course satisfies Category 9 of the Liberal Education requirement. This is a general survey class taught predominantly through lecture. Attendance is not required but unannounced quizzes cannot be made up if missed. The course involves:
This course is offered every semester and satisfies Category 10 of the Liberal Education requirement. The course is structured for students with little or no experience with acting. Attendance is required. The course involves:
This course is for first year BFA students attempting to qualify for the BFA program. The course focuses on the basics of acting, using simple exercises to help the student develop the skills necessary to create an honest, natural performance. Various graded exercises, reading assignments from Acting: The First Six Lessons by Richard Boleslavsky and Respect For Acting by Uta Hagen, and discussion sessions culminate in the creation of a scene performance during finals week. All BFA qualifiers are required to take this course.
This course uses mask technique to explore the creation of a character through physical transformation. The course covers basic mime and mask technique, improvisation and collective creation as a process for generating theatre, and focuses on the history and technique of the Commedia D'elle Arte tradition. The course involves two presentations for grades and some short writing assignments. This course is for BFA performance students in their junior or senior year, but some overrides will be given to qualified non-BFA students when there is space available.
This course is required for all BA and BFA theatre students.Students must be in their junior or senior year. No sophomores will be admitted to the class.The course covers the basic skills needed to direct a play. The course is taught through lecture, assignments, and some workshops. This is a difficult class that involves a great deal of analysis and writing. The student must:
This course can be taken as a playwright, a director, or as an actor. The course is designed to develop existing play scripts by students in class utilizing four approaches to play development: table readings, minimally staged readings, staged readings, and workshop performances. The class is designed based on the number of students and existing playscripts in progress. Playwrigthts must do regular rewrites during the semester based on the readings and feedback from the instructor and the class. Directors are expected to create staging, an interpretive analysis of the play and lead rehearsals. Actors are expected to create performances, research characters, and research a play development organisation in the U.S. Designers are welcome in the class.