Course

THTR 101   Introduction to Acting

Professor

Lynn Hawley

CRN

95207

 

Schedule

Tu Th          10:30 - 11:50 am   Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

3 credits  This course, intended for prospective theater majors, focuses on accessing the beginning actor’s imagination and creative energy.  Using theater games, movement work, and improvisational techniques, the intent is to expand the boundaries of accepted logic and to encourage risk-taking in the actor.  Course work includes intensive classroom sessions, individual projects designed to promote self-discovery, and group projects focused on the process of collaborative work.

 

Course

THTR 101   Introduction to Acting

Professor

Shelley Wyant

CRN

95208

 

Schedule

Wed Fr        10:30 - 12:00 pm   Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

Cross-listed: Integrated Arts

3 credits  This course, intended for prospective theater majors, focuses on accessing the beginning actor’s imagination and creative energy.  Using theater games, movement work, and improvisational techniques, the intent is to expand the boundaries of accepted logic and to encourage risk-taking in the actor.  Course work includes intensive classroom sessions, individual projects designed to promote self-discovery, and group projects focused on the process of collaborative work.

 

Course

THTR 101   Introduction to Acting

Professor

Naomi Thornton

CRN

95218

 

Schedule

Th               3:20 -5:20 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

2 credits    Scene preparation and beginning scene technique.  Emphasis on relaxation, breathing, and concentration.  Teaching the actor to make choices and implement them using sense memory and to integrate this work with the text.  Group and individual exercises and improvisations. Continuous work on the acting instrument stressing freedom, spontaneity, and individual attention. Materials: poems, monologues, stories, and scenes.  Reading of American plays, 1930 to present.

 

Course

THTR 123   Movement for Theater

Professor

Peggy Florin

CRN

95221

 

Schedule

Wed             3:00 -4:20 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

1 credit  Basic training in movement, rhythm, development of technique and confidence in space.

 

Course

THTR 131   Voice for Majors

Professor

Elizabeth Smith

CRN

95205

 

Schedule

Tu Fr           1:25 -2:25 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

2 credits    This course is designed to develop an awareness of the importance of physical relaxation, breath capacity and control, resonance and placement.  There will also be an emphasis on clarity of articulation and the use of vocal range and inflection.  This course is intended for moderated and prospective theater majors.

 

Course

THTR 132   Voice for Non-Majors

Professor

Elizabeth Smith

CRN

95206

 

Schedule

Tu Fr           2:55 -3:55 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

2 credits This course will concentrate on basic voice and speech work to enable the students to communicate with greater clarity and confidence.  Some of the demands of speaking in public will also be addressed.

 

Course

THTR 141A   Alexander Technique I

Professor

Judith Youett

CRN

95201

 

Schedule

Mon             9:00 - 10:20 am    Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

1 credit.  A world-respected technique developed over 100 years ago; the Alexander Technique is a valuable tool for performers, writers, scholars, and artists.  It is a simple and practical approach to improving balance, coordination and movement.  During this course we will learn about habits of thinking and moving that cause stress and fatigue.  This awareness will enable different choices to be made in ourselves and how we respond to the environment.    Register for one 90-minute group per week, THTR 141A or THTR 141B.

 

Course

THTR 141 B  Alexander Technique I

Professor

Judith Youett

CRN

95202

 

Schedule

Fri               9:00 – 10:20 am    Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

See description above.

 

Course

THTR 142   Alexander Technique II

Professor

Judith Youett

CRN

95203

 

Schedule

Mon             10:30 – 11:50 am  Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

1 credit    Level II deepens the study of Alexander Technique including the developmental movements that children make from birth to upright posture. 

 

Course

THTR 206   History of Theater

Professor

Jean Wagner

CRN

95220

 

Schedule

Mon Wed     10:30 - 11:50 am   Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: B/C

NEW: ANALYSIS OF ARTS

Cross-listed:  Classical Studies, Theology

4 credits   This course looks at the major periods and forms of Western dramatic literature from its primal roots, through Greek and Roman Tragedy and Comedy, Medieval Theater, Tudor Comedy, Renaissance Drama, Commedia dell-arte, Elizabethan Theater, and the Spanish Golden Age. We will read plays from each of these periods as well as theoretical and critical writings which will elucidate the social and aesthetic conditions of the day. This course will provide the student with an understanding of the development of theater as an art form, and explore how theater relates to and reflects the intellectual, social, political and spiritual climate of the broader culture. This course is open to all students, and a requirement for moderation.

 

Course

THTR 207   Playwrighting I

Professor

Chiori Miyagawa

CRN

95212

 

Schedule

Wed             1:30 -3:50 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

4 credits   An introductory course that focuses on discovering the writer’s voice. Through writing exercises based on dreams, visual images, poetry, social issues, found text, and music, each writer is encouraged to find his or her unique language, style, and vision.  A group project will explore the nature of collaborative works.  Students learn elements of playwriting through writing a one-act play, reading assignments, and class discussions.

 

Course

THTR 207   Playwrighting I

Professor

Dominic Taylor

CRN

95219

 

Schedule

Mon             1:30 -3:50 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

See description above.

 

Course

THTR 208   Playwrighting II

Professor

Chiori Miyagawa

CRN

95211

 

Schedule

Tu               1:30 -3:50 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

4 credits   This course will function as a writer’s workshop. After writing a short play, students focus on developing a full-length play, with sections of the work-in-progress presented in class for discussions. Students grow as playwrights by being exposed to diverse dramatic literature and doing a short adaptation project either of a classic play or a short story.

Prerequisite: Playwrighting I.

 

Course

THTR 209   Scene Study

Professor

Lynn Hawley

CRN

95215

 

Schedule

Th               1:30 -4:30 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

3 credits   A course intended for students who have taken one semester of Intro to Acting and would like to continue their study. The course deals with a movement from a games oriented curriculum into work with theatrical texts and discovery of the processes of scene study.

 

Course

THTR 227   Neutral Masks

Professor

Shelley Wyant

CRN

95217

 

Schedule

Fr                1:00 -4:00 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

2 credits  The roots of mask work come from a diverse system of traditions including the Balinese, the great teachers and the theorists Pierre LeFevre, Michel St. Denis, Jaques LeCoq and Francis Delsarte.  Neutral Masks is an exploration of the world of the mask and all the freedom it has to offer performers, using tools of breath and focus.  Students learn to identify the elements that contribute to physical expression.

 

Course

THTR 303   Directing Seminar

Professor

Jonathan Rosenberg

CRN

95204

 

Schedule

Tu               9:00 - 12:00 pm    Fisher Perf Arts

Th               10:30 - 11:50 am   Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

4 credits   This is a studio course that covers the practice of directing from text analysis, “table work”,  imagining the world of the play, design, casting, space, rehearsal and blocking in different configurations. The work will proceed from scenes to a full-length work.  By permission of the instructor.

 

Course

THTR 303CO   Acting Company

Professor

Jonathan Rosenberg

CRN

95209

 

Schedule

Tu               9:00 - 12:00 pm    Fisher Perf Arts

Th               10:30 - 11:50 am   Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

4 credits    Corresponding with Directing Seminar, actors work with student directors on scene work for in-class presentation.  Open to first year students.

 

Course

THTR 307   Advanced Acting

Professor

Jonathan Rosenberg

CRN

95395

 

Schedule

Mon Wed     10:30 - 11:50 am   Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

4 credits     This is a studio acting class where students will explore scenes from challenging plays of varied styles.  Extensive rehearsal time outside of class is required. 

Prerequisites: Intro to Acting and Scene Study.  Maximum enrollment: 12 students.

 

Course

THTR 308   Advanced Scene Study

Professor

Naomi Thornton

CRN

95216

 

Schedule

Th               1:00 -3:00 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

3 credits Scene technique with work on specific rehearsal tasks as preparation and approach to each rehearsal and practice of their application. Continued work on the acting instrument, understanding the actor as artist and deepening the physical, emotional, and intellectual availability of each actor. Advanced individual exercises, scenes, and monologues from all dramatic literature. Intended for Upper College Theater students. Repeatable for credit.

 

 

SURVEY OF DRAMA

Survey of Drama courses study the major styles and periods in drama from a literary, stylistic, and performance perspective, and are at the center of the Theater Program. They are practical courses, applying text to scene work. All theater majors are expected to take three courses over two years from the Survey of Drama. Each course carries 4 credits.

 

Course

THTR 310D   Survey of Drama: One Arm Tom: Tennessee Williams

Professor

JoAnne Akalaitis

CRN

95214

 

Schedule

Wed             1:00 -4:00 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: A

NEW: ANALYSIS OF ARTS

Cross-listed: Languages and Literature

An examination of the work and life of Tennessee Williams, whom many consider to be our greatest American theater poet.  "I was born in Mississippi but I got the name of Tennessee when I was going to the University of Iowa because the fellows in my class could only remember that I was from a southern state with a long name."  Behind his great wit, famed carousing and embarrassing confessions, Williams was a compulsive writer ("I couldn't stop writing") who wrote plays, stories, and novels for more than 50 years, and whose work is still misunderstood.  He seems to be permanently stuck in the genre of  American realism or naturalism.  This course will examine how Williams belongs more authentically to the traditions of European Surrealism and Expressionism.  Williams took theatrical forms and thoroughly American characters and locales and turned them on their heads in a beautifully poetic and experimental form that defies American naturalism.  Williams understood the immense sadness of America, St Louis, the Gulf Coast and the west side of New York City; he also articulated the frustration and torment of the women characters he created as a metaphor for his own profound experiences of rejection as a serious artist.  This course will pursue, among other things-- how Williams' family history, especially the lobotomy of his sister Rose-- his personal life and his restless delinquency reside in his work.  Also under consideration: Williams' collaboration with some of the great artists of the time, including Laurette Taylor, Marlon Brando, Paul Bowles and Elia Kazan, who created a different Broadway than the one we know today.  A reading every week, including the great masterpieces but also some of the lesser known one-acts, the collection of stories One Arm, memoirs, interviews, film screenings, scene presentations, papers, rigorous work.

 

Course

THTR 310E   Survey of Drama: Feminist Theater

Professor

Jean Wagner

CRN

95213

 

Schedule

Mon             1:00 -4:00 pm       Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: A

NEW: ANALYSIS OF ARTS

Cross listed:  Gender Studies

A survey of the complex and diverse universe of theater by women.   This course will begin by exploring the history and roots of feminist theater, the emergence of the women’s movement and its relationship to feminist theater.  Seminal works will be read from the precursors of feminist drama, including early twentieth century playwrights such as Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Sophia Treadwell, Marita Bonner and the early writings of Doris Lessing.   In addition, we will explore collaborative feminist theater from the sixties, seventies and beyond, and the emergence of Caryl Churchill as one of the most important and original voices in theater today.  Finally, we will read works by major women playwrights and performance artists of the latter half of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries including Adrienne Kennedy, Maria Irene Fornez, Suzan-Lori Parks, Karen Finley, Laurie Anderson, Anna Deavere Smith, and the recently deceased young writer Sarah Kane.  This course will encompass a wide variety of theatrical styles and genres, from the fractured reality of the modernist Gertrude Stein to the Harlem Renaissance to contemporary non-traditional performance modes.  Additional readings in feminist literary theory, political theory and history will be assigned and scene work will be required.  

 

Course

THTR 340  Voice in Performance

Professor

Elizabeth Smith

CRN

95409

 

Schedule

Fr                10:30 - 12:30 pm   Fisher Perf Arts

Distribution

OLD: F

NEW: PRACTICING ARTS

2 credits This course is designed for those students who have already had some training in voice and will concentrate on addressing demands which occur in performance such as speaking over underscoring, sustaining dialogue in fights or dances, and developing power and range.  Technical exercises will be used to promote coordination of speech and movement.