19424

THTR 101 LH Introduction to Acting

Lynn Hawley

M . W . .

10:30 -11:50 am

FISH

PART

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. Not available for on-line registration.

19435

THTR 101 NT Introduction to Acting

Naomi Thornton

. . . Th .

3:20 pm -5:20 pm

FISH

PART

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. Not available for on-line registration.

19433

THTR 103CO Acting Company

JoAnne Akalaitis

. . W . . . . . Th .

1:00 pm -2:20 pm 10:30 -11:50 am

FISH

PART

3 credits Corresponding with Directing Seminar, actors work with student directors on scene work for in-class presentation. Open to first year students. Not available for on-line registration.

19324

THTR 122 Movement for Actors

Jean Churchill

. . . . F

3:00 pm -4:20 pm

.

PART

1 credit Basic training in movement, rhythm, development of technique and confidence in space. Not available for on-line registration.

19428

THTR 131 Voice for Majors

Elizabeth Smith

. T . . F

1:30 pm -3:00 pm

FISH

PART

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. Not available for on-line registration.

19422

THTR 141 A Alexander Technique I

Judith Muir

M . . . .

9:00 -10:20 am

FISH

PART

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.

Not available for on-line registration.

19426

THTR 141 B Alexander Technique I

Judith Muir

M . . . .

10:30 -11:50 am

FISH

PART

See above.

19442

THTR 207 A Playwriting I

Caridad Svich

. . W . .

1:30 pm -3:50 pm

FISH

PART

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. This course is for sophomores and upper-college students only. Not available for on-line registration

19443

THTR 207 B Playwriting I

Zakiyyah Alexander

. T . .

1:30 pm -3:50 pm

FISH

PART

See above.

19429

THTR 208 Playwriting II

Caridad Svich

. . . Th .

1:30 pm –4:30 pm

FISH

PART

4 credits This course will function as a writer’s workshop. 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 developing characters and themes that are sustained through a full-length play.  The students will also read a wide range of dramatic literature and be exposed to diverse styles of playwriting. Prerequisite: Playwriting I or Theatrical Adaptations. Not available for on-line registration

19423

THTR 209 Scene Study

Lynn Hawley

M . W . .

12:00 pm -1:20 pm

FISH

PART

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 movement from a games oriented curriculum into work with theatrical texts and discovery of the processes of scene study. Not available for on-line registration.

19441

THTR 210 History of Theater II

Jean Wagner

M . W . .

10:30 -11:50 am

RKC 102

AART

4 credits This course looks at the major periods of dramatic literature, from the renaissance to the twentieth century. Plays will be read with particular reference to historical context and dramatic convention informing theater practice during these periods. Along with the plays, we’ll look at critical and theoretical essays that elucidate these social and aesthetic conditions. Playwrights will include Moliere, Ibsen, Chekhov, Brecht and Beckett.

19438

THTR 215 Physical Comedy

James Calder

. T. . .

9:00 -12:00 pm

FISH

PART

2 credits Beginning with exercises in broad physicality, balance, rhythm, discovery, physical mask and surprise, this class explores what about the individual student is unique and funny. When we begin to forget what is an appropriate response, and imagine what we would be like if we were never socialized, we begin to discover “the clown” that lives in each of us. By embracing the archetypes of childhood and reclaiming the “internal response” without the diminishing filter of socialization, we start to lose the inhibitions that block us from being purely expressive. This class encourages openness, invention, playfulness, generosity, sensitivity, and courage. Prerequisite: Introduction to Acting. Not available for on-line registration.

19436

THTR 227 Neutral Masks

Shelley Wyant

. . . . F

9:30 -12:30 pm

FISH

PART

2 credits The roots of this work with the mask come from a diverse system of traditions including the Balinese, the great teachers and theorists Pierre LeFevre, Michel St. Denis, Jaques LeCoq and Francis Delsarte. Neutral Mask is an exploration of the world of the mask and all the freedom inherent to performers within that world. We discover the essence of transformation by using the tools of breath and focus. Students learn to identify the elements that contribute to physical freedom through the four stages of man and a study of mythological stories.

19437

THTR 228 Character Mask

Shelley Wyant

. . . Th .

1:00 pm -4:00 pm

FISH

PART

2 credits  The character mask work builds on Neutral Mask classes with the addition of speech. Students will work with a new set of masks that have no mouths and which offer an assortment of diverse characters.  The liberation found behind the mask assists in the complete development of a wide variety of personalities. We meet and become familiar with these new characters through improvisation. Using voice and body skills, the stories of the masks are deeply explored and developed.  Prerequisite: THR 227, or by permission of the professor.  

19425

THTR 231 Voice and Verse I

Elizabeth Smith

M . . . .

3:00 pm -5:00 pm

FISH

PART

2 credits Verse is a significant part of drama and learning to interpret it and speak it is essential for the performer. This course deals with verse from the great poets and dramatists, with an emphasis on Shakespeare. Prerequisite: THTR 131. Not available for on-line registration.

19432

THTR 303 Directing Seminar

JoAnne Akalaitis

. . W . .

1:00 pm -4:00 pm

FISH

PART

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. Not available for on-line registration.

19440

THTR 307 Advanced Acting

James Calder

. T . . .

1:30 pm -4:30 pm

FISH

PART

3 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. Pre-requisites: Intro to Acting and Scene Study. Maximum enrollment: 12 students. Not available for on-line registration.

19434

THTR 308 Advanced Scene Study

Naomi Thornton

. . . Th .

1:00 pm -3:00 pm

FISH

PART

3 credits Scene Technique with work on specific rehearsal tasks and practice of their application. Continued work on the acting instrument, understanding the actor as artist and deepening the physical, emotional, intellectual connection and availability of each actor. Advanced individual exercises, scenes, and monologues from all dramatic literature. Intended for Upper College students, others by permission. Repeatable for credit. Prerequisite: Introduction to Acting. Not available for on-line registration.

19430

THTR 310 A Survey of Drama: New Works on the Stage

Zakiyyah Alexander

. . W . .

9:30 -11:50 am

FISH

AART

How does a living writer create a piece of theater that will stand the test of time?  What role does the style or subject matter play?  Who are the established writers who have influenced the writers of today and how can we compare and contrast the choices made yesterday with the choices of today?  This course will introduce students to the works of living writers as well as the works that have clearly influenced their voice and style.  Through in-depth analysis we will examine the structure, tone, visual elements, and style.  Students will then have the opportunity to investigate their own structural models of inspiration and create a piece of theater that incorporates these ideas.  This course is designed for students with a strong desire to create theater and to analyze why and how artistic decisions are made, and what the lasting effect new work has on American theater.  There will be several trips to the theater, and an opportunity to speak directly to the writers and other artists involved in the production.    Field trips include: Things Of Dry Hours by Naomi Wallace at NYTW,  Rambo Solo by Nature Theater of Oklahoma at Soho Rep,  A Free Man  Of Color written by John Guare at the Public Theatre, The Good  Negro Written by Tracey Scott Wilson at the Public Theatre, Ruined,  at MTC by Lynn Nottage, That Pretty Pretty; or The Rape Play  written by Sheila Callaghan at the Rattlestick Theatre.

19431

THTR 310 B Survey of Drama: Ibsen, Melodrama and Modernism

Jean Wagner

. . W . .

1:30 pm -3:50 pm

FISH

AART

Henry James once said of Henrik Ibsen that although he was “massively common and middle-class” on the surface, James saw past this to his “intensity, his vividness, the hard compulsions of his strangely inscrutable art.” Today Ibsen is best known for the plays from his “social realism” period, such as A Dolls House and Hedda Gabler.  However, there is a great deal more variety and depth to his body of work.  This course will look at the breadth of Ibsen’s oeuvre in the context of the sociopolitical, artistic and intellectual movements of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. We will examine major works from the entire span of his career, including the early verse plays such as Peer Gynt and Brand; additional plays from his realism period (Ghosts, Pillars of Society), and works from his later, modernist or “symbolic” period such as The Master Builder, The Wild Duck and Little Eyolf.  We will also read plays and fiction from predecessors and contemporaries, including melodramas such as Boucicault’s The Poor of New York and the Howard-Aiken stage version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin; well-made plays by Dumas fils, Scribe and Sardou (which Ibsen called “sugar candy dramas”); and works by James Joyce, Shaw, Strindberg and O’Neill, among others. Additionally, we will consider the works of important theorists and thinkers who influenced Ibsen, including Nietzsche, Wagner, Darwin, Marx and Zola.  Finally, we will examine significant productions of Ibsen plays over the years, including Mabou Mines recent “Dollhouse,” Peter Stein’s “Peer Gynt,” Bergman’s “Nora” and Ivo van Hove’s “Hedda.”  This will be part discussion-based seminar, and part project-oriented.  There will be oral presentations, group projects and two significant critical papers. 

19427

THTR 318 Visual Imagination of the Modern Stage

Carol Bailey

M . . . .

1:00 pm -4:00 pm

FISH

PART

4 credits A course taught by leading designers and directors in the field. It examines the explosive prominence of visionary visual ideas on the stage in the past 30 years, the emergence of a new form of collaboration between directors and designers and the inclusion of the new media on the stage. This course is required for upper-college theater students.