Through lectures, discussions, hands-on experiences, master classes with visiting theater professionals, and performances outside of class, this course introduces students to significant texts, ideas, and crafts essential to the study of theater. Projects involve acting, directing, design, and theater criticism; writing assignments familiarize students with the analytic tools and accepted vocabulary of theater scholarship. Attendance at some evening performances required. [H]
Prof. O’Neill, TR 11:00-12:15
designated cast members of a faculty-directed College Theater production. May be repeated up to four times for credit. Prerequisite: Permission of Professor O’Neill required, 0.25 credits.
Prof. O’Neill—arranged
Available to designated crew members of a faculty-directed College Theater production. May be repeated up to four times for credit. Prerequisite: Permission of Professor O’Neill, 0.25 credits.
Prof. O’Neill—arranged
This workshop style course will introduce students to various fundamental techniques of acting and improvisation, with special emphasis on sensory awareness, observation, concentration, body movement and vocal development. Students will develop their imaginations and creative processes through performance situations involving improvisation, scene study and monologue work.
Prof. Lodge MW 9-10:50
This seminar will investigate, through readings and performances, how theater, throughout its long history, has served as an important medium to discuss controversial social issues. Students will develop their analytical and critical response skills by examining plays and musicals that explore social injustice. Students will write both analytical and argumentative papers on the subject and will also have the opportunity to respond to social justice issues as both playwrights and performers.
Prof. Lodge MWF 11-11:50
Re-creation and recreation have always been fundamental human needs, and we will be studying how theatrical techniques, texts, and theories change from culture to culture and era to era, at times normative, at times reflective. Beginning with the Abydos Passion Play of ancient Egypt, we will explore historical contexts, gender and class issues, public/ private binaries, theatrical genres, cultural conventions, styles, and architectures from their ancient origins through colonial and post-colonial confrontations, to the recombinant style of today’s performances. Required for Theater majors/minors; fulfills the Literary History requirement for English majors, the Values requirement, the Humanities requirement and the Global and Multiculturalism requirement.
Prof. S. Westfall MWF 11-11:50
An introduction to the history, theory, and practice of technical theater, focusing upon construction, painting, rigging, and electrical practices. Laboratory sessions in the scene shop and backstage assignments ensure hands-on exposure to topics discussed in class [H]
Mr. Tysinger, TR 9:30-10:45
An examination of the fundamental philosophical questions about the arts, including: What is art? Are there standards in the evaluation of artworks? Do the arts require or convey knowledge, and if so, what kind? What is the connection between art and emotion? What are the possible relationships between art and morality? Readings are drawn from both classical and contemporary philosophical writings.
Staff, MW 12:45-2:00
Delightfully Fun!!! Huge Laughs!!!! Two thumbs up!!!! Nominated for 8 Tony Awards (Academy Awards, Obies, Emmys, Grammys….)!!!! How often have we seen these “puffs” (a review of a work of art, usually an excessively complimentary one) blasted across theater marquees and advertisements in print and on-line journals? Truthfully, though, most of us choose to plunk down our hard-earned cash to attend a theater performance or a film based on its reviews. Sometimes these are as simple as a friend’s recommendations, sometimes a quick blurb on “Rotten Tomatoes,” sometimes a cleverly crafted trailer or advertisement. In this course we will analyze and learn to write various forms of effective reviews of film and theater. We will also learn to distinguish between simple summaries and more sophisticated reviews that analyze style, technique, and quality. We will conduct research to contextualize film and theater – historically, artistically, and generically – in order to kick our reviews up a notch into works of criticism. Fulfills Humanities requirement, Values requirement, [W].
Prof. S. Westfall MWF 10-10:50
The art of costume design takes a decision we all make each day – what to wear? – but uses a wealth of aesthetic, historical, and socioeconomic information to inform a character’s dress on stage. Costume designers approach a production equipped not only with the aesthetic background needed to visually communicate ideas to the audience, but also with significant research into the period of the play to support their choices. This course will examine both the artistry of design and the history of fashion, along with exploring the role of the costume designer and how we tell stories with clothing. Students will be required to work on costumes for one College Theater production. Attendance at some evening theater performances and rehearsals also is required.
Staff, M 1:10-4:00
Choreographers and dancers create live artwork we can witness and discuss, affording us meaning, connection, and self-knowledge. This course brings to campus several dance artists who invite us to consider and imagine beyond the scope of our daily routines. Just as we look to songs, literature, visual art, and theater for qualitative, enlightening experiences, we will explore dance as a way of learning about different aesthetics, structures, techniques, contexts, histories, spirituality, and creative processes. Students will be required to see performances, interview dance artists, write essays, read and reflect on reading selections, and make connections to their majors or other interests. We will also dance sometimes, but no previous dance experience is necessary. All students welcome.
Mr. Munisteri, W 1:10-4:00
Opera is a theatrical genre where the text is sung throughout, and the music contributes indispensably to the work’s dramatic and emotional impact. This course considers what makes the experience of opera so compelling for so many, and it surveys a handful of the greatest operatic masterpieces from the beginnings of opera to the nineteenth-century great tradition.
Prof. Cummings, TR 11:00-12:15
From concurrent but only loosely related theater developments that began about 1880 in Scandinavia, Russia, and Germany, what we now know as modern drama spread across the stages of continental Europe, England, Ireland, and the United States during a fifty-year period of astonishing and revolutionary artistic accomplishment. By reading and analyzing plays from the early modern theater, we will examine the evolution of a new aesthetic in response to written texts performed with such profound impact that, over a century later, they continue to shape the ways we think about the world and our place in it. The many emerging theater styles we will investigate and critique include realism, naturalism, expressionism, metatheater, and both the comedy of manners and social satire as reinvented through modernism. Probable plays and playwrights: A Doll House, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler [Henrik Ibsen]; The Father, A Dream Play [August Strindberg]; Three Sisters [Anton Chekhov]; The Importance of Being Earnest [Oscar Wilde]; Major Barbara [Bernard Shaw]; The Plough and the Stars [Sean O’Casey]; Henry IV [Luigi Pirandello]; The Playboy of the Western World [Synge]; and, Mourning Becomes Electra [Eugene O’Neill]. W: Two papers, one midterm, and one take-home final. Attendance at an evening theater performance, either on campus or in New York City, may be required. [W]
Prof. M. O’Neill TR 2:45-4
Practical experience in a professional theater or theater organization. Written reports are required of the student, as is an evaluation of the student by the supervising agency. Although a student may take two theater internships, normally in the junior and senior years, only one may be counted toward the Theater major. Advance approval of the Director of Theater required. Prof. O’Neill
Tutorial study in theater practice, initiated by the student and pursued independently under the guidance of an instructor from whom the student has gained approval and acceptance. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Theater 107 or Theater 221, and permission of the instructor. Prof. O’Neill
Under the guidance of theater faculty and normally during the senior year, the student will undertake an advanced project in one or more specialized areas of theater (e.g., acting, directing, design, criticism). The project will serve to assess the student’s theater education and demonstrate the student’s potential as a theater artist and/or practitioner. Prerequisite: Advance approval of the Director of Theater. Prof. O’Neill