Theatre Department

Courses

Courses-Photo-2020.jpg
Theatre history students visit Reed Special Collections to learn about archival work.

THEA 100 - Theatre Laboratory

THEA 100 is a class in which students, faculty, and staff work together to create departmental stage productions. In this class, students learn about different parts of making theatre-from onstage to backstage work-that are required to make a theatre production. Students also learn the arts of collaboration and producing. Students may repeat this course for credit, and each time a student takes this class they can experience a different production role. Roles available include performer in mainstage shows, dramaturg, designer, stage manager, assistant director, and more. This course is available to majors and nonmajors, and students are admitted to the course by audition or department approval. All students, regardless of experience, are welcome to take this class, and if a student is interested in this class, the faculty will work with the student to help them find a role

Unit(s): 0.5
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 8 times for credit
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 201 - Stagecraft

As an introduction to theatre technology, this course will familiarize students with the many components of theatrical production. It will provide students with a deeper understanding of the organizational structure and concepts involved in producing live performances, as well as provide instruction in safe practices. Students will be introduced to many of the tools and mechanisms that are used today and how they have been made popular and/or standard. Topics will include the historical progression of theatre technology and machinery; the science of sound, light, and material structure; and current techniques used to implement production designs in scenery, lighting, sound, costumes, and properties

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Lecture-laboratory
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;

THEA 202 - Introduction to Theatrical Design

Introduction to the design of the physical environment of the stage. Unifying aesthetic principles and distinctions will be considered in relation to scenery, costume, lighting, makeup, and sound for live performance. The course emphasizes script analysis, the elements of design, and the principles of composition and design conceptualization with reference to historical and modern practices and technologies.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference-laboratory
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 204 - Fundamentals of Acting and Performance: Movement

This course introduces students to the craft of acting and actor-driven performance creation, with a focus on embodiment. We will base our activities in physical theatre methods, including but not limited to Suzuki, Viewpoints, Composition, Lecoq, and/or Laban. Additional attention will be paid to the role of breath and voice in preparing the body to speak.

Unit(s): 0.5
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 2 times for credit with permission of the instructor.
Notes: This course is intended to complement THEA 205; THEA 204 and THEA 205 may be taken in any sequence. May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.

THEA 205 - Fundamentals of Acting and Performance: Text

This course introduces students to the craft of acting and actor-driven performance creation, with a focus on scene study. We will base our activities in Stanislavskian theatre methods, as well as exercises drawn from Spolin and/or Boal. The course will include script analysis, objectives and actions, physicalization, character development, and vocal resonance and projection.

Unit(s): 0.5
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 4 times for credit with permission of the instructor.
Notes: This course is intended to complement THEA 204; THEA 204 and THEA 205 may be taken in any sequence. May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.

THEA 215 - Improv

This course challenges students to embrace the challenges of improvisation in a variety of theatrical contexts, and to reflect on those experiences through a rigorous engagement with play theory. In a sequence of short units, we will explore improv-based games, improv comedy, improvisation-based devising work, and the improvisation structures commonly used in the context of applied theatre work (including forum theatre, Playback Theatre, and sociodrama)

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.

THEA 223 - Visual Performance Narratives

This course will look at both the history and contemporary practice of visual storytelling as the basis for performance. We will investigate futurist sintesi, tableaux vivants, The Theatre of Images, durational and serial performance, multiscreen installation, and other similar forms. We will examine the techniques and theories of related artists, thinkers, and movements, and do readings on the nature of images. Students will invent and perform their own image-based performances, using various media and performance styles, ending the class with a public presentation of the original works

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 225 - Drawing, Rendering, and Modeling Live Performances

Before we act, we have to imagine what it is we want to enact. In this course students will study and practice approaches to communicating visual ideas as a tool in the development of a live performance. Students will respond to prompts and performance texts in sketches, models, drafting, and digital rendering. Both analog and digital tools and techniques will be explored. Students will learn key concepts in visual representation including accuracy and precision, scale and proportion, projection and perspective

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.

THEA 233 - Devising

This is a studio-based class in which students learn the tools and techniques for creating original performance based on source material-including poetry, prose, plays, found text, music, site, and self. The emphasis will be on ensemble-based/collective creation, and the key methodology will be improvisation/movement research. Students will create short, original performances

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 237 - Reimagining Classics

This course explores the ways in which classic texts from antiquity to the mid 20th century are reimagined, reworked, and retold. We will focus on reimaginings that highlight minoritarian perspectives and explore crossings of genre, medium, time, and culture. We will deconstruct the canon, as well as question our contemporary investment in these texts. What connects us to these stories? Why retell them? How can we make the past speak to and about the present?

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 251 - Theatre History I: Antiquity to Naturalism

This course is a survey of theatre history from antiquity to the late 1800s. In it, we will examine the relationship between theatre and society, including how theatre both reflects and shapes the world outside its walls, and vice versa. This course focuses on reading plays, critical essays, and historical documents, as well as essay writing and a final project. We will address questions of physical performance space, performance style, audience, the development of design, and the political and social consequences of making theatre at different moments in history.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 252 - Theatre History II: Naturalism to 9/11

This course surveys developments in twentieth-century European and American experimental theatre by examining the work of influential directors, playwrights, designers, theorists, and theatre collectives. Changing views of the theatre's aesthetic and social functions will be explored. Special topics will include the rise of the director, the evolution of theatrical space, models of theatrical organization, and the role of the avant-garde.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 261 - Play Lab

This course will serve as a laboratory in which to explore theatrical texts and develop text analysis skills fundamental for any theatre practice. Texts chosen will largely be modern works from playwrights of color and queer playwrights. Students will develop skills for cold reading and will examine plays by reading through them as an ensemble of players. This examination will be bolstered by postreading discussions centered around representation, identity, race, equity, and beyond. This course is intended both for students who are curious about theatre but don't know how to begin exploring their curiosity and for advanced theatre makers eager to discuss how to improve the art form. The course will culminate in a final project

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 270 - Race and Identity in American Theatre

The course explores the role American theatre has played in the construction, preservation, and interrogation of race and gender categories. Students analyze works that employ performance as a venue for political activism, for cultivation of intraethnic pride, and for explorations of social issues too sensitive to be addressed in other contexts. Drawing upon readings from the theatre and other humanities and social science disciplines, this course examines the ways dramatic texts help to foster intra- and cross-cultural understanding, and also how a familiarity with the politics of representation and various other concerns of identity-based cultural groups can inform performance practices. Students examine works from a variety of cultural traditions in an effort to understand how seemingly common institutions or value systems (family, gender, class dynamics) must always be viewed through specific historical and cultural lenses. This course provides students with a more nuanced understanding of what race is and how it functions in America, and how theatre has been implicated as both a tool of racism and a means by which to resist its effects

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 276 - Community-Based Performance

This course explores the role of theatre making in civic change around race and inequality. In the course, students will study approaches to theatre that directly interact with the civic life of diverse communities, as well as ways the history of theatre can be better understood as being intertwined with and responsible to civic life. In collaboration with local theatre companies and practitioners, students will incorporate their classroom studies on historically relevant theatre practices (such as Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed; the United Farmworkers' El Teatro Campesino; and the Black Arts Movement) with a firsthand engagement in local community-based theatre groups and non-arts organizations using theatre for community engagement

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference-studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 280 - Gender and Theatre

This course examines the roles gender has played in shaping world theatre as well as the roles theatre has played in shaping various cultural conceptions of gender. We will focus particularly on twentieth-century performance, including cross-dressing, "re-dressing" of canonical plays, the ascent of performance art, and questions of theatre and gender raised by performers from Japan to Cuba. We will interrogate the historical, cultural, and personal variability of the notion of gender itself, asking ourselves: What are theatre artists doing with the idea of gender?

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 290 - Introduction to Performance Studies

Performance studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines "performance" in all of its multiple incarnations-including theatre, dance, visual art, everyday life, folklore, rituals and celebrations, and protests. Richard Schechner defines performance as "twice-behaved behavior"-repeatable, embodied activities. This course serves as an introduction to the major themes and issues within the discourse of performance studies. We will look at both the roots of this interdisciplinary field and the directions it might be heading. Readings will include some of the seminal texts in the field, including the work of Richard Schechner, J.L. Austin, Judith Butler, Erving Goffman, Diana Taylor, and others. We will examine how performance studies contributes to the study of theatre, as well as to an understanding of our increasingly mediated and globalized world. The course will be divided into sections including ritual and drama; performativity/performative utterance; embodiment/performing Identity; globalization and interculturalism; and performance ethnography. Students will apply readings in performance theory to performance sites such as theatre, museums, sports events, meals, community celebrations and more.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference-laboratory
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 301 - Junior Seminar

This course is a rigorous investigation of theatre for junior theatre and interdisciplinary theatre majors. In this course, students will hone their skills in dramatic theory, critical writing, and research methodologies. Additional areas of study include theatre and social constructs, theatre and performance studies, the relationship of theatre and politics, and the business of professional theatre. This course asks the questions: What tools do I need to study and make theatre at an advanced level? How do artistic practice and academic scholarship work together to make a total artist/scholar? This course will focus on close readings, writing assignments, embodied exercises, and collaboration. This course prepares students both for the junior qualifying examination in theatre and for advanced production work and the senior thesis

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing in theatre or a theatre-combined interdisciplinary major.
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 303 - Independent Performance Production

This class focuses on grassroots producing and collaboration by immersing students in hands-on laboratory work in these areas. Students take on the role of members of a theatre company, producing a semester-long season of independent public performances. The class will include work in a variety of areas, including artistic direction, season selection, technical direction, marketing, design, and dramaturgy. Depending on the vision of the group, there may be opportunities for those in the class to produce their own work.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): THEA 100 and one 200- or 300-level theatre course
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.

THEA 310 - Techniques of Acting: Contemporary Theatre

This course focuses on the theory and practice of various acting techniques employed in contemporary Western theatre. Emphasis will be placed on both physical and psychological aspects of performance and characterization. Readings and research will focus on major practitioners and playwrights. Studio work is supplemented with writings by contemporary theorists and practitioners relevant to these topics.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): THEA 204 or THEA 205, or approved alternate with audition
Instructional Method: Conference-laboratory
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 323 - Puppetry and the Performing Object

This course focuses on the history and practice of puppetry in historical and contemporary contexts, and the incorporation of puppets and performing objects into avant-garde performance contexts. We focus our study on the traditions of shadow puppetry in various regions (e.g., Indonesia, China, Greece) as well as other puppetry traditions such as Japan's Bunraku and contemporary object performance. Lab work includes designing, constructing, and performing in various different puppetry styles. The course culminates in a large-scale shadow puppet performance

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 326 - Costume Design

This course will examine the costume designer's responsibilities as an artist and collaborator and explore the relationship among text, concept, and production as we undertake costume design projects throughout the semester. We will develop research, communication, and rendering skills as applied to the collaborative process of costume design. Discussions will include fabrication materials, performative movement, character and emotion, fashion, and pure visual expression as we work to create designs for clothing for text-based performances.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): THEA 202 or approved alternate
Instructional Method: Conference-laboratory
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 328 - Performance Technology

This course is an investigation into the technologies and techniques used for integrating media into the performance environment with a focus on sound and projected images. Contemporary and historical techniques for media integration will be examined through readings, viewings, and performance projects. Technologies examined include audio composition, live-feed video, prepared video content, and interactive performance.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): THEA 202 
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 331 - Directing

This course is an investigation of approaches to script analysis and directorial tools for working with actors in bringing a text from page to stage. We will explore the process of developing and implementing a production concept: its formulation through analysis, rehearsal processes, and realization in theatrical terms in performance. Lab work will be supplemented by relevant writing by influential directors

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): THEA 204 or THEA 205 or approved alternate with consent of the instructor
Instructional Method: Studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 335 - Playwriting

This course is an exploration of the art and craft of playwriting. Structure, form, character, plot, and theme will be discussed, as will the art of critique and feedback. The course is structured around readings of published plays, discussions of essays about the theory and practice of playwriting, and practical writing exercises. Writing projects will lead to the development of short plays for public readings.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): Completion of at least two theatre courses (including one from THEA 100, THEA 202THEA 204, THEA 205, THEA 331) or admission through an approved writing sample with consent of the instructor
Instructional Method: Conference-laboratory
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 336 - Dramaturgy

This course is an examination of the art, craft, and study of dramaturgy. In it we will attempt to build an answer for the vexing question "What is a dramaturg?" and, most of all, we will seek to discover who dramaturgs are, how they work and what they do. In this course we will study the large number of things that make up the art of dramaturgy: translation and adaptation, new play development, production dramaturgy, theatre criticism, in-depth research, literary management, season selection, and artistic collaboration, among others. We will also study established dramaturgs, their writings, and how they work in the theatre. This conference will combine theoretical and practical approaches, collaborative work and individual research. This conference will prepare students to work as dramaturgs on departmental productions, and give a solid foundation in how to do research and writing in the field of theatre

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing and one 200-level theatre history course
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
  • Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
  • Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).

THEA 470 - Thesis

Unit(s): 2
Instructional Method: Independent Study
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Notes: Yearlong course, 1 unit per semester.

THEA 481 - Independent Study

Unit(s): Variable: 0.5 - 1
Prerequisite(s): Instructor and division approval
Instructional Method: Independent Study
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 4 times for credit