English

2017-18

111 The Language of Movement

An introduction to movement as a language and to dance and performance composition. In studio sessions students will explore and expand their individual movement vocabularies by working improvisationally with weight, posture, gesture, patterns, rhythm, space, and relationship of body parts. We will ask what these vocabularies might communicate about emotion, thought, physical structures, cultural/social traditions, and aesthetic preferences. In addition, we will observe movement practices in everyday situations and in formal performance events and use these observations as inspiration for individual and group compositions. Two two-hour class/studio meetings and a two-hour production workshop per week. Selected readings and viewing of video and live performance.

Limited to 20 students (6 spots reserved for first-year students). Fall semester. Professor Woodson.

Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

112 Materials of Theater

An introduction to design, directing, and performance conducted in a combined discussion/workshop format. Students will be exposed to visual methods of interpreting a text. Early class discussions focus on a theoretical exploration of theater as an art form and seek to establish a vocabulary for and understanding of basic theatrical conventions, with readings from Aristotle through Robert Wilson. Students will spend the bulk of the semester testing these theories for themselves, ultimately designing their own performances for two plays. Two two-hour classes and two-hour production workshop included in this time.

Limited to 12 students per section. Fall and spring semesters. Professor Dougan.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022

113 Action and Character

This course examines the creation of dramatic action and character from the points of view of  both the playwright and the actor.  Students learn how to analyze and bring dramatic texts to life through a creative process, using the body, voice and imagination.

Classwork includes regular acting exercises designed to develop craft and to give students an understanding of creative and collaborative processes. Homework includes regular rehearsal assignments and theoretical texts, along with practical research and short writing assignments in various modes.  Two two-hour class meetings per week.  In addition, a lab component (equivalent to two hours per week) puts class study into production context.

Limited to 20 students (In the Fall, 6 spots reserved for first-year students). Fall semester: Professor Eliraz.


 

Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

114 Contemporary Performance:  Case Studies

This course will focus on case studies of selected works and artists of contemporary performance over the last century as a means of placing the creation and practice of theater and dance in context.  We will closely consider these case studies as reflective of important aesthetic traditions and experiments in contemporary performance.  In addition, we will seek connections between the different case study examples and the social, cultural and political environments that fostered them.  We will reflect on issues of race, gender, identity, political activism, individual expression and differing collaborative structures in our encounters with these case studies.  We will also look to historical precedents and sources that inform our understanding of artistic innovations and processes.  Required of Theater and Dance majors.

This foundation course in the history/theory of performance is open to all students. Limited to 30 students.  Spring semester.  Visiting Professor Eliraz.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020

115H Contemporary Dance: Modern 1/2

The study and practice of contemporary movement vocabularies, including regional dance forms, contact improvisation and various modern dance techniques. Objectives include the intellectual and physical introduction to this discipline as well as increased body awareness, alignment, flexibility, coordination, strength, musical phrasing and the expressive potential of movement. The course material is presented at the beginning/intermediate level. A half course. Because the specific genres and techniques will vary from semester to semester, the course may be repeated for credit.

Fall and Spring semester. Visiting Professor Brown.

Other years: Offered in Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018

116H Contemporary Dance Techniques: Modern 3

The study and practice of contemporary movement vocabularies, including regional dance forms, contact improvisation and various modern dance techniques. Objectives include the intellectual and physical introduction to this discipline as well as increased body awareness, alignment, flexibility, coordination, strength, musical phrasing and the expressive potential of movement. The course material is presented at the beginning/intermediate level. A half course.  Because the specific genres and techniques will vary from semester to semester, the course may be repeated for credit.

Omitted 2017-18.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2015

117H Contemporary Dance: Modern 3/4 Practicing Presence and Performance

This intermediate-level movement practice class is designed for students with previous movement experience who wish to deepen their work as dance artists through the continued development of physical and performance-related skills. Infusing somatic inquiry and improvisational exploration alongside building specific alignment/coordination connections in movement organization, this class is an ongoing experiment with a vast terrain of practices that energize and attune ourselves, both individually and together, to the interconnected wholeness of our moving form and being. We transcribe this physical research into the embodiment of increasingly complex and dynamic movement phrases, eventually dancing this material within expansive performance propositions and scores. Our intention is to practice moving with clarity, freedom, adaptability, and artistry, excavating a personal presence and unique movement expression in the moment of performance.

Fall semester. Visiting Instructor Martin.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

120H Contemporary Dance Techniques: Ballet/Modern 1/2

The study and practice of contemporary movement vocabularies, including regional dance forms, contact improvisation and various modern dance techniques. Objectives include the intellectual and physical introduction to this discipline as well as increased body awareness, alignment, flexibility, coordination, strength, musical phrasing and the expressive potential of movement. The course material is presented at the beginning/intermediate level.  A half course. Because the specific genres and techniques will vary from semester to semester, the course may be repeated for credit.

Omitted 2017-18.

 
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024

121H Contemporary Dance Technique: Modern Ballet 2/3

The study and practice of contemporary movement vocabularies, including regional dance forms, contact improvisation and various modern dance techniques. Objectives include the intellectual and physical introduction to this discipline as well as increased body awareness, alignment, flexibility, coordination, strength, musical phrasing and the expressive potential of movement. The course material is presented at the beginning/intermediate level. A half course.  Because the specific genres and techniques will vary from semester to semester, the course may be repeated for credit.

Omitted 2017-18

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2016, Spring 2019

126 Sport and Spectacle in Ancient Greece and Rome

(See CLAS 126)

142H Contemporary Dance Techniques: West African

The study and practice of contemporary movement vocabularies, including regional dance forms, contact improvisation and various modern dance techniques. Because the specific genres and techniques will vary from semester to semester, the course may be repeated for credit. Objectives include the intellectual and physical introduction to this discipline as well as increased body awareness, alignment, flexibility, coordination, strength, musical phrasing and the expressive potential of movement. The course material is presented at the beginning/intermediate level.

Fall semester. Five College Lecturer Sylla.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021

153 African-American Theater History

How does African-American theater construct and express Black experiences and identities?  This lecture and discussion course explores the development of African-American cultural production in twentieth- and recent twenty-first century American theater.  In this course we will explore the significance of performance as a Black diasporic cultural tradition. We will consider the ways in which a distinctive Black sensibility emerged on the modern American stage from pre- and post-colonial expressive practices and aesthetics, and how the theatrical work of African-American artists exposes, critiques, and resists marginalization. Through a broad investigation of select productions, plays, essays and other texts we will identify the underlying philosophies and techniques of performance that inform the works, and assess their significance in relation to other American theatrical movements and to American history. In our study and inquiry we will collaborate on vivifying select texts, paying close attention to how race, class, and gender/sex impact our understanding of the worlds and events that unfold within them.

Limited to 30 students. Fall semester. Visiting Instructor Escobar.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2016, Fall 2017

154 Re-Imagining the Classics

(Offered as CLAS-154 and THDA-154)  How can we look back to classic plays that were written one or two millennia ago and use them as the basis for a new piece of art that will be relevant and inspiring to a contemporary audience?

This course will explore how artists from various media--theater, film, TV, dance, music, painting--have interpreted and re-authored classical texts. We will discuss western classics as well as canonical texts from Japan, India, Africa and Latin America.

Are there any shared fundamental human elements among these very different continents and cultures? What made these texts enter the eternal dramatic canon of our civilization? Why are artists from various disciplines constantly attracted to re-authoring these classics? How can we build upon these works of the past to create something new, personal and relevant to our time?

The course will examine these questions using a variety of audio-visual examples, dramatic and critical texts, and studio exercises.  Students will also re-author a classical text as a contemporary piece, in various artistic media.

Limited to 20 students.  Fall semester.  Professor Eliraz.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2016, Fall 2017

155 Introduction to Dance Studies: Dance Performance and Theory

(Offered as SWAG 155 and THDA 155) This course will focus on dance performance as it reflects theories of gender, sexuality, critical race, crip (disability), and queer studies. We will look at these theories to gain an introductory understanding of their origins, perspectives, and frameworks, specifically around the physical body and performance. Through readings, discussions, viewing of recordings of contemporary choreographic work, analytic writings, movement experiences, and attendance at live dance events, we will use these theoretical frameworks to deconstruct dance performance to determine how dance is a cultural art practice that is constantly theorizing and subverting the implications of the body through performance. 

We will reference theorists such as Judith Butler, Susan Bordo, bell hooks, Michel Foucault, Brenda Dixon Gottschild, Laura Mulvey, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Michael Warner. Some of the choreographers we will examine in this course include Martha Graham, Katherine Dunham, Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Pina Bausch, Ralph Lemon, Bill T. Jones, and Crystal Pite. 

Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Assistant Professor Brown.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018, Fall 2018

160 Dynamics of Play Reading: Elements, Structures, Paradigms

In this course, students explore elements of dramatic literature and their implications for audience experiences in performance. Character, language, spectacle, plot, rhythm, and theme are studied in the light of dynamic audience response in real time and space. Particular emphasis is placed on exploring the legacy of classical form and later evolutionary and innovative responses to it. In addition to exercises in analytical and descriptive writing, students undertake experiential projects that explore distinctive theatrical conventions of the plays studied. When possible, course activities may also include attending live performances.  Exemplary plays are chosen for their contrasting qualities, from antiquity to the present, including plays by Euripides, Shakespeare, Chekhov, Shaw, and selected post war authors. Two class meetings per week.

Omitted 2017-18. Professor Bashford.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2010, Spring 2012, Fall 2014, Spring 2016

209 Contemporary Dance Technique and Repertory Modern 3/4

This course will include studio sessions in contemporary modern/jazz dance technique at the intermediate level and rehearsal sessions to create original choreography; the completed piece(s) will be presented in concert at the end of the semester. The emphasis in the course will be to increase expressive range, technical skills and performance versatility of the dancer through the practice, creation and performance of technique and choreography. In addition, the course will include required readings, the viewing of dance videos and live performances to give an increased understanding of the historical and contemporary context for the work.  Audition for course enrollment will be held the first day of class.

Omitted 2017-18.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2020

216H Contemporary Dance Techniques: Modern 4/5

The study and practice of contemporary movement vocabularies, including regional dance forms, contact improvisation and various modern dance techniques. Objectives include the intellectual and physical introduction to this discipline as well as increased body awareness, alignment, flexibility, coordination, strength, musical phrasing and the expressive potential of movement. The course material is presented at the intermediate/advanced level.  A half course.  Because the specific genres and techniques will vary from semester to semester, the course may be repeated for credit.

Omitted 2017-18.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Spring 2021, Spring 2022

217H Contemporary Dance Techniques: Modern/Ballet 4

The study and practice of contemporary movement vocabularies, including regional dance forms, contact improvisation and various modern dance techniques. Objectives include the intellectual and physical introduction to this discipline as well as increased body awareness, alignment, flexibility, coordination, strength, musical phrasing and the expressive potential of movement. The course material is presented at the intermediate/advanced level.  A half course.  Because the specific genres and techniques will vary from semester to semester, the course may be repeated for credit.

Requisite: Ballet 1/2 or Ballet 2/3. Spring semester. Lecturer MacArthur.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2013, Spring 2018

220 History of Opera

(See MUSI 220)

225H The Craft of Speaking II: Spoken Expression

In this second course in the craft of speaking, students learn to shape and speak text to powerful effect. Students build on prior work to extend vocal range and capacity while learning component principles of spoken expression. Articulation, inflection, methods of contrast and interpretation, tone, verbal imaging and aural structures of poetry and rhetoric are practiced in a studio setting. Emphasis is placed on personal engagement and presence to others while speaking. Assignments in text scoring and memorization support class work. The course culminates in presentations of prepared texts. Two class meetings per week.

Requisite:  THDA 125H.  Omitted 2017-18.  Professor Bashford.

Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2023, Spring 2025

230 The Instrument:  Body of Work

“All theatre is about paying attention.”  Andrei Serban

This studio course will offer techniques that foster expansive physical and emotional concentration as well as the development of character through improvisation scores and within scene work.  As performers of theater, students will explore issues of voice, body and imagination by refining inherent resources with specificity of action and articulate expression.

Two two-hour sessions per week.  Previous theater and / or dance experience recommended.  Readings in acting theory accompany the discipline of weekly physical explorations.

Requisite: THDA 113. Omitted 2017-18.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2020

234 Dance and History: Sites, Bodies, and Perspectives

Dance and History focuses on dance as an expression of cultural and global identities and introduces a variety of western and non-western dance forms and practices in their cultural, social, and political contexts. As such, our investigation will consider the aesthetic traditions, history, and practice of select western and non-western dance forms including African, Asian, and European theatrical, ritualistic, social, and/or vernacular movement practices. We will learn about how dance transmits cultural, social, and political values and develop an understanding of a diverse range of dance forms and practices. Through readings, discussions, video/visual materials, movement experiences, and attendance at live dance events, we will practice observing, analyzing, discussing, and writing about dance thoughtfully, clearly, and intelligently. Throughout our study we will integrate critical thinking, reading and analytic skills.

Limited to 30 students. Omitted 2017-18. Visiting Instructor Escobar.

 
2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2017

240 Contemporary Fashion in a Historical Perspective

Using a seminar format, this course will ask students to choose a topic and explore the relationship between culture and clothing in historical context, addressing issues of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality and their connection to the aesthetics of self-expression. In addition, students will develop their own contempory fashion ideas using the Audubon Portfolio as a point of departure. Individually scheduled weekly labs, conducted by Emily Hoem, professional cutter draper for the Theater and Dance Department, will teach the necessary technical skills needed to fabricate one garment.  

Limited to 10 students with consent from the instructor. Spring semester. Professor Dougan.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2013, Fall 2024

242 Plays in Play: The Ensemble and the Playwright

In this course, students conduct rehearsal investigations into the work of a particular playwright, and explore ways in which coordinated action renders dramatic writing in theatrical form.  In addition to examining selected plays and background material, students develop ensemble techniques of play, improvisation, and staging.  Emphasis is placed on the communicative means required to develop a shared vision.  This course is open to students interested in any aspect of play production but is required for students who want to do advanced work in directing in the department.  All students should expect to act, co-direct, conduct research, and explore basic visual design implications together.  The course will culminate in a workshop-style performance, and group rehearsals outside of class meeting times are required.  This course may be repeated once when the selected playwright is different.  The playwright for fall 2016 was Bertolt Brecht.

Requisite: A prior college-level course in theater or permission of the instructor. Not open to first-year students. Limited to 24 students.  Omitted 2017-18. Professor Bashford. 

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016

243 Revolutions in Theater

(See RUSS 242)

249 Partner Dancing (Beginner Composition)

In this course, we practice moving and being moved by each other.  We explore weight sharing, body-part manipulations, off-balance support, negative space, resistance, and various ways of harnessing forces of momentum.  We generate inventive dances using a toolbox of construction methods.  We discuss how our moving and making movement together illuminate and intertwine personal identities, cultural backgrounds, compositional habits, and aesthetic sensibilities. We study eclectic performance troupes and cross-cultural duet forms that use collaborative partnering – how bodies negotiate in time and space to create moving relationships – to embody questions of intimacy, race, power, and place. There are regular out-of-class reading and writing assignments in the creative process, performance viewings with written reflections, and a final choreography project with a public showing. 

Requisite:  A previous movement course or permission of the instructor. Limited to 20 students. Omitted 2017-18. Professor Matteson.

 
2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2017, Fall 2019

250 Video Production: Bodies in Motion

(Offered as THDA 250 and FAMS 226)  This studio production class will focus on multiple ways of tracking, viewing, and capturing bodies in motion. The course will emphasize working with the camera as an extension of the body to explore radically different points of view and senses of focus. We will experiment with different techniques and different kinds of bodies (human, animal, and object) to bring a heightened awareness of kinesthetic involvement, animation and emotional immediacy to the bodies on screen and behind the camera. In addition, we will interject and follow bodies into different perceptions of time, progression, place and relationship. In the process, we will express various experiences and theories of embodiment and question what constitutes a body. Depending on student interests, final projects can range from choreographies for the camera to fictional narratives to documentary studies. The class will alternate between camera sessions, both in the studio and on location, and sessions in the editing suite working with Final Cut Pro.

Requisite: Previous experience in composition. Limited to 12 students. Omitted 2017-18. Professor Woodson.

Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2017, Fall 2023

252 Scripts and Scores

This course will provide structures and approaches for creating original choreography, performance pieces and events. An emphasis will be placed on interdisciplinary and experimental approaches to composition, choreography, and performance making. These approaches include working with text and movement, visual systems and environments, music, sound and chance scores to inspire and include in performance. Students will create and perform dance, theater, or performance art pieces for both traditional theater spaces and for found (indoor and outdoor) spaces.

This course is open to dancers and actors as well as interested students from other media and disciplines. Two two-hour class meetings per week and weekly lab/rehearsal sessions. Consent of the instructor is required for students with no experience in improvisation or composition.

Limited to 12 students. Omitted 2017-18. Professor Woodson.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2023

253 Intermediate Choreography

This course will provide students with tools and techniques for deepening and expanding their ability to express movement and help them create original choreography through a range of compositional structures. Using different improvisational methods based on diverse sources, the class will experiment with ways to generate personal movement and structure this material into choreographic works. The course will also help students develop clarity in  their choreographic and performance intention and tools for discussing and analyzing the art of choreography. The course is focused on combining physical practice and creative methods with critical thinking in order to develop and extend each student's movement language.  This class is for students who are at an intermediate level in dance technique and/or composition.

Requisite: Previous courses in dance technique and/or composition. Limited to 15 students. Omitted 2017-18.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2016

255 Sound, Movement, and Text: Interactions and Collaborations

(Offered as THDA 255, ENGL 223, and MUSI 255) This studio course is designed as an interactive laboratory for dancers, composers, actors, writers/poets, vocalists, and sound artists to work together to create meaningful interactions between sound, movement, and text. Working individually and in collaborative groups, students will create original material in the various media and experiment with multiple ways to craft interesting exchanges and dialogues between word, sound, and movement or to create hybrid forms.  The emphasis in the course will be to work with exercises and structures that engender deep listening, looking, and imagining.  Some of the questions that inform the course include: How do music, voices, electronic, digital, and natural sounds create a sonic world for live performance and vice versa? How can movement inform the writing of text and vice-versa? How can we successfully communicate and collaborate across and between the different languages of sounds, words, and movement?  We will have a series of informal studio performances, events, and installations throughout the semester with a culminating final showing/listening at the end of the semester.

Requisite: Previous experience in composition in one or more of the central media, or permission of the instructors. Limited to 16 students. Spring semester. Professor Woodson and Visiting Instructor Meginsky.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020

260 Costume Design and Fashion History

An introduction to the analytical methods and skills necessary for the creation of costumes for theater and dance with emphasis on the integration of costume with other visual elements. Western costume history. Lab work in costume construction.

Requisite: THDA 112 or consent of the instructor.  Limited to 8 students.  Omitted 2017-18.  Professor Dougan.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2021

261 Lighting Design

An introduction to the theory and techniques of theatrical lighting, with emphasis on the aesthetic and practical aspects of the field as well as the principles of light and color.

Requisite: THDA 112 or consent of the instructor. Lab work in lighting technology.  Fall semester. Resident Lighting Designer Couch.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021

263 Scene Design

The materials, techniques and concepts which underlie the design and creation of the theatrical environment.

Requisite: THDA 112 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 8 students. Fall semester.  Professor Dougan.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2020, Fall 2020

266, 267 Ensemble: Dancing in Community

This advanced studio course is designed for students who want to develop their skills as dance/theater artists by participating in the creation of a student dance company that is viable and sustainable in a liberal arts environment.  Students enrolled in this course will be part of an ensemble and perform regularly in different sites in the Five College Community.  In addition to the ongoing practice of technique, class times will focus on learning and creating different repertory with the instructor of the course, guest artists and the students who are enrolled in the course. 

 In addition, we will examine different professional dance company models as inspiration in the formation of the ensemble as well as research diverse examples for community engagement and the arts.  Questions that will inform the work include: What does it mean to be part of a performing ensemble in a liberal arts setting?  How do performance art making and community intersect?  What are potential structures for organizing an ensemble performance company to insure flexibility as well as sustainability? What are some of the challenges in keeping a collaborative body together and viable? Three two-hour meetings per week plus lab TBA.

Requisite: Previous performance experience in dance/theater.  Limited to 10 students. Admission with consent of the instructor after audition. Fall semester. Visiting Professor D. Brown.

Other years: Offered in Fall 2023, Fall 2024

270 Playwriting I

(Offered as THDA 270 and ENGL 222) A workshop in writing for the stage. The semester will begin with exercises that lead to the making of short plays and, by the end of the term, longer plays--ten minutes and up in length. Writing will be done in and out of class; students’ work will be discussed in the workshop and in private conferences. At the end of the term, the student will submit a portfolio of revisions of all the exercises, including the revisions of all plays.

Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Not open to first-year students. Fall semester: TBA. Spring semester: Playwright-in-Residence Congdon.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022

330 Acting Studio

The actors bring characters to life, through text, physicality and voice.  Using their own bodies, they transform the words from a play’s pages in order to become another live being onstage. This art requires not only technique, but more importantly, an original and personal interpretation of the text, its characters, and their actions.

One of the goals of this course is to nourish each actor’s capacity for personal and original interpretation, or what might be called the elusive “artist’s voice. Another goal is developing independent skills to rehearse a scene. Working toward these goals, we will work in a lab environment, rehearsing scenes and monologues from various playwright’s scripts. We will employ physical and analytical tools, which would enrich the actors’ palate of skills, foster their artist’s voice and advance their way of rehearsing a play.  The class meets three times per week for two hours.

Requisite: THDA-111, THDA-113, or a prior course in acting at the college level, or by permission of the instructor.  Limited to 16 students. Spring semester.  Visiting Professor Eliraz.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2017, Spring 2018

352 Performance in Place: Site Specific 

(Offered as THDA 352, FAMS 342 and MUSI 352) The focus of this studio course will be to create performances, installations and/or videos in multiple locations both on and off campus.  This course is especially designed for students in dance, theater, film/video, art, music and creative writing who want to explore the challenges and potentials in creating performances and events outside of traditional "frames" or venues (e.g., the theater, the gallery, the concert hall). In the first part of the semester we will experiment with different techniques for working together as an ensemble and developing responses to different spaces. We will then select different sites--based on student interest and location access--and spend the rest of the semester creating events/performances on site.  Interaction with communities at these sites will also be explored, connecting the artistic work to community engagement and raising awareness of the issues and ethics involved in site-specific performance. These projects will be performed in process and at the end of the semester in a three-day festival.  Two 80-minute classes; outside rehearsal/lab sessions TBA.

Requisite: Previous experience in improvisation and/or composition in dance, theater, performance, film/video, music/sound, installation, creative writing, and/or design is required. Omitted 2017-18.  Professor Woodson.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2013, Spring 2016, Spring 2021

353 Performance Studio

(Offered as THDA 353 and FAMS 345)  In this advanced course in the techniques of creating performance, each student will create and rehearse a performance piece that develops and incorporates original choreography, text, music, sounds and / or video. Improvisational and collaborative structures and approaches among and within different media will be investigated.  The final performance pieces will be presented in the Holden Theater. 

Two ninety-minute class sessions per week.  There will be weekly mandatory showings.  These showings are a working document of the important and  necessary vicissitudes within a creative process.   

Requisite: THDA 252 or the equivalent and consent of the instructor. Fall semester. Professor Woodson.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2020, Fall 2021

360 Design Studio

An advanced course in the arts of theatrical design. Primary focus is on the communication of design ideas and concepts with other theater artists. Also considered is the process by which developing theatrical ideas and images are realized. Students will undertake specific projects in scenic, costume and/or lighting design and execute them in the context of the Department’s production program or in other approved circumstances. Examples of possible assignments include designing workshop productions, and assisting faculty and staff designers with major responsibilities in full-scale production. In all cases, detailed analysis of the text and responsible collaboration will provide the basis of the working method. May be repeated for credit.

Requisite: THDA 260, 261, 263 or consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. Professor Dougan.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020

363 Design Studio II

This course is a continuation of THDA 360, an advanced course in the arts of theatrical design. Primary focus is on the communication of design ideas and concepts with other theater artists. Also considered is the process by which developing theatrical ideas and images are realized. Students will undertake specific projects in scenic, costume and/or lighting design and execute them in the context of the department’s production program or in other approved circumstances. Students in this course will design for a full-scale production. In all cases, detailed analysis of the text and responsible collaboration will provide the basis of the working method. May be repeated for credit.

Requisite: THDA 260, 261, or 263 or consent of the instructor.  Fall and spring semesters. Professor Dougan.

 
2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020

370 Playwriting Studio

(Offered as THDA 370 and ENGL 322) A workshop/seminar for writers who want to complete a full-length play or series of plays. Emphasis will be on bringing a script to a level where it is ready for the stage. Although there will be some exercises in class to continue the honing of playwriting skills and the study of plays by established writers as a means of exploring a wide range of dramatic vocabularies, most of the class time will be spent reading and commenting on the plays of the workshop members as these plays progress from the first draft to a finished draft.

Requisite: THDA 270 or the equivalent. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 10 students. Spring semester. Playwright-in-Residence Congdon.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022

380 The Art of Black Dance: A Panoramic Study

What is “Black” dance? How is Black expressivity discerned and preserved in American dance? The course explores the history and contributions of African American and African diasporic dance artists in the formation of American dance as a distinctive art form, with emphasis on the cultural, spiritual and social-political philosophies embedded in the traditions and practices of the Black dancing body. We will investigate the emergence of Black dance aesthetics in the American colonial period and its aftermath, and the routes of its dispersion and further development in the movement of Black citizens to America’s urban centers in the inter-war period, through the period of Civil Rights activism and the liberation movements of the 1960s-1970s, and the inculcation of Black tradition in American dance in the late twentieth century. We will trace the trajectory of this tradition through early interlocutors such as Edna Guy and Charles Williams, mavericks Josephine Baker and Ada Overton Walker, intellectuals Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus, disrupters Janet Collins and Arthur Mitchell, and popular choreographers including Talley Beatty, Donald McKayle and Alvin Ailey. We will give special attention to how these artists interact with the social forces of their time, determine their approaches to constructing meaning, and consider the contexts that contribute to their dance making. This course will also engage with the spring symposium  “African American Dance: Form, Function and Style!” through the development and presentation of student research. Through readings, discussions, visual media, movement experiences, and attendance at live dance events we will practice observing, analyzing, discussing, and writing about dance thoughtfully, clearly, and intelligently. Together we will investigate how the artists challenge, manipulate and destabilize expectations to inhabit new and expansive identities and modes of expression.

Limited to 25 students. Spring semester. Visiting Instructor Escobar.

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018

400H Production Studio

An advanced course in the production of Theater and Dance works. Primary focus will be on the integration of the individual student into a leadership role within the Department’s producing structure. Each student will accept a specific responsibility with a departmental production team testing his or her artistic, managerial, critical, and problem-solving skills.  A half course.

Admission with consent of the instructor. Not open to first-year students. Fall and spring semesters. Professor Woodson.

Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

490 Special Topics

Independent Reading Course. Full course.

Admission with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

498, 499 Senior Departmental Honors

For Honors candidates in Theater and Dance.

Open to seniors. Spring semester. The Department.

Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2024

Arts of Theater & Dance Courses

125H The Craft of Speaking I: Vocal Freedom

A beginning studio course in the development of voice for speaking. Students develop range and tone through regular physical exercises in relaxation, breathing technique, placement, and presence. Individual attention focuses on helping each student develop the physical, mental, and emotional self-awareness needed for expressive vocal production. Practice is oriented toward acting for the stage, but students with a primary interest in public speaking, teaching, or improved interpersonal communication will find this course valuable. A modicum of reading and written reflection is required.  Three class meetings per week.

Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 28 students from among those who attend the first class meeting, admitted based on class year and major.  Omitted 2017-18.   Professor Bashford.

 
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024

Studio Courses

122H Contemporary Dance Technique: Hip Hop

This class is designed to focus on the movement aspect of hip hop culture. Dance in the tradition of B-Boys and B-girls while learning a wide variety of hip hop movement. From the old school "bronx" style to commercial hip hop, learn a wide range of hip-hop vocabulary in a course emphasizing group choreography, floor work, and partner work. No previous dance experience is necessary. Class will incorporate funk, street, b-boy/b-girl, and house elements to stretch and tone the body. Class will include across the floor and center combinations which will ask the dancers to find their relationship to musicality, athleticism, dynamics, and articulation of the body.

Spring semester. Lecturer Johnson.

Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2025

340 Directing Studio

This is a studio course in leading collaborators toward completed theatrical interpretations of dramatic texts. Each student director independently produces and directs two medium-length, site-specific projects. Reading, writing, and class sessions are devoted to the practice of directing and to discussion of problems and approaches. Topics include the articulation of coherent artistic intent, the role of the audience in performance, and the use of space, sound and light. Studio exercises are employed to support directorial techniques. In addition, this course considers organizational and research methods related to successful production, and, when possible, students may collaborate with students enrolled in a relate course, such as acting or design. Two class meetings per week. Students should expect to schedule a significant amount of rehearsal time outside of class meetings for the successful completion of projects.

Requisite:  One of the following: THDA 240, 242, 252 or equivalent college-level experience with consent of the instructor. Omitted 2017-18. Professor Bashford.

 
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2025

Related Courses

FYSE-106 Language Crossing and Living in Translation   (Course not offered this year.)FYSE-112 Things Matter (Course not offered this year.)FYSE-123 Reading, Writing, and Teaching (Course not offered this year.)