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Theatre
The courses listed below are for the 2012-13 Academic Catalog and are subject to change. Please reference the Academic Catalog for further information and course descriptions. If you are a current student, please reference the catalog in which you come under.
Bachelor of Arts in Theatre
Liberal Education Curriculum 49 credit hours
Theatre Core Courses 39 credit hours
General Electives 32 credit hours
Total credit hours for the B.A. in Theatre 120 credit hours
Theatre Core Courses 39 credit hours
Introduction to Acting
THE 112Introduction to Acting focuses on the beginning development of intuitive and creative performance technique primarily through daily exercises and improvisation. Exercises concentrate on centering, sensing, focusing, freeing, speaking, and feeling and doing. The goal is to create a strong ensemble that is fearless and an environment that is physically challenging to motivate breakthroughs in the actorÕs understanding of craft and performance.
Acting III
THE 212Students continue building technique through daily exercises and by synthesizing skills for scene work, improvisation and techniques for auditions. Students will learn how to prepare, rehearse and perform scenes and monologues. Exercises concentrate on centering, sensing, focusing, freeing, speaking, and feeling and doing. The goal is to create a strong ensemble that is fearless and an environment that is physically challenging to motivate breakthroughs in the actorÕs understanding of craft and performance.
Studio Voice for the Actor
THE 235An approach to voice for the actor designed to liberate the natural, authentic voice and thereby develop a vocal technique that serves the freedom of human expression and artistic creativity on the stage and in film and television.
Design I: Scenic and Costumer
THE 270This course will introduce the student to the technical aspects of theatre and teach the student how design is a fundamental ÒcharacterÓ in any play. Students will be able to execute well-conceived aspects of design related to lighting, scenic, makeup, and costume design. Class features 12 hours of laboratory participation.
Acting III
THE 312Students continue building technique through daily exercises and by synthesizing skills for scene work, improvisation and techniques for auditions. Students will learn how to prepare, rehearse and perform scenes and monologues. Exercises concentrate on centering, sensing, focusing, freeing, speaking, and feeling and doing. The goal is to create a strong ensemble that is fearless and an environment that is physically challenging to motivate breakthroughs in the actorÕs understanding of craft and performance.
One of either English 322 or English 325:
Shakespeare
ENG 322A study of nine Shakespeare plays, including at least one from each of the main genresÐhistory, comedy, tragedy and romance.
Women on Stage
ENG 325The lines between queens and ÒqueansÓ (Renaissance slang for prostitutes), actresses and courtesans, singers and scandal makers has always disturbed the (mostly male) writers and lawmakers attempting to regulate the spectacle of a woman displaying herself in public during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Examining plays and other texts from the time when boys took female roles through the introduction of the actress to the public theatres, this course will interrogate the social, political, artistic, and moral implications of women on stage.
Audition Techniques and the Business of Acting
THE 341Preparation and practical experience in auditioning for professional theatre, film, and television. Students gain an understanding of the audition process and equip themselves with audition materials and techniques culminating in an evaluation by casting professionals.
Stage Combat
THE 345Learn to safely perform staged scenes of armed and unarmed conflict and violence in this extremely physical class. Techniques focus on safety, precision, and acting choices relating to fight scenes and include performing techniques as falling, rolling, punching, kicking, swordplay, and blocking, incorporating non-contact and contact techniques. Students will perform a fight scene from a classical or contemporary script, and may elect to have their scene adjudicated by a Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors (additional fees may apply for SAFD testing).
Lighting
THE 370 Design IIPrerequisite: permission of professor. This course continues the training begun in THE 270 Design I. The course teaches the student technical aspects of theater and how design is a fundamental ÒcharacterÓ in any play. Students will be able to execute well-conceived aspects of design related to lighting, scenic, makeup, and costume design. Class features 12 hours of laboratory participation.
Theatre History
THE 390The myriad of theatrical events and experiences open to us have their roots in the theatre we have inherited--2500 years of western theatre and nearly 2000 years of Asian theatre. What are these many kinds of theatre, and where did they come from? These are the questions that Theatre History addresses. Theatre History examines the origins of theatre, the ways historians reconstruct the elements of theatre, innovations in theatre, and epochs of theatre history from the Greeks to the present day.
Acting IV
THE 412The achievement of ÒstyleÓ in acting depends upon analysis of how plays are rooted in form, content, language, and historical period. Students will be guided along the path from intention to performance where the specific requirements of a style create a living, breathing, emotional reality of a particular time and place. Students begin the task of translating stylistic period elements in a way that modern audiences can clearly understand. Style work will connect directly to PCT productions.
Theatre Performance
THE 201-202Students perform in William Peace Theatre productions.
