Download Collaboration Course Information

Loyola University Chicago – Department of Fine and Performing Arts
Theatrical Collaboration Course
Fall 2014
Course Information
In this class, we will learn to bring an idea for a theatrical production through the collaborative process and
onto the stage. Design, production, directing, dramaturgy, writing and acting students will learn
to illuminate a theme, create a theatrical vocabulary beyond any one discipline, and challenge themselves
to take ownership over the story as a whole. This class is will be team taught by Philip Dawkins and Devon
DeMayo. The class will be offered in the Fall semester, with a public performance in the Underground
Theatre at the beginning of the Spring 2015 Semester. The course will be broken down into three sections:
Section 1 – Dramaturgy and Creating Trust
Students will learn the active process of dramaturgy and apply it to the creation of a new work. In addition to
research material relevant to the themes and ideas of the work being created, students will also read essays that
speak to the process of theatrical collaboration, and plays that utilize style in relevant ways.

Goal - At the end of this section, students should have a shared dramaturgy to start the creative process of
building a show, and a strong set of guidelines for collaboration during this process.
Section 2 – Generation and Exploration
This section is the bulk of the class, and allows us to dive into the material we have researched for the
show. Composition work, improvisation, writing exercises and design challenges will build the base of our
exploration. There will also be the written element to the course - the writing of the play. A working online
document will be set up, where students can contribute outside of classroom hours and track the script separately
from classroom explorations.

Goal - Students should understand the theatrical structure of the play, the tone and style and be strong
collaborators in the room.
Section 3 – Solidifying Our Thoughts
This section is a culmination of the exploration. Students will organize the script, performance and design ideas and
present them. This will culminate in enough material by semester end that the instructors will be able to return with
a working draft to produce in the studio theater in January.

Goal - At the end of this section, students will perform a section of the first draft of the play. Students will
also have a solid working draft and organized dramaturgy of the process and supporting material.
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Instructor Biographies
Philip Dawkins is a Chicago-based playwright and
adjuct professor at Loyola. His credits include: The
Homosexuals (About Face – Jeff nomination),
Failure: A Love Story (Victory Gardens), Miss Marx
or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living
(Steppenwolf First Look reading), Dead Letter
Office (Dog and Pony Theatre); Yes To Everything!
(Chicago, New York, California, DC); Perfect (The
Side Project); Ugly Baby (Chicago Opera
Vanguard/Strawdog Theatre Company); A Still Life
In Color (T.U.T.A. Company). A graduate of Loyola
University, Chicago, Mr. Dawkins is an Artistic
Associate of About Face Theatre, an Ensemble
Playwright at Victory Gardens, and a founding
member of Chicago Opera Vanguard. Mr. Dawkins
teaches playwriting at Northwestern University
and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program
for writers with disabilities.
Devon DeMayo is a founder and associate artistic
director of Dog & Pony Theatre Company. Her
directing credits include: The Further Adventures
of Hedda Gabler (Dog & Pony), As Told by the
Vivian Girls (Dog & Pony - 3 After Dark Awards
and an Orgie Award for Outstanding Production),
Constriction (Collaboraction Theatre,
Sketchbook); 2nd Story (Serendipity Theatre); A
Matter of Life and Death, Pool (No Water), Nights
at the Circus, The World Over (NHSI Northwestern University); 52 (Canal Café Theatre,
London), Ohio, Impromptu (Studio 7, London), The
Spider (Indonesian Institute for the Arts), and
Clouds (Dog & Pony). Assistant directing includes:
Lady With all the Answers (Northlight), Farenheit
451 (Steppenwolf), and The Altruists (MaryArrchie). She holds a MFA in Directing from
Middlesex University in London. She has also
studied at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts
(GITIS) in Moscow and the Indonesian Institute for
the Arts in Bali. She currently serves as the
director of arts education at Northlight Theatre.
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