Download Department of English, Film, and Theatre THEATRE courses 2016-2017

Department of English, Film, and Theatre
THEATRE courses (upper level)
2016-2017
(Please keep in mind that these course lists are subject to change without notice. See Aurora Class Schedule for up-to-date info.)
Fall 2016
Theatrical Techniques: Onstage
THTR 2150 (6 cr. hrs. – Fall & Winter)(Groome/Smith)
(ask about auditions!)
Theatrical Techniques: Backstage
THTR 2160 (6 cr. hrs. – Fall & Winter)
(ask about interviews!)
Specialized Practical Training 1
THTR 2170 (3 cr. hrs.)(Kerr)
(Course held at Prairie Theatre Exchange– ask about special permission)
Fundamentals of Dramatic Analysis
THTR 2470 (3 cr. hrs.) (Smith)
Good plays are not written for the stage, but with it. Writing a play involves the playwright’s
apprenticeship in a practical, collaborative process. A thorough study of a play will
correspondingly involve not only an understanding of textual problems (of the structure and
characterization and style which the playwright envisions) but also of the problems which are
encountered by the actor, director, dramaturg, and designers. Our goal in reading a play will be to
imagine it in rehearsal, and to engage its potential for realization.
Specialized Practical Training 3
THTR 2490 (3 cr. hrs. – Fall & Winter)(Kerr)
(Course held at Prairie Theatre Exchange – ask about special permission)
Political Theatre
THTR 2600 Special Studies 1 (3 cr. hrs.) (Kerr)
Through study and practice, this course will examine political theatre through a selection of plays
and practitioners from Brecht to the present. We will look at and discuss the nature, methods and
effectiveness (or lack of it) of several types of political theatre. And we will question what
constitutes the “political” in any theatre. In order to study political theatre through a thorough and
real engagement in the practice of it, a core section of the course will focus on enacting texts and
methods in the rehearsal hall, requiring the students to choose how they will create theatre that
will make a political impact.
Text and Performance: Period and Style in British Drama
THTR 3470 (3 cr. hrs.) (Groome)
This course will address the particular performance demands presented by the dramatic works of
various significant periods in British Drama, including but not necessarily limited to: Elizabethan
and Jacobean Drama, and Restoration Drama. Students will undertake intensive work at an
advanced level which will focus on the specific challenges of speaking the texts of these periods and
on the styles of gesture and movement required by the texts. Through workshop exercises, scene
work, and monologues students will extend their range and facility as actors of these texts.
Winter 2017
Specialized Practical Training 2
THTR 2180 (3 cr. hrs.)(Kerr)
(Course held at Prairie Theatre Exchange – ask about special permission)
Theatre History
THTR 2480 (3 cr. hrs.) (Smith)
The topic for this course in the Winter of 2017 is 'Brecht and Company'. The course will trace the
genesis and lasting impact on theatre of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It will consider
Brecht's precursors in the German language theatre, the influence of the fair ground, of agit-prop
and Expressionism, the emergence and refinement of his dramaturgical practice and
vocabulary through the meticulous labour of directing his own plays, and his engagement with
Stanislavski's system. The course will then explore the impact of Brecht on socially and politically
oriented theatre from the 1950s to the present in England, the United States, and Canada, among
playwrights whose apprenticeship to theatre was altered by Brecht, but who, in turn, reshaped and
revised Brechtian methodology.
Theatre on Film
THTR 2600 Special Studies 1 (3 cr. hrs.) (Groome)
In this course we will study a set of works which have been produced on the stage and then made
into films. In each case both the stage play and the film have become celebrated as "significant"
works. We will consider what makes each work effective in each medium and also discuss the ways
in which the treatment of narrative, character, language, and visual elements vary. The major
objective of the course is to develop our understanding of the challenges and distinctive strengths
of each medium and appreciate why the specific works studied have become iconic.
Advanced Directing: Style and Substance
THTR 3620 Special Studies 4 (3 cr. hrs.) (Kerr)
This course will expand on the basics of working with actors, text analysis and use of space
(particularly composition, focus and picturization (including a focus on the use of lights and
sound)). It will also introduce ways to work with the entire production team. At the same time, the
course will introduce working on the individual needs of particular genres and styles such as farce,
Epic, naturalism, Comedy of Manners, expressionism, and absurdism. Ultimately, we will build up to
examining the particular mixes of style and genre used by individual contemporary playwrights
such as Caryl Churchill, David Mamet, Judith Thompson, Martin McDonagh, and Tom Stoppard or
others proposed by the class.
Course Objectives: To further develop the three basic skills of directing and to apply them to the
particular style or genre of particular plays.
1) text analysis
2) the use and control of the three dimensional space, particularly as it impacts story and
audience
- using principles of composition, focus and picturization
- using lights and sound
3) effective communication with actors
- and effective communication with the production team
Advanced Directing is a practical course. As a result, the basic (and vital) requirements are
attendance, full participation, and the successful completion of each project with accompanying
written materials. All work in class is in progress and open for discussion: you will be expected to
carefully observe and critique each other’s work. Because of the needs of the class, you will be
expected to perform in others’ projects: dress accordingly. Ironically, often, directing classes can
call for more acting than acting classes.