Course Descriptions

THEA 1

Introduction to Theater

As a set of staged practices rich with social context, theater has sought to document, engage, and affect communities. This course introduces and explores theater from page to stage as a live performing art. Topics include the relationship between theater and society (historical and contemporary), dramatic structure, theatrical representation, and the crafts of theater artists such as directors, designers, playwrights, and actors. We will also engage with live performances and video archives of past performances.

THEA 7

Theater for Social Change

This course will trace particular developments in American and Western European Theater from the First World War through the present. Artists and theater groups under consideration will be those whose work has focused on contemporary social conditions and the potential of performance to effect social change. In addition, students will experiment with developing scripts and performances based on current events. Readings will include selections from the writings of Erwin Piscator, Bertolt Brecht, The Federal Theatre Project, Harold Pinter, Augusto Boal, etc. as well as newspapers, news magazines, and other media sources. In addition to creative and critical writing, students will be assigned one major research project. Emphasis will be on class participation.

This is a first-year seminar class.

THEA 10.08

Creativity and Collaboration

Creativity and collaboration are concepts found in all disciplines and regularly requested, although rarely taught. In this course, students will have the opportunity to develop creative abilities through experiences in performance-based arts, and apply these in a collaborative project. Faculty artists active in movement and theater design will teach the course, which is open to students with no performance experience, as well as those looking for a new approach to existing skills.

Instructor permission is required; CLICK HERE for more information about receiving permission to enroll.

THEA 10.25

Music, Design, and Creativity

This introductory class breaks new ground by making music, rather than text, the driving force behind design for the performing arts. After being introduced to the principles of design, students will create visual artworks inspired by personal responses to specific pieces of music. Students will then create designs specific to dance, concert design, musical theatre, and opera. Various forms of idea-sharing will be taught, including collage, sketching, rough modeling, and painting. 

No previous experience required.

THEA 10.26 / MUS 27

Sound Design

The purpose of this course is to develop our listening skills. To broaden our understanding of music and noise and how to talk about them. To investigate how sound works with both text and movement. To understand how sound can create context, tension, release, and surprise. To explore designing collaboratively. Projects include creating soundscapes and scoring short works.

THEA 10.27 / FILM 47.29 / LACS 24.30

Latinx Stage and Screen

This course will examine the Latinx stage and screen, focusing specifically on musicals that portray Latinx lives. We will focus on canonical works—including West Side Story, Zoot Suit, and Hamilton—in order to deepen our knowledge of their form, production history, historical reception, and contemporary place in American culture. We will take an interdisciplinary approach, drawing our reading assignments from the fields of Ethnic Studies, American Studies, Performance Studies, and Film and Media Studies, in order to analyze these productions as they traveled from stage to screen (and sometimes, back to the stage) and the representational and cultural politics involved in that shift. Finally, we will explore not only the musicals themselves, but also the historiography that has informed our understanding of them. Writing assignments will ask the students to reflect on the evolution of scholarly arguments regarding these canonical works.

THEA 10.28

Emerging Musical Theater

A musical tells a story with words and music. Beyond those basic parameters, any limitations around what a musical can and cannot be are up for debate. This multi-disciplinary class is open to composers, lyricists, songwriters, playwrights, directors, actors, singers, dancers, poets and musicians of any background. The objective is to investigate the form of the musical through the lens of sonic arts. In addition to looking at the past present and future of American musical theater we will engage a broad exploration musical storytelling, across many aesthetic sensibilities and time periods. The class requires weekly creative output in addition to reading and listening outside of class. Students must be willing to work across the boundaries of their own disciplines to generate lyrics, melodies and scenes. The class will establish a generous inter-disciplinary working environment which values creative risks, collaboration and inventiveness.

THEA 10.29

Text Analysis: Tools for Interpretation

A dramatic text is like a musical score. In order to understand a play, a theater artist must first learn to "read music." This course will focus on the tools that allow an artist to understand the dramatic "score" and ultimately to translate the playwright's words into action on stage. The playwright's tools: Style, Setting, Mood, Theme, Environment, Character, Language, Action, Objective, Obstacles, will be defined and discussed.  The reading list will include plays by Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Katori Hall, William Shakespeare, Lynn Nottage, Caryl Churchill, and others. This course is relevant for all theater artists regardless of area of specialization.

THEA 10.30 / COLT 34.01

Theater of Ideas: Britain and France

An exploration of the main intellectual movements, dramatic forms, and playwrights that shaped the evolution of British and French theatre in the post war period. Particular attention given to modern drama history, theory, and performance and how they relate to the wider social and political context. Writers drawn from some of the following: Osborne, Pinter, Stoppard, Churchill, Hare, Bennett ,Ravenhill, Sartre, Beckett, Genet, Cixous and Mnouchkine, Koltes, Reza, and Ndiaye.

THEA 10.34 / WGSS 66.25

Disability Arts & Activism

"Disability Arts and Activism" examines radical disability resistance through the lens of culture and performance to ask the central question: how does disability art make cultural change? Students will learn a history of disability activism as well as the impacts of disability policy and politics across the stage and streets. Using the frame of Disability Justice, students will develop analytic skills to unpack normative conceptions around bodies, visibility, and representation across multiple forms of difference such as size, race, class, gender, and sexuality. We will explore the performance involved in protest, alongside the protest present in disability cultural forms, such as dance, theater, music, and visual art. The course culminates in a research project that crafts an intervention into a local art space to build radical accessibility. 

THEA 10.35

Jazz Dance for Theatre

This class will explore key, yet basic, fundamentals of movement for living theater. Ranging from realism to the ridiculous, from the pedestrian street scene to the full-blown dream ballet, with emphasis in jazz dance.

THEA 10.51 / AAAS 31.90 / FILM 49.02

Black Theatre & Storytelling Workshop in XR: Reimagining The Purple Flower (1928)

Recognizing the intrinsic value of Black lives and Black storytelling across media platforms, this course will explore the staging of Black theatre texts in virtual reality (VR) and related XR technology.  Participants will explore VR technology at the intersection of Black cultural storytelling through the performance of monologues and scenes as well as design/tech, music and movement culminating into a pilot production of Marita Bonner's The Purple Flower (1928), a non-realistic, one-act play that pushes the boundaries of theatrical staging. 

No prior experience required.

THEA 10.55 / AAAS 32.15

The Making of 21st Century Exhibits: Curating a National Black Theater Museum/Institution

This course is designed for those interested in theatre and performance, African American studies, history, and culture. Students will study influences on the development of black theater and performance in the USA as well as processes for preserving, curating, and exhibiting culture in institutions, examining how museum concepts intersect and/or collide with representations of black history and culture. In collaboration with the Hattiloo Theatre in Memphis and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, who are drafting plans for an institution devoted to black theatre practitioners, students will determine and develop content for an interactive venue. They will consider strategies for the use of technology and live exhibits, involving black communities in exhibits and curation, and providing access to diverse communities. Projects and findings will be shared with the institution's developers and will be considered in their ongoing plans. The course will include a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.

THEA 10.56 / AAAS 31.50

Black Theatre Workshop: The August Wilson Experience

Using legendary playwright, August Wilson's ten-play cycle of African Americans' experiences throughout American history as our inspiration, this course provides hands-on, experiential learning of acting, script analysis, and theatrical production. With no previous performance, design, or production experience required, students will read Wilson's plays and related commentary with opportunities to perform selected scenes from the Wilson cycle while exploring possibilities for design and technical elements. In this process-oriented course, students also learn basic acting techniques by strengthening observation and listening skills, risktaking, imagination, improvisation, concentration, exploration of self, voice, and body. Activities include textual analysis of Wilson's plays and related works as well as documenting and revising performance philosophy and process. While providing a safe space for exploring the roles we play in our daily lives and taking on the roles of others in given or imagined circumstances,
students will learn widely accepted theories, practices, and terminology of the actor's craft in order to facilitate the practice, writing, and discussion of acting and producing Wilson's plays and others.

THEA 10.57 / AAAS 31.10

Dance Theatre of Harlem Workshop: Collaborative Storytelling Through Movement

Synthesizing aspects of cultural storytelling, theater, movement, activism and biography, this course is focused on the creation of new performance work. Students will have a rare opportunity to engage with the singular Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) during their summer residency at Dartmouth College. This course explores the company's relationship and history with ballets that tell a story and the potential for collaborative storytelling across platforms. During THEA 10.57, students will also create, collaborate,  and organize performances of their own movement-based works.

THEA 10.60

Acting Styles

This course will cover the introductory principles of specific Acting Styles utilizing a part theory, part practice format. Students will be encouraged to explore their creative abilities on a journey of self-discovery to add these styles to their performance toolkit. Through lecture and laboratory work, the participants will be introduced to the techniques behind stylized acting. The course will culminate in a final originally created scene evolved from the principles studied in class.

THEA 10.64 / AAAS 54.05

Feminist and Queer Africa on Stage & Screen

This course explores representations of feminist and queer Africa in theatre, dance, and film. How do female-identified, nonbinary, and/or queer African artists use creative expression to navigate and challenge neocolonial, heteropatriarchal regimes and advance ideas of LGBTQIA rights and gender equality? Although several countries will be considered during the term, Kenya and Uganda receive a particular emphasis. All students are welcome; no prior knowledge of Africa and/or theories of gender and sexuality are needed.

THEA 10.65 / LACS 049 / SPAN 65.09

Performeras on the Latin American Stage

This course provides an overview of women's dramatic writing and cultural expression from Latin America and considers how these texts intersect, reflect, disrupt or resist canonical literary movements in Latin America. Course content includes traditional dramatic forms as well as non-literary, visual and performative forms of expression.  By examining works of very diverse ranges, we will also challenge society's and the authors' conceptualizations of Latin American women as a way to critique underlying issues of race, class, gender, and other power structures.

THEA 10.68 / LACS 25.12

Staging Rebellion. Dissidence in Latinx American Theatre

This course follows the history of theatre in the Latinx Americas (encompassing a hemispheric approach) for social change. Students will learn about Theatre of the Oppressed, guerilla theatre in all its forms used throughout Latin America and Latinx communities, playwrights writing about social justice issues, and activist performance. We will focus on plays and performances that have as their central theme rebellion and the rebel as we question the nature of rebellion, its manifestations, and consequences. 

THEA 10.71

Plays OnStage: Acting Comedy

An advanced acting class in the art of performing comedy. Building on the basics of Acting I, this course will examine how the fundamentals of acting are adapted to playing a heightened comedic text.  Students will be introduced to a broad range of comedic performance, past and present, from sketch comedy to standup to films and television, developing a vocabulary of reference points, styles, and approaches to be applied in their rehearsals of the text.  The course will culminate in a public presentation of the play. Roles may be shared.

Prerequisite required: THEA 30: Acting I.  Equivalent performance courses or experience will be considered on an individual basis. 

THEA 10.84 / FILM 47.33 / AAAS 31.80

Performing Histories, Performing Us

Performing Histories, Performing Us is an interactive course, taught by scholar artist, Dr. Monica White Ndounou, with a residency component with actor/writer/director Roger Guenveur Smith. The course utilizes performance as a tool to interrogate, examine and explore the concept of history, particularly at the intersection of culture and performance. This course uses traditional and nontraditional archives and multiple platforms to illuminate the possibilities for performing histories; performing us.

THEA 10.90

Contemporary Theater and Performance

This course explores the world of contemporary theater and performance. Readings of plays, performance texts, and articles are paired with viewings of recorded, live, and virtual work. Collaborative projects revolve around scene work and devised theater. Students will develop an appreciation for the breadth of new and recent national and international performance. All of this work is theatrical, but none of it is traditional theater. Topics include devised theater, virtual performance, theater as activism and social practice, eco-performance, movement performance, and interactive work that centers the spectator's experience.

THEA 12 / CLST 2

The Tragedy and Comedy of Greece and Rome

The course studies in translation selected works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Seneca (tragedy), Aristophanes and Plautus (comedy), and some of their central themes and questions: law, community, revenge, passion, and justice. We will approach them both as texts and as scripts/librettos, considering their relationship to other types of performance (ritual, rhetoric, music, dance) and genres (history, philosophy) as well as to theatrical space. There will be practical workshop opportunities for those interested.

THEA 15

Theater and Society I: Classical and Medieval Performance

This course explores selected examples of world performance during the classical and medieval periods in Western Europe and eastern Asia.  Plays to be discussed might include those by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Seneca, Plautus, Terence, and Zeami. Through the reading and discussion of primary and secondary texts, we seek to situate selected performance texts within their sociopolitical and artistic contexts.

THEA 16

Theater and Society II: Early Modern Performance

This course explores selected examples of world performance during the early modern period (fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries). Plays to be discussed might include those by Shakespeare, Calderón, Sor Juana de la Cruz, Molière, Racine, Marivaux, and Carlo Gozzi. Through the reading and discussion of primary and secondary texts, we seek to situate selected performance texts within their sociopolitical and artistic contexts.

THEA 17

Theater and Society III: 19th and 20th Century Performance

This course explores selected examples of world performance in the 19th and 20th century. Plays to be discussed might include those by Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Lorca, Ionesco, Beckett, Williams, Miller, and Brecht, as well as contemporary U.S. playwrights such as Suzan-Lori Parks and Charles Mee. Through the reading and discussion of primary and secondary texts, we seek to situate selected performance texts within their sociopolitical and artistic contexts.

THEA 18 / RUSS 18

Russian Theater

This course is devoted to Russian drama and theater from the 19th through the 21st century. We will read eight plays that are central to Russian literary and theatrical tradition and then discuss their most significant interpretations on both the Russian and the world stage. The meetings will be conducted in a non-traditional format. In our examination of the plays, we will attempt to model the process of stage production in accordance with the principles developed by Konstantin Stanislavsky, a celebrated Russian director whose approach to theater transformed acting in Russia and beyond. The course will culminate in the production of a play by a Russian playwright which students themselves will cast, direct, and design. All readings are in English.

THEA 19 / COLT 34.02

Human Rights and Performance

What can theatre do for human rights, and human rights for theatre? How do playwrights translate violations of human rights to the stage? Through class discussion and creative exercises, we will explore selected plays from around the world that address human rights through various genres and dramatic forms, including theatre of testimony, documentary theatre, realism, allegory, and surrealism.

THEA 21 / WGSS 59.04

Race, Gender, and Performance

Students will explore the cultural, critical, and artistic works of contemporary Arab American, Asian American, Black, Latinx, and indigenous theater artists/performers. Our examination will consider the socio-historical and political contexts engaged through these artists' works. We will also consider the relationship between the construction of identity and strategies of performance used by playwrights/performers to describe race, gender, sexuality, class, subjectivity, and ideas of belonging. Texts examined will include works by Jacobs-Jenkins, Parks, Moraga, Yee, McCraney, Pamatmat, Hudes, and El Guindi.

THEA 34

Acting for the Camera

Introduction to acting technique for the camera. Designed to develop ability to play dramatic action honestly and believably, taking into consideration the presence and role of the camera. Using naturalistic contemporary film scripts, course work includes exercises and improvisations, both on and off camera, focused on relaxation, concentration, and imagination, as well as scene work focused on text analysis, motivation, action, and character development. Out-of-class assignments include readings from texts, scripts, and articles; required attendance at area film showings; analytic and critical writing assignments; scene preparation, rehearsals and location shooting. Several class exercises and assignments will be done in conjunction with film studies students enrolled in Film 37: Directing for the Camera.

THEA 23 / AAAS 54

Postcolonial African Drama

This course explores selected theatre and performance traditions of sub-Saharan Africa. How do African playwrights negotiate and transform the colonial legacy of Western drama, and how do they use theater to challenge neocolonial regimes and to advance ideas of democracy, human rights, and gender equality? Plays from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda receive special emphasis. No prior knowledge of African studies or theater is necessary, just a willingness to expand critical and creative horizons.

THEA 24/ASCL 70.07

Asian Performance Traditions

This course studies the performance traditions of Asia, focusing on China, Japan, Indonesia and India. Classical forms studied include Noh, Bunraku, Beijing opera, Sanskrit drama, Balinese dance and Japanese puppet theater. Attention is paid to social, religious and aesthetic influences on these traditions, theories on which they are based, the history behind the theatrical practices, and training and dramatic techniques. Students gain an appreciation of the rich variety and scope of theatrical conventions of Asia. 

THEA 25 / LACS 24.70

Solo Performance

This course will introduce and engage the history, texts, topics, theoretical guideposts, and landmark figures/performances central to the genre of solo performance. Working between critical examination and practice, participants will analyze the form and content of leading solo performers while also composing a series of short exercises that activate solo performance strategies and methods. The course will culminate in the creation of a participant's self-authored, short solo performance piece.

THEA 26

Movement Fundamentals I

An introduction to movement for the stage, this course will animate the interplay between anatomy, movement theories and performance. Through exploration of physical techniques, improvisation and movement composition, students will experience a fundamental approach to using the body as a responsive and expressive instrument. Assignments will include readings, written work, class presentations, mid-term exam and final paper.

THEA 27

Movement Fundamentals II

A continuation of THEA 26, this class will explore further the relationship between efficient and expressive movement and body connectivity. Contact improvisation, conditioning, kinesiology and movement repertoire form the foundation from which the class will explore individual performance. Assignments include readings, written work, class presentations and a final paper.

Prerequisite required: THEA 26 or equivalent experience. Instructor permission is required; CLICK HERE for more information about receiving permission to enroll in this class.

THEA 28

Dance Composition

An in-depth study of the principles of dance composition leading to choreographic projects. Students will receive training in both dance composition and criticism, developing the requisite tools for choreography while acquiring the vocabulary for sophisticated choreographic analysis. Reading and writing assignments on contemporary issues in dance will be the departure for students' theoretical and creative exploration. To this end the class will concentrate on individual student choreography. Students' class work will be performed in an informal showing at the conclusion of the term.

This course is open to all students. 

THEA 29

Dance Theater Performance

Students will examine movement theories and techniques, utilizing these elements to create physical language while developing enhanced ensemble skills. Emphasis will be placed on the creation of a dance theater ensemble piece, which culminates the term in a final performance. The creative process, collaboration, and individual performance are key components of the experience. Readings in Dance Studies and critical reviews of performances are included to contextualize the course's creative work. 

This course is open to all students. 

THEA 30

Acting I

To achieve success as a performing artist, an actor must commit to building an ensemble based on respect and mutual understanding and to embracing the notion that empathy is at the heart of the actor's art. Students will be encouraged to explore their creative abilities on a journey of self-discovery in order to build this sense of ensemble. Through individual and group exercises, students will be introduced to the techniques necessary to play a character believably and honestly. The class will culminate with scene presentations from realistic American plays by authors of diverse cultural backgrounds.

This course is open to all students. No theater experience is necessary.

THEA 31

Acting II

Acting II is an advanced scene study class that focuses on developing a process for performing non-realistic, "heightened" acting texts.  Students will encounter plays that present unique challenges for actors in terms of language, physicality, characterization, style, content and text analysis.  The class will structurally fuse the traditionally separate disciplines of acting, voice, and movement into a comprehensive unit by approaching the text simultaneously from these three perspectives. The work will proceed from the assumption that the actor's performance must emerge from an expressively free and integrated instrument. 

Prerequisite required: THEA 30: Acting I

THEA 34

Acting for the Camera

Introduction to acting technique for the camera. Designed to develop ability to play dramatic action honestly and believably, taking into consideration the presence and role of the camera. Using naturalistic contemporary film scripts, course work includes exercises and improvisations, both on and off camera, focused on relaxation, concentration, and imagination, as well as scene work focused on text analysis, motivation, action, and character development. Out-of-class assignments include readings from texts, scripts, and articles; required attendance at area film showings; analytic and critical writing assignments; scene preparation, rehearsals and location shooting. Several class exercises and assignments will be done in conjunction with film studies students enrolled in Film 37: Directing for the Camera.

THEA 35

Acting for Musical Theater

This course will introduce students to the techniques used by actors/singers to play musical theater scenes believably, honestly and dynamically. Basic acting techniques will be taught as well as work in singing, text analysis, movement and speech. Students will begin with individual songs, then prepare, rehearse and present two-person musical scenes from Company, The Color Purple, West Side Story, Side Show, Into the Woods, Hamilton, Passion, In the Heights, She Loves Me, Follies, and others.

Instructor permission is required; CLICK HERE for more information about receiving permission to enroll.

THEA 10.32

Acting for Musical Theater II

This course is a continuation of the study of Musical Theater, building on the curriculum of Acting for Musical Theater I. The class will further the student’s technique in building character for this genre from various periods and styles. Acting techniques using American Musical Theater of the 1930s through the 1950s will be studied, as well as voice and speech techniques for Shakespearean texts. The course will culminate in a staged reading of scenes from a contemporary musical(s), performed before an invited audience.  

Prerequisite: THEA 35 or equivalent experience. Instructor permission is required; CLICK HERE for more information about receiving permission to enroll.

THEA 36

The Speaking Voice for the Stage

This course is an examination of the principles and practice of freeing the natural voice. It proceeds from the notion that "voice" and "acting" are inseparable. Although it is an introduction to the use of voice in the theater, it is in no way limited to the actor. A specific progression of exercises will be presented to facilitate freeing the body of tensions, discovering the natural breath, releasing vibrations of sound from the body, and opening the channel for sound (throat, jaw, tongue). Resonance, vocal freedom, and articulation will also be explored. Techniques for accessing emotional and psychological truth will be practiced as fundamental to the actor's creative process. A groundwork will be laid for physical and vocal presence. Each student will be responsible for the development and practice of a vocal warm-up. A variety of speaking assignments will be made to develop confidence, presence, and emotional expressivity. Text materials utilized will emerge from self-scripted autobiographical storytelling. A strong commitment to the work is necessary to explore what it means to find one's voice.

This course is open to all students. 

THEA 40

Technical Production

An introduction to the technical aspects of live theater, exploring both traditional and modern approaches. Topics include the stage and its equipment, materials and construction of scenic and property items, lighting, sound, rigging, design, stage management, and more. This course includes both lectures and hands-on learning.

THEA 41

Stage Management

An introductory course in the theories, techniques, and practices of stage managing a production from its initial stages to the conclusion of the run. Plays, musicals, opera, dance, and touring productions will be examined from the perspective of the stage manager. Working with directors, choreographers, and other members of the production team will be discussed as well as calling shows. Students will acquire practical experience through assignments on Department of Theater productions. Open to all classes.

Instructor permission is required; CLICK HERE for more information about receiving permission to enroll.

THEA 42

Scenic Design

An introduction to the basics of scenic design through weekly projects in scale models, drawings, research, lighting and storyboards. Students will also study the collaborative process among scene designers, directors, costume and lighting designers. Suitable for students interested in theater, visual and video art, installation, film, architecture, and sculpture. Students will have the opportunity to assist student and faculty scene designers on Department of Theater productions.

This course is open to all students. No theater experience is necessary.

THEA 44

Lighting Design

An introduction to the practical and artistic elements of theatrical lighting design. The course will include topics in color theory, form, movement, composition, and the creative process. Through analyzing the script and studying light in nature, film, and art, students will prepare projects that explore the possibilities of light in the theater. Students will have the opportunity to work on Department of Theater productions with faculty and student lighting designers. Lectures, discussions, design projects, and critiques.

THEA 48

Costume Design

An introductory course in the appreciation of the costume design process as part of the dramatic production. Through weekly projects, students will study the principles of line, texture, and color as well as the history of costume from the Renaissance through the eighteenth century. Lectures, design projects, and critiques.

This course is open to all students. No theater experience is necessary.

THEA 50

Playwriting I

The aim of this course is for each student to write the best one-act play they are capable of writing. It is open to students both with a theater background and those without. This course will involve a number of creative exercises, the preparation of a scenario, the development of the material through individual conferences, and the reading and discussion of the student's work in seminar sessions.

THEA 51

Playwriting II

A continuation of THEA 50: Playwriting I.

Instructor permission is required; CLICK HERE for more information about receiving permission to enroll. 

THEA 53

Writing for Musical Theatre

This course will cover the principles of musical theatre writing for book writers
and lyricists from plot, storyline, character, character arcs, utilizing the anatomy of the American
Musical structure. The course will be part lecture (Chalk Talk), part incubator (Lab) and will combine
theory and practice and engage modern musical theatre writing collaborative methodologies towards
the creation of an adaptation for a musical theatre outline/treatment.

THEA 54

Directing

An introductory course in directing for the stage.  This class will focus primarily on text analysis and basic actor coaching techniques, culminating in staging scenes by authors from diverse cultural backgrounds. Particular attention will be paid to methods for building a creative ensemble based on respect and mutual understanding. Open to all classes.  

Prerequisite: THEA 30 or equivalent experience.

THEA 60

Classical Performance I

This course is taught by the LAMDA faculty. THEA 60 is an intensive course in classical theater training focused on acting (including improvisation), movement (including movement theater, clown and historic dance), and voice (including singing). Texts include Shakespeare and either Jacobean or Restoration plays. This typical British conservatoire experience is designed for students interested in acting, directing, playwriting, design, stage management, dramaturgy or criticism.

Offered only as a part of the Theater Foreign Study Program in London. This program requires submission of an application and acceptance as a participant. This course is graded as credit/no credit.

THEA 61

Classical Performance II

A continuation of THEA 60: Classical Performance I.

Offered only as a part of the Theater Foreign Study Program in London. This program requires submission of an application and acceptance as a participant. This course is graded as credit/no credit.

THEA 62

Plays in Performance: Perception and Analysis

Offered only as a part of the Theater Foreign Study Program in London, this seminar integrates the study of theater with the experience of plays in performance. By providing intense, comparative experience of playgoing, the course intends to broaden students' knowledge of the dramatic repertoire, to heighten their awareness of production approaches and values, and to encourage them to develop considered critical response to theater. Students attend a number of required performances and in addition attend performances of their own choosing - normally a total of three plays per week. Productions will represent a variety of periods and styles of playwriting, and a similarly diverse range of production companies and approaches to performance.

Offered only as a part of the Theater Foreign Study Program in London. This program requires submission of an application and acceptance as a participant. This course is graded as credit/no credit.

THEA 65

Summer Theater Lab

This experiential class is designed to explore the development of new work for the theater. Students will participate actively in three exciting aspects of our summer production season: 1) VoxLab, a one-week festival of new projects initiated by Dartmouth alumni, 2) the Frost and Dodd Student Play Festival, and 3) the New York Theatre Workshop's annual summer residency. 

This course is designed for students with some level of familiarity and experience with theater; please contact instructor for details.

CLICK HERE for more details about the Summer Theater Lab.

THEA 80

Independent Study

This course is designed to enable qualified upperclass students, who have completed the appropriate supporting coursework, to engage in independent study in theater under the direction of a member of the department. A student should consult with the faculty member with whom he or she wishes to work as far in advance as possible, and not later than the term immediately preceding the term in which the independent study is to be pursued.

A written proposal and the approval of the faculty member and the Chair are required. CLICK HERE for more information about proposing an Independent Study in Theater.

THEA 90

Contemporary Practices in U.S. Theater

This course draws upon faculty and guest artists of the Department of Theater to explore what it means to be a theatre artist of the new millennium. What are the plays, theatre artists, and practices that describe our era? What are the relationships among and between designer, actor, playwright, and scholar? What is the nature of interdisciplinary work? How do you see yourself participating? Course materials include contemporary plays, readings on current practices, and research about contemporary companies.

This course is mandatory for senior theater majors. Instructor permission is required.

THEA 91

The Honors Thesis I

An Honors project, which normally extends through two terms and receives two major credits, must include a thesis or thesis project. This course must be elected by all honors candidates.

CLICK HERE for more information regarding the Honors Thesis in Theater.

THEA 92

The Honors Thesis II

An Honors project, which normally encompasses two terms, must include a thesis or thesis project. This course must be elected by all honors candidates. For acceptance into this course, please see the section in the ORC on the Theater Honors Program. Students are awarded one course credit for successful completion of this course. Students enrolling in this course have already completed one term of Honors Program study, and are registering for this course in order to continue their Honors Program work in a second term.

Prerequisite required: THEA 91: The Honors Thesis I