Theatre Arts (THE)

Students will read contemporary Broadway and Off-Broadway scripts. Productions will be discussed through videos, visiting lectures and field trips.

In this class students will learn the foundational tenets of the acting profession, including physical movement, monologue performance, audition preparation, scene study, and improvisation. Through the embodied practices of training the actor's instrument, empathetically stepping into a dramatic role, and watching the classwork of peers, students will gain a perspective of the human experience not only vital to the world of theatre and performance, but to their own personal lived reality as well.

A survey of dramatic literature, theatrical history, and performance styles from Asia, Africa, Latin and South America as a reflection of cultural and societal issues of politics, ethnicity, gender, religion, and identity. Beginning with the classical theatres of India, Japan, and China, the course examines trends and developments progressing up to the present day and analyzes cross-cultural influences affecting contemporary African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American playwrights. Students learn how culture influences creativity and how social dramas are lived in their own cultures every day.

This important class breaks down the art of auditioning for traditional theatre, musical theatre, and film. Students will learn how to prepare their best audition, create a repertoire of monologues and songs, stand out at cold readings, and memorize for a film audition. Students will also learn what the director's role is during an audition and how to cast the strongest person for the role.

This is a practical foundation course in stage technology, lighting sound and scenery. The course is designed as a studio course in which students work on individual projects and as crew for the semester's scheduled productions.

In this practicum, students will learn how to build different types of masks for actors' usage on stage. The course will take students through the use of masks, the art of character inspiration, mold, design, construction, and painting.

This course introduces students to Laban movement analysis and the fundamentals of movement and Linklater voice training for dance and theatre. Students gain skills to improve their physical awareness, body alignment, and movement and vocal range. By participating in studio explorations and solo performances, students are introduced to principles of physical performance, character transformation, and ensemble kinetic relationships.

Learning to be fully in the body while acting is essential and this class trains students to tell a story through physicality. Methods in this class will be rooted in clowning, Japanese Noh and Kabuki, African dance ritual, mask work, and Viewpoints. Students will present scenes and performances developed through these practices.

Students will learn the craft of theatrical stage management including Actor's Equity standards. Crew work on department productions is required.

The class offers students an introduction to the history of African American theatre, from the nineteenth century to the modern day, with a focus on how playwrights have evolved the dramatic form and claimed control of their identities to speak to Black lives, cultures, and histories. Performance is a form of self expression and it is also a means by which African Americans have generated and transmitted political analysis, shared knowledge and wisdom, organized communities, and galvanized resistance. Students will engage with a wide range of performance styles, from dramatic texts and films to manifestos, live theatre, music, dance, and spoken word, in an effort to promote a deeper understanding of what it means to be Black in America.

How do people perform gender? How has sexuality and expression found their homes in art forms like theatre? How have art forms like theatre and film addressed constraints and celebrations of gender and sexuality? What is theatre's role in facilitating dialogue about important topics like gender and sexuality? This course will seek to create conversations from these questions as prompts. Students will watch key films and read plays about important historical moments within larger political spheres about LGTBQ+ rights, feminism, and intersectionality. This class is meant to be a mode into conversation about these topics via theatre and performance and offers a way of viewing gender and sexuality through the lens of performance studies.

This course introduces the student to the basic concepts of makeup as an illusionary technique in the performing arts. A combination of character study, painting, lighting, and three-dimensional form as it applies to facial anatomy will be emphasized. An historical perspective of makeup styles and fashions will also be studied. Students will be required to work as makeup crew on the semester's scheduled productions. Enrollment limited to 12 students. Lab hours required.

Students create weekly 10-minute plays through in-class exercises. Work is read aloud and developed in longer scripts over the semester. The course culminates in an open reading of student plays.

Students will learn how to evaluate a script as preparation for production as actors, directors and designers. Selected plays from classical to contemporary will be studied as well as new work.

This course studies academic and applied concepts of art with respect to the basic principles of art as they apply to design. Emphasis on the application of the fundamental principles of artistic design including form, line, contrast and color in a two dimensional medium.

Theatre and Community Engagement Students will explore theatre community engagement practices and products such as those developed by Robbie McCauley, Anna Deavere Smith, Augusto Boal, True Story Theatre and Tectonic Theatre Company; students will put this work into action with a community partner. Using additional ethnographic practices such as interviews, research, and field notes, students will gain critical skills of community engagement through hands-on application of important techniques. Applying Salve's mission of mercy to the work, students will learn how theatre can be of service to a community by asking what the community needs most and then applying their engagement skills to meet those needs. The semester ends with a public presentation of the work for the Salve and partnering communities. This course is for Theater and Dance majors and minors only.

Using the connection between writing and speaking, this course provides an introduction to informative and persuasive speech. Basic vocal training is covered. Students research, create and organize presentations using multi-media. This is a course for non-majors.

This course will cover the fundamental techniques of stage combat including hand-to-hand, single blade, rapier-dagger, broadsword and found-object weapons. Historical context and the history of personal combat will be covered. In addition, slapstick comedy, basic tumbling and elementary juggling will be introduced. Special attention will be paid to the unique acting and directing problems presented by stage combat.

This course introduces the student to the techniques used by stage designers during the design process. Emphasis on drafting, drawing and rendering techniques as they apply to the design process.

In this class, students will focus their acting skills on the playwrights and theorists who worked within the realism genre as they symbiotically developed realistic acting methods. Students will study the theories and practices of Stanislavsky while working on scenes from Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen; Strasberg and Hagen while working on scenes by Lillian Heitman, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller; and explore contemporary plays while applying Meisner and Chaikin.

Students will learn the foundational techniques for both areas of costume and props design including for costumes: color palettes, construction materials, silhouette, sewing, and fit; for props: designing a list, creating the acquisition plan, construction materials, and fit for concept. Students will work on the current production alongside the class.

Students in this course will create a theatre piece and perform it for young audiences. The history and theory of children's theatre will also be studied. Videos, visiting lectures and field trips. Enrollment limited to 16 students.

In this class, students experience directing scripted scenes and short plays. Students will act as director for a full production team by creating and articulating a concept, holding auditions, developing a rehearsal schedule and finally, mounting a full production of an excerpt of a play. Students create a director's notebook and present their final project to an audience. Extensive time outside of class is required for rehearsals, tech and performance. Enrollment limited to 8 students.

All theatre arts majors are encouraged to participate in theatre productions on a regular basis. Those concentrating in tech are required to apply their classroom skills to at least one production in a leadership role. This may be in overseeing props, acting as stage manager or assistant stage manager, or in designing one of the major technical elements (lighting, set, costumes, hair and makeup). Students taking this course as an acting concentration major should be prepared to keep an ongoing journal (turned in a designated times) of the experience. Students may take this course more than once.

Development of fundamental acting skills using the work of Spolin, Johnstone, Del Close and others will be used as a springboard to practice improvisational comedy technique in both short and long form. Students will have performance opportunities during the semester. Extensive rehearsal time outside of class is required.

This course uses major writings in dramatic criticism to address how a production's concept reflects the historical, social and aesthetic background of the play. Theories of dramatic art and performance will also be studied. Videos, visiting lectures and field trips.

Topics range from innovative ways of studying and viewing theatre like Theatre and Ecology, Women Playwrights, Performance Studies to special training skills in theatre like Scriptwriting, Theatre for Youth and Children, and Dramaturgy. This course is meant to respond to students' needs and the current climate.

The performance skills of acting, voice and dance will be integrated and displayed by the student in the departmental musical production. Extensive time outside of class is required for rehearsals, tech and performances. By audition or permission of instructor is required.

The art of acting in front of a camera is very different than acting on stage. Students will learn techniques that include navigating the camera, speaking with no lines, handling props for a screen, acting with no scene partner all while they perform in commercials, short television screens, and films. In addition, students will study the business side of film and television, from working with an agent to auditions and casting to creating a film reel and resume.

Students focus on how to be themselves alone on stage and entertain an audience with stories about their lives. Stand-up comedy has been described as therapy for the comedian as it allows the artist to share with strangers what they're going through and how they've coped. Storytelling is inherent in stand-up and as a solo performance act is fast becoming recognized as its own legitimate art form. Both will be explored in this course.

This class is geared heavily toward juniors and seniors who are getting ready to enter the workforce. The career of a professional theatre artist is discussed including auditioning, portfolios, interviews and resumes. Students prepare an audition book or portfolio for a career position, develop an online presence, and interview for a relevant job.

Students will delve deeper into scenic design by creating a draft and model of a set and will be introduced to theatre lighting concepts such as color palette, instruments, hang and focus, programming and design.

Students will spend the semester researching, planning, and preparing for their capstone project.

Senior theatre students will produce a public final creative project that shows their skills as a theatre artist in the way they wish to be seen by the professional world. This could include directing a short play, writing a play and presenting a reading, working on a community engagement project, acting a desired role, and much more.

At least 100 hours are spent with a company or theatre in the United States where students attend rehearsals, observe professionals at work and work in the area of their focus. The course requires submission of a detailed journal and a major paper. Residencies must be approved by the head of the Theatre Arts program. Completion of five courses in theatre, recommendation of the supervising faculty member, permission of the participating organization.

Course work arranged for majors to pursue avenues of learning outside the existing offerings of the department.