Acting Outside the Box: Identity, Empathy, and Character in Performance

Catalog description

Acting Outside the Box: Identity, Empathy, and Character in Performance is an advanced acting course that explores how identity and social context shape dramatic literature and performance. Through reading, research, and embodied practice, students develop tools for approaching character construction beyond reductive notions of “type” or immediate personal identification. The course emphasizes disciplined empathy—the actor’s ability to imaginatively and analytically engage a character’s circumstances with rigor and respect. Students examine diverse dramaturgical structures and performance methodologies while experimenting with approaches that extend beyond traditional psychological realism. The course strengthens the actor’s range through research, imagination, and dramaturgical inquiry while maintaining respect for professional casting standards and lived identity. Prerequisite: TAPS 0230 or equivalent. Instructor Permission is Required. Interested students should attend the first class meeting in order to apply.