- Advanced Theatre-Making: Performers, Directors, and Text

Catalog description

This course builds upon Theatre-making 100 and 200 by deepening students’ understanding of the collaborative process that takes place between Performers and Directors in relation to Text and Interpretation. In THTR 301 , text has the dual feature of working both as a point of origin from which thoughtfully and rigorously produced theatrical work can depart and serving as a measure, benchmark, or standard by which the effectiveness of their theatrical work can be evaluated. In this course – alternating between the role of director and actor/performer – students will encounter narrative centered realist and non-realist plays by which they will formulate full interpretations, make choices, and ask questions about the effectiveness of their staged work. As directors, they will investigate and creatively engage their text in order to inspire, invite, facilitate, and focus performances in keeping with their own original and singular interpretations. As actors, they will develop their own original interpretations of the collaborative parts and roles that they play, which work symbiotically in relation to their director(s)’ guiding influence. Within the context of this creative collaborative triangle – between Text, Directors, and Performers – THTR 301 aims to expose students to multi-faceted leadership challenges that each include extensive planning and analysis, rehearsals and staging, and engaging constructive critique of their work in the process of refinement of scene-length projects.