Community Performance ((3 Credits))

Catalog description

To engage in this individualized graduate study, the learner should enter having identified a social, cultural, or community topic, issue, or stakeholder constituency’s point of view that she will explore through an embodied performance genre. Learners may enter with the intention of furthering their development and background in the literature from the perspective of organizers, writers/designers, or leaders/performers, whether in the performance disciplines of theater, dance, parades, demonstrations, live installations, or other genres. Each learner will first complete a combination of directed and self-directed reading selections and participate in discussions or written short commentaries on theory, concepts, and previous work in this area, building two short essays and then developing a final study project. The project could be a proposal and method design, a realization, or a reflective or comparative commentary as a spectator, participant, or witness. The nature of a second essay and final project depends upon the particular interests, choices, and the competencies that the learner brings to the study. The course cannot be taken as a studio practicum only; critical writing is a required part of the learning activities.