SPRING 2023 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Click the course number or name below to learn more about the class.
Click here for the full list of courses.
MODE OF INSTRUCTION
In-Person (P) - All classes will take place in person.
Online (O) - All classes will take place online.
Hybrid (H) - Hybrid can mean a variety of different things depending on the professor and department. To help you decide on your classes, we have asked every professor teaching a hybrid course to include an explanation of what that means for their class.
Course #
Course Name
Professor
Mode
THEA 101
THEA 161
THEA 161
THEA 161
THEA 161
THEA 161
THEA 161
THEA 161
THEA 211
THEA 211
THEA 212
THEA 213
THEA 215
THEA 253.57
THEA 251
THEA 261
THEA 261
THEA 261
THEA 263
THEA 281
THEA 321
THEA 333
THEA 361
THEA 376
THEA 377
THEA 381
THEA 384
THEA 390
THEA 390
THEA 397.21
THEA 397.24
THEA 397.27
Intro to Theatre Section 1
Acting I Section 1
Acting I Section 2
Acting I Section 3
Acting I Section 5
Acting I Section 7
Acting I Section 8
Acting I Section 9
World Theatre I
World Theatre I
World Theatre 2
World Theatre III
Black Theatre
Musical Theatre Workshop 2
Theatre Production
Acting 2: American Realism Section 1
Acting 2: American Realism Section 2
Acting 2: American Realism Section 3
Basic Voice & Movement Section 1
Visual Elements of Theatre
Play Analysis
Alternative Performance
Acting: Non-Realism
Playwriting I
Playwriting II
Scene Design I
Stage Lighting
Costume, Fashion & Cultural Studies Sec. 2
Costume, Fashion & Cultural Studies Sec. 3
Character Body and Speech
Producing
New York Theatre Now
Orenstein
Williams
Cusick
Romano
Cusick
McIntire
Romano
Williams
Hui
Kalb
Neff
Chang
Williams
Caldwell
Pedicini
Felner
Holder
McIntire
Moore
Thompson
Foglia
Cedars
Felner
Jae Hoon
Rubenstein
Thompson
Calderon
Chatterjee
Chatterjee
Moore
Mosher
Kalb
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
In-Person
THEA 101 - Introduction to Theatre
Section 1 | Monday, Thursday 11:30am - 12:20pm | In-Person
Professor Orenstein
Study of elements of theatre arts-acting, directing, playwriting, design-from standpoints of both viewer and participant.
THEA 161 - Acting I
Section 1 | Monday, Thursday 1:00pm - 2:15pm | In-Person | Professor Williams
Section 2 | Monday, Thursday 11:30am-12:45pm | In-Person | Professor Cusick
Section 3 | Tuesday, Friday 11:30am - 12:45pm | In-Person | Professor Romano
Section 4 | Tuesday, Friday 1:00pm - 2:15pm | In-Person | Professor Moore
Section 5 | Monday, Thursday 10:00am - 11:15pm | In-Person | Professor Cusick
Section 7 | Monday, Thursday 10:00am - 11:15pm | In-Person | Professor McIntire
Section 8 | Tuesday, Friday 10:00am - 11:15pm | In-Person | Professor Moore
Section 9 | Monday, Thursday 4:00pm - 5:15pm | In-Person | Professor Williams
This will be an introductory course that explores the fundamental elements of acting. The mission of this course is to awaken the emotional, imaginative, and transformative powers in each of us. We will explore what it means to really be a storyteller through plays, recommended texts, improvisation, scene work, and monologues. Each student will explore harnessing their own personal experiences (sense memory), to help inform their acting. Finally, this course will enhance the actor's ability to channel "self" (body, mind, and experience), through one’s acting in a TRUTHFUL and believable way; pushing each student’s willingness, readiness, and resilience to transform the "self" beyond its pre-established boundaries.
THEA 211 - World Theatre I
Section 1 | Monday, Thursday 10:00am - 11:15am | In-Person | Professor Peng
Section 2 | Monday, Wednesday 5:30pm - 6:45pm | In-Person | Professor Kalb
Survey of international theatre from its pre-Greek origins to the Spanish Golden Age.
THEA 212 - World Theatre II
Monday, Thursday 11:30am - 12:45pm | In-Person
Professor Neff
THEA 213 - World Theatre 3
Tuesday, Friday 10:00am - 11:15am | In-Person
Professor Chang
This course introduces and examines a selection of plays and performance styles from various parts of the world during the period between 1850 and present day. Through a study of dramatic works, critical texts, and historical contexts, we will explore the intersection between the performing arts and the changing world around them. The course will illustrate how global developments inspired theatremakers to respond to the periods of modernism and beyond.
THEA 215 - Black Theatre
Monday, Thursday 2:30pm - 3:45pm | In-Person
Professor Williams
THEA 253.57 - Musical Theatre Workshop 1
Tuesday, Friday 4:00pm - 5:50pm | In-Person
Professor Caldwell
THEA 251 - Theatre Production
Monday, Thursday 1:30pm - 3:20pm | In-Person
Professor Pedicini
This course introduces students to the practical aspects of theatre production through a combination of readings, discussions, guests, and hands-on experience. Students learn what goes into making a play from the perspective of the producer, from auditions and casting to budgeting and hiring personnel to marketing, teching, and presenting the final production. Class meetings will include lectures, discussions, and visits from Theatre Department faculty, staff, and student guests.
A primary component of this class is that we are responsible for making sure that the departmental production is of the highest artistic quality, is ready on time, and runs smoothly. To this end, students in this class will participate in set construction in our scenic shop, costume construction in our costume shop, and other behind the scenes work in the Loewe Theatre.
THEA 261 - Acting II: American Realism
Section 1 | Monday, Thursday 11:30am - 1:20pm | In-Person | Professor Felner
Section 2 | Tuesday, Friday 4:00pm - 5:50pm | In-Person | Professor Holder
Section 3 | Tuesday, Friday 12:30pm - 2:20pm | In-Person | Professor McIntire
Fundamentals of scene study focusing on text analysis, personalization, objective and action using American realism.
THEA 263 - Basic Voice & Movement
Section 1 | Tuesday, Friday 10:00am - 11:15am | In-Person | Professor Moore
This course helps the performer develop authority, range, and freedom in their artistic work. Using the Linklater approach, students learn how to release physical tensions and integrate their body, voice and creativity through exercises. Through text work students will develop their creative imagination and sharpen their articulation. By the end of this course students will have gained more artistic confidence and connection, and leave with a physical and vocal foundation for their rehearsal and performance work
THEA 281 - Visual Elements of Theatre
Section 1 | Tuesday, Friday 10:00am - 11:15am | In-Person
Professor Thompson
Explore the visual storytelling methods, techniques, and tools available to support the playwright’s narrative and the director’s concept for a theatrical production. We will examine the evolution and styles of the stage picture, theatre architecture, music halls and motion picture palaces. We will also address the advent of new visual media, such as digital projection, animation, and its impact on the contemporary audience experience. The class will also attend Broadway Theatre performances.
THEA 321 - Play Analysis
Section 1 | Monday, Thursday 2:30pm - 3:45pm | In-Person
Professor Foglia
How does a director read a play? What about a designer? Or an actor? How do you get from. text on the page to life on the stage? What does any of this have to do with a directorial "concept"? In this course, we will study plays both classical and modern and employ a variety of lenses to discover the reality these writers have created. The goal is to answer the questions we would face as artists en route to production.
Class will be discussion-based and involve close readings of plays and additional texts by thinkers whose ideas we may find useful in approaching those plays. Each week will involve new reading and short assignments designed to test those tools we have acquired. The course requires continuous engagement from students.
THEA 333 - Alternative Performance
Tuesday, Friday 11:30am - 12:45pm | In-Person
Professor Cedars
“Something Wicked” Horror Theatre and Performance
This course explores the history of horror and grotesque performance from the medieval period through today. Through a mixture of literary analysis, creative exercises, and historical contextualization, students will examine how horror in theatre, film, and public spectacles both reflects social anxieties and offers spectators thrills they can find nowhere else. The course’s definition of horror is intentionally broad, and will include: monsters; stories of murderous brutality; campy horror comedy; hauntings; and psychological horror. Through an analysis of these disparate styles, students will identify the various modes that horror uses (i.e. the grotesque, the macabre, the uncanny, the disgusting). Likewise, the course will conduct theatrical readings of its chosen texts, to examine how horror achieves its desired effect on audiences, and why spectators tend to find certain phenomena frightening. Texts and subjects will be taken from throughout the world, and will include not only published or produced plays and films, but also public events (freak shows, public executions) and real-world spectacles, with the emphasis on anything that uses fear as a way to challenge civilizations to question the very ideals they value most.
THEA 361 - Acting: Non-Realism
Monday, Thursday 4:00pm - 5:50pm | In-Person
Professor Felner
THEA 376 - Playwriting I
Section 1 | Monday, Thursday 1:00pm - 2:15pm | In-Person
Professor Jae Hoon
In this course, you will study the craft and art of playwriting. You will experiment with process. You will explore what a play can be and what it can mean to write a play.
By the end of the course, you will have read a number of plays, along with essays on playwriting. You will have written several scenes, short plays, and a one-act play. You will have analyzed a number of plays, including those of your peers, and will have gained tools to effectively revise your work.
The goal of the class is not to write a “perfect” play but to turn out some glorious failures, sharpen your instincts, and hone in on your own interests as a writer of dramatic texts.
THEA 377 - Playwriting II
Section 1 | Tuesday, Friday 1:00pm - 2:15pm | In-Person
Professor Rubenstein
In this course, you will continue to study the craft of playwriting toward the goal of completing the first draft of a full-length play. Throughout the semester we will workshop each other’s plays at various stages, do writing exercises to ignite inspiration, and examine plays with a wide range of styles, structures, and forms. Later in the semester, we will also get into larger questions about how to utilize feedback from others and how to start a career in theater out of school.
THEA 381 - Scene Design
Tuesday, Friday 11:30am - 1:20pm | In-Person
Professor Thompson
This class is an exploration of scene design for the theatre and scenography. Using critical thinking and creative expression, students will respond to texts by exploring the process through which sets are created. Students will explore the vocabulary of design and theatre architecture by researching, sketching, model building, and drafting. The critique discussion will be an ongoing part of the process and demand full participation. Theatre is a collaborative medium and the verbal expression of ideas supports the visual presentation of projects. There will be visits from theatre professionals and required attendance at current productions with a critical written response paper.
THEA 384 - Stage Lighting
Monday, Wednesday 4:00pm - 5:15pm | In-Person
Professor Calderon
BTB 680
To examine the methods, styles, aesthetics, principles, conventions, and visual vocabulary of Stage Light for Theatre. Emphasis on the how mood, rhythm, and atmosphere reinforce dramatic interpretation will be explored. Production hours to be arranged.
THEA 390 - Costume, Fashion and Cultural Studies
Monday, Thursday 10:00am - 11:15am Section 2 | Hybrid
Monday, Thursday 11:30am - 12:45pm Section 3 | Hybrid
Professor Chatterjee
THEA 397.21 - Character Body & Speech for the Actor
Section 1 | Tuesday, Friday 11:30am - 12:45pm | In-Person
Professor Moore
This course continues the development of the first semester Basic Voice and Movement, andintroduces: Phonetics; Upper resonators; Bridgmont technique action on speech; Levels of tension for physical work on character and action.
By the end of the semester the student will:
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Increase the range, clarity, and power of their voice
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Be able to communicate the rhetoric and action of a text through speech and movement
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Know how to use the International Phonetics Alphabet for transcription and performance of the sounds of speech
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Develop physical skills necessary for the development of character
THEA 397.24 - Special Topics: Producing
Wednesday 10:00am - 12:45pm | In-Person
Professor Mosher
You can be a producer. All anyone needs to produce a play is 1. a story you want to tell 2. people to tell it 3. a space in which to tell it and 4. people to experience it. You usually need some money to pull these things together, but almost any play can be done on a budget of $50 or $5 million. And the latter won't necessarily be better.
You don't have to be a producer <or> an actor or director/designer/writer/SM, etc. You can produce as you do other things.
This course will cover the essentials of creative producing: the working relationships producers have with artists, staff, and funders (whether donors or investors). We’ll also cover venues, financial structures, leadership structures, budgeting, scheduling, press, and marketing.
These essentials are just what I have, no doubt imperfectly, gleaned from producing a few hundred shows in venues ranging from Broadway theaters to classrooms in Soweto. Some essentials will be facts, for instance: “It is very unwise to spend more money than you have.” Others will be opinions. In other words, producing is part science and part art. Out of the course, and eventually out of your own experience, you will of course develop your own opinions and principles; you should feel completely free to challenge mine if it’s useful to you.
The semester will focus on producing with small to smaller budgets, but the principles apply to any producing situation or budget.
THEA 397.27 - New York Theatre Now
Monday, Wednesday 4:00pm - 5:15pm | In-Person
Professor Kalb
NEW YORK THEATER NOW is a contemporary drama class that selectively surveys the current New York theater scene. We will read and analyze plays and playwrights recently or currently produced on and off Broadway, studying them through both literary and theatrical lenses. The course gives preference to dramatic material amenable to background reading and literary discussion, but theatrical interpretation will be integral to our work. The New York productions associated with the chosen plays will be our main theatrical foils.