Theatre

Degrees and Certificates

Courses

THEA 103: Introduction to Theatre

This course is an introduction to the form and function of theatre as a creative art. Students discover the process of creating theatre through the study and practical understanding of play writing, acting, design, the audience, and aesthetics. Ten hours of workshop participation is required. An additional course fee is required.

THEA 105: Production: Performance

This course may be taken for repeatable credit for performing a role in a mainstage production. The course may be taken in any half-semester either concurrent with or subsequent to completion of the project.

THEA 106: Production: Technical

This course may be taken for repeatable credit for any major backstage role in a mainstage production, or in productions approved by the instructor, such as stage managing a senior project or Student Theatre Festival. The course may be taken in any half-semester either concurrent with or subsequent to completion of the project.

THEA 120: Beginning Acting

This course is an introduction to actor preparation, scene analysis, and theatre games. Laboratory hours and auditioning for departmental productions are required.

THEA 151: Stagecraft

This course is an introduction to the elements of technical theatre. Students gain theoretical and practical understanding of scenery, lighting, properties, costumes, and makeup, as well as backstage and safety rules and regulations. Fifteen hours of laboratory are required.

THEA 153: Makeup Design

This course presents theoretical and practical understanding of makeup techniques from basic corrective to character and stylized. An additional course fee and purchase of an individual makeup kit is required.

THEA 220: Intermediate Acting

This course continues preparation, analysis, and games with additional performance exploration of a range of dramatic genres. Auditioning for departmental productions is required.

THEA 225: Dance and Movement

This course provides instruction in dance forms including ballet, jazz, tap, modem, interpretive, and improvisational and in one or more stage movement skills such as clowning, commedia, tumbling, mask work, mime, period stylization and gesturing, and unarmed combat.

THEA 226: Stage Voice

This Linklater-based course is an introduction to the care and appropriate use of the speaking voice. Students leam standard stage American and a variety of dialects and present memorized monologues.

THEA 227: Stage Movement

This course is an introduction to safe and supple ways to move on stage and an investigation of techniques for actors to enhance body control. The course includes unarmed stage combat.

THEA 230: Theatre for Young Audiences

This course is the study of theatre for young audiences from the perspective of playwrights, actors, teachers, and designers. All students registering for this course are expected to participate in a production and to make field trips to area schools and/ or participate in workshops sponsored for area elementary school students. Students should expect some performance aspects.

THEA 250: Stage Management

This course is an introduction to stage and business management for the theatre. The course focuses on the organizational and business aspects imperative to running a successful production, including, but not limited to; running rehearsals, business contracts, working with various performance unions, budgets, season selection, and production organization. Each student is expected to participate in the departmental productions as an assistant stage manager.

THEA 251: Set Design and Construction

This course is a study of the basic elements of set design and construction and provides practical experience in designing and building sets for performances. Twenty hours of laboratory time are required.

THEA 252: Lighting Design

This course is a study of the basic elements of lighting design and practical experience in working with lighting for stage performances. Fifteen hours of laboratory are required.

THEA 253: AutoCAD I

Students will leam to use the software, AutoCAD, as a drafting and design tool. They will leam how to create a virtual workspace, to draft in that workspace and how to use this tool to communicate their designs. Concepts covered will include: drafting, layers, text, objects, and modifying properties, and inserting raster images. They will also leam how to plot and email their work, in order to share it with other sources. (Students are required to have access to a personal computer to which they can download the free software. Laptop computers are preferable, but not required. AutoCAD is not compatible with Macintosh computers, so a Windows based computer is necessary.)

THEA 254: Costume Design and Construction

This course is a study of the history and basic elements of costume design and provides practical experience in designing costumes for performances. Fifteen hours of laboratory are required.

THEA 270: Women Playwrights

This course involves reading, analyzing and discussing the work of women playwrights through Western Theatre History beginning with Hrosvitha and moving to contemporary drama. This course will look at works from European, African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and white playwrights and will also examine how the individual’s culture also colors their perspective as a theatre artist.

THEA 274: Scripts in Performance

This course is a study of major plays from classical Greece to the modem era, focusing on reading and interpreting these works as literary documents intended for performance. Students study scripts within both the original and contemporary performance contexts.

THEA 306: Period Styles for the Theatre

This course is an exploration of the historical events that have shaped the decorative arts in different ages. Students study the craft, architecture, decor, clothing, mannerisms, politics, social attitudes, and economic conditions as sources for creating the visual/sensory world of a theatrical production in an appropriate historical context.

THEA 320: Advanced Acting

This course is an introduction to performing in plays written in verse and includes special vocal requirements of classical plays as well as semiotic analysis.

THEA 330: Directing I

This course is a study of basic techniques of stage direction and production. A minimum of 15 lab hours is required.

THEA 335: American Theatre

This course is an overview of the history of theatre in America, beginning with Native American rituals and finishing with an examination of the significant trends in American drama as the 21st century unfolds.

THEA 374: Theatre History I

This course is an historical and aesthetic study of theatre in the Western European tradition from ancient times through the Renaissance. Special emphasis is on the function of theatre in each society studied.

THEA 375: Theatre History II

This course is an historical and aesthetic study of theatre in the Western European tradition from the Renaissance through the 20th Century. Special emphasis is on the function of theatre in each society studied.

THEA 420: Acting/Design Projects in Performance

This is a course in which students work in specific areas of theatre which hold special interest for them. Students may study the work of innovative theorists or professionals, styles, or personal development in performance or production technique.

THEA 470: Internship

The internship is a faculty supervised on or off-campus experience that is related to theatre. The experience must be approved by the department chair prior to the beginning of the internship. When completed off-campus, the work is supervised jointly by a faculty supervisor and a designated off-campus supervisor. After completing the internship, students submit reflective essays regarding the quality of the internship experience and its connection to theatre. The student is evaluated by the faculty supervisor who may take into consideration the evaluation of the mentor. Fifty hours of work is required for each one credit. (This course is a credit/no credit course.)

THEA 477: Senior Seminar

This course is a review of material covered throughout the theatre curriculum with particular concern for the student’s area of concentration. Academic and professional career opportunities are explored. Guidance on Senior Project and preparation for Senior Comprehensive Examination are provided.