Theater & Music Theater Courses

Theater & Music Theater

Beginning Studies in Acting: Scene Study

THR 201 · Fall 2014

Multiple sections offered

Instructors: Suzanne Agins · Tracy Bersley

An introduction to the craft of acting through scene study monologues and, finally, a longer scene drawn from a play, to develop a method of working on a script. Emphasis will be placed on honesty, spontaneity, and establishing a personal connection with the scene's substance.

Introductory Playwriting

THR 205 · Fall 2014

C01 · Tuesday, 1:30 - 3:20 pm Thursday, 1:30 - 4:20 pm 185 Nassau Street, Room 206

Instructors: Robert N. Sandberg

This is a workshop in the fundamentals of writing plays. Emphasis will be on solving problems of structure, dramatic action, and character. Attention will also be given to innerlife, language, atmosphere on stage, creating living dialogue, and examining the sources to be used in writing, etc.

French Theater Workshop

FRE 211 / THR 211 · Fall 2014

C01 · Tuesday, 3:00 - 4:20 pm Thursday, 3:00 - 4:20 pm Whitman Theater

Instructors: Florent Masse

L'Avant-Scène will offer students the opportunity to put their language skills in motion by discovering French theater in general and by acting in French, in particular. The course will introduce students to acting techniques while allowing them to discover the richness of the French dramatic canon.

Acting, Being, Doing, and Making: Introduction to Performance Studies

THR 300 / COM 359 / ENG 373 / ANT 359 · Fall 2014

C01 · Tuesday, 1:30 - 4:20 pm 185 Nassau Street, Room 219

Instructors: Jill Dolan · Stacy Wolf

A hands-on approach to this interdisciplinary field. In addition to key readings in performance theory, we will attend theatre and concerts and sporting events, visit museums, attend community celebrations, observe people's behaviors in restaurants and on the street.

Intermediate Studies in Acting: Scene Study II

THR 301 · Fall 2014

C01 · Tuesday, 1:30 - 4:20 pm Thursday, 1:30 - 3:20 pm New South Building, Room 110

Instructors: Mark Nelson

A continuation of THR 201: Guide students in ways to develop a role and to explore important texts and characters in an imaginative and honest manner.

Ethnographic Playwriting

THR 303 / AMS 330 / SOC 350 · Fall 2014

C01 · Wednesday, 1:30 - 4:20 pm 185 Nassau Street, Room 207

Instructors: Aaron Landsman

This course delves into a collaborative, ethnographic approach to making theater. We will read, watch and discuss the work of subculture theorists, theater-makers and other artists and thinkers, all of whom use staged conversations as the basis for characters, scenes and entire works. We will hash out ethics and responsibilities for those of us who engage communities outside our own.

Christopher Durang: My Life in Art

THR 304 / ENG 369 · Fall 2014

S01 · Thursday, 1:30 - 4:20 pm 185 Nassau Street, Room 207

Instructors: Christopher Durang · Michael Cadden

This course will focus on the lifetime achievement of one of the nation's greatest playwrights, Christopher Durang, who will be participating in the class as the inaugural Roger S. Berlind '52 Playwright-in-Residence. We'll focus on Durang's writing and rehearsal process, the writers who have meant most to him, the joys and pains of theatrical collaboration, and the perils of writing comedy with a satiric edge.

Criticism Workshop

THR 326 / ENG 314 · Fall 2014

S01 · Fridays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. 185 Nassau Street, Room 207

Instructors: Fintan O'Toole

This workshop is devoted to the development of the student's critical sensibility. Through extensive in-class analysis of their own reviews of and other kinds of writing about professional theater and dance productions, students will come to learn what makes a good critic of the performing arts.

The Nature of Theatrical Reinvention

THR 334 · Fall 2014

S01 · Monday, 7:30 - 10:20 pm New South Building, Room 110

Instructors: John Doyle

This seminar explores how iconic pieces of theatre can be re-explored for modern audiences. The course will examine various aspects of how an artist can think out-of-the-box and the mechanisms the artist can use to do so. There will be discussions, theatre visits, possible access to theatre practitioners and assignments which will encourage the participant to explore their own imaginative approach to storytelling.

Development of the Multi-Skilled Performer

THR 335 / MUS 303 · Fall 2014

S01 · Monday, 12:30 - 4:20 pm New South Building, Room 110

Instructors: John Doyle

A practical class. This is a workshop based class for those interested in multi-skilled performance and in how performance skills can illuminate new forms of theatre making. Ideally participants should have musical skills and be able to bring an instrument to work with.

Advanced Theatrical Design

THR 400 / VIS 400 · Fall 2014

C01 · Monday, 12:30 - 4:20 pm Berlind Theater 002

Instructors: Jane Cox · Anya Klepikov

his course bridges the gap between students taking introductory design courses in set, costume or lighting design, and successfully designing a production on campus. The course is designed to endow students with practical skills that will enable them to actually design a production, and to support them in making technical decisions as well as in collaborating and communicating with the rest of the creative team and the technical staff.

Directing Workshop

THR 411 · Fall 2014

C01 · Monday, 7:30 - 10:20 pm Thursday, 2:30 - 4:20 pm Berlind Theater, Room 002

Instructors: Tim Vasen

Special directing assignments will be made for each student, whose work will be analyzed by the instructor and other members of the workshop. Students will be aided in their preparations by the instructor; they will also study the spectrum of responsibilities and forms of research involved in directing plays of different styles.

Major Author(s) – Samuel Beckett

ENG 412 / THR 412 · Fall 2014

S01 · Thursdays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm McCosh Hall, Room 24

Instructors: Fintan O'Toole

Samuel Beckett is arguably the most influential writer of the second half of the 20th century but is often misunderstood as a purveyor of bleak nihilism with a relentlessly pessimistic view of the human condition. This course explores a very different Beckett: a writer of compassion, invention and harsh beauty, responding to his Irish roots and to terrible public events with humor, playfulness and courage.

Notes on Color

VIS 441 / CWR 441 / THR 441 · Fall 2014

S01 · Thursday, 1:30 - 4:20 pm 185 Nassau Street, Room 219

Instructors: James Welling

This seminar will explore the idea of color through a wide range of scientific, philosophical and aesthetic theories. While the eyes of normally sighted human beings render color in roughly the same manner, our reactions and ability to "see" color vary. Far from being a fixed entity, color is a deeply personal and psychological component of human perception and art.

The Fall Show

THR 451 · Fall 2014

S01 · Friday, 12:30 - 4:20 pm Berlind Theater, Room 002

Instructors: Tracy Bersley

The Fall Show provides students with a rigorous and challenging experience of creating theater under near-professional circumstances. A professional director, design team, and stage manager, as well as two weeks of performances in the Berlind Theatre, are key components.The Fall Show involves an extensive rehearsal period and concentrated tech week,often requiring more time and focus than a typical student-produced production might.

Princeton Atelier – Pay Attention: The Art of Here and Now

ATL 499 / THR 499 · Fall 2014

S01 · Thursday, 1:30 - 4:20 pm 185 Nassau Street, Room 313

Instructors: Marianne Weems

Works of art are often praised for their “immediacy,” their being “of their moment.” What if our sense of the present to which we’re meant to be attentive has changed? What is the impact of Twitter, Instagram or the Selfie on making art? Join Marianne Weems of the Building Association for a one-off course that will draw upon various perspectives with guest speakers to investigate these questions of modern consciousness.