How do artists make art? How do we evaluate it? In this course, students of all levels get to experience firsthand the particular challenges and rewards of art making through practical engagement with five fields — creative writing, visual art, theater, dance, and music — under the guidance of professionals.
How can someone who loves the performing arts, but is also committed to civic engagement find a path to meaningfully combine their interests and use their artistic gifts in service to their communities? Throughout the course, students will be asked to read and think critically about the role of performing arts in society, explore and develop their own notion of civically-engaged art making, and consider the responsibility of theatre artists to address questions of civic engagement and service.
This course introduces students to set and costume design for performance, exploring theater as a visual medium.
An exploration of theatrical sound design and engineering, this class will explore sound for both theater and music theater. We will investigate text from the point of view of sound, and learn how to communicate the ideas, palette and arc of a design to others. We will explore developing a creative process and turning our ideas into sounds that can be used onstage.
A Viking saga, a mad king, a vengeful husband: these are a few of the characters that we encounter in recent small-scale operas (or 'music-theater' works). They give us a starting point for considering how we tell stories in opera. We will look at the music, the staging and the performance and the ways these elements come together to provide a unified artistic work. Students will be encouraged to respond creatively through writing about the work, or musical composition or developing a particular performance idea. The course will be graded on a final project of the student's choice.
A practical hands-on introduction to acting and directing in musical theater. The course will require students to prepare songs and scenes from selected musicals with an eye to how best to approach the particular challenges the scene presents.
This course explores theories and practices in contemporary theater making, and will be a workshop of ideas for junior theater certificate students in preparation for their final year. We will examine questions such as: what are the differences between process and product, what is collaboration, where does the audience fit in to the creative journey. We will investigate different approaches to theater making. The course will incorporate practical exercises, seminar discussions and visits to rehearsal at Classic Stage Company in NYC.
This course provides students with a rigorous and challenging experience of creating theater under near-professional circumstances.
This course is centered around the development of a new performative installation by puppeteer Basil Twist entitled ‘Grandma’s Russian Painting’ inspired by childhood memories of an elaborate painting Twist’s grandmother had near her swimming pool in the desert.