Theater & Music Theater Courses

Theater & Music Theater

Beginning Studies in Acting: Scene Study

THR 201 · Spring 2022

U01 · Mondays, 2:30-4:20 PM Wednesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Eunice Wong

An introduction to the craft of acting. Emphasis will be placed on honesty, spontaneity, and establishing a personal connection with the substance of the material.

Practice

DAN 206 / MTD 206 / THR 206 · Spring 2022

U01 · Thursdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Aynsley Vandenbroucke

We will look at practice as both verb and noun, pay special attention to the ways in which we embody the work (and change) we want to see in the world. Through somatic activities, talks with invited guests, projects, and readings (across the arts, sciences, philosophy, religion, and activism), we'll revel in the interplay between process and product, solitude and community, structure and freedom, life and art.

Body and Language

DAN 208 / THR 208 / GHP 338 · Spring 2022

C01 · Wednesdays, 1:30 - 4:20 PM

Instructors: Aynsley Vandenbroucke

In this studio course open to all, we'll dive into experiences in which body and language meet.

Learning Shakespeare by Doing

COM 212 / THR 212 · Spring 2022

S01 · Mondays + Wednesdays, 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Instructors: Leonard Barkan

A course on works of dramatic literature whose comparative dimension is theatrical performance. We will consider four Shakespeare plays covering a range of theatrical genres; the emphasis will be on the ways in which Shakespearean meaning can be elucidated when the reader becomes a performer.

Reimagining the American Theatrical Canon

THR 223 / ENG 253 / GSS 444 / AMS 346 · Spring 2022

S01 · Wednesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Brian Herrera

This course offers an intensive survey of ongoing efforts to revisit and revise the American theatrical canon and repertoire. Students will examine the economic, institutional and cultural forces shaping the landscape of new play production in the United States as they also read a broad selection of plays from the contemporary American theater.

The Writers’ Room

THR 224 / CWR 225 · Spring 2022

S01 · Mondays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Maysoon Zayid

The Writers' Room will replicate the fast-paced environment of a Hollywood writers room. Students will be assigned to a writing team and will pen two complete scripts with their fellow writers.

Contemporary French Theater

FRE 228 / THR 227 · Spring 2022

C01 · Tuesdays + Thursdays, 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Instructors: Florent Masse

Contemporary French Theater will introduce students to the vibrant and diverse scene of contemporary theater in France. Every week we will read a new play by a celebrated or an emerging living playwright, and examine their shared topics of interest and writing styles.

Introduction to Masked Performance

THR 230 · Spring 2022

U01 · Tuesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Yuval Boim

This course is an exploration of physical performance techniques that place the embodied actor at the center of the process of theatrical creation.

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

THR 300 / COM 359 / ENG 373 / ANT 359 · Spring 2022

C01 — Stacy Wolf + Darja Filippova · Wednesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Stacy Wolf

A hands-on approach to this interdisciplinary field. We will apply key readings in performance theory to space and time-based events, at sites ranging from theatre, experimental art, and film, to community celebrations, sport events, and restaurant dining.

Advanced French Theater Workshop

FRE 311 / THR 312 · Spring 2022

Multiple sections offered

Instructors: Florent Masse

In Advanced French Theater Workshop, students will focus their work on three main French playwrights: one classical, one modern, and one contemporary. This year, students will rehearse and perform excerpts from the great works of Molière, Alfred de Musset, and Pascal Rambert.

Storytellers – Building Community Through Art

THR 313 / AMS 387 / GSS 453 / AAS 312 · Spring 2022

S01 · Wednesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Jane Cox · Sydné Mahone

In this Princeton Challenge course, students will participate in building a relationship between a historically significant Black theater company, Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, and the university community. Co-taught by Sydné Mahone, Director of play development at Crossroads 1985-1997, students will research the theater through its people and its art, while making the role of women in Black art-making more visible.

Sound Design

THR 320 / MTD 320 · Spring 2022

S01 · Fridays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Staff

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.

Autobiographical Storytelling

THR 340 / GSS 446 / LAO 355 / CWR 340 · Spring 2022

S01 · Thursdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Brian Herrera

Every life delivers a story (or three) worth telling well. This workshop rehearses the writing and performance skills necessary to remake the raw material drawn from lived experience into compelling autobiographical storytelling. As we engage the thematic focus of "Princeton, History and Me," we will explore autobiographical storytelling as both a practice and a process as we also evince (and confront) the personal, moral, ethical and artistic dimensions of the stories we choose to tell about ourselves, about Princeton, and the stories that remain to be told about both.

Playing Dead: Corpses in Theater and Cinema

THR 350 / ENG 450 · Spring 2022

S01 · Tuesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Fintan O'Toole

In this course, we contemplate corpses from Antigone to Alfred Hitchcock and from Shakespeare's tragedies to Stand By Me and Weekend at Bernie's and bring the dead to life.

Arts in the Invisible City: Race, Policy, Performance

HUM 352 / URB 352 / ENG 252 / THR 360 · Spring 2022

S01 — Nyssa Chow + D. Vance Smith · Tuesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Nyssa Chow

This course will study the role that the arts can and do play in Trenton: a so-called invisible city, one of the poorest parts of the state, but intimately connected to Princeton. Examining the historical and contemporary racisms that have shaped Trenton, we will hear from activists, policy makers, artistic directors, politicians, and artists. Readings will include texts about urban invisibility, race, community theater, and public arts policy.

Performance as Art

VIS 354 / DAN 354 / THR 354 · Spring 2022

U01 · Tuesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Colleen Asper

This studio class will explore a broad range of approaches to art-based performance: from instruction pieces and happenings, to the body as language and gesture, to performance as a form of archiving.

Black Dramatists in the English-Speaking World

ENG 354 / THR 351 / AAS 354 · Spring 2022

S01 · Mondays, 7:30-10:20 PM

Instructors: Nathan Davis

This course will survey plays written by Black playwrights in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will explore dramatic works of writers from Africa, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Are you for sale? Performance Making, Philanthropy and Ethics

DAN 357 / AMS 358 / THR 357 / VIS 357 · Spring 2022

C01 · Wednesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Miguel Gutierrez

In this class we study the relationships between performance-making, philanthropy and ethics. How are performing artists financing their work, and what does this mean in relationship to economic and social justice?

Contemporary Drama

ENG 372 / THR 372 · Spring 2022

L01 · Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Instructors: Tamsen Wolff

This course will look at a range of British and American drama from the second half of the twentieth century to the twenty-first, with an emphasis on the developments of the last twenty years.

Theater Making Studio

THR 402 / MTD 402 · Spring 2022

U01 · Wednesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Shariffa Ali

This junior methods seminar will prepare you to create and co-produce theatrical projects for your senior year independent work in a changing landscape of theater making.

Decentering/Recentering the Western Canon in the Contemporary American Theater

THR 416 / AMS 416 / COM 453 / ENG 456 · Spring 2022

S01 · Mondays and Wednesdays, 11 AM - 12:20 PM

Instructors: Michael Cadden

Why do some BIPOC dramatists (from the US and Canada) choose to adapt/revise/re-envision canonical texts from the Western theatrical tradition? While their choices might be accused of recentering and reinforcing "white" narratives that marginalize and/or exoticize racial and ethnic others, we might also see this venture as a useful strategy to write oneself into a tradition that is itself constantly being revised and reevaluated and to claim that tradition as one's own. What are the artistic, cultural, and economic "rewards" for deploying this method of playmaking? What are the risks?

Musical Theater Writing II

MTD 417 / THR 417 / MUS 267 · Spring 2022

U01 — Geraldine Anello + Adam Gwon · Thursdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Adam Gwon

This upper level musical theater writing course will delve into the creation of new musical works for the stage, with an emphasis on music as an essential dramatic language.

Directing for Theater and Music Theater

THR 419 / MTD 419 · Spring 2022

S01 · Mondays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: John Doyle

This course is designed to encourage the development of directors for theater and musical theater, covering techniques and practices from both areas.

Designing Narratives

THR 420 / VIS 420 / ARC 420 · Spring 2022

U01 · Thursdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Staff

Co-taught by design collective dots, the course aims to explore the world of visual storytelling, with an emphasis on collaboration as an essential part of the process of designing 3-dimensional space for narratives.

Theater Rehearsal and Performance

THR 451 / MTD 451 · Spring 2022

U01 · Fridays, 12:30 - 4:20 PM

Instructors: Tess James

This course will be an exploration, rehearsals and performances of a production of the play Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega, to be performed partly or completely in the Spanish language. The project will be directed by professional director Estefania Fadul, and will lead to performances in the Berlind Theater.

The Old Man and The Pool: Crafting a Long-form Monologue

ATL 495 / THR 495 · Spring 2022

C01 · Tuesdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Mike Birbiglia · Seth Barrish

The comedian and storyteller Mike Birbiglia and the director Seth Barrish have collaborated on five shows Off and On Broadway, including "Sleepwalk With Me" and "The New One". Their award-winning work has now been seen around the world. In this unique course, Mike and Seth will share the finer points of their groundbreaking approach to creating compelling long-form monologues. Each student in the class will develop a 6-minute monologue which they will share in an end of the semester presentation.

Fables of Our Time

ATL 498 / THR 498 · Spring 2022

C01 · Thursdays, 1:30-4:20 PM

Instructors: Dan Rothenberg · Josephine Decker

Dan Rothenberg and Josephine Decker team up to explore original fables for children, devised for theater and film. We will look at multiple versions of folktales familiar to American children such as Little Red Riding Hood; international folklore; 20th century masters such as Hiyao Miyazaki and Maurice Sendak; and contemporary storytellers such as Kelly Link and Sylvia V. Linsteadt. The class invites musicians, dancers, writers, and performers to "devise" short original creations inspired by the beating heart of fables but updated for our contemporary world of urban migration, technological change, and climate peril.