Introduction to Theater Making is a working laboratory, which gives students hands-on experience with theater's fundamental building blocks — writing, design, acting, directing, and producing. Throughout the semester, students read, watch and discuss five different plays, music theater pieces and ensemble theater works.
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.
We will explore the foundations of black performance theory, drawing from the fields of performance studies, theater, dance, and black studies. Using methods of ethnography, archival studies, and black theatrical and dance paradigms, we will learn how scholars and artists imagine, complicate, and manifest various forms of blackness across time and space. In particular, we will focus on blackness as both lived experience and as a mode of theoretical inquiry.
This is a workshop in the fundamentals of writing plays. Through writing prompts, exercises, study and reflection, students will be guided in the creation of original dramatic material. Attention will be given to character, structure, dramatic action, monologue, dialogue, language and behavior.
What is a musical and why should we care? As performers, writers, designers, theater fanatics, or simply pop culture consumers, we are touched by musicals every day. Reaching millions of people, this uniquely collaborative and expansive form continuously shapes our world. Students will explore the history of the American musical and develop tools to analyze musicals and their reception.
In a universe filled with movement, how and why and where might we find relative stillness? What are the unique aesthetic, political, and daily life possibilities while school as we know it is on pause? We’ll dance, sit, question, and create practices and projects. We’ll play with movement within stillness, stillness within movement, stillness in performance and in performers' minds. We’ll look at stillness as protest and power. We’ll wonder when stillness might be an abdication of responsibility. We'll read widely within religions, philosophy, performance, disability studies, social justice, visual art, sound (and silence).
This course introduces students to physical acting techniques, which unleash playfulness and expand expressive potential in performance.
This course is a collaboration between science and creative expression. Students will develop an understanding of the fundamental role that microbes (viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms) have played in environmental stability and human evolution. We will then explore the impact of microbes on climate change and discuss innovation and solutions. Concurrently, we will be exploring various forms of creative expression (writing, movement, improvisation, image making, etc.), with which to playfully observe, meditate and communicate the scientific material.
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.
During this six-week (June 1 – July 13, 2024) seminar based in Gesualdo, Italy, students will explore the fundamentals of storytelling through music theater, while studying Italian language and experiencing the culture of Southern Italy.
A continuation of work begun in Introductory Playwriting, in this class, students will complete either one full-length play or two long one-acts (40-60 pages) to the end of gaining a firmer understanding of characterization, dialogue, structure, and the playwriting process. In addition to questions of craft, an emphasis will be placed on the formation of healthy creative habits and the sharpening of critical and analytical skills through reading and responding to work of both fellow students and contemporary playwrights of note.
An introduction to the art and craft of lighting design for the stage and an exploration of light as a medium for expression. Students will develop an ability to observe lighting in the world and on the stage; to learn to make lighting choices based on text, space, research, and their own responses; to practice being creative, responsive and communicative under pressure and in company; to prepare well to create under pressure using the designer's visual toolbox; and to play well with others-working creatively and communicating with directors, writers, performers, fellow designers, the crew and others.
What happens when we mix Shakespeare with modern Spanish-language theater? This course places issues of migration and legacies of imperialism in conversation with Shakespeare and Shakespearean adaptations, appropriations, confrontations, and allusive riffs in the present day.
An exploration of ritual and ceremony as creative, interdisciplinary spaces imbued with intention and connected to personal and cultural histories. A broadening and deepening of knowledge around historical and contemporary ritual, ceremonial, and community-building practices of queer and trans artist communities from around the world, with a deeper focus on the extraordinary history of the queer trans shamans of early 20th century Korea.
This class will mount a developmental performance of the musical story-work "Xulgaria" inside an intensive ensemble setting. We will research classic Greek choruses and the Eleusinian Mystery rites and explore diaphonic singing. We will use multidisciplinary practices- theatre, experimental movement, symbol-making and more—to explore global mythologies of the "underworld" and devise performance and ritual that can provide a community container for discussing issues around mental health and healing
How do you apply your creative skills and artistry to different educational settings? Using the example of prisons, specialized schools and community-based organizations, lecturer and veteran teaching artist Chesney Snow will guide students through studying and practicing the craft of teaching artistry. Students will understand the history of teaching artistry and how it fits into the structures of today's educational systems and society as well as understanding best practices in the development of teaching artist pedagogy and classroom management.
In this community-engaged class, students will be invited to learn about the dynamic history and role of the arts in Trenton through conversations with local artists and activists. Students will develop close listening skills with oral historian/artist Nyssa Chow. Readings include texts about urban invisibility, race, decoloniality, and public arts policy. Students will participate in the development of a virtual memorial and restorative project by Trenton artist Bentrice Jusu.
In this studio course we will explore light and movement to better understand how these elements inform each other in the creation of interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Students will take on the roles of both designer and choreographer, they will develop communications skills across disciplines and question traditional power structures in their making process. This is a hands-on course with an emphasis on creating, revision, communication and collaboration across disciplines and cultures.
This course offers a dynamic exploration of the intersection between dance theater and popular culture. Bridging the realms of artistic expression and societal influence, students will embark on a multidisciplinary journey that spans historical, cultural, and performative landscapes. Through a fusion of theory, practice, and critical analysis, participants will gain a profound understanding of how dance theatre has both shaped and been shaped by popular culture, from the early 20th century to the present day.
This course explores how the drama of ancient Athens is restaged and rewritten for today's audiences. Students will read plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes to confront the interpretative and performative challenges they offer on the page and on the stage—as well as the opportunities they provide contemporary playwrights to speak to the present moment
This course explores how dramatic storytelling shapes our responses to environmental issues. Led by two instructors, it blends documentary-based theater and Ecodramaturgical approaches to create narratives that stage environmental injustice.
Democratizing Culture will look at the initiatives by French cultural institutions to democratize culture and make their offerings more accessible to everyone. During spring break, we will travel to France to have a first-hand experience and assessment of these cultural policies and meet with government officials and arts institutions' directors.
This theater making studio is intended to support students creating theatrical projects, at Princeton and beyond, in a time of seismic change in our field. We'll address your creative process and collaborative skills, develop inclusive practices and support your growth as visual storytellers and critical thinkers.
This course will be an exploration, rehearsals and performances of a play with a small number of characters in it, directed by Elena Araoz, leading to performances.
A Blank Page, taught by composer Dave Malloy and director Annie Tippe, invites playwrights, composers, directors, and performers of all levels to explore creativity and collaboration through the form of musical theater. Students will study various musicals and their source materials, in tandem with writings and exercises on creativity and collaboration, aimed toward unlocking the process of exploding source material into the musical form and onto the stage. The class will culminate in the creation of short one-act musicals, to be written, directed, and performed by the students.
In this course, students will creatively explore the script and investigate the novel's underlying subject matter, spanning concepts from science and moral philosophy. Guest speakers and professional guest artists will be invited to share insights on topics relevant to our process and the dramaturgy of this creative work and be a part of the creative process.
Will Eno (Obie Award, Pulitzer Prize finalist) leads a workshop devoted to the study and creation of the dramatic monologue. Students will study various monologues to understand and reaffirm the very simple idea behind all of them: I'm trying to talk to you. Every other week we'll be joined by a specialist from outside the realm of theater and creative writing—a psychologist, philosopher, provocateur—to help us realize the challenges and possibilities of the form from their unique viewpoint. The aim is that these different perspectives inspire us in wild new directions while we grow in our understanding of ancient truths.
The Atelier "Performing Marivaux" will offer students the rare chance to work with celebrated French director and playwright Guillaume Vincent, known in France for revisiting the classics. The course will be co-taught by Guillaume Vincent and Florent Masse, the Director of L'Avant-Scène, the French Theater Workshop.