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Courses 2009-20010

For more information on current and future TAPS courses,
please contact, Heidi Coleman <coleman@uchicago.edu>.

The following courses are offered as part Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) during the 2009/2010 academic year.

All information subject to change. Lecturer information

AUTUMN 2009

WINTER 2010

SPRING 2010

AUTUMN 2009

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

Section 01   T/TH   1:30-2:50   David New (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Section 02   T/TH   10:30-11:50 Pamela Pascoe (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Section 03   T/TH   9:00-10:20   Pamela Pascoe (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Section 04   T/TH   12:00-1:20   Tiffany Trent (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. At least three sections are offered per quarter with enrollment limited to twenty. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals

Instructor: Tiffany Trent When: T/TH 1:30-2:50
Where: First Floor Theater Reynolds Club

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts.PQ: Consent of instructor. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300 Text and Performance

Instructor: Sean Graney  When: Monday 1:30-4:20
Where: Reynolds Club First Floor Theater

Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. In this class, students will read several plays and essays in order to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We will develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. Ideally endowing students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 10700 Intro to Stage Design

Instructor: Tom Burch When: M/W 1:30-2:50
Where: Design Lab, Reynolds Club

This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. Lab fee required. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500 Beginning Screenwriting

Instructor: John Petrakis When: Tuesday 3:00-5:50
Where: TBD

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 23000 Introduction to Directing: Understanding Concept, Theme and Imagery through Analysis

Instructor: Brian LaDuca When: M/W 1:30 - 2:50
Where: Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space

This course employs a practice in the fundamental theory of play direction and the role of the director in collaboration with the development of textual analysis. By examining five diversely different texts (Electra, Twelfth Night, Seascape, Angels In America Pt. I, August: Osage County) using three different approaches to play analysis (Aristotle, Stanislavski, Ball) students will begin developing a method of directing for the stage in support of the written text. In alternating weeks, students will implement textual analysis in building an understanding of directorial concept, theme, imagery and staging through rehearsal and in-class presentations of three-minute excerpts from the play analysis the previous week. The class will culminate with a final five-minute scene combining the tools of direction with a method of analysis devised over the ten week course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 25000 Advanced Playwriting and the Theory of Time

Instructor: Bonnie Metzgar When: Thursday 1:30-4:20
Where: Design Lab, Reynolds Club

This course is an advanced writing workshop devoted to the art of playwriting. Workshop members are expected to produce at least one draft of a full-length play during the quarter and must engage in active discussion of the plays presented by their colleagues during each workshop session. Writers are also required to complete writing exercises and post responses to the reading list on our class website. The workshop investigates strategies for writing dramatic text, with a special focus on time theory and the theatricalization of time on stage. The Advanced playwriting workshop is open to students admitted by permission on the first day of class. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY is required for this course.

TAPS 25200 NeoFuturists Performance Workshop

Instructor: Greg Allen When: Thursday 3:00-5:50
Where: Barlett Arts Rehearsal Space

This course is a hands-on introduction to Neo-Futurism - a method of transforming your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences into creative, task-oriented, audience-participatory, non-illusory, unique theatrical events. Students will be encouraged to find their own voice as fully rounded theater artists by writing, directing and performing their own short performances using their own lives as source material. By pursuing the goal of absolute truth on stage, the class will focus on an alternative to narrative Realism by embracing such elements as deconstruction, found-text, collage, abstraction, sythesis, and chaos. Classes will consist of original group exercises as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 26000 Modern Dance

Instructor: Cameron Jarrett When: Wednesday 3:00-5:50
Where: Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space

The revolutionary ideas behind modern dance created perceptual shifts in how dance performance and the body itself were viewed. In this course, students learn physical skills specific to modern dance technique through the perspective of the artists who originated these ideas. Students physically embody the history of modern dance, perceiving how technique and the body became an agent of both aesthetic and cultural transformation. Major artists include Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey, and the Judson Church artists, as well as contemporary artists such as Twyla Tharp and Mark Morris.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28400 History and Theory of Drama - I

Instructor: David Bevington/Heidi Coleman
When: T/TH 1:30-2:50 Where: TBA

Cross Listed: ENGL 13800, ISHU 24200, CLCV 21200, CMLT 30500

TAPS 28410 Performance Installation

Instructor: Pamela Pascoe When: TBD
Where: TBD

TAPS 29103 Opera from Noble Courts to National Theaters

Instructor: David Buch  When: T/Th 1:30-2:50
Where: TBD

PQ: Rudimentary ability to read music. Students must confirm enrollment by attending one of the first two sessions of class. An introductory examination of opera with attention to patronage, audience, and theatrical and musical convention. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. Cross Listed with MUS 25510.

TAPS 29800 BA Colloq

Instructor: Heidi Coleman

When:10:30-12

• October 10
• October 17
• October 31
• November 7
• November 21

Where: Cobb & Bars

Required of fourth-year students who are majoring in TAPS. Creative Writing or MAPH students who are preparing theses for performance may participate with consent from their home department and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. NOTE: Students participate in both Autumn and Winter Quarters but register once and receive one grade.

WINTER 2009

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

Section 01   T/TH   12:00-1:20   Drew Dir (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Section 02   T/TH   1:30 - 2:50   Tom Burch (First Floor Theater)

Section 03   T/TH   1:30 - 2:50  Tiffany Trent (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. At least three sections are offered per quarter with enrollment limited to twenty. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals

Instructor: David New When: T/TH 12:00 - 1:20
Where: First Floor Theater Reynolds Club

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts.PQ: Consent of instructor. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21200 Acting: Chekhov and the Actor 

Instructor: Jonathan Berry  Time: T/TH 3:00-4:20pm BARS
Location: Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space

This acting class will explore the creation of a character and the building of a scene  through the writings of Anton Chekhov and Konstantin Stanislavski.  We will learn advanced techniques for the approach to scene work including dramaturgy and source work, viewpoints, composition, and action/ objective work while connecting these techniques to Stanislavski’s approach to acting.   This is a performance based class – if you are enrolled, be prepared to work on your feet and be present in all classes.  Previous acting experience is encouraged. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22100 Solo Performance

Instructor: Anne Boyd  When: Tuesday 3:00 - 5:50
Location: First Floor Theater, Reynolds Club

In this course students develop solo work and investigate the unique performer to audience dynamic of solo performance and  its particular challenges and power. This experience offers insight into the collaborative process and develops one’s ability to evaluate work from an interior and an exterior perspective, through independent as well as group work.  Inspired by Oulipian constraint-based exercises, students will generate new works through in class and take home assignments.  Sources include journals, personal research, improvisation, the use of multi-media and viewpoints. The course  will culminate in a performance of solo works for UT Day.  No previous experience necessary.  Attendance at the first day of class is mandatory.

TAPS 23100 Advanced Directing

Instructor: Sean Graney When: Monday 12:30-3:20
Where: First Floor Theater, Reynolds Club

This course introduces students to fundamental skills of directing for the stage, from first contact with the script to final performance. After a preliminary examination of directing theory, the class offers practical experience in script analysis, composition work, blocking, and the rehearsal process. Students are expected to prepare a minimum of three assigned scenes ranging in style (e.g., Williams, Brecht, Shakespeare) with actors outside of class for critique, with final scenes performed publicly during tenth week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 25500 Advanced Screenwriting

Instructor: John Petrakis   When: Tuesday 3:00-5:50
Where: TBD

PQ: consent of instructor based on eight-page writing sample in screenplay format. Class limited to eight students. This course requires students to complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay (at least ninety pages), based on an original idea brought to the first or second class. No adaptations or partially-completed scripts are allowed. Weekly class sessions include reading of script pages and critique by classmates and instructor.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY is required for this course.

TAPS 26100 Dance Composition

Instructor:  Cameron Jarrett  When: Wednesdays 3:00-5:50
Location: Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space

When does movement become text? How do bodies combine with time, space, and energy to communicate ideas? In this workshop-formatted course, we explore these questions as we study and create dance. Students develop improvisational skills by exploring the dance principles of space, time, dynamics, and the process of abstraction. Through physical exercises, discussions, and readings, students learn how to initiate and develop movement ideas. Major dance works from many styles (e.g., ballet, modern, avant-garde) are viewed and analyzed, as students develop an understanding of choreographic forms. Students also develop a proficiency in the areas of observation and constructive criticism. The course culminates with a choreographic project.
ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28300 Documentary for Radio: Audio Verité

Instructor: Delaney Hill & Julie Shapiro When: Mondays 4:00-6:50 (Time subject to change)

Location: Design Lab, Reynolds Club

Audio Verité will focus on creative non-fiction radio storytelling, exploring how to document the world through sound and story. Students will learn essential radio skills, including how to: identify worthwhile stories, write for radio, find a voice as narrator, record interviews and ambient sound, and edit, mix and produce short, vivid, sound-rich documentaries. The class will also contain a strong critical listening and component, and active participation will be expected.  A $50 lab fee will be required. THERE IS A $50 LAB FEE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS COURSE.

TAPS 28401 History and Theory of Drama - II

Instructor: David Bevington/Heidi Coleman  When: T/TH 12:00-1:20

Where: TBD

Cross Listed: ENGL 13900, ISHU 24300, CLCV 21300, CMLT 30600

TAPS 28463 The Theatrical Illusion: Corneille, Kushner and the Baroque

Instructor: Larry Norman  When: T/TH 10:30-11:50am
Location: TBD

We will explore the Baroque interest in meta-theatricality (“the play in the play”) by concentrating on Pierre Corneille's 1636 L’illusion comique.  The play will be situated in the theatrical, literary and artistic corpus of the seventeenth century, in France (Rotrou, Moliere, Descartes, Poussin) as well as in Spain (Calderon, Velazquez) and beyond.  We will also reflect on the contemporary adaptation of baroque theatre, in particular through the Court Theatre’s preparation for a production of Tony Kushner’s version of Corneille’s play.  Director Charles Newell will be a guest in the class, and students will be engaged in the dramaturgical process.  Reading knowledge of French strongly preferred.  Students taking courses for French credit must complete all readings and written work in French. 
FREN 28000/38000 & CMLT 21001/31001

TAPS 28464 Clean Up Your Mess:  a Play Writing Workshop Focused on Structure

Instructor: Mickle Maher   When: 1:30-4:20pm Wednesday
Where: Design Lab, FXK Theater-3rd Floor Reynolds Club

This workshop for playwrights will focus on the varieties of play structure, looking to playwrights both past and present who have left plain-spoken (though often contradictory), nuts and bolts advice on how a play "works". In addition to working on our own plays, each week we'll read a play and one or two short essays by a single playwright that give his or her thoughts on how a piece for the theater might be constructed.  Playwrights to be read will include Moliere, Strindberg, (Marsha) Norman, Mamet, Brecht, Scribe, etc.
CRWR 26320 

TAPS 28491 The Ghost Tradition in Chinese Literature, Opera, and Film

Instructor: Judith Zeitlin   When: M/W 1:30-2:50pm
Location: Wieboldt Hall 301N

What is a ghost? How and why are ghosts represented in particular forms in a particular culture at particular moments? This course will explore the complex meanings, both literal and figurative, of the ghost in Chinese culture across history, focusing on the ghost story, opera, and film. Issues to be explored include: 1) the individual's confrontation with mortality; 2) the relationship between death, gender, and sexuality; 3) anxieties of the loss of the cultural past, and 4) the politics of ghosts in modern times. Course readings will be in English translation, and no prior background is required, but students with reading knowledge of Chinese will be encouraged to do some work with texts in the original.
EALC 29400/39400 

TAPS 29800 BA Colloq

Instructor: Heidi Coleman

When:10:30-12

• October 10
• October 17
• October 31
• November 7
• November 21

Where: Cobb & Bars

Required of fourth-year students who are majoring in TAPS. Creative Writing or MAPH students who are preparing theses for performance may participate with consent from their home department and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. NOTE: Students participate in both Autumn and Winter Quarters but register once and receive one grade.

SPRING 2009

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

Section 01   T/TH   9:00-10:20   Pamela Pascoe (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Section 02   T/TH   1:30 - 2:50   Tiffany Trent  (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Section 03   T/TH   10:30 - 11:50  TBD (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. At least three sections are offered per quarter with enrollment limited to twenty. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals

Instructor: David New              When: T/TH   12:00-1:20                           Where: Reynolds Club First Floor Theater

Instructor: Tiffany Trent           When: T/TH  12:00-1:20               Where:Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts.  Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300 Text and Performance: Words and Bodies in Time and Space

Instructor: Loren Kruger When: TTh 10:30-11:50
Where: Cobb (Room TBD)

Theatre combines words and bodies in time and space in ways that audiences find convincing or realistic. What counts as realistic representation and why? How can the illusionistic stage and empathetic performances of Henrik Ibsen’s Dollhouse

and the experimental dis-illusion of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage both be called ‘realist theatre’? How do we make sense of Shakespeare’s empty stage and abundant verse in Hamlet? To answer these questions we will study the words of these and other playwrights alongside critical theory and performances
both recorded and live. Assignments will include the observation and analysis of theatre on stage in Chicago as well as short physical and verbal exercises in embodiment. Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts.

TAPS 18600 Introduction to Puppetry

Instructor: Tom Burch When: M/W 3:00-4:20
Where: Reynolds Club, Design Lab

PQ: Consent of instructor. This course explores the basic history and theory of puppetry as a performance art (both Eastern and Western traditions). Lectures are included, but our focus is on construction and performance techniques of basic puppet forms (e.g., hand, shadow, rod, bunraku styles). Lab fee required.

TAPS 20100 20th Century Dramatic Text: American Contemporary Drama

Instructor: Heidi Coleman When: T/Th 10:30-11:50
Where: Reynolds Club, First Floor Theater

Beginning with O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night through the American Avant-Garde to the most recent production on Broadway, this course focuses on American contemporary playwrights who have made a significant impact with regard to dramatic form in context to specific decade as well as cumulatively through the 20^th century. Textual analysis will be consistently oriented towards production possibilities, both historically and hypothetically.

TAPS 23200 Bodies, Space and Motion: Integrating physical practice into performance

Instructor: Ann Boyd When: T 3:00-4:20
Where: Reynolds Club, First Floor Theater

This class is geared toward performers and directors interested in drawing upon a variety of physical practices and exploring their relationship to text.  The class will be rigorously physical.  We will work with movement to music, viewpoints, contact improvisation and Grotowski-based exercises to inspire character and relationship development, movement (or blocking) in a scene and the creation of original material.  No previous experience required.  Texts include excerpts from Anne Bogart, Peter Brook, Peter Wangh, Forced Entertainment, Jerzy Grotowski, Antonin Artaud and others.

TAPS 28000 Lighting Design for the Stage

Instructor: Marc Stubblefield  When: Monday & Wednesday 1:30-2:50
Where: Reynolds Club, Design Lab

Equal emphasis on the theory and practice of modern stage lighting.  Students will learn the mechanical properties of lighting equipment; how to create, read and execute a lighting plot; the functions of lighting in a theatrical context; color and design theory; how to read a text as a lighting designer.

TAPS 28411 The Dreamer and the Dream: Performance Installation 2

Instructor: Pamela Pascoe  When: M/W/F 3:00-4:50

Where: Midway Studios

In this course we will explore the relations between dreaming and waking life using a broad interdisciplinary approach. Our point of departure will be psychological, cultural, and religious understandings of dreams. On the basis of the readings and the skills and backgrounds of participants, the class will develop a “performance installation” around the liminal spaces of dream and wakefulness. Readings will include literary texts by Apuleius, Calderon, Shakespeare, Arthur Schnitzler, and Neil Gaimen and theoretical texts by Freud, Jung, Klein, Lacan, and Winnicott. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28434 Before and after Beckett: Theatre and Film

Instructor: Loren Kruger   When: T/Th 1:30-2:50
Where: TBD

Beckett is conventionally typed as the playwright of minimalist scenes of unremitting bleakness but his experiments with theatre and film echo the irreverent play of popular culture (vaudeville on stage and film including Chaplin and Keaton) as well as the artistic avant-garde (Dreyer in film; Jarry and Artaud in theatre). This course will juxtapose this early twentieth century work with Beckett’s plays on stage and screen, and those of his contemporaries (Ionesco, Duras) and successors. Contemporary authors will depend on availability but may include Vinaver, Minyana, Lagarce in France, Pinter, Greenaway in the UK; Foreman, Wellman in the US. Theoretical work may include texts by Artaud, Barthes, Derrida, Josette Feral, Peggy Phelan, Bert States and others. This course is open to juniors,seniors and grad students with college course work in theatre, film Working knowledge of French is not absolutely required but those with French will attend a weekly tutorial on original language texts courtesy of Languages across the Curriculum.
ENGLISH 24401/44506 

TAPS 29103. Performance as Subversion under Totalitarian Censorship

Instructor: David Buch  When: T/Th 1:30

Where: TBD

This course will explore theater, music, dance, and film as forms of subversion during periods of totalitarian rule when strict censorship was applied to public performances. Content will concentrate on brutal authoritarian and militaristic regimes that often occupy another country, imposing repressive censorship on indigenous population. Students will choose topics and submit a final paper after a class presentation.

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Course Descriptions

10100. Drama: Embodiment and Transformation.

Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. At least three sections are offered per quarter, with class limited to twenty students. This course meets the general education requirement in 325   Theater and Performance Studies (hcd) the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of this course is to develop an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, we concentrate on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. P. Pascoe, T. Trent, Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

10200. Acting Fundamentals.

Attendance at first class meeting required; prior theater or acting training not required. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study. P. Pascoe, T. Trent. Autumn, Spring.

10300 through 10699. Text and Performance.

Experience in dramatic analysis or performance not required. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. Each of these courses meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Workshops in dramatic technique and attendance at performances at Chicago theaters, in addition to class time, are required.

10300. Words and Bodies in Time and Space.

Class limited to fifteen students. Theater combines words and bodies in time and space in ways that audiences find convincing or realistic. What counts as realistic representation and why? How can the illusionistic stage and empathetic performances of Henrik Ibsen’s Dollhouse and the experimental disillusion of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage both be called “realist theatre?” How do we make sense of Shakespeare’s empty stage and abundant verse in Hamlet? To answer these questions, we study the words of these and other playwrights alongside critical theory and performances both recorded and live. Assignments include the observation and analysis of theater on stage in Chicago, as well as short physical and verbal exercises in embodiment. S. Graney. Spring.

10400. Staging Family.

This course uses the terrain of the family to explore possibilities of staging pairing classical and contemporary texts in conversations with each other using both dramaturgical and theoretical texts to facilitate this dialogue. From Medea to Martha, Lear to Lohman, Oedipus to Ed TV, familial constellations have provided casts and characters and fuelled plots, yet “family” as we have come to recognize it is a twentieth-century construct. The father of Shakespeare occupies an entirely different position that the father of Miller. How do historical contexts impact our readings of relationships? How can critical analysis through staging undermine this nostalgia? How can analysis itself be a performative practice and performance serve as a critical endeavor? Through critical discussion, analytic writings, and stagings, we begin mapping this territory. H. Coleman. Autumn.

10500. Staging Terror.

This course explores the interplay between horror, terror, and pleasure through in-class discussions of theoretical works and the possibilities of practical creative application. The paradox of the attraction to repulsion is considered, as well as the values of shock, suspense, and subtlety. Texts include Grand Guignol, Shakespeare, Gothic novels, and horror films. H. Coleman. Autumn.

10700. Introduction to Stage Design. (=ARTV 26000/36300)

This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. Lab fee required. T. Burch. Autumn.

11000-12999. Advanced Acting Techniques.

PQ: Consent of instructor required; theater experience or acting training helpful. This course, which is often taught by a guest artist, targets a specific acting style, aesthetic, or technique each quarter. Past topics have included Acting the Greeks, Building a Character, Scene Study, Theater and Performance Studies, Acting Chekhov, Improvisation for Actors, Sanford Meisner, and Neo-Futurist Performance Workshop. Whatever the topic, students learn the physical, vocal, linguistic, thematic, and textual references to explore the nature of expressing with the technique.

18000. Lighting Design for Stage.

PQ: Consent of instructor. This course focuses on the functions of light and how it manifests itself on the stage. Students are given tools to approach a script and a director with clear ideas of how light operates and influences: from script analysis, research, presentation, and drafting to actualizing a design in the air with scripted cues and settings. T. Burch. Winter.

18600. Introduction to Puppetry: History, Theory, and Performance.

PQ: Consent of instructor. This course explores the basic history and theory of puppetry as a performance art (both Eastern and Western traditions). Lectures are included, but our focus is on construction and performance techniques of basic puppet forms (e.g., hand, shadow, rod, bunraku styles). Lab fee required. T. Burch. Spring.

20500. Twenty-First Century Dramatic Text.

How do we talk about plays? And what is a play? We read new play texts from the contemporary American theater and develop vocabulary for discussing new forms, structures, languages, plasticities, and poeticisms. We also explore the question of what makes a text “theatrical.” In addition to discussing these plays, students begin to stage these plays to develop a performative process of discovery. B. Metzgar. Spring.

22100. Solo Performance.

Prior solo work not required. This goal of this course is to develop solo work and investigate the unique performer-to-audience dynamic of solo performance and its particular challenges and power. This experience offers insight into the collaborative process and develops the ability to evaluate work from an interior and an exterior perspective, through independent as well as group work. Inspired by Oulipian constraint-based exercises, students generate new works through in-class and take-home assignments. Sources include journals, personal research, improvisation, the use of multi-media, and viewpoints. The course culminates in a performance of solo works for UT Day. A. Boyd. Winter.

23000. Introduction to Directing.

Acting and directing experience helpful but not required. This course introduces students to fundamental skills of directing for the stage, from first contact with the script to final performance. After a preliminary examination of directing theory, the class offers practical experience in script analysis, composition work, blocking, and the rehearsal process. Students are expected to prepare a minimum of three assigned scenes ranging in style (e.g., Williams, Brecht, Shakespeare) with actors outside of class for critique, with final scenes performed publicly during tenth week. S. Graney. Autumn.

23100. Advanced Directing.

PQ: TAPS 23000. This course expands upon concepts introduced in TAPS 23000. We study various directing theories and styles. We learn how to incorporate design into the directorial vision. Class exercises and lectures are applied into ten- to twenty-minute scenes throughout the quarter. S. Graney. Winter.

May be taken in sequence with ENGL 13900/31100 or individually. This course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in Western drama from the ancient Greeks through the Renaissance: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, medieval religious drama, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Jonson, along with some consideration of dramatic theory by Aristotle, Horace, Sir Philip Sidney, and Dryden. The goal is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other members of the class. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud 329   Theater and Performance Studies (hcd) dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended. D. Bevington, H. Coleman. Autumn.

28401. History and Theory of Drama II. (=CMLT 20600/30600, ENGL 13900/31100)

May be taken in sequence with CMLT 20500/30500 or individually. This course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in Western drama from the late seventeenth century into the twentieth (i.e., Molière, Goldsmith, Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, Wilde, Shaw, Brecht, Beckett, Stoppard). Attention is also paid to theorists of the drama (e.g., Stanislavsky, Artaud, Grotowski). The goal is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other students. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended. D. Bevington, H. Coleman. Winter.

28405. Shakespeare I: Histories and Comedies. (=ENGL 16500, FNDL 21403)

This course is an exploration of Shakespeare’s major plays in the genres of history plays and romantic comedy, from the first half (roughly speaking) of his professional career: Richard III, Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2), Henry V, A Midsummer Nightís Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, Twelfth Night, and Troilus and Cressida. D. Bevington. Winter.

28406. Shakespeare II. Tragedies and Romances. (=ENGL 16600, FNDL 21404)

ENGL 16500 recommended but not required. This course studies the second half of Shakespeare’s career, from 1600 to 1611, when the major genres that he worked in were tragedy and “romance” or tragicomedy. Plays read include Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Othello, King Lear (quarto and folio versions), Macbeth, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest.  R. Strier. Spring.

28410. Performance Installation. (=ARTV 24115/34115)

This course may be repeated. This course is designed for students with a background or special interest in any art form to develop “performance installations” by exploring the intersections and boundaries between art forms (i.e., theater, visual art, music, dance, creative writing) and practices that are themselves at the margins of what we think of as art (e.g., martial arts, circus, comic books, new media, graffiti). The work will be collectively created. Lab fee $50. P. Pascoe. Autumn, Spring.

28420. Media, Culture, and Society. (=ANTH 21015)

This course is a theoretical and ethnographic overview of past, current, and future directions of anthropological research on the mass media. We study issues as diverse as projects of media representation and cultural conservation among indigenous peoples, the relationship of mass media to nationalism across the world, the social life of journalism and news making in an era of new technologies and ownership consolidation, and current debates over the role of mass media. D. Boyer. Summer.

28421. Performance and Politics in India. (=ANTH 22910/42900, SALC 22900)

This seminar considers and pushes beyond such recent instances as the alleged complicity between the televised “Ramayana” and the rise of a violently intolerant Hindu nationalism. We consider the potentials and entailments of various forms of mediation and performance for political action on the subcontinent, from “classical” textual sources, through “folk” traditions and “progressive” dramatic practice, to contemporary skirmishes over “obscenity” in commercial films. W. T. S. Mazzarella. Not offered 2009–10; will be offered 2010–11.

28425. Roman Comedy. (=LATN 21900/31900)

This course is a reading of a comic play by Plautus or Terence with discussion of original performance context and issues of genre, Roman comedy’s relation to Hellenistic New Comedy, and related questions. Spring.

28427. Introduction to Video. (=ARTV 23800, CMST 28900-28901/38900- 38901)

PQ: ARTV 10100 or 10200, or consent of instructor. This course is an introduction to video making with digital cameras and nonlinear (digital) editing. Students produce a group of short works, which is contextualized by viewing and discussion of historical and contemporary video works. Video versus film, editing strategies, and appropriation are some of the subjects that are part of an ongoing conversation. Lab fee $70. C. Sullivan, S. Wolniak. Winter, Spring.

28428. Video. (=ARTV 23801, CMST 28903/38903)

PQ: ARTV 23800 or consent of instructor. This is a production course geared towards short experimental works and video within a studio art context. Lab fee $70. Spring.

28441. Survey II: Letteratura italiana dal Quattrocento al Seicento.

PQ: ITAL 20300 or consent of instructor. (=ITAL 20800/30800) This course introduces literature of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, with close readings of works by major authors (e.g., Alberti, Michelangelo, Stampa, Castiglione, Ariosto, Tasso). We study various literary genres (e.g., drama, dialogues, treatises, lyric and narrative poetry) and important cultural debates of the period (e.g., querelle des femmes and the nascent women’s literary tradition). A. Maggi. Spring.

28442. Survey III: Letteratura italiana dal Settecento ad oggi.

(=ITAL 20900/30900) PQ: ITAL 20300 or consent of instructor. This course introduces major works of Italian literature from the eighteenth century to the present. The genres studied are primarily lyric poetry, narrative prose, and drama. We also consider the birth and development of Italian cinema and creative and critical trends in today’s increasingly multicultural Italy. Autumn.

28444. Visual Language I. (=ARTV 10100)

ARTV 10100 and 10200 may be taken in sequence or individually. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Through studio production and analysis of primarily 2D visual images and objects, this course engages the communicative, analytical, and expressive possibilities of the range of images animating contemporary visual culture. The studio is used to explore the principles, conventions, and inventions of image making. Emphasis is placed on the speculative process of making as a means to understand the relationships between the intent of the maker and the content, appearance, and meanings generated by images. Among the issues explored are originality and reproduction, color, surface organization, spatial illusion, the communicative properties of materials, and the recognition of accident and chance as artistic resources. Previous experience in media-based studio courses typically will not be accepted as a replacement for this course. Visits to museums, galleries, and other cultural and commercial sites required, as is attendance at designated events. Lab fee $65. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

28445. Visual Language II. (=ARTV 10200)

ARTV 10100 and 10200 may be taken individually and in any order. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Through the examination of 3D forms and a series of studio problems, this course develops the formal and conceptual skills necessary to think visually—to “see” and to experience the vast array of objects, spaces, and ideas embedded in the contemporary cultural landscape. Emphasis is placed on the speculative process of making (which may include the construction and analysis of objects, alteration of spaces, or the placement/arrangement/collection of objects) as a vehicle for students to learn how ideas, thoughts, and emotions take physical form and generate meaning. Previous experience in media-based studio courses typically will not be accepted as a replacement for this course. Visits to museums, galleries, and other cultural and commercial sites required, as is attendance at designated events. Lab fee $65. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

28447. Introduction to Painting I, II. (=ARTV 22000-22002)

PQ: ARTV 10100 or 10200, or consent of instructor. Courses taught concurrently. This studio course introduces students to the fundamental elements of painting (its language and methodologies) as they learn how to initiate and develop an individualized investigation into subject matter and meaning. The class emphasizes group critiques and discussion. Lab fee $70. Autumn, Winter. 28448. Introduction to Sculpture. (=ARTV 22200) PQ: ARTV 10100 or 10200, or consent of instructor. This course introduces the fundamentals of sculptural practice. Building on the historical, aesthetic, and technical strategies of making and thinking about sculpture, students are directed toward the realization of 3D objects. Assignments are designed to explore materials and process so as to facilitate students’ development of an idea to a completed object. Discussions and gallery visits help engender an understanding of sculpture within a societal and historical context. Visits to galleries required. Lab fee $70. Autumn, Winter.

28448. Introduction to Sculpture. (=ARTV 22200)

PQ: ARTV 10100 or 10200, or consent of instructor. This course introduces the fundamentals of sculptural practice. Building on the historical, aesthetic, and technical strategies of making and thinking about sculpture, students are directed toward the realization of 3D objects. Assignments are designed to explore materials and process so as to facilitate students’ development of an idea to a completed object. Discussions and gallery visits help engender an understanding of sculpture within a societal and historical context. Visits to galleries required. Lab fee $70. Autumn, Winter.

28449. Sculpture. (=ARTV 22300/32300)

PQ: ARTV 10100 or 10200, or consent of instructor. This course is a continuation of ARTV 22200 that deepens the student’s understanding of the relationship between material and meaning. Because the nature of contemporary sculpture is often the opposite of what is expected, (i.e., fragmented, ephemeral, and soft, as opposed to solid, permanent, and heavy) material selection and manipulation play a vital role in creating sculptural objects. Context and spatial manipulation as strategies for art making are also emphasized, resulting in a project that involves site-specific installation. Slide presentations, gallery visits, and critical discussion supplement studio work time. Field trips required. Lab fee $70. G. Oppenheimer. Winter.

28457. Theories of Media. (=ARTH 25900/35900, ARTV 25400, CMST 27800/37800, ENGL 12800/32800, MAPH 34300)

PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or ARTV course, or consent of instructor. This course explores the concept of media and mediation in very broad terms, looking not only at modern technical media and mass media but also at the very idea of a medium as a means of communication, a set of institutional practices, and a “habitat” in which images proliferate and take on a “life of their own.” Readings include classic texts (e.g., Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Cratylus, Aristotle’s Poetics) and modern texts (e.g., Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media, Regis Debray’s Mediology, Friedrich Kittler’s Gramophone, Film, Typewriter). We also look at recent films (e.g., The Matrix, eXistenZ) that project fantasies of a world of total mediation and hyperreality. Course requirements include one “show and tell” presentation that introduces a specific medium. W. J. T. Mitchell. Winter.

28458. Intervention and Public Practice. (=ARTH 26206/36206, ARTV 26200/36200)

Public art has experienced tremendous change in the past twenty years, no longer stopping at the monumental forms of the early twentieth century. They have come to include temporary, socially charged, and environmentally responsive projects. What is this new public art, and how does it engage and inform public discourse? This course seeks to tease out answers by surveying contemporary projects, both nationally and internationally. We also look at the processes by which artists and their works are selected and the implications of their work within the communities of their development. Field trips required. Lab fee $50. T. Gates. Spring.

28500-29699. Advanced Topics in Theater.

PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. More information is available from the TAPS office.

• 28500. Advanced Study: Acting. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

• 28600. Advanced Study: Directing. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

• 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

• 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

• 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

• 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

• 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

• 29600. Advanced Study: General. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

• 29700. Reading Course: Theater Practicum. PQ: Consent of instructor.

Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. D. Bevington, D. Levin. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

29102. Mozart’s Mature Comic Operas. (=MUSI 24509, SCTH 29102)

PQ: Working knowledge of musical scores, Italian, and German. Mozart’s five mature comic operas (Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosí fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte) are analyzed and explored through scores, librettos, primary sources, and the secondary literature. D. Buch. Spring.

29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium. (=CRWR 27105/47105)

PQ: Consent of Director of Undergraduate Studies and Chair of TAPS. Required of fourth-year students who are majoring or minoring in TAPS. Creative Writing or MAPH students who are preparing theses for performance may participate with consent from their home department and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students participate in both Autumn and Winter Quarters but register once. Autumn, Winter.

Approved Courses from Outside TAPS

Students may use most courses offered by Cinema and Media Studies, Creative Writing, Music, and Visual Arts to count toward the TAPS major. Students are encouraged to consult with the TAPS administrator or the Director of Undergraduate Studies for clarification as needed. Courses from outside those departments may also be appropriate, but students must receive prior consent from the TAPS administrator.