Program Description
Theater and Performance /University Theater mainstage 2008 production of Urinetown, directed by Chicago-based John Berry. Interview with playwright & composer (also UofC alums).
Theater and Performance /University Theater mainstage 2007 production of Churchill's,Top Girls, directed by Sean Graney, Artistic Director of Chicago-based theatre company, The Hypocrites.
Chair: David Bevington, G-B 510, 702.9899
Director of Undergraduate Studies: Heidi Coleman, RC 304, 834.9153
Program Coordinator: Brian LaDuca, RC 301, 702.9315
Web: taps.uchicago.edu
Program of Study: MAJOR
Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) seeks to animate the intersection of theory and practice in the arts. The program is comparative in multiple ways, requiring its students to acquire facility in the practice of two media (e.g., theater, film, video, dance, music, creative writing) while gaining fluency in the critical analysis of those media. To this end, students receive training in both performance practice and analysis, acquiring the fundamental tools for artistic creation while developing a nuanced and sophisticated vocabulary with which to analyze creativity. In this way, the program aims to contest the ready separation of academic theory and artistic practice or, for that matter, theorists and practitioners.
The program is designed to be flexible (to afford students as much latitude as possible in pursuing their particular interests) and exacting (to guarantee the development of comparative practical skills and rigorous analytic capacities). Students should work closely with the Director of Undergraduate Studies and with the preceptor assigned to the program in order to shape an individual course of study that reflects the student’s interests while fulfilling the program’s interdisciplinary and comparative requirements. The student’s faculty adviser on the B.A. project (see below) will provide additional direction during the senior year.
Students in other fields of study may also complete a minor in TAPS. Information follows the description of the major.
Program Requirements
Students in the TAPS program must meet the following requirements:
(1) Six courses in theory and analysis, encompassing the history, theory, aesthetics, and analysis of theatrical and/or performance practice. These courses in the theory and analysis rubric may be selected from the TAPS course offerings listed below or from related course offerings in the College. Ideally, at least four of these courses will be taken from members of the faculty or resource faculty in TAPS. Course selection is subject to the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
(2) Six courses in artistic practice. Of these, no more than four will include the student’s primary medium; at least two will include a qualitatively different medium. Many of these courses will be found in the practical course offerings of TAPS, as well as the course offerings in the Committee on Cinema and Media Studies, the Committee on Creative Writing, the Department of Visual Arts, and the Department of Music, among others. Students may need to supplement these course offerings with individually designed “reading” courses. Here, too, the student undertakes course selection in consultation with, and subject to the approval of, the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
(3) One course (TAPS 29800) devoted to the preparation of the B.A. project to be taken in the student’s fourth year. NOTE: TAPS 29800 extends over two quarters; students receive one course credit and one grade.
Critical Paper. As the first step in completing the program’s B.A. requirements, students must complete a critical paper that will presumably become the foundation for the fourth-year performance project. Students must complete this paper by Winter Quarter of their fourth year.
B.A. Project. As the culmination of an undergraduate program combining aesthetic theory and practice, B.A. projects in Theater and Performance Studies will encompass both performance of an orginal work (e.g., staged reading, site-specific installation, solo performance, choreography) and analysis (e.g. B.A. paper). B.A. project proposals are selected by the student in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to the approval of the Chair of Theater and Performance Studies, and supervised by a faculty member. Selecting a B.A. project adviser from the core and resource faculty in TAPS is encouraged but not required.
A preceptor (typically a graduate student with special expertise in theater and performance studies) assigned to the program will serve as a supplementary adviser for all B.A. projects, working with students on the mechanics of writing and providing tutorial assistance. The problems addressed and encountered in the B.A. project will be further explored in the Theater and Performance Studies Colloquium (TAPS 29800) taken during the student’s fourth year. TAPS 29800 extends over two quarters; students receive one course credit and one grade. Deadlines for the B.A. project, assuming spring graduation date, are as follows: a completed draft of the creative project by the end of Winter Quarter; the final draft by Friday of fifth week in Spring Quarter for honors consideration and by Friday of eighth week in Spring Quarter for graduation.
The Chair of TAPS and the Director of Undergraduate Studies will jointly coordinate the evaluation of B.A. projects as a final degree requirement, in consultation the with the faculty adviser and preceptor assigned to each case, and will report recommendations to the Associate Dean and Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division as to grade and any recommendation concerning honors.
Summary of Requirement
- 6 theory and analysis courses
- 6 artistic practice courses
- 1 Theater and Performance Studies Colloquium (TAPS 29800)*
- B.A. Project and Paper
13 total
* TAPS 29800 extends over two quarters; students receive one course credit and one grade.
Application
Students wishing to enter the program should consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Spring Quarter of their first year or as soon as possible thereafter. Students must apply to the program by the beginning of Spring Quarter of their second year or, in extraordinary circumstances, no later than the end of Autumn Quarter of their third year. Participation in the program must be declared to the Director of Undergraduate Studies before registration.
Grading
All courses in the major must be taken for a quality grade.
Honors
Eligibility for honors requires an overall cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher, a GPA of 3.5 or higher in the courses taken for the Theater and Performance Studies major, and a B.A. project that is judged by the first and second readers to display exceptional intellectual and creative merit
Minor Program in Theater and Performance Studies
Students who elect the minor program must meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the minor. The deadline for students who will graduate in Spring 2009 is the end of Autumn Quarter 2008. Students must obtain approval for the minor program from the undergraduate adviser and submit it to their College adviser by the deadline on the form obtained from the undergraduate adviser.
The TAPS minor requires a total of six courses plus a public performance of original work (e.g., staged reading, site specific installation, solo performance piece, choreography). At least two of the required courses must be advanced- level TAPS courses (i.e., 20000-level or higher). The remaining required courses must bear a clear and coherent relationship specifically related to the intended creative work component of the TAPS minor. At least one of these courses must encompass critical theory course and analysis.
In addition, each student must register for Theater and Performance Studies Colloquium (TAPS 29800) to develop his or her critical analysis and resulting creative work. The focus of this course will be not on a full B.A. project and critical paper as required for the TAPS major but on a public performance of the student’s TAPS minor project, as described above, to be presented by the fifth week of the quarter in which the student intends to graduate. Each student must also submit a statement of critical methods (a critical analysis accompaniment to the public performance). This statement will be a supplement to the creative work, not a paper equal to it as is required for the major. The participation demanded for the minor will not be as extensive as for the major, and will be calibrated accordingly over the two-quarter period. NOTE: TAPS 29800 extends over two quarters; students receive one course credit and one grade.
Courses in the minor (1) may not be double counted with the student’s major(s) or with other minors and (2) may not be counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for a quality grade, and more than half of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.
The minor program requires the following
- 2 20000-level or higher TAPS courses
- 1 critical theory course with specific relevance to the TAPS B.A. project (e.g., History and Theory of Drama, Visual Theory, Film Theory)
- 2 arts electives (e.g., CMST, DOVA, MUSI, TAPS)
- 1 Theater and Performance Studies Colloquium (TAPS 29800)*
- – a public performance of the creative component by fifth week of Spring Quarter
- – statement of critical methods (a critical analysis accompaniment to the public performance)
6 total
* TAPS 29800 extends over two quarters; students receive one course credit and one grade.
