Dramatic Arts

This course allows you to become acquainted with basic practices of acting, moving and listening as well as with a framework of concepts that help you unpack and situate the notion of performance. Practically and theoretically introductions to how sound, movement and action are experienced, performed and conceptualized in the context of the performing arts. In particular, the course addresses the larger areas of sound, movement and action and accounts for their conceptual and empirical intersections. In order to do so, it considers methodological and philosophical approaches to rhythm, space, time, body, play, and affect, while stressing that when we perform, we learn how to organize (new forms of) attention and experience, which carries social and political implications. The course is organized in three cycles of five weeks each and is taught by four different teachers with intersecting areas of expertise. Every cycle is consisted of sessions that interchangeably focus on sound, movement and action in performance, in theory and in practice. The focus of the first cycle is on attending to performance, the focus of the second cycle is on performing and the focus of the third cycle is on reflecting. Students are required to visit approximately three professional productions that are proposed by the teachers. They are also expected to read and analyze the assigned texts, to fulfill practical preparatory tasks, to actively participate in the workshops and in class discussions, to give group presentations and to hand in a portfolio of small written assignments. No previous experience in the performing arts is required.

This course is an introduction to the fundamental principles of theatre and performance making as well as performance analysis. It examines how theatre is developed from a range of sources, and explores ways in which scripted text is transformed, interpreted and manipulated. Working with the body, voice and performance space as critical performance elements, a number of 20th century theatre-making methodologies will be explored and examined. These include the theories and practice of Konstantin Stanislavski and Bertolt Brecht. Where practice approaches are concerned, there will be a particular focus on Realist (Stanislavsky) and Epic (Brecht) dramaturgical and performance strategies. In addition, the course introduces two modes of performance analysis, semiotics and phenomenology, and other ways to 'de-code' performances.

This course examines the body as a concept, idea, and practice within the field of performance studies through the targeted lenses of gender and sexuality studies, queer theory, critical race theory, and disability studies. Students are introduced to historical and contemporary debates regarding the “body” in terms of artistic practices including but not limited to performance and also engage with how the “body” on individual and/or collective levels is created and controlled through law and public policy in diverse social, cultural, and political contexts. 

This course examines Restoration and 18th-century English theater in its social and historical contexts. Students explore a wide range of dramatic genres, from established genres - tragedy and comedy - to experimental forms like Restoration tragicomedy, heroic tragedy, and farce. Key playwrights may include Dryden, Behn, Congreve, Centlivre, and Sheridan, but students also discuss the theory and practice of performance in the period, the concurrent development of literary criticism, and the social role of the drama in this period.

This course concentrates on the beginning stages of working on a play: from the initial reading through early conceptualization (before the artists go into their studio or rehearsal room.) Using the text as the foundation, students deepen their understanding of the play through brainstorming, discussions and research (both of the play, the playwright, and the visual world of the play). The class uses the basic building blocks of the theater (ACTORS performing an ACTION while an AUDIENCE watches) and asks how these elements can be used and exploited to further the ideas of the artist.   

The course begins with students working on short plays then moves into longer dramatic works. The course features texts with a clear narrative form that allows multiple interpretations, with the first projects being short, individual projects and the final project being a collaborative group project. Last, the course features three professional theater artists to share their early interruptive processes with the class.    

This course introduces students to the languages and protocols of performance theory and analysis. Students explore critical methodologies for the analysis of theatre and performance events and develop critical languages and methodologies by studying the potential role of performance theories in the engagement with and analysis of the theatrical text and performance

The course mainly concerns basic theories of theater art. Through the course, students will get an overall view of the history of western theater and think about the fusion of different forms of theater so that they are able to understand the essence of theater and have a prospect of the development of the world’s theater arts in the future. The course considers the theater art of the world as a whole as opposed to the usual idea which confronts the theater of the East to that of the West. It thoroughly introduces the main theory issues of the history, aesthetics, phenomena, and performances of theater art which appear in the process of its development including the emergence, characteristics, form, language, structure, narration, performance, directing, space, genre, school, function, aesthetics of theater etc. 

This course focuses on contemporary theater creation (theater and society, theater and music, theater about theater, etc.). It considers theater and modernity in the 20th and 21st centuries, and how to make theater today. The course starts with Brecht and the French theater of the 20th century, to consider the stage mutations and teeming directions of contemporary creation. It then studies the New Theater (50s and after), theater and society, the question of feminicide, and authentic theater from Othello to the present day.

This entry level course introduces the theatrical design student to the basic graphic tools, materials, and techniques of hand drafting. At the same time, the class introduces students to the conceptual foundations of scale drawing and the generally accepted formats of a drafting package (Ground Plan, Section, Elevations, Details). Utilizing hand drafting best allows the student to apply these basic skills to whatever medium they use (hand drafting, CAD, 3D modeling). 

This course covers the professional skills required for theater production management and marketing. At the same time, through practical simulations and theater company visits, students enhance their abilities in performance planning and execution. The teaching content includes the planning and coordination of performance projects, budget preparation, and writing of business plans; subsidy submission to public and private sectors, application for performance venue schedules, recruitment of performance staff, budget control, marketing and publicity, ticketing, public relations sponsorship, and relevant administrative affairs, etc. Onsite visits to theater troupes introduces core values and management methods of the performance team's operation.  

This course also features professionals related to performing arts production or administration to speak to the class and share their practical experiences.