Dramatic Arts

This course is dedicated to better understanding the evolution of theatrical art in Europe from antiquity to the 20th century. It considers performance spaces characterized by their architecture, their place in the city, and their function in society to understand the possible history of the “places of theater.” The course starts by examining the origins of theater in ancient Greek and Roman society, followed by medieval theater and theater of the Italian, English, and Spanish Renaissance. It then studies French theater from the 17th century to the 19th century and finally, takes a look at European theater up to the 20th century.

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director or Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. The internship may be taken during one or more terms but the units cannot exceed a total of 12.0 for the year.

This course aims to develop students' English language skills at an advanced level via reading, performing, and writing about various types of drama. Students will read and perform selections ranging from comedy through tragedy to a contemporary play to examine the differences between the English language in drama and English language in other types of written text.

In this course, students will learn about the manifestos of selected dramatic authors in order to understand the relationship between the author's intentionality and his work, and generate reflection on their own creative inquiries.

This is an independent research course with research arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific research topics vary each term and are described on a special project form for each student. A substantial paper is required. The number of units varies with the student’s project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student’s special study project form.

This course introduces some fundamental styles and plays from European avant-garde theatre and sets them within an artistic and socio-political context. Futurism, Dada, Expressionism and the Theatre of the Absurd are included. Special attention is paid to Spanish and Catalan drama. 

This course introduces students to a variety of strategies for approaching a selected play text through performance. The course includes a study of the theatrical and non-theatrical documents relating to the play, the playwright, and the cultural context in which the play was produced. Where appropriate, students may study other representations of the play and the playwright in theatre, cinema, radio, and television, for example. Towards the end students develop a performance project based on the play.

The course examines the meanings produced by costume in theatre, and film and fashion in the media and everyday life. It explores the relationship between clothing and performance historically and today. It considers how costume and fashion construct class, gender identity and sexual identity, and race. It interrogates the fashion industry's relationship with colonial histories and with questions of ecology and sustainability. It offers students the opportunity to create a costume design portfolio and to bring their own interests in costume and fashion into conversation with theoretical questions of subjectivity.

The interwar years (1918-1939), while dealing with the aftermath of hitherto unknown mass destruction and the advent of totalitarian systems, were nevertheless characterized by an exceptional vibrancy across various fields of cultural activity - music, theatre, and the fine arts. This course discusses and evaluates these practices in various national contexts and in relation to a number of critical approaches.