The Skidmore Theater Company, TH 235 and TH 335
The Skidmore Theater Company
is the production arm of the Skidmore College Department of theater. All
faculty members, students, and guest artists involved in the making of
theater in any given semester are members of the Skidmore Theater Company.
The Theater Company also affords
the opportunity for students to receive academic credit for experiential
work on productions. First year students, sophomores, and juniors may
register for TH 235 for one semester hour and seniors who have already
taken TH 235 may take TH 335 for two semester hours. Both courses are
open to both majors and non-majors. TH 235 may be repeated for a maximum
of six semester hours and TH 335 may be repeated once for a maximum of
four semester hours.
Students enrolled in the course
meet every Friday afternoon for a scheduled Company Meeting. Meetings
cover many activities including: announcements; conceptual presentations
by directors and designers of upcoming productions; critiques of all productions;
staged readings; open discussions about department plans and policies;
and, when possible, workshops. Workshops may cover a wide range of subjects
such as make-up, stage combat, auditions, presentations by guest artists,
etc.
Each student enrolled in the course is required to work in some capacity on both the seminar production and the studio production. Seniors taking TH 335 will be expected to be doing work at an advanced level on at least one production.
Production Seminar, TH 250a and TH 250b
Production Seminar (TH 250a)
is an opportunity to combined the intellectual and practical aspects of
theater production as fully as possible.
Each students enrolled in TH
250a has a production responsibility on the Skidmore theater seminar production
for that semester. In addition to fulfilling specific production responsibilities,
all students participate in a weekly seminar class through which the production
work is synthesized with the liberal arts. These seminars deal with the
study of pertinent theatrical, literary, philosophical, social, political,
and economic aspects of the play and its themes.
Registration for this class
is dependent upon being cast in the production or being assigned a production
position. Registration, therefore, is only by permission of the instructor
and must be done after auditions during the "drop/add" period at
the very beginning of each semester. Students seeking involvement in this
three semester hour course should be prepared to take an alternate course
should they not be cast or assigned a production responsibility. This
might best be achieved by registering for a full load and then dropping
a course during the drop/add period should involvement in the seminar
production be possible.
Students acting in or designing for a faculty directed studio (Black Box) production may receive academic credit by registering for TH 250b. In addition to possible classes held during the five week rehearsal period, the class will meet after the close of the production to deal with the study of pertinent theatrical, literary, philosophical, social, political, and economic aspects of the play and its themes.
- May be taken for 1, 2, 3 or 4 credits in any given semester
- May be taken for a maximum of 6 credits during a student's career
- Enrollment is predicated on the fact that a student has been cast in a production or has been assigned a significant staff position
- The choice of credits will be determined by both the student and the faculty member leading the seminar class and will reflect the anticipated time committment as well as the student's course load
Senior Project
Senior Project (TH376) is a
required course for all majors who seek departmental honors. The prerequisites
for the course are TH 250 and senior class status as a theater major.
Theater minors may participate with permission of the instructor. The
course is three semester hours and, with the permission of the department,
may be taken during each semester of the senior year.
This course is to be considered
a capstone experience for theater students.Typically, each student fulfills
a challenging production experience and will take a leadership role in
the seminar class. Acting roles will be cast from the general auditions
held at the beginning of each semester. Other production responsibilities
will be distributed based upon the student's past work in the program.
In addition to acting, appropriate positions might include: designer (sets/lights/costumes),
assistant designer, assistant director, stage manager, general manager,
dramaturg, master carpenter, technical director, master electrician, or
prop master.
Although nearly all students
are encouraged to fulfill this course by participating in a seminar production,
special arrangements are sometimes made for individual students working
on independent projects. Any requests for an independent senior project
must be proposed to and approved by the department during the previous
semester. Independent projects might include either other production work
or research or design projects.
Student Directed Spring Black Box Production
(either TH 375 Advanced Directing
Practicum, or TH376 Senior Project)
The following PDF files pertain to the application process for a student directed Black Box production: