Spring 2011 Prospectus

Prospectus of Courses
Spring 2011 and Registration Information

This prospectus of courses is designed to help students determine what Theater Department courses to take for next semester. Be sure to discuss your choices with an advisor in the Theater Department, ideally, someone teaching in the concentration you might wish to pursue.

All courses are subject to change depending upon enrollment. Courses with insufficient enrollment may have to be cancelled and replaced with other courses.

If a class is full when you register, be sure to contact Kathy Mendenhall in order to place your name on the waiting list. Be sure to talk to the instructor to register for classes which require the permission of the instructor.

A. GENERAL INFORMATION FOR ALL STUDENTS

We will be offering TH228 (Stage Lighting) this spring. THIS IS A QR2 COURSE AND FULFILLS THAT ALL-COLLEGE REQUIREMENT. It is generally offered only once EVERY OTHER SPRING.
Gautam Dasgupta will be on sabbatical for the spring semester. Carolyn Anderson will be teaching TH230 (Theater and Culture II).
John Anzalone will be offering FL322 in the Foreign Languages Department. It will be taught in English and will deal with "The French Cinema." This will fulfill the third history/theory course requirement for the major.
Christopher Moore of the Philosophy Department will be offering PH230 (Drama and Philosophy) which fulfills our Dramatic Literature requirement.
Melora Wolff of the English Department wil be offering a TH334 entitled "Writing About Drama" and which will fulfill our Dramatic Literature requirement.
Lisa Grady-Willis offering TH338 (Black Theater) which fulfills the All-College Diversity requirement.
We will be offering TH338 (Costume Design) taught by Patty Pawliczak.
Be aware the what was TH231 (Directing) is now TH140 (Intro to Directing) and is required for all majors. TH240 (Intermediate Directing) has replaced TH332 and will be offered in the spring.
We are offering a number of TH251 Topics courses."Modern Ensemble Theater" will be taught by Alma Becker and "Audition Workshop" will be taught by Lary Opitz.
The Dramatic Literature requirement can also be met this semester with EN225, EN346 or GO-351B (Shakespeare's Political Wisdom).
Students who are cast in the spring main stage production this spring are urged to consider taking TH242 (Acting Shakespeare).
Only students who are cast or who have a major responsibility in either the Black Box or the Main Stage Production may take TH250. You can register for the appropriate section after casting is completed on the first Monday of the semester. Discuss the number of credits with the appropriate faculty member for each section.

B. FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS:

We expect to have a sufficient number of seats in TH104 (Intro to Acting) for every first-year student who has completed TH103 (on campus or in London) and is interested in acting. There will be three different sections. You may not be able to get into you preferred time choice, but we will get you into the class. If you are interested in pursuing acting at Skidmore you really must take this course this spring - IT IS NOT OFFERED IN THE FALL and you will not be able to take either Intermediate Acting class until you have completed TH104.
In addition to TH104, acting students should also consider taking TH198 (Movement for the Theater). If you are taking TH101 (Voice) this semester, you are eligible to take TH211 (Voice for the Actor) and you should certainly consider taking it. Ideally, we would like you to have completed both TH198 and TH101 by the time you take Intermediate Acting (at least before the end of your sophomore year). If you are not in TH101 now, you should plan on taking it next fall. If you have not yet taken TH198 you should consider taking it now.
Acting students who have complete TH103 CAN take TH242 (Acting Shakespeare) before taking TH104 or while taking TH104.
TH129 (Production) and TH130 (Intro to Design) are offered every semester, but space is limited. Both of these courses are required for the major and TH129 is a prerequisite for TH140 (Directing), also a requirement for the major. Anyone interested in any aspect of production work should try to take both of these courses as soon as possible. Given the schedule, it is possible to take both courses in the same semester.
TH230 (Theater & Culture II) is offered every spring and TH229 (Theater & Culture I) is offered every fall). BOTH are required for the major. These are course that should be completed before the end of your junior year. These two courses can be taken in either order.

C. SOPHOMORES, JUNIORS and SENIORS

Will Bond will be offering TH203 (Intermediate Acting) and Kate Kelly will be teaching TH204 (Intermediate Acting). Will's course focuses on Viewpoints and Suzuki training and Kate's course focuses on various approaches to Stanislavski training. Your goal (acting students) should be to take BOTH courses, presumably in your sophomore or junior year. Sometimes seniors who have been abroad and who have not yet taken one or the other take it in their final year.
TH242 (Acting Shakespeare) is another option for acting students.
TH304-001 (Acting Styles) is offered this spring. Students should have completed BOTH TH203 & TH204 (Intermediate Acting).
TH211 (Voice for the Actor) will be offered. Any actor who has taken TH101 (Voice) is urged to consider taking TH211.
We will be offering TH304-002 (Acting for the Camera) this spring. It will be taught by Barbara Gulan. This course is for seniors only.
If you have not yet taken TH129, TH130, TH140, TH229, TH230 or a dramatic literature course, you should at least have some sense of when you will complete these courses which are required for the major.

C. SENIORS

TH251A (Audition Workshop) is for senior actors. ALL senior actors are expected to take this course. You will be working on contemporary and classical monologues. Should we be able to offer a Professional Showcase in New York City (as we did in 2009) participants will be from this class.
Remember that TH376 (Senior Project) is NOT required for the major, but IS required for departmental honors. This course is generally fulfilled by participating in either of the two departmental seminar productions in the semester. Students who prefer to pursue an independent project (production or thesis) may request permission to do so. This can be repeated for credit if you already took it in the fall.

No.	Title	Instructor	Description	Notes	Hrs	Time	Room
TH104-001	*Intro to Acting*	Bond	The student is exposed to exercises designed to free the imagination through improvisation and theater games. Secondarily, training is offered in the basic skills of physical and vocal mastery, analytical insight into the text, and the ability to synthesize techniques so the student may acquire discipline in each area. Prerequisite: TH103. (Fulfills arts requirement.)	This course begins the acting sequence and is generally only available in the Spring Semester. Any acting students unable to take this course should plan on taking TH198 this semester and TH101 (Voice) in the Fall.	3	M/W 9:10-12:10	Studio B
TH104-002	*Intro to Acting*	Becker			3	T/Th 9:20-12:20	Studio B
TH104-003	*Intro to Acting*	Bouchard			3	T/Th 12:30-3:30	Studio B
TH129-001	*Theater Production*	Yergan	A studio course providing an introduction to the principles and techniques employed in mounting theatrical productions. Theater production is explored through studying: the structure and organization of the production staff of a theater company; the physical plant; types of scenery and scenic construction techniques; stage lighting; sound; stage management; and the reading and use of plans. Students will fulfill a two-hour lab requirement and will work on at least one Skidmore theater production. Theater majors are required to complete this course by the end of the sophomore year. Prerequisite: TH103. Non-liberal arts.	Both TH129 and TH130 are required for the Theater Major. Students may choose to take them in the same semester or in different semesters. There is no proscribed sequence for these two courses.Any students interested in study stage, costume or lighting design; stage management; or technical theater, should attempt to complete these courses as early as possible. It should also be noted the TH129 is a prerequisite for TH231 (Intro to Directing).	2	M 2:30-4:30	Design Studio
TH130-001	*Intro to Design*	Wilson	An introduction to script analysis and design theory. Students will learn to construct models and work as collaborative artists. The course will meet as a lecture and also use laboratory time to learn model-building skills, to research, and to learn and work with various building and painting materials. Students will fulfill a two-hour lab requirement and will work on at least one Skidmore theater production. Theater majors are required to complete this course by the end of the sophomore year. Prerequisite: TH103. Non-liberal arts		2	W 2:30-4:30	Design Studio
TH140-001	*Intro to Directing*	Becker	An intensive introduction to the craft of directing for the stage. The fundamentals of script analysis and interpretation, and production research and preparation will be explored in a seminar setting, while the studio will be the laboratory for developing clear lines of action and the world of the play through composition, picturization, and improvisation, as well as exploring the collaborative process with actors and designers. By semester's end students will be prepared to undertake the staging of a workshop production. Prerequisites: TH103, 129, and permission of instructor.	This course is required for the Theater Major. Students seeking to propose workshops should try to take this course as soon as possible.	3	M/W 11:30-1:30	Studio A
TH198-001	Movement for the Actor	B. Opitz	Physical training for the actor-performer taught from varying points of view depending on the instructor. Work in this course might include physical training, dance for actors, mime, stage combat, circus techniques. Instructors also direct students in the development of a personal, physical warm-up. This course may be repeated for a maximum of eight semester hours. Non-liberal arts. (Fulfills arts requirement.)	Students interested in pursuing acting training should try to complete this course before taking Intermediate Acting, if at all possible.	2	T/Th 3:00-5:00	Studio B
TH203-001	*Intermediate Acting*	Bond	Emphasis on deepening of the actor's imagination, concentration, awareness, and presence through rigorous physical improvisation. Students experience the integration of physical improvisation with textual work as the semester progresses. Students are exposed to a variety of theatrical approaches. Prerequisites: TH101 or 198, and TH104, or concurrent enrollment in TH101 or 198, or permission of instructor	This class asks the question: What is the minimum amount of energy required by the actor to be on the stage? This course uses the Suzuki Method of actor training to address the issues of concentration, focus, presence, breathing, and voice. The Suzuki Method is an extremely physical and rigorous approach that challenges the actor's strength, stamina, flexibility and concentration. Through the act of approaching this vocabulary the actor is "exposed" in a very objective way and is thereby able to honestly examine his/her strengths and weaknesses and address them in a practical manner. Additionly, this course familiarizes the actor with the vocabulary of Viewpoints, an improvisational practice developed out of the post modern works of the Judson Church group of artists. The viewpoints practically introduces the actor to the issues of Time and Space and how these might be turned to their own use as might a painter or musician. The actor will also be exposed to partnering and scene work as a way of putting into practice his/her own unique, new, and growing understanding as an actor on the stage.There is no proscribed sequence for taking TH203 and TH204.	3	M/W 2:30-5:30	Studio B
TH204-001	*Intermediate Acting*	Kelly	Through textual analysis, object exercises, and scene work, students experience the development of a role through the exploration of text and its relationship to the body in space. Students will develop their ability to read theatrical texts as they plan for their spatial, rhythmic and emotional work as performers. Students are exposed to a variety of theatrical approaches. Prerequisites: TH101 or 198, and TH104, or concurrent enrollment in TH101 or 198, or permission of instructor.	This is a continued profound exploration of what is is to be an actor through a rigorous inquiry into living fully, truthfully and transcendently under imaginary circumstances Using Stanislavsky based techniques, texts will be analyzed in clear actable terms to deepen and solidify a solid technique and to excite the creative imagination from which to generate as an actor. There is no proscribed sequence for taking TH203 and TH204.	3	M/W 1:40-4:40	Studio A
TH211-001	*Voice for the Actor*	Kelly	Students explore the power of language through the reading of prose and verse. Exercises learned in this course continue to move the student toward a centered, natural placement of the instrument, and the development of standard non-regional speech, articulation, and flexibility. Introductory tools are learned in the reading of verse and standard dialect work. Rehearsal-specific warm-up programs are developed with students and used regularly. Written evaluations, critiques, and observations by the student are assigned to increase awareness of the voice and use of vocal vocabulary. Prerequisite: TH101 or permission of instructor. Non-liberal arts.	This course is essential for all students seeking to pursue an acting concentration.The earlier it is completed, the better.	2	T/Th 9:40-11:40	Studio B
TH228-001	*Stage Lighting*	Wilson	A study of the theory, equipment, and technique involved in stage lighting. Topics include optics, vision, electricity, color, aesthetics, and design procedures. This course consists of lectures, working labs, and assigned responsibilities on Skidmore Theater productions. Prerequisites: TH129 or TH130.	This course fulfills the all-College QR2 requirement	4	M/W 9:40-11:00	Design Studio
TH230-001	*Theater & Culture II*	Anderson	A study of major periods of Western theater since 1800. Students explore and analyze how theater's components—plays, acting, design, theory, and management—combine to express and reflect a culture's dominant values. Architecture, painting, sculpture, music and dance—the constituent arts of theater—will be examined both within and outside the theatrical context to explore aesthetic, socio-economic, and political values that shape a culture's idea of theater. (Fulfills humanities requirement.)	This course is required for the Theater Major and is only offered in Spring Semesters.	3	T/Th 12:40-2:00	Bolton 280
TH235-1	*Theater Company*	Yergan	Participation for theater majors and non-majors interested in theater production. Each company member will acquire a breadth of training across all areas of theatrical production, as well as make essential contributions to the ongoing work of the company. All company members are a part of the production process from concept to design to execution and evaluation. This course may be repeated for a maximum of six semester hours. Non-liberal arts.	-	1	F 2:30-3:30	JKB
TH240-001	*Intermediate Directing*	Anderson	This is an advanced studio course focusing on the art and craft of directing for the theater. Through the use of exercises, scene work, reading theoretical texts, and writing papers on directorial concepts, students will be encouraged to broaden and deepen their personal aesthetic while simultaneously developing techniques necessary for realizing their directorial vision. Not open to first-year students. Prerequisites: TH231 and permission of the instructor.	-	3	M/W 9:20-11:20	Studio A
TH242-001	*Acting Shakespeare*	Opitz	An exploration of the ways in which Shakespeare himself effectively serves as a guide for the comprehension and performance of his verse in his plays and poetry. The emphasis will be on analysis of verse, techniques in speaking it, and the use of verse techniques to explore and develop character. During the course, students will study, prepare, and present soliloquies, monologues (including set speeches), and sonnets. Prerequisite: TH103	Students will explore a series of monolgues and scenes throughout the semester involving both verse and prose. The goal will be to understand the clues Shakespeare gives his actors and to apply these clues in performance. At the end of the semester a public performance of scenes and monologues is generally presented.	3	M/W 12:20-2:20	PAL302
TH250-001	*Production Seminar (Main Stage)*	Anderson	Students enrolled in TH250 will have major responsibilities working on the main-stage production. The main-stage production is presented near the end of the semesterr. In addition to fulfilling production responsibilities, students will participate in a weekly seminar class through which production work will be synthesized with various perspectives from other liberal arts disciplines. Seminars will focus on the study of pertinent theatrical, literary, social, political, and economic issues surrounding the play. Post-production topics may include issues raised in the theater company critiques, continued exploration of the playwright's works, continued study of the themes, etc. Students will meet with the faculty to determine the appropriate number of semester hours for each experience. This course may be repeated, but semester hours are limited to a maximum of six. Prerequisite: Permission of the department.	Students may only register for this class after casting is completed during the first week of the in the Spring semester. 250-001A = 1 credit 250-001B = 2 credits 250-001C = 3 credits 250-001D = 4 credits	1-4	M 6:00-7:00	Design Studio and JKBTH
TH250-002	*Production Seminar (Black Box)*	Becker	Students enrolled in TH250 will have major responsibilities working on the black box production presented six weeks into the semester. addition to fulfilling production responsibilities, students will participate in a weekly seminar class through which production work will be synthesized with various perspectives from other liberal arts disciplines. Seminars will focus on the study of pertinent theatrical, literary, social, political, and economic issues surrounding the play. Post-production topics may include issues raised in the theater company critiques, continued exploration of the playwright's works, continued study of the themes, etc. Students will meet with the faculty to determine the appropriate number of semester hours for each experience. This course may be repeated, but semester hours are limited to a maximum of six. Prerequisite: Permission of the department.	Students may only register for this class after casting is completed during the first week of the in the Spring semester. 250-002A = 1 credit 250-002B = 2 credits 250-002C = 3 credits 250-002D = 4 credits	1-4	M 6:00-7:00	Black Box
TH251B-001	*Audition Workshop*	Opitz	This course is designed for Senior acting students preparing for professional and graduate school auditions. Students will explore monologues for open calls, call-backs, cold readings, and the use of breakdowns. Students will be encouraged to develop at least eight monologues (combinations of comic, dramatic, contemporary and classical). Prerequisites: Senior class status or permission of the instructor.	All senior actors should take this course if they wish to participate in a New York City showcase to be held during senior week.	2	F 12:00-2:30	Studio B
TH251B-002	Modern Theater Ensemble	Becker	How do modern ensemble based theatre companies devoted to devising theatre develop and thrive? Five major producing companies and their founders will be the focus of investigation: Peter Brook and Bouffe de Nord (France and UK), Arianne Mnouchkine and Theatre du Soleil (France), Simon McBurney and Theatre de Complicite (UK), Kneehigh Theatre (UK), and Liz LeCompte and The Wooster Group (USA). Students will learn the underlying philosophies of each company including: structure, nature of collaboration, working methods, training, historical and political context. Reading plays, viewing productions on video, and preparing and presenting individual research projects will be the core activities of the class.		2	T/Th 3:40-5:40	Studio A
TH304-001	Special Studies Acting	Bond	An open series of acting studies capable of ranging from Shakespearean scene study to musical comedy, from Grotowski training to acting for the epic theater. The specific area of study could be determined by the opportunities of a particular production season, by the training of a visiting artist, or by the interests of faculty or a given group of students. May be repeated three times for credit. Prerequisite: TH101, TH198, TH203, TH204, or permission of instructor.		3	T/Th 11:45-2:45	Studio B
TH304-002	*Acting for the Camera*	Gulan	“The Camera Doesn’t Lie”. Authenticity, and specificity are the cornerstones of acting for the camera. Students will learn the basics of acting in REAL TIME in front of the camera, including auditions, screen tests for pilot season, and preparation for roles in professional camera production. The class will explore the similarities and differences between acting for commercials, film, soap-opera, independent film, and television, including sitcoms and hour long series. Emphasis will be placed on the unique quality each actor can bring to his/her role, with particular attention paid to choices, camera shots, continuity, close-ups, relaxation, memorization, discipline, preparation and freedom.	-	3	F 10:00-2:30	Studio A
TH325-001	Advanced Playwriting	Fleischmann	A workshop course in the making of theater scripts in preparation for public readings. This course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.	This semester's course is designed for those students who have already studied playwriting with Stephanie Fleischmann.Work will be at an advanced level. Other students must speak to the instructor for permission to enroll.	3	F 9:40-12:40	Design Studio
TH334-001	Writing About Drama	Wolff	Writing vibrantly about drama summons and enhances our love for the theater and for language, whether we are actors, directors, stage managers, critics or passionate spectators. In this course, students read several modern and contemporary plays, essays on theatre, and develop a command of four approaches for writing about drama: play analyses, reviews, production responses and personal essays. Our aim is to develop on the page nuanced critical perception, theatre vocabulary, and some awareness of social and cultural contexts of dramas. Requirements: close readings of contemporary plays and essays, four papers, written exercises, and some production attendance when possible.	courThis course fulfills the dramatic literature requirement for Theater majors.	3	T/Th 9:40-11:00	PAL303
TH335-001	*Theater Company*	Yergan	Participation for theater majors and non-majors interested in theater production. Advanced level work is usually: working as a designer, as a director, performing in a substantial role, in a leadership capacity or specialist on crews or management areas. All company members are a part of the production process from concept to design to execution and evaluation. This course may be repeated for a maximum of four semester hours. (Normally this course is only open to seniors.) Prerequisite: TH235. Non-liberal arts.	-	2	F 2:30-3:30	JKB
TH338-001	*Black Theater*	Grady-Willis	An in depth examination of a specific topic drawn from the related fields of history and theory. Topics might include a specific period or trend in theater history (for example, the avant-garde) or key artists (for example, women in the American theater) or exploration of theater in relationship to other arts or media (for example, from theater to film) or writing about performance and art. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. (TH334N is designated a non-Western course.)	This course introduces students to the evolution of Black Theatre in the United States. Students will study and interpret classic and contemporary plays both as a community of critical thinkers and an ensemble of performing artists. Students will read works often overlooked in mainstream theater and literature courses. Students will participate in both individual and group presentations of dramatic materials. We will study not only the work as an art form, but the historical origins and social, cultural, and political ramifications of the work. Our analysis and exploration will juxtapose the realities of mainstream theater and culture with the solidification of Black Theatre as a field. This course fulfills part of the Theater History & Theory course requirement as well as the All-College Diversity requirement.	3	T/Th 12:40-2:00	Bolton 100
TH372	*Independent Study*	Faculty	ndependent study and production projects under the guidance of the department. Hours to be arranged. Prerequisite: permission of department. This course may or may not be credited in liberal arts, at the discretion of both the department chair and the registrar (and, in exceptional instances, the College Curriculum Committee).	-	3	TBA	TBA
TH376	*Senior Project*	Faculty	This course provides a culminating experience for the theater major. In consultation with faculty, each student will submit a project proposal during the junior year. Projects should be based upon the student's past work and provide an appropriate next challenge for the student's development as a theater artist. Projects will be supervised by an appropriate faculty member. Possible projects include: a. Preparing a thesis (research paper, design project, etc.) b. Performing in a seminar or faculty directed studio production c. Directing a studio production d. Designing a studio or seminar production e. Serving in one of a number of approved production positions such as general manager, production manager, technical director, etc. Students unable to accomplish projects due to the casting or nature of available productions will revise proposals during the senior year. Prerequisites: TH250; senior status as a theater major; senior minors may participate with permission of department.	-	1-4	TBA	TBA
FL322	*The French Film*	Anzalone	Study of some of the key features of the cinema of France, beginning with an historical overview of the development of the idiom, from the silent films of the Surrealists and René Clair, to the Golden Age of sound in the thirties and concluding with the New Wave and its posterity. The course will also study film as a language and use it as a means for exploring cultural identity. Students will view a selection of films by Clair, Dali/Bunuel, Vigo, Renoir, Carne, Duvivier, Truffaut, Godard, Eustache, Tanner, and Rohmer, among others, and read criticism by directors, critics, and theorists.	John Anzalone will be offering FL322 in the Foreign Languages Department. This overview of French cinema will be taught in English and will emphasize major directors and directing (Renoir, Truffaut, Godard, Leconte, Ozon, Kassovitz) from the historical and theoretical perspectives emergent from the auteur theory and new wave film criticism. This will fulfill the third history/theory course requirement for the major.	3	T/Th 2:10-3:30	Tisch 202
PH230	*Topics in Philosophy: Drama and Philosophy*	Moore		We will study nine Greek, Roman, Classical French, and Elizabethan English plays written about the ancient Greek period. Each aims to depict the struggle to maintain human virtue, especially during erotic attraction, by means of theoretical reflection, or despite isolation. We will also give close attention to key texts from Plato and Aristotle that focus on the development of drama and its role in thinking about living the good and examined life. The most vivid problems depicted in our works will be those perhaps most accessible to us: the hopes of love; the fears and desires for self-knowledge; the traps of cynicism. The premise of this course is that our dozen works—in part because of their serious dramatization of conversation, confession, and decision—provide exemplary occasions and models for philosophical conversation and the attainment of self-understanding. Our goal is to be rigorously thoughtful with respect to the problems these plays show to be deep and urgent human problems, and to appreciate how certain moments of scripted talk and action can show such problems to be so serious and real. We start with Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, and continue with Sophocles’ Philoctetes; three rewritings of the same story: Euripides’ Hippolytus, Seneca’s Phaedra, and Racine’s Phèdre; Aristophanes’ Frogs, depicting a contest between the Greek tragedians; the same comic dramatists’ Clouds and Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens; Plato’s Ion and Symposium and Aristotle’s Poetics; and Molière’s The Misanthrope. The principal graded work will be frequent short- and mid-length writing assignments.	3	T/Th 12:40-2:00	Tisch 303