2014–15 Academic Catalog

2014-15 Undergraduate Index A-Z

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Theater [clear]

Title		Offering	Standing	Credits	Credits	When	F	W	S	Su	Description	Preparatory	Faculty	Days	Multiple Standings	Start Quarters	Open Quarters
Approaching Modern Theatre: Acting and Directing Rose Jang theater		Program	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day		W 15Winter	S 15Spring		This program is focused on the study of modern theatre, primarily the twentieth-century theatre in the West, through both theoretical explorations and practical exercises. We will examine the history and theory of modern theatre, from the turn of the twentieth century to the early phase of postmodernity later in the century, with a special emphasis on the development of acting and directing. Major movements, pivotal happenings, influential artists, plays and playwrights from around the world, with their indelible marks on the modern stage, will inform the program inquiry and drive our own creative work at the same time. Workshop exercises, training regimen, and production work in acting and directing will be built on the foundation of serious historical and theoretical analyses. Students will constantly navigate between theory and practice: they will have ample opportunities to apply conceptual learning to actual work with acting and directing. In the winter quarter, the whole program will work with a faculty-directed production of by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, scheduled to be performed at the quarter’s end. Students do not need acting and directing credentials to join the program, but they have to participate in a two-part audition for the faculty to get to know them. The first audition will take place prior to the start of winter quarter (date and details to be announced), and another on the first week of winter. Focused on acting experiments, the production will have the essentials of a college production with less emphasis on the technical effects. Spring quarter will start with serious reviews and reflections on the collective experience in . Students will then transfer their experiential knowledge gained from the winter production into a multitude of exercises and projects lasting through spring. These hands-on exercises and projects will allow them to directly attack the intricate arts of acting and directing. They will experiment with different acting styles and techniques in modern and postmodern theories; they will also exercise the sophisticated craft of directing through stages. At the end of the quarter, students will showcase their exemplary work in acting and directing within a series of small pieces for public viewing. The low-tech final presentation will give a clear indication of the extent of the students’ artistic command and intellectual understanding of acting and directing in modern theatre.		Rose Jang		Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Winter	Winter Spring
The Empty Space: Performance, Movement and Theatre Walter Grodzik and Cynthia Kennedy aesthetics consciousness studies cultural studies dance education media studies queer studies somatic studies theater		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	16	16	Day	F 14 Fall	W 15Winter	S 15Spring		How does imagination respond to the emotional self, the physiology of the body and the psychology of the mind? How can we become more expressive and responsive to our inner selves? This program will explore the interior spaces where performances begin and the exterior spaces where performances are realized. Through the understanding and embodiment of somatic concepts such as awareness, intention, centering, authenticity and the interplay of mind and body, students will have the opportunity to explore the creative imagination as it expresses itself from their own life processes, rather than from externally imposed images, standards and expectations.Students will begin with movement and theatre exercises that center and focus the mind and body in order to open themselves to creative possibilities and performance. Students will also study movement and theatre as a means of physical and psychological focus and flexibility that enable them to more fully utilize their bodies and emotional selves in creating theatrical performance. Students will be invited to explore and enjoy the movement already going on inside their bodies to learn to perceive, interpret and trust the natural intelligence of intrinsic bodily sensations. The class will use experiential techniques derived from several traditions of somatic philosophy. In seminar, students will read a broad variety of texts about creativity, movement, theatre and dramatic literature.The program will include weekly seminars, workshops in movement and theatre, and film screenings of various movement/theatre and theatre productions. We welcome students of all abilities who bring their excitement, commitment and creativity to the performing arts.		Walter Grodzik Cynthia Kennedy		Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter Spring
Makers of Modern Drama: Chekhov, Ibsen, and Others Marla Elliott and Thomas Rainey cultural studies history literature media studies theater Signature Required: Winter		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	8, 12	08 12	Evening	F 14 Fall	W 15Winter			This program will explore the Russian short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov and other European dramatists, such as Heinrich Ibsen, who together are credited with the development of modern drama. We will analyze not only their fictional and dramatic works but also their lives and times, from which they drew their major characters and dramatic situations. We will also study the Stanislavsky Method as well as other aspects of modern acting techniques. During the fall quarter, we will experience Chekhov and Stanislavsky through scene work and culminate those studies in auditions for a full production of Chekhov's which we will perform at the end of winter quarter. During the winter quarter, we will study carefully filmed live performances of plays by Chekhov, Ibsen, Shaw, Brecht, and other dramatists associated with the birth of modern drama. In the winter quarter, we will also continue to read, critique, and discuss commentaries—current and past—on the plays of Chekhov and of the other late nineteenth-century and twentieth-century dramatists and determine the many reasons for the enduring legacy and influence of all these makers of modern drama. Embedded in the program, during the fall quarter, will be a 4-credit segment entitled “Anton Chekhov: Life, Times and Work.” Students enrolled in the program will participate in these seminars and lectures alongside students from the 16-credit program “Russia and the Forging of Empires”. Credit equivalencies will be in cultural history, literature, and drama.		Marla Elliott Thomas Rainey	Tue Thu	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter
Musical Theatre as Liberal Education: Interdisciplinary Lessons from Sondheim Marla Elliott and Mark Harrison literature music theater		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	8	08	Evening and Weekend			S 15Spring		“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.” “Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and create a suspension of disbelief, by which I mean there's no fourth wall.” --Stephen Sondheim Stephen Sondheim is widely considered by critics and public alike to be the most influential and innovative composer/lyricist in American musical theatre. His works demonstrate that musicals, both on and off Broadway, are powerful vehicles for important ideas about self, culture, history, and creativity. Working with the sources, scores, and texts for these complex and subtle musical plays requires us to collaborate, to cross cultural barriers, and to become personally engaged with the ways they are embodied. We will learn how Sondheim brings "order out of chaos.” From a performance standpoint, we will study (and sing!) representative songs from Sondheim’s musicals. Students will also actively participate in staging practices of the musical in general and Sondheim's works in particular. Our examination of Sondheim's art will also involve analysis and some writing. Students will be expected to read the assigned texts, do required listening and screening, and complete all writing assignments.		Marla Elliott Mark Harrison	Wed Sat	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Political Shakespeares Elizabeth Williamson cultural studies gender and women's studies literature queer studies theater writing		Program	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day		W 15Winter			Shakespeare’s plays are in many ways notoriously conservative. Women dress up as men, only to be railroaded into marriage at the end of the play; Jews and people of color are regularly treated horribly by otherwise likeable characters; servants are routinely sidelined into supporting roles. Early in the 20 century, E.M.W. Tillyard went so far as to argue that the plays were written expressly for the purpose of maintaining the Elizabethan social order. Since the 1960s, however, scholars and theater professionals have been working to draw out the subversive content of the plays, arguing that Shakespeare’s representation of oppressive social norms can be read as a critique of those norms—as well as a prefiguration of our own contemporary political struggles. This program is designed for students who want to engage in the project of reading literary texts against the grain. Liking Shakespeare is not a prerequisite. Rather, our focus will be on studying and practicing various modes of literary criticism—Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytic, and post-colonial, as well as methodologies informed by queer theory and disability studies. Students will read one play (primarily histories and tragedies) per week, along with sample pieces of literary criticism, and will write essays applying particular modes of literary theory to the plays. At the end of the quarter, students will write a dramaturgical analysis informed by at least one mode of literary criticism, and will perform sample scenes that embody their interpretation of the play. Our central question is a simple one: “What, if anything, can Shakespeare’s plays DO for us? What kind of social work can we make them perform?”		Elizabeth Williamson	Tue Tue Wed Fri Fri	Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Winter	Winter
Student-Originated Studies: Creating Dance in an Imagined Future Robert Esposito aesthetics art history dance theater Signature Required: Spring		SOS	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day			S 15Spring		This full-time, one-quarter Student-Originated Study is designed for students prepared for intermediate to advanced work in the theory and practice of contemporary dance theatre, and requires prior choreographic and/or performance experience. Student cohorts will form to investigate a variety of dance theatre forms around themes of personal and cultural power, freedom, belonging, and fun. Specific content of research, papers, texts, critiques, and seminars is student-centered and co-developed with faculty. In a pre-registration interview with the faculty, students state a clear theme or genre of interest and propose a viable performance project. Next, student cohorts co-design a 10-week syllabus, including texts, learning objectives, activities, related research topics, and overlapping production schedules for casting, rehearsals, and technical support (costumes, lighting, sets, props, stage management, box office, publicity,) culminating in a Week 10 concert, venue to be determined. In addition to producing finished performance work, students will research the history, principals, and sociocultural context of their chosen genre, including, but not limited to modern dance, world dance, ballet, physical theatre, Butoh, etc. The goal is not to mimic extant forms, but to further each genre or theme into an imagined future. Expect to work on program assignments 15-20 hours per week outside of scheduled meetings with faculty. Research and rehearsal processes will be documented by each student in a multimedia log or journal serving as a reference when working with faculty, and providing a history of the development of each finished work. Work in progress will be shared in faculty-supported performance forums and dance labs throughout the quarter. This study requires discipline, clarity of focus, the ability to be self-directed, and the willingness to collaborate with others. Previous experience in technique, improvisation, and composition at an intermediate proficiency level is required.		Robert Esposito	Mon Tue Wed Thu	Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Student-Originated Studies: Performing Arts Kabby Mitchell cultural studies dance media arts media studies music theater visual arts		SOS	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day	F 14 Fall	W 15Winter			This is an opportunity for well-prepared students to do authentic, significant, independent work in dance, theatre, music or film production. Students enrolling in this program should have one or more potential project ideas before the start of fall quarter. Please contact the faculty with any questions regarding your specific ideas.Participants will meet weekly to discuss their projects and to collaboratively work in small groups. Students will be expected to give progress updates, outline challenges, and share ideas for increasing the quality of the work that they are doing throughout the quarter. Specific descriptions of learning goals and activities will be developed individually between the student and faculty to insure quality work. At the end of the quarter students will present their projects to their peers in the most suitable manner for their particular project.	performance art, dance, theater, music, and cultural studies.	Kabby Mitchell	Wed Wed	Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter
Theatre: Rehearsals and Performances - at SPSCC cancelled		Course	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	4	04	Evening	F 14 Fall				This class will focus on theory, methods, and analysis of theatre productions, including acting and technical theatre scenery construction, costumes, properties, lighting, sound, and box office through their practical application in the production of a play. The class will produce Picnic, a play by William Inge, with performances scheduled November 14-16 and 20-23. Required fee payable at SPSCC: $10 for dramatic script Faculty: Don Welch NOTE: , 2011 Mottman Road, SW, Olympia, WA 98512, in Building 21, Room 221, The Black Box in the Center for the Arts on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. BOOKS: If a text is required students will need to purchase texts for this course from the SPSCC bookstore. The book list can be found on the bookstore website under the course Drma 272.		Don Welch	Mon Wed Thu	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall