What is the shared vocabulary of Movement and Light? How do we think about quality, timing, scale and form in both choreography and design? In this studio course we will explore light and movement to better understand how these elements inform each other in the creation of interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Students will take on the roles of both designer and choreographer, they will develop communications skills across artistic disciplines and question traditional power structures in their making process. This is a hands-on course with an emphasis on creating, revision, communication and collaboration across disciplines and cultures.

The first half of Shakespeare's career, with a focus on the great comedies and histories of the 1590s, culminating in a study of Hamlet.

What makes a play political? When and why does producing political theater matter? In this course, we will look at contemporary and canonical plays from across the globe that take on various political crises (e.g., Argentina during the "Dirty War"; South Africa under Apartheid; the Liberian Civil War; Eastern European Communist censorship). Analyzing plays as texts and performances, we will consider what makes theater a useful medium to respond to conflict and social trauma. We will explore how playwrights around the world have aimed to create social change through dramaturgy.

FRE/THR 211 will offer students the opportunity to put their language skills in motion by exploring French theater and acting in French. The course will introduce students to acting techniques while allowing them to discover the richness of the French dramatic canon. Particular emphasis will be placed on improving students' speaking skills through pronunciation and diction exercises. At the end of the semester, the course will culminate in the presentation of the students' work.

Theater Making in the Age of Climate Change will investigate how the performing arts sector in France and Europe transitions towards a more sustainable future, and how contemporary playwrights tackle this urgent topic. The performing arts are now becoming more sensitized to their carbon footprint and are making efforts to change their practices. We will discover new works as French and European stages are producing an increasing number of plays on climate change. During fall break, we will travel to France to gain first-hand experience of these timely initiatives and engage with organizations' officials and arts institutions' directors.

This upper-level course will delve into the creation of new musical works for the stage, with an emphasis on music as an essential dramatic language. Students will explore the fundamentals of musical theater songwriting, as well as authentic musical theater writing processes including collaboration, adaptation, developing original story concepts, capturing musical ideas, engaging in dramaturgical discussions, sharing and receiving constructive criticism, rewriting, and presenting in-progress work. Following an introductory unit, students will utilize skills they are developing in class to create, workshop, and share a 3-person mini-musical.

Introduction to Theater Making is a working laboratory, which gives students hands-on experience with theatre's fundamental building blocks -- writing, design, acting, directing, and producing. Throughout the semester, students read, watch and discuss five different theater works. We will analyze how these plays and events are constructed and investigate their social and political implications. In-class artistic responses provide hands-on exploration as students work in groups to create and rehearse performances inspired by our course texts

This course develops skills needed to successfully approach all acting styles and centers the actor as a lead creative artist. We will concentrate on how the voice, body, and imagination can build a performance. The goal is fluency in these tools, stronger stage presence, and collaborative rehearsal skills. Each class is made up of individual and ensemble-based physical and vocal exercises to bolster creative thinking and to ready the body and voice for performance. We will find inspiration in readings and short performance texts. Students will leave the semester with a strong foundation for further acting courses or projects in all genres.

This is a workshop in the fundamentals of writing plays. Through writing prompts, exercises, study and reflection, students will be guided in the creation of original dramatic material. Attention will be given to character, structure, dramatic action, monologue, dialogue, language and behavior.

This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to how performance-making intersects with local, state, federal, and international policy concerns (and vice versa). Through lecture, workshops, and guest visitors, we will examine connections between policy and performance within four central topical arenas: public speech; public assembly; intellectual property; and supply chain logistics. As we study the impact of policy on a broad array of live, embodied, and mediatized performances, we will also rehearse an understanding of statecraft, public advocacy/protest, and policy-making as consequential modes of public enactment and performance

This course builds on basic performance skills and introduces the actor to methods of developing a character. Through script analysis and the exploration of dramatic story structures we will learn how to prepare a role for rehearsal. During the course, students will work on characters from two separate plays. While in the rehearsal, we will gain an appreciation for process as we make use of acting techniques and rehearsal tools that lift the text off the page and gradually shape it into a dynamic performance. At the end of the semester, we will present our work in a showing.

An exploration of theatrical sound design and engineering, this class will explore sound for both theater and music theater. We will investigate text from the point of view of sound, and learn how to communicate the ideas, palette and arc of a design to others. We will explore developing a creative process and turning our ideas into sounds that can be used onstage.

This course immerses students in the dynamic world of South African physical theatre. Through full-body training, improvisation, and ensemble work, students explore movement as protest, storytelling, and community-building. Inspired by Lecoq's teachings of the four core elements namely Earth, Air, Fire and Water; we will dive into building a performance vocabulary based on gesture, rhythm, and space. Students create original performances, using the body as the primary text, culminating in a showcase of devised physical theatre work.

This course explores models of producing and collaboration in the performing arts. Students will examine a wide variety of live performance events with a detailed appreciation for what production entails, and will develop an understanding of the aesthetic and values-based choices involved in producing theater.

Through plays produced in the United States from the second-wave feminist movement of the 1960s to the Black Lives Matter Movement of the 2010s, we will identify and analyze various themes, approaches, and concerns within feminist plays. Employing script and dramaturgical analyses and performance techniques, students will learn how to contextualize plays from the race, gender, class, sexuality, and politics of the playwright and contextualize plays within their larger historical, social, and cultural milieus. In doing so, students will learn about the different lineages, politics, and aesthetics of feminist theatre.

This course offers an exploration of visual storytelling, research and dramaturgy, combined with a grounding in the practical, collaborative and inclusive skills necessary to create physical environments for live theater making. Students are mentored as designers, directors or project creators on realized projects in our theaters, or on advanced paper projects. Individualized class plans allow students to imagine physical environments for realized and un-realized productions, depending on their area of interest, experience and skill level. Students will see one or two shows off campus, typically in NYC, during the course of the semester

Students will apply the art and principles of voiceover acting - commonly used in animation, video games, and audiobooks - to perform original dramatic works as well as scenes from classic American plays for virtual reality. Students will design basic VR environments while creating immersive soundscapes for their dramatic works. They will also reflect on the pedagogical and practical applications of their experiences in creating theatre in a VR environment.

Students will work with professional director Nikoo Mamdoohi and scholar Q-Mars Haeri in exploration and rehearsals towards performances of Mohammed Yaghoubi's play A Moment of Silence. The play investigates the impact of the Iranian revolution through the imagination of a writer and charts the recent history of the country through the lives of young people. Performing roles will be cast through Try On Theater process on April 28th, open to students of all backgrounds, with all levels of experience (or none) - please see the theater program website for details. Performances will be held early November in the Berlind Theater.