Designed to free the body from its pedestrian constraints through the use of improvisational process and a rigorous appreciation building for the art of warming up. Students will learn that preparation and physical awareness can make up a large part of what each of us can bring to the table as performers. Our focus will go to issues of strengthening, support, and articulation of body and voice, an extended sense of time, space, and relationship. Explorations will look at acting and dance through an introduction to improvisational process, mime, clowning, yoga/meditation, Alexander Technique, and familiarity with the rigorous vocal applications and concepts of Kristin Linkletter.

50:965:124 Modern/Improvisational Dance (3)

Movement experience designed to develop aesthetic and movement concepts, skills, and sensitivities as a basis for performance and appreciation of modern dance. The ability of each student to use these concepts toward the layering of her or his own choice is at the core of this work. Work with improvisation will allow students to bring acquired information and ideas into instant practice. Designed for theater majors and for those interested in the pure study of dance. Improvisation will play a large roll as we learn to integrate issues of technique, alignment, time, and space into our overall sense of physical awareness.�

50:965:201 Introduction to Contemporary Theater (G) (R) (3)

Examines modern, postmodern, and experimental theater as it mixes media such as film, video, visual and computer art, music, and dance. From the personal to the political, the historical to the fantastic, students will read and view numerous works of theater. Students will have opportunities to interview theater artists about their influences in terms of staging, preparation, and an overall sense of concept and design. Through reading assignments and theater on film, the course will examine contemporary theater from the past 50 years and develop a language for critical analysis of art.

50:965:215 Cultural Theater Studies (D) (3) How does culture influence traditions in theater? How do our own cultural backgrounds shape and perhaps prejudice our perception of rituals and theater sensibilities that are foreign to our idea of drama? Compares texts addressing (among others) African, Hispanic, and Asian-American perspectives on theater and traditions. Also research materials from around the globe, including Indonesian Shadow Puppets, Japanese Kabuki Theater, South African playwright Athol Fugard, Louis Valdez, and the Teatro Camposino, all documented on video tape.

50:965:241 Introduction to Technical Theater (3) An understanding of behind-the-scenes elements of a theater production developed through theory and stage crew experiences. Subjects covered include scenery construction and painting, stage drafting, sound, digital electronics, stage management, and production organization. Course content may vary from term to term.
Corequisite: 50:965:243. May be repeated for up to 6 credits.

50:965:243 Laboratory in Technical Theater (1) Corequisite: 50:965:241. May be repeated for up to 2 credits.

50:965:265 Special Studies in Theater Arts (3) A course in a selected topic not offered in the regular curriculum. May be repeated for credit, assuming the subject matter is different. Further information, including prerequisites, if any, is contained in the Schedule of Classes.
May be repeated for up to 6 credits.

50:965:271 Acting and Directing I (3) Foundational course utilizes improvisational process as a basis for developing awareness, skills of observation, concentration, imagination, and relationship. Students will work from both inside and outside perspectives on scene work, allowing for a unique opportunity to direct and to be directed. Character work and in-depth scene study help expose students to acting practices and rehearsal techniques of practitioners such as Stanislavski, Strasberg, Kantor, Grotowski, and Chaikin. In-class work will take place with an emphasis on character analysis through scene study and rigorous preparation leading to a fully rounded performance. Special attention will go to the demystification of so-called "method acting." The idea of "method acting" will be researched fom several distinct angles leading to a personalized sense of methodology, technique, and approaches that can and often must shift from production to production.

50:965:279 History of the Theater I (G) (3) A survey, from earliest times to Elizabethan England, with emphasis on the major periods, typical plays, performance theories, important personages, and major playhouses and forms of production. The three courses in this series need not be taken in sequence.

50:965:280 History of the Theater II (G) (3) A survey, from 17th-century France to the rise of Russian realism, with emphasis on the major periods, typical plays, important personages, and major playhouses and forms of production.

50:965:281 History of the Theater III (G) (3) A survey, from Ibsen to the present, with emphasis on the major periods, typical plays, important personages, and major playhouses and forms of production.

50:965:301 Performance (2) Students are required to be in a minimum of three performances over a four-year period, through mainstage or workshop productions in acting, directing, playwriting, production staff, or technical design. Prerequisites: 50:965:271 and permission of instructor. May be repeated for up to a maximum of 6 credits.

50:965:302 Practicum/Crew Call in Technical Theater (1) The�implementation of design and/or technical duties of major significance and responsibility. Credits awarded determined by the complexity and size of job assignment. A paper required. Prerequisites: 50:965:241 and/or other departmental courses relevant to the practicum.

50:965:313 Independent Study: Technical Design (3)

For students desiring further study in scenic, lighting, sound, or costume design. All research is based on projects that are set up with the instructor. Projects range from individual research to assisting with our main-stage productions. Guidance will be provided on a weekly basis and a paper and/or portfolio will be required and included as one third of the final evaluation. Reading will be woven into the study plan for each individual or small group of individuals who want practical, professional experience in technical design for the theater.

50:965:318 Playwriting I (3) Provides beginners experience with fundamental skills and techniques essential to composition for the stage. Students have an opportunity to "source, capture, and design" writing that is worthy of the stage. Examines traditional conventions of the theater while also experimenting with writing that breaks those conventions. This is a process-based class. Students will respond to a series of in-class exercises that allow a writer to explore the development of character and plot via theater that holds tension on a moment-to-moment basis. The basics of 20th-century playwriting will be covered in relation to the so-called "well-made play." Although students will be writing on a regular basis, we will also study the works and techniques of several playwrights including Henrik Ibsen and Lillian Hellman while also viewing video footage of new play development in progress. The class will work with several professional playwrights.

50:965:319 Playwriting II (3)

Covers practical and conceptual approaches to writing and reshaping works-in-progress for the stage. In a workshop atmosphere, students develop the writer's ability to use theater as a cutting-edge medium of expression. British playwrights Tom Stoppard and Caryl Churchill will serve as contemporary examples of construction and deconstruction of plot and character. Textual analysis, dynamic writing exercises, and staged readings will help students to develop a perspective on playwriting. Centers on the writing process while students create a wide range of dialogues, scenes, monologues, and imaginative performance texts ranging from vaudevillian comedy to the futuristic.

Prerequisite: 50:965:318 or permission of instructor.

50:965:321 Directing II (3) Furthers the study of the fundamentals in directing for the stage. Textual analysis will serve as a basis for building theater from the page to the stage. Alternately, we will explore the role of directing beyond the interpretation of play text, through the worlds of commedia dell'arte, German Expressionism, physical theater, and improvisation as it relates to the compositional choices of the director as artist and maker. Student directors will learn to prepare a working script in conjunction with supervised direction of scenes of increasing length and complexity.
Prerequisite: 50:965:271. May be repeated for credit.

50:965:345 Theater and Film in Europe (3)

Examines content and performance styles that are specific to European countries/cultures/individuals. From German performance artist Oskar Schlemmer to the experimental films of Werner Herzog, from theater director Jerzy Grotowski to the moving images of Andrzej Wadj in Poland, there is an experimental realm in 20th-century Europe with influences and sensibilities well apart from our general awareness in the United States.�Influences are traced from a present-day perspective of 20th-century European history and colonialism to past and current expressions of unrest in former eastern bloc countries.� Political theater in the United Kingdom will serve as a core for our comparisons between artists, intentions, archetypes, and societal guidelines to be upheld or torn down like the Berlin Wall.

50:965:357 Special Topics in Theater Arts (3) A course in a selected topic not offered in the regular curriculum. May be repeated for credit, assuming the subject matter is different. For further information, including prerequisites, if any, see the Schedule of Classes.

50:965:359 Independent Study (BA) Individual work with close guidance by a faculty member on a project or in an area of research not included in the regular curriculum.
May be repeated for credit.

50:965:363 Educational/Children's Theater (3)

Provides education students with fundamental tools for teaching a variety of aspects of theater.� Includes seminar topics on contemporary issues in theater. Theater majors are also encouraged to view in-class theater and the facilitation of imagination through acting and playwriting as a special aspect of theater in the United States. The New Jersey standards of the arts will be addressed and considered in relation to making age appropriate theater for children. Aside from extensive use of improvisation as a tool for involving the student imagination, teachers will learn to scaffold the learning experience through the application of clear progressions of learning related to the study of acting, directing, and playwriting.

Intended for majors in the Teacher Preparation Program.

50:965:371 Acting II (3) Foundational course utilizes improvisational process as a basis for developing awareness, skills of observation, concentration, imagination, and relationship. Students will work from inside and outside perspectives on scene work, allowing for a unique opportunity to direct and to be directed. Character work and in-depth scene study expose students to the rehearsal techniques of Stanislavski, Strasberg, Kantor, Grotowski, and Chaikin. In-class work will take place with an emphasis on character development through rigorous analysis and preparation, leading to a fully rounded performance. The ideas behind "method acting" will be researched from several distinct angles leading to a personalized sense of methodology and technique.

50:965:471 Advanced Acting (3) Primarily for juniors or seniors who have already completed courses in Acting and Directing and Acting II. Students in the class will function as an ensemble troupe interpreting and executing complex material and creating their own pieces. For students with a real interest in pursuing theater as a profession or attending graduate school in the field. We will be critiquing each other's work and preparing pieces for performance at the end of the term. Course materials will include plays by Jean-Claude Van Italie, Maria Irene Fornes, and Sam Shephard. Among the approaches to acting covered are the physical theater approaches of Jerzy Grotowski and Peter Brook. Prerequisites: 50:965:271 and 371 or permission of instructor.

50:965:491 Theater Internship (BA)

An internship with an outside local theater or acting company in any area of theater design, production, or management. Requires supervised work in the theater (40 hours per credit) and sponsorship by a faculty adviser.

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor.