TAPS 1:
Introduction to Theater and Performance Studies
What brings together a contemporary company such as Google and an experimental theater such as The Wooster Group? What sets them apart? Approaching theater as presentational form of organization, this class shifts study of theater from the context of literature to that of performance. It offers an overview of performance across disciplines: from theater and other performing arts, to law, management, sports, and new technologies. In this interdisciplinary exploration, performance emerges as a model that cuts across diverse branches of contemporary culture, from sports events, to social dances, to political protests, to the organization of a workplace. It is designed to serve students who may go on to major or minor in Theater and Performance Studies including the Dance division and also students for whom this knowledge is a general contribution to their liberal arts education or to their own field of study. It integrates scholarly research and practical use of performance. No previous performing arts training or skills are required.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
TAPS 11N:
Dramatic Tensions: Theater and the Marketplace
Preference to freshmen. The current state of the American theater and its artists. Conventional wisdom says that theater is a dying art, and a lost cause, especially in an age of multi-media entertainment. But there are more young playwrights, actors, and directors entering the field today than at any other time in American history. Focus is on the work of today's theater artists, with an emphasis on an emerging generation of playwrights. Students read a cross-section of plays from writers currently working in the US and UK, covering a spectrum of subjects and styles from serious to comic, from the musical to the straight play. Hits and misses from recent seasons of the New York and London stages and some of the differences of artistic taste across the Atlantic. Hands-on exploration of the arts and skills necessary to make a play succeed. Students develop their own areas of interest, in guided projects in design, direction or performance. Conversations with playwrights, designers ,and directors. Labs and master classes to solve problems posed in areas of creative production. Class meets literary managers and producers who are on the frontlines of underwriting new talent. Class trips include two plays at major Bay Area Stages.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
TAPS 11SC:
Learning Theater: From Audience to Critic at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Who doesn't love going to a play: sitting in the darkened theater, an anonymous member of the audience waiting to be entertained, charmed, and challenged? But how many of us know enough about the details of the plays, their interpretation, their production, and acting itself, to allow us to appreciate fully the theatrical experience? In this seminar, we will spend 13 days in Ashland, Oregon, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), where we will attend these plays: Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Pericles, and Antony and Cleopatra; the U.S. premiere of Stan Lai's Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land; Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls; the world premiere of Lynn Nottage's ,Sweat; Quiara Alegría Hudes' The Happiest Song Plays Last; Charles Fechter's adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo; Eugene O'Neill's Long Days Journey into Night; and the world premiere of Jeff Whitty's Head Over Heels. (To read more about these productions, go to www.osfashland.org). We will also spend time backstage, meeting with actors, designers, and artistic and administrative directors of OSF. Students will read the plays before the seminar begins. In Ashland, they will produce staged readings and design a final paper based on one of the productions. These reviews will be delivered to the group and turned in on Thursday, September 17. Note: This seminar will convene in Ashland on Monday, August 31, and will adjourn to Stanford on Sunday, September 13. Students must arrive in Ashland by 4:00 p.m. on August 31. Room and board in Ashland and transportation to Stanford will be provided and paid for by the program. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu
Terms: Sum
| Units: 2
TAPS 12N:
To Die For: Antigone and Political Dissent (CLASSICS 17N)
(Formerly CLASSGEN 6N.) Preference to freshmen. Tensions inherent in the democracy of ancient Athens; how the character of Antigone emerges in later drama, film, and political thought as a figure of resistance against illegitimate authority; and her relevance to contemporary struggles for women's and workers' rights and national liberation. Readings and screenings include versions of Antigone by Sophocles, Anouilh, Brecht, Fugard/Kani/Ntshona, Paulin, Glowacki, Gurney, and von Trotta.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
TAPS 13N:
Law and Drama
Preference to Freshmen.Beyond the obvious traits that make a good (court room) drama, theater and jurisprudence have much more in common. Just as drama is engaged not only in entertainment but also in examination of social conventions and mechanisms, so law is not only concerned with dispensing justice but with shaping and maintaining a viable human community. In this class we will read and discuss a series of plays in which court proceedings are at the center of dramatic action and concluding with an investigation of the new genre of documentary drama.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
TAPS 14AX:
Musical Theatre Bootcamp
Spend three weeks in the world of musical theatre with guest artist instructors currently working in the industry. Learn the history of the craft through music, dance, and acting, with all training driven towards the specificity of musical theatre. Week one will be the pre-golden and golden age of musical theatre, week 2 will be spent in the 60s-90s, and the 3rd week will be 2000-the present (and maybe some tastes of musicals just now in development!). With a director/choreographer and a music director, songs/scenes will be worked on as appropriate for each week along with basic dance moves that support each era of the musical theatre canon.nThis course will be especially beneficial to students interested in learning more about pursuing professional careers in musical theatre. Guest artist instructors will provide feedback on theatrical resumes, review audition etiquette, and generally advise students on navigating the professional theatre industry.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 2
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 14N:
Imagining India: Art, Culture, Politics in Modern India (FEMGEN 14N)
This course explores history via cultural responses in modern India. We will examine a range of fiction, film and drama to consider the ways in which India emerges through its cultural productions. The course will consider key historical events such as the partition of the subcontinent, independence from British rule, Green Revolution, Emergency, liberalization of the Indian economy, among others. We will reflect on epochal historical moments by means of artisticnresponses to these events. For example, Ritwik Ghatak's experimental cinema intervenes into debates around the Bengal partition; Rohinton Mistry's novel, A Fine Balance grapples with the suspension of civil liberties during the emergency between 1975-77; Rahul Varma's play Bhopal reflects on the Bhopal gas tragedy, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. Students willnread, view and reflect on the aesthetic and historical texts through their thoughtful engagement in class discussions and written e ssays. They will also have opportunities to imaginatively respond to these texts via short creative projects, which could range from poems, monologues, solo pieces, web installations, etc. Readings will also include Mahashweta Devi, Amitav Ghosh, Girish Karnad, Jhumpa Lahiri, Manjula Padmanabhan, Salman Rushdie, Aparna Sen, among others.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
TAPS 15N:
Food and Performance: Meals, Markets, Maize and Macaroni
Come hungry to learn! This course serves as an introduction to food and performance culture. We will engage ethical and aesthetic questions about factory farms, feminist performance art and futuristic cooking. Emphasis is on original research, interdisciplinary analysis and doing performance. We will attend events, have guest speakers, create our own mini-performances around the broad themes of the course, write critical reviews and conduct archival research. We begin by studying the work of anthropologists of food and then move on to contemplate the way food and performance converge in modern thought and art. We will vary our approaches to the texts and debate a broad range of topics. For example, we will discuss: food¿s connection to sexuality, memory, race, embodiment, colonialism, violence, protest, public policy and science. The parameters of the course have been limited to food movements in the U.S. in the 20th and 21st centuries; however the opportunity to work on topics beyond this geopolitical and historical scope is possible and encouraged. Texts may include works by Yayoi Kusama, Dwight Conquergood, Mary Douglas, Karen Finley, Psyche Williams, Alice Waters, Jonathan Foer, Michael Pollan, Julia Child, Lauren Berlant, Laura Esquival, Douglas Sirk, Coco Fusco, Nao Bustamante, Doris Witt and more.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
TAPS 15SC:
Courtroom Theater
In the new millennium, the popularity of TV courtroom drama has been staggering: according to a weekly Nielsen ratings conducted a few years ago, 30 million people watched CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in one night, 70 million watched at least one of the CSI shows, and 40 million watched two other forensic dramas (Without a Traceand Cold Case). These widely popular shows offer a somewhat distorted image of American criminal courtroom. In this class we will go "behind the scenes" to engage in a hands-on investigation of performances in the criminal trials. nWe will begin by visiting Bay Area courthouses to investigate the courtroom as a "set" for powerful legal dramas that are happening there on a daily basis. In these field trips we will also observe the courtroom proceedings and talk to judges and other legal professionals. After this introduction to the real-life courtroom, we will investigate landmark theatrical court dramas. Using mock trial techniques, we will approach playtexts as legal "cases." We will try to identify weaknesses and strengths of these cases, and then use them as mock trial scenarios. Ultimately, this class engages the questions of what does it take to build a solid courtroom case and how does it differ from a powerful piece of theater. While getting acquainted with both courtroom and theater techniques, we will keep a critical eye on (mis)representations of criminal courtroom in the popular media. No previous experience in acting or mock trials is necessary. The class is under submission for Creative Expression requirement. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 2
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 20:
Acting for Non-Majors (TAPS 124D)
Creative play, ensemble work in a supportive environment. Designed for the student to experience a range of new creative skills, from group improvisation to partner work. Introductory work on freeing the natural voice and physical relaxation. Emphasis on rediscovering imaginative and creative impulses. Movement improvisation, listening exercises, and theater games release the energy, playfulness and willingness to take risks that is the essence of free and powerful performance. Course culminates with work on dramatic text.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1-3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, way_ce
TAPS 20A:
Acting for Non-Majors
A class designed for all interested students. Creative play, ensemble work in a supportive environment. Designed for the student to experience a range of new creative skills, from group improvisation to partner work. Introductory work on freeing the natural voice and physical relaxation. Emphasis on rediscovering imaginative and creative impulses. Movement improvisation, listening exercises, and theater games release the energy, playfulness and willingness to take risks that is the essence of free and powerful performance. Course culminates with work on dramatic text.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 2
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 21:
StoryCraft
StoryCraft is a hands-on, experiential workshop offering participants the opportunity, structure and guidance to craft compelling personal stories to be shared in front of a live audience. nThe class will focus on several areas of storytelling:n Mining ¿ how do you find your stories and extract the richest details?n Crafting ¿ how do you structure the content and shape the language?n Performing ¿ how do you share your stories with presence, authenticity and connection? nnWill meet Wednesday evenings from 7-9pm
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 2
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 22:
Scene Work
For actors who complete substantial scene work with graduate directors in the graduate workshop.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1-2
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 23:
Game Design: Making Play (TAPS 223)
Do you want to make games? This is a project-oriented workshop course that will teach you how to apply design thinking to create new kinds of play. We'll teach you about mechanics, playtesting, drama, narrative, and more. You'll work in teams to produce a new play form in whatever medium and style you like. We want zippy mobile games. We want intensely serious board games. We want socially conscious interactive theater games. We want kinds of fun we've never even imagined.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 25:
Acting Short Narrative: From Shakespeare to YouTube
This course will help beginning students understand basic dramatic structure for acting short scenes. Using classic models (Euripides, Shakespeare, Noel Coward, Stephen Sondheim), we will explore how compelling dramatic scenes are constructed. Students will work with the instructor and with professional actors from Stanford Repertory Theater to come to grips with what makes these scenes successful and how best to bring them to life. As a final project, students will work together to develop and write their own short dramatic scenes, suitable for posting on YouTube.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 2
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 4 units total)
TAPS 28:
Makeup for the Stage
Techniques of make-up application and design for the actor and artist including corrective, age, character, and fantasy. Emphasis placed on utilizing make-up for development of character by the actor. Limited enrollment.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 2
TAPS 29:
Theater Performance: Acting
Students cast in department productions receive credit for their participation as actors; 1-2 units for graduate directing workshop projects and 1-3 units for major productions (units determined by instructor). May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1-3
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Amarotico, K. (PI);
Apostolides, J. (PI);
Carlson, A. (PI);
Drinovan, I. (PI);
Elam, H. (PI);
Fairfield, J. (PI);
Farr Schiller, A. (PI);
Hayes, A. (PI);
Hill, L. (PI);
Jones, D. (PI);
Kramer, T. (PI);
Melrose, R. (PI);
Moore, M. (PI);
Moses, R. (PI);
Paris, H. (PI);
Phelan, P. (PI);
Ramsaur, M. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Sack, D. (PI);
Settle, J. (PI);
Witherspoon, N. (PI);
Wooden, I. (PI)
TAPS 30:
How Theater is Designed
Team-taught. An introduction to theatrical set, costume and lighting design. Emphasis on balancing practical skill with conceptual ideas for live stage performance. Hands-on projects.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 31:
Introduction to Lighting and Production
How light contributes to the creation of mood and atmosphere and different kinds of visibility in theatrical storytelling. The use of controllable qualities of light including color, brightness, angle, and movemen in the theatrical process of creative scenography. Hands-on laboratory time.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
TAPS 34:
Stage Management Techniques (TAPS 334)
The production process, duties, and responsibilities of a stage manager. Skills needed to stage manage a production.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 3
TAPS 39:
Theatre Crew
Under faculty guidance, working backstage on Drama Department productions. Open to any student interested in gaining back stage experience. Night and weekend time required.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-3
| Repeatable
4 times
(up to 15 units total)
TAPS 39D:
Theater Performance: Prosser Stage Management
For students stage mananging a Department of Drama Senior Project or Assistant Staage managing a Department Drama production
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 2-4
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 70:
Intro to Directing
an Intro to Directing class with a special section for directing musicals taught by Ryan Purcell, Associate Artistic Director for the Magic Theatre...more details coming soon.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
TAPS 101P:
Intro to Directing and Devising Theatre
An introductory workshop class that explores a range of theatre exercises and techniques in order to create, perform, and compose theatre. Students will work with original texts such as Beckett, Pinter, Churchill as well as creating their own performance texts and scores to make original, devised performance. Students will be encouraged to think critically about various compositional themes and ideas including the relationship between form and content, aesthetics, proximity, audience, space. Students will work collaboratively learning how to problem solve and deal with creative challenges as they create original performance works. Students will work towards creating a short original performance piece.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 103:
Beginning Improvising
The improvisational theater techniques that teach spontaneity, cooperation, team building, and rapid problem solving, emphasizing common sense, attention to reality, and helping your partner. Based on TheatreSports by Keith Johnstone. Readings, papers, and attendance at performances of improvisational theater. Limited enrollment. Improv, Improvisation, creativity and creative expression.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 104:
Intermediate Improvisation
This class is the continued study of improvisational theater with a focus on stage skills, short and long form performance formats, and offstage applications of collaborative creativity. It is open to any students who have taken TAPS 103 or have previous onstage improv experience AND consent of the instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 6 units total)
TAPS 105V:
Improv & Design
Improv & Design is a wildly practical class exploring the intersection of Improvisational Theater & Design Thinking. Spring quarter 2015, Improv & Design is about creating joyful disruption in the world around us. Students will be bringing the gift of improv out from the stage or the classroom into the world in real time, using design thinking principles to try things, iterate and gather feedback.nnEach week, we will cover a fundamental principle of improvisation. Topics might include playfulness, connection, resilience, collaboration, inspiration, optimism, generosity, presence, listening, accepting offers, and storytelling. Teams of students will then design small experiments to run in the real world that week to increase ordinary people's experience of that particular mindset or improvisational principle.nnThe class is open to undergraduate and graduate students at Stanford with a genuine desire to make the world a better place (today!) and a willingness to jump in and explore new ways of showing up in the world. No previous design or improv experience needed.nnOpen to undergraduate and graduate students. Students must apply for this class in order to be enrolled. Accepting 12-16 students. See d.school.stanford.edu/classes for more information.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 1
TAPS 108:
Introduction to Feminist Studies (AMSTUD 107, CSRE 108, FEMGEN 101)
Introduction to interdisciplinary approaches to gender, sexuality, queer, trans and feminist studies. Topics include the emergence of sexuality studies in the academy, social justice and new subjects, science and technology, art and activism, history, film and memory, the documentation and performance of difference, and relevant socio-economic and political formations such as work and the family. Students learn to think critically about race, gender, and sexuality from local and global perspectives.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-Gender, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
TAPS 115:
Musical Theater
In this workshop we will traverse the landscape of world of Musical Theater. It will serve as an introduction for the beginning actor and singer, and expand the more experienced performer¿s range in this genre. The world of Musical Theater is filled with stories of love, passion, joy, violence, heartbreak and rage. The class will include an introduction to vocal and movement skills for musical theater, beginning with exercises to build an ensemble and encourage a sense of play and relaxation in supportive environment. Our class must be a place where everyone feels safe. As ensemble members, we will be responsible for each other in this environment. nnStudents will choose one solo song, and perform in a group number from this exciting discipline. The instructor will work with the actors on technique, utilization of action, specificity of language, personalization, and emotional truth. A professional coach from the theater community will conduct vocal coaching. Physical warm-ups and choreography will be suited for both the dancer and non-dancer.n nThe class will culminate in the last week with live performance for friends and family.nnSTUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO BRING THEIR OWN SUGGESTIONS. (Isn¿t there a role you¿ve always wanted to sing?)nnRequired text: Broadway Musicals Show by Show: Sixth Edition - Stanley Green; Paperback
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 1-3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 120A:
Acting I: Scene Study
A substantive introduction to the basics of the craft of acting, this course gives all incoming students the foundation of a common vocabulary. Students will learn fundamental elements of dramatic analysis, and how to apply it in action. Topics include scene analysis, environment work, psychological and physical scoring, and development of a sound and serviceable rehearsal technique. Scene work will be chosen from accessible, contemporary, and realistic plays. Outside rehearsal time required.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 1-3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 120B:
Acting II: Advanced Scene Study
Learn how to expand character work, beyond what is immediately familiar. Continuing basic practices from the first part of the sequence, in this quarter they will look beyond the strictly contemporary, and may begin to approach roles drawn from more challenging dramatic texts. This might include plays chosen from mid-century American classics, World Theater, or other works with specific historic or cultural requirements. Actors begin to learn how a performing artist researches and how that research can be used to enrich and deepen performance. Prerequisite: 120A or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 121C:
Physical Characterization
A practical course in movement, acting and character development for stage or screen. This course is appropriate for all artists; no prior movement training is required. We will explore expressive possibilities in the body in order to build characters with nuanced physicality and rich emotional life. Students will learn strategies for awakening the body, find a greater range of expression, and widen the variety of characters they can inhabit. We will conduct live observations and take inspiration from photographs, memories, dramatic texts and other sources to build vivid portraits of character in performance. Actors will work independently and together as an ensemble, learning techniques derived from Michael Chekhov, Decroux, Lecoq and others. We will also practice physical conditioning for the actor through a daily warm-up sequence that improves strength, flexibility and alignment.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 122P:
Undergrad Performance Project: Hamlet/R&G are Dead
The Undergraduate Performance Project provides students the opportunity to study and perform in major dramatic works. The Winter 2015 Undergraduate Acting Project presents Shakespeare's Hamlet alongside Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead. Students learn to form an artistic ensemble, develop dramaturgical materials, learn professional arts protocols and practice, devise within the ensemble, and develop live performance ability. Audition required. Preference to majors/minors. Maybe repeated for credit.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2-9
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 15 units total)
TAPS 124D:
Acting for Non-Majors (TAPS 20)
Creative play, ensemble work in a supportive environment. Designed for the student to experience a range of new creative skills, from group improvisation to partner work. Introductory work on freeing the natural voice and physical relaxation. Emphasis on rediscovering imaginative and creative impulses. Movement improvisation, listening exercises, and theater games release the energy, playfulness and willingness to take risks that is the essence of free and powerful performance. Course culminates with work on dramatic text.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1-3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, way_ce
TAPS 125:
Acting Shakespeare
This course explores the unique demands of playing Shakespeare on the stage. Through deep exploration of language and performance techniques in sonnets, speeches and scenes, the student will learn how to bring Shakespeare's passions to life through research, analysis, and a dynamic use of voice, body and imagination. This course is designed to increase the actor's physical, vocal, emotional, and intellectual responsiveness to the demands, challenges and joys of playing Shakespeare.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 6 units total)
TAPS 127:
Introduction to Movement and Stage Combat
Introductory, intensive training in movement for acting and the fundamentals of unarmed stage combat. This course is for students interested in movement and dynamic storytelling; no prior training is required. We will explore the fundamentals of contact improvisation and fight performance as a means of strengthening mind-body connection and preparing the actor for more nuanced, compelling work on the stage. Drawing from a range of practices, we will explore physical improvisation and composition, examining how these can be used to make discoveries about a text, a character, one¿s ensemble and oneself. Our training consists of four main components: physical conditioning, practical technique, improvisation and the creation of two short performance pieces. The class will culminate in an open performance of scenes.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 8 units total)
TAPS 127S:
ACTING THROUGH SONG
How does a singer develop the strategies to shape nuanced, emotional performances? What clues does the singer mine from lyrics and a score in order to communicate through song? This is a studio course in acting and movement techniques for vocal performers who want to expand their expressive range, refine multi-faceted performances, and cultivate compelling stage presence. nnThis course is suitable for any vocalist; classical singers, a cappella performers, musical theater actors and others are all welcome. The three foundational underpinnings of our work will be actor personalization technique, basic movement training and text analysis strategies. We will develop flexibility, relaxation and the freedom to follow expressive impulses while also deepening our knowledge of character, narrative and theme.nnStudents should be prepared to engage in intensive work with performance pieces, selected according to each student¿s preferred style and tradition. We will focus on close textual analysis and find connections between the ways performers use various written scores (for spoken dialogue, song lyrics and musical composition) as the blueprints for dynamic performances that tell a powerful story. The course will culminate in a public performance of material from a musical performance genre.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 127X:
Advanced Movement for Actors: Conditioning, Improvisation and Composition
The physical actor is ever working to develop a wider range of emotional expression, an unconscious attentiveness to fellow actors, and a compelling presence that conveys a sense of truth in action and in word. Students explore movement as a means of physical training and performance-building. For those interested in dynamic storytelling; no prior acting or physical training is required. Four main components: physical conditioning, practical technique, movement improvisation, and the creation of several short performance pieces. The fundamentals of contact improvisation for theater, which offers actors another way to explore text and make discoveries about character. Exercises in movement composition sharpen tools necessary for creating original work and crafting strong performances on stage.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 131:
Lighting Design
Hands-on laboratory projects in lighting and designing stage productions and other live performances. The content and format of lighting plots. Prerequisite DRAMA 31.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
TAPS 132:
Costume Design
Process of designing costumes for the stage, covering script analysis, rendering techniques, character development and conceptual ideas. Project related work with smaller, pertinent exercises.Prerequisite: 30 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 133:
Stage Scenery Design
Craft and Theory of stage scenery design including visual research, spatial organization, basic drafting, sketching and model-building. Prerequisite: 30, or consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 8 units total)
TAPS 134:
Stage Management Project
For students stage managing a Department of Drama production.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 3-5
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 137:
Hand Drafting for Designers
Fundamentals of hand-drafting. Standard drawing conventions; the use of line weight, color, composition, and graphic style. Creation of construction documents for real-world applications.May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 6 units total)
TAPS 138:
Sound Design
This is a hands-on, workshop-oriented course in sound design with an emphasis on sound for live performance. Its focus is on rapidly developing technical skills and intuitions for crafting beautiful, meaningful sounds. These skills are potentially useful to persons with interest in the fields of technical theater and dance, electronic music, game design, interior design, and experience design. Topics include wave editing; sound and music curation; audio spatialization; the qualitative study of filters; show control; sound reinforcement; interactive audio; and the use of tone, dynamics, and timbre to create moods and impressions.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
TAPS 140:
Projects in Theatrical Production
A seminar course for students performing significant production work on Drama Department or other Stanford University student theatre projects. Students serving as producers, directors, designers or stage managers, who wish mentorship and credit for their production work sign up for this course and contact the instructor, Linda AppersonnPrerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1-4
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 144:
Puppetry with a Twist (TAPS 344)
Creative course is an introduction to puppetry with a survey of important styles and techniques from around the world including Twist's own. Hands on and individualized experience with the aim of each student creating or contributing to a puppet or object/figure performance. Course is as broad as the individual's creative expression.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 150:
British Theatre Then and Now: 1890s-present
This introductory course covers some of the `golden ages¿ of British Theatre from 1890 to the present: the stylish and witty `New Drama¿ of the Edwardian era with writers such as George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde exploring sex and politics in the wake of Ibsen¿s A Doll¿s House; the artistic innovations of the 1950s and 60s from seminal writers such as Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard; and more recent works by modern legends Caryl Churchill, David Hare, Alan Ayckbourn, and immersive or interactive theatre by companies such as Punch Drunk. We will also look at the ever changing relationship with Shakespeare across generations of British theatre artists, including directors such as Peter Brook and Deborah Warner.nIn this class students will explore the relationship between theatre, politics and culture across fascinating eras in British history as well as thinking about the role of theatre in our own lives and social contexts. We will ask the questions: What is theatre for? What meaning does it have for a contemporary audience? How can it reflect our times? Has the communal audience experience of going to the theatre changed in an age that is dominated by social media and broadcast technology? Has this changed the way that people make theatre? What do we as audiences want from the theatre? What do we as theatre makers want from audiences?nStudents will read plays weekly and also see screenings of several excellent film versions of the plays as well as participating in staged readings of scenes and class discussions. The class will also attend at least one live theatre event. This is a perfect class for students who enjoy active learning, approaching the texts as scholars and historians, but also working with the plays creatively, engaging the imagination as potential actors, directors, designers and/or dramaturgs.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-CE
TAPS 151A:
Theater of the Asia-Pacific Region (TAPS 251A)
This course offers a historical and cultural exploration of theatre forms and performance cultures from various countries that border the Pacific Ocean, as well as from island communities within Oceania. Taking the term 'Asia-Pacific' as a provocation and point of interrogation, we will assess how theatrical production from this broad area can help us think through questions of nationalism, regionalism, interculturalism, and diaspora, while deepening our appreciation of world theatre history. The first part of the course focuses on theatre in specific sites, covering classical forms from China, Japan, and Indonesia, as well as indigenous theatre and performance from several Pacific Islands, including the Cook Islands, S'moa, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Hawai`i. The second part of the course centers on the ocean as a dynamic space of mobility, examining a range of recent plays and performances that trace identities on the move and across borders, and which reveal how various Asian and Pacific Islander communities have engaged with each other in locations from Australia to the west coast of the United States. In so doing, our course will chart connections and divergences that enable fresh insights into the geographical and cultural dimensions of global theatre.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
TAPS 151C:
Hamlet and the Critics (ENGLISH 115C)
Focus is on Shakespeare's Hamletas a site of rich critical controversy from the eighteenth century to the present. Aim is to read, discuss, and evaluate different approaches to the play, from biographical, theatrical, and psychological to formalist, materialist, feminist, new historicist, and, most recently, quantitative. The ambition is to see whether there can be great literature without (a) great (deal of) criticism. The challenge is to understand the theory of literature through the study of its criticism.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
TAPS 151D:
The Critic as Artist (DANCE 33)
Criticism is art. It therefore must aspire to reach the heights, depths and strange in-betweens it grapples with in the art of others. Yet criticism owes a singular responsibility to these others, and to the wider culture it seeks to interrogate. Our interrogation will be generated by dance and performance criticism, with possible forays into live visual art, theater, hybrid forms and whatever else we think might suit our purposes. Various methodologies will be debated and employed throughout the semester, as students are encouraged to begin (or continue) developing personal philosophies and voices through their writing. Our meetings will be hands-on affairs, guided by student experiments. ¿Experiments¿ is a key word¿this class will function like a laboratory, an introduction to an unruly literary art form that is open to all individuals with an interest in better understanding themselves and their world through words and art.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
TAPS 151T:
Great Books: Dramatic Traditions (COMPLIT 151B, COMPLIT 351B, TAPS 351)
The most influential and enduring texts in the dramatic canon from Sophocles to Shakepeare, Chekhov to Soyinka. Their historical and geopolitical contexts. Questions about the power dynamics involved in the formation of canons.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
TAPS 152D:
Introduction to Dance in the African Diaspora (AFRICAAM 24, CSRE 24D, DANCE 24)
This course introduces students to dance as an important cultural force in the African Diaspora. From capoeira in Brazil to dance hall in Jamaica to hip hop in the United States and Ghana, we will analyze dance as a form of resistance to slavery, colonialism, and oppression; as an integral component of community formation; and as a practice that shapes racial, gendered, and national identity. We will explore these topics through readings, film viewings, and movement workshops (no previous dance experience required). Students will have the option to do a creative performance as part of their final project.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
TAPS 153D:
Performing Digital Technologies (TAPS 253D)
This class is about collaboration: between live performers and digital images, between artists and engineers, and between scholars and artists. It emphasizes conceptual work and creativity in the integration of new and old media. We will take a rigorous but fundamentally hands-on approach to the uses of a wide range of screen technologies - from smart phones to digital projections - in live performance. The class will start with a survey of successful uses of screens in recent theater and performance work, then move to finding novel solutions for particular dramatic scenes.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
TAPS 156T:
Movement and Digital Culture (DANCE 156T)
What is physical intelligence? How could we cultivate it? What technologies can extend sensory awareness, and which can suppress it? How can better understanding of human movement impact a creative/design process? The term 'hybrid action¿ introduces the notion of movement, expressed in both the physical and virtual worlds. Through interactive technologies, such as the Kinect and camera tracking, and literature from multiple fields, this class takes human movement as a practice-based, creative, theoretical, historical, and philosophical realm of study. The course introduces basic principles and practices of body awareness as a way to extend one¿s 'physical intelligence¿ and asks how studying movement can inform creative practices from computer programming to engineering to choreography, as well as applications in health and rehabilitation, cognitive and neuroscience, philosophy and literature. The class emphasizes hands-on, individual and collaborative projects through research and prototyping.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 157:
World Drama and Performance (TAPS 357)
This course takes up a geographically expansive conversation by looking at modern and contemporary drama from nations including Ghana, Egypt, India, Argentina, among others. Considering influential texts from the Global South will also enable us to explore a range of themes and methodologies that are radically re-shaping the field of Performance Studies. We will examine the relationship between colonialism and globalization, empire and capital, cosmopolitanism and neoliberalism. Re-situating our perspective from the Global South and the non-western world, we will 'provincialize Europe' and probe the limits of its universalizing discourses.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
TAPS 158L:
The Ethics of Storytelling: The Autobiographical Monologue in Theory, in Practice, and in the World (ETHICSOC 201R, TAPS 358L)
Recently a theatrical monologuist gained notoriety when it was revealed that key aspects of one of his "autobiographical" stories had been fabricated. In this class another autobiographical monologuist -- who has himself lied many times in his theater pieces, without ever getting caught -- will examine the ethics of telling our life stories onstage. Does theatrical "truth" trump factual truth? We will interrogate several autobiographical works, and then -- through autobiographical pieces created in class -- we will interrogate ourselves.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 159G:
The Theater of War: Art, Violence, and the Technologies of Death
We will read plays and study films dealing with war and the technologies of destruction, including Aeschylus' Persians, Sophocles' Philoctetes, Euripides' Trojan Women, Shakespeare's Macbeth, O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars and The Silver Tassie, Brecht's Galileo and Mother Courage, Kubrick's Paths of Glory and Dr. Strangelove, Bergman's Shame, Nichol's Catch-22, Wertmuller's Seven Beauties, Brenton's The Genius, Frayn's Copenhagen, Nottage's Ruined, among others.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
TAPS 159M:
Movement and Meaning: Dance Studies in Global Comparative Context (CSRE 159M, DANCE 23, TAPS 259M)
This course introduces students to various approaches to studying dance in a humanities context. We will explore how people create meaning through dance and how dance, in turn, shapes social norms, political institutions, and cultural practices across time and space. The course's structure challenges the Western/non-Western binary that still pervades many academic disciplines by comparing dance forms across the globe on the basis of functional similarities. At the same time, we will keep in mind the unequal power hierarchies shaping our modern world, and therefore we will examine how and why certain forms have become delineated as 'Western' and others as 'world' or 'ethnic,' despite similarities in movement, meaning, or purpose.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
TAPS 160:
Rethinking the Ballerina (DANCE 160, FEMGEN 160, TAPS 260)
The ballerina occupies a unique place in popular imagination as an object of over-determined femininity as well as an emblem of extreme physical accomplishment for the female dancer. This seminar is designed as an investigation into histories of the ballerina as an iconographic symbol and cultural reference point for challenges to political and gender ideals. Through readings, videos, discussions and viewings of live performances this class investigates pivotal works, artists and eras in the global histories of ballet from its origins as a symbol of patronage and power in the 15th century through to its radical experiments as a site of cultural obedience and disobedience in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
TAPS 163D:
Shakespeare: The Ethical Challenge (ENGLISH 163D)
Was the eighteenth century right in proclaiming Shakespeare to be the greatest moral philosopher? What are the ethical challenges Shakespeare's major plays still pose for us? Can we divorce ethical decisions from the contingencies of experience? We will ask a series of normative ethical questions (to do with pleasure, power, old age, self-sacrifice, and truth telling) and attempt to answer them in relation to the dramatic situation of Shakespeare's characters on the one hand and our own cultural situation on the other. The ethical challenge of Shakespearean drama will be set against selected readings in ethical theory.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
TAPS 165:
Introduction to Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CSRE 196C, ENGLISH 172D, PSYCH 155, SOC 146)
How different disciplines approach topics and issues central to the study of ethnic and race relations in the U.S. and elsewhere. Lectures by senior faculty affiliated with CSRE. Discussions led by CSRE teaching fellows. Includes an optional Haas Center for Public Service certified Community Engaged Learning section.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-AmerCul, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
Instructors: ;
Markus, H. (PI);
Moya, P. (PI);
Akcinar, E. (TA);
Carey, R. (GP);
Cortes Barragan, R. (TA);
Gardiner, M. (TA);
Handron, C. (TA);
Horowitz, A. (TA);
Jimenez Ruvalcaba, L. (TA);
Murray, D. (TA)
TAPS 165C:
Ancient Dance and its Modern Legacy (CLASSICS 137, CLASSICS 237, TAPS 265C)
Descriptions of dance in the Greek and Greco-Roman world; theories about dance in antiquity; dance and the senses; modern and modernist dancers and choreographers discussing ancient dance
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
TAPS 167:
Introduction to Greek Tragedy: Gods, Heroes, Fate, and Justice (CLASSICS 112)
(Formerly CLASSGEN 110.) Gods and heroes, fate and free choice, gender conflict, the justice or injustice of the universe: these are just some of the fundamental human issues that we will explore in about ten of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
TAPS 167H:
The Avant-Garde (TAPS 267)
Course description coming soon
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
TAPS 169:
Hysteria and Modern Culture (GERMAN 137, HUMBIO 162H)
The term "hysteria" has been used for centuries to categorize the mysterious ailments of others. This course will focus on the history of hysteria's representation and production from the late nineteenth century through WWI. Readings will include medical writings (Charcot, Bernheim, Freud), plays (Ibsen, Strindberg, Toller), and feminist theory (Cixous, Clément, Diamond). We will also devote some attention to the ongoing influence of the discourse of hysteria on contemporary medical and popular cultures.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
TAPS 170B:
Directing Workshop: The Actor-Director Dialogue (TAPS 372)
This course focuses on the actor-director dialogue. We will work with actors and directors developing approaches to collaboration that make the actor-director dialogue in theater.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-CE
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 171:
Performance Making (TAPS 371)
A studio course focused on creative processes and generating original material. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the relationship between form and content exploring the possibilities of site specific, gallery and theatre settings. Students will reflect throughout on the types of contact and communication uniquely possible in the live moment, such as interaction or the engagement of the senses. The emphasis is on weekly experimentation in the creation of short works rather than on a final production.
Terms: Aut, Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 176A:
Narrative Design
This class examines narrative design in performed storytelling, especially live drama, oral storytelling, and radio, and compares it to narrative design in other forms, such as print, photography, and the graphic novel. After considering what media theory, psychology and neurobiology understand about how different forms of narratives operate on us, students will create a "base narrative" in print and then versions of that narrative in two different other forms. The goal is for students to understand narrative design principles both across and specific to media forms and be able to apply them to move audiences. Students will have the opportunity to meet and work with master storytellers from the Moth and with graphic novelists Chris Ware and Marjane Satrapi.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
TAPS 177:
Writing for Performance: The Fundamentals (CSRE 177, FEMGEN 177, TAPS 277)
Course introduces students to the basic elements of playwriting and creative experimentation for the stage. Topics include: character development, conflict and plot construction, staging and setting, and play structure. Script analysis of works by contemporary playwrights may include: Marsha Norman, Patrick Shanley, August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel, Octavio Solis and others. Table readings of one-act length work required by quarter's end.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-CE
TAPS 180Q:
Noam Chomsky: The Drama of Resistance
Preference to sophomores. Chomsky's ideas and work which challenge the political and economic paradigms governing the U.S. Topics include his model for linguistics; cold war U.S. involvements in S.E. Asia, the Middle East, Central and S. America, the Caribbean, and Indonesia and E. Timor; the media, terrorism, ideology, and culture; student and popular movements; and the role of resistance.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
TAPS 181Q:
Alternative Viewpoints: Black Independent Film (AFRICAAM 181Q, FILMSTUD 181Q)
Preference to sophomores. Do you want to learn more about independent film as it was practiced in major urban centers by young filmmakers? This class focuses on major movements by groups such as the Sankofa Film Collective and the L.A. Rebellion. Learn how to analyze film and to discuss the politics of production as you watch films by Spike Lee, Julie Dash, Melvin Van Peebles, Ngozi Onwurah and more. We will discuss representation, lighting, press material, and of course the films themselves. This course includes a workshop on production, trips to local film festivals and time to critique films frame-by-frame. It matters who makes film and how they do so. When you have completed this class you will be able to think critically about "alternative viewpoints" to Hollywood cinema. You will understand how independent films are made and you will be inspired to seek out and perhaps produce or promote new visions.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
TAPS 190:
Special Research
Individual project on the work of a playwright, period, or genre. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Amarotico, K. (PI);
Brody, J. (PI);
Elam, H. (PI);
Elswit, K. (PI);
Flatmo, E. (PI);
Freed, A. (PI);
Hayes, A. (PI);
Hill, L. (PI);
Klein, D. (PI);
Moraga, C. (PI);
Nakamura, J. (PI);
Paris, H. (PI);
Ramsaur, M. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Ross, J. (PI);
Rowland, L. (PI);
St. Clair, M. (PI);
Strayer, C. (PI)
TAPS 191:
Independent Study
Individual supervision of off-campus internship. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-18
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Amarotico, K. (PI);
Apperson, L. (PI);
Brody, J. (PI);
Carlson, A. (PI);
Freed, A. (PI);
Halvorson, B. (PI);
Hazas, T. (PI);
Hunter, M. (PI);
Jakovljevic, B. (PI);
Klein, D. (PI);
Mbowa, A. (PI);
Menon, J. (PI);
Moraga, C. (PI);
Phelan, P. (PI);
Ramsaur, M. (PI);
Rayner, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Weber, C. (PI)
TAPS 197:
Dance in Prison: The Arts, Juvenile Justice, and Rehabilitation in America (DANCE 197)
This class works collaboratively with a local juvenile hall to use civic engagement and performance to explore the aesthetic, cultural and legal issues in the lives of incarcerated youth. In the process students gain an understanding of incarceration on an immediate and personal scale. Taught jointly by a Dance Studies scholar and a lawyer specializing in Juvenile Justice, we will consider what unique understandings are possible if we position the arts as central to an exploration of punishment, rehabilitation and recidivism in America. The course will examine case studies, historical and contemporary narratives about the social, imaginative and behavioral change possible through arts programs in prison.Half of the class meetings will be in Hillcrest Juvenile Hall in San Mateo, where our class will join with a group of 13-18 year old youths currently detained there. Dance will be used to help shape their individual expressive voices, and ours, through collaborative hip hop dance classes. Books to be read are Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, and Last Chance in Texas by John Hubner.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-AmerCul, WAY-EDP
TAPS 200:
Senior Project
See "Undergraduate Programs" for description. (Staff)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 2-9
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Apperson, L. (PI);
Brody, J. (PI);
Elam, H. (PI);
Freed, A. (PI);
Hill, L. (PI);
Menon, J. (PI);
Moraga, C. (PI);
Paris, H. (PI);
Ramsaur, M. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI)
TAPS 201A:
Honors Colloquium
See "Undergraduate Programs" for description.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1
TAPS 201B:
Honors Colloquium
See "Undergraduate Programs" for description.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1
TAPS 201C:
Honors Colloquium
See "Undergraduate Programs" for description.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1
TAPS 201D:
Honors Colloquium
See "Undergraduate Programs" for description.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1
TAPS 202:
Honors Thesis
See "Undergraduate Programs" for description. May be repeated for credit. (Staff)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 2-9
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 203:
Advanced Improvisation
Further development of improvisational skills.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 223:
Game Design: Making Play (TAPS 23)
Do you want to make games? This is a project-oriented workshop course that will teach you how to apply design thinking to create new kinds of play. We'll teach you about mechanics, playtesting, drama, narrative, and more. You'll work in teams to produce a new play form in whatever medium and style you like. We want zippy mobile games. We want intensely serious board games. We want socially conscious interactive theater games. We want kinds of fun we've never even imagined.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 3
TAPS 231:
Advanced Stage Lighting Design
Individually structured class in lighting mechanics and design through experimentation, discussions, and written reports. Prerequisite: 131 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
55 times
TAPS 232:
Advanced Costume Design
Individually structured tutorial for costume designers. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: 132 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 233:
Advanced Scene Design
Individually structured workshop. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: 133 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 234:
Advanced Stage Management Project
For students stage managing a Department of Drama production. Prerequisite: 134.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 2-9
TAPS 251A:
Theater of the Asia-Pacific Region (TAPS 151A)
This course offers a historical and cultural exploration of theatre forms and performance cultures from various countries that border the Pacific Ocean, as well as from island communities within Oceania. Taking the term 'Asia-Pacific' as a provocation and point of interrogation, we will assess how theatrical production from this broad area can help us think through questions of nationalism, regionalism, interculturalism, and diaspora, while deepening our appreciation of world theatre history. The first part of the course focuses on theatre in specific sites, covering classical forms from China, Japan, and Indonesia, as well as indigenous theatre and performance from several Pacific Islands, including the Cook Islands, S'moa, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Hawai`i. The second part of the course centers on the ocean as a dynamic space of mobility, examining a range of recent plays and performances that trace identities on the move and across borders, and which reveal how various Asian and Pacific Islander communities have engaged with each other in locations from Australia to the west coast of the United States. In so doing, our course will chart connections and divergences that enable fresh insights into the geographical and cultural dimensions of global theatre.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 4
TAPS 253D:
Performing Digital Technologies (TAPS 153D)
This class is about collaboration: between live performers and digital images, between artists and engineers, and between scholars and artists. It emphasizes conceptual work and creativity in the integration of new and old media. We will take a rigorous but fundamentally hands-on approach to the uses of a wide range of screen technologies - from smart phones to digital projections - in live performance. The class will start with a survey of successful uses of screens in recent theater and performance work, then move to finding novel solutions for particular dramatic scenes.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
TAPS 254:
Stage and Spectacle : an Aesthetics of Conflict and Complementarity
The aim of this class is to explore different ways in which cinema has been using theatre as an art to explore its own aesthetical, political or philosophical dimensions. For this exploration, we will use different films in which theatre plays a major role, each of them offering a different perspective on life and art. Amongst the films considered, one can expect : 'To be or not to be' by Ernst Lubitsch (1942) ; 'Children of Paradise' by Marcel Carné (1944) ; 'The Golden Coach' by Jean Renoir (1953) ; 'Torn Curtain' by Alfred Hitchcock (1966) ; 'The Most important thing : Love' by Andrzej Zulawski (1975) ; 'The Travelling Players' by Theodoros Angelopoulos (1975) ; 'The Last métro' by François Truffaut (1980) ; 'Fanny and Alexander' by Ingmar Bergman (1982) ; 'Shakespeare in love' by John Madden (1998) ; 'Birdman' by Alejandro Iñárritu (2014).
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
TAPS 259M:
Movement and Meaning: Dance Studies in Global Comparative Context (CSRE 159M, DANCE 23, TAPS 159M)
This course introduces students to various approaches to studying dance in a humanities context. We will explore how people create meaning through dance and how dance, in turn, shapes social norms, political institutions, and cultural practices across time and space. The course's structure challenges the Western/non-Western binary that still pervades many academic disciplines by comparing dance forms across the globe on the basis of functional similarities. At the same time, we will keep in mind the unequal power hierarchies shaping our modern world, and therefore we will examine how and why certain forms have become delineated as 'Western' and others as 'world' or 'ethnic,' despite similarities in movement, meaning, or purpose.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
TAPS 260:
Rethinking the Ballerina (DANCE 160, FEMGEN 160, TAPS 160)
The ballerina occupies a unique place in popular imagination as an object of over-determined femininity as well as an emblem of extreme physical accomplishment for the female dancer. This seminar is designed as an investigation into histories of the ballerina as an iconographic symbol and cultural reference point for challenges to political and gender ideals. Through readings, videos, discussions and viewings of live performances this class investigates pivotal works, artists and eras in the global histories of ballet from its origins as a symbol of patronage and power in the 15th century through to its radical experiments as a site of cultural obedience and disobedience in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
TAPS 265C:
Ancient Dance and its Modern Legacy (CLASSICS 137, CLASSICS 237, TAPS 165C)
Descriptions of dance in the Greek and Greco-Roman world; theories about dance in antiquity; dance and the senses; modern and modernist dancers and choreographers discussing ancient dance
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
TAPS 267:
The Avant-Garde (TAPS 167H)
Course description coming soon
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
TAPS 273:
Directing & Dramaturgy: Composition and Adaptation for Theatre (TAPS 373)
This course explores dramaturgy and directing in the research and production of theatre primarily through practical creative projects with secondary readings on dramaturgy as a discipline. In this course we will consider the role of the dramaturg in its broadest sense, running across theatrical production from research to playwriting, adaptation, choreography, devising and directing. Students will work individually and in small groups researching, adapting, crafting and workshopping material.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
TAPS 277:
Writing for Performance: The Fundamentals (CSRE 177, FEMGEN 177, TAPS 177)
Course introduces students to the basic elements of playwriting and creative experimentation for the stage. Topics include: character development, conflict and plot construction, staging and setting, and play structure. Script analysis of works by contemporary playwrights may include: Marsha Norman, Patrick Shanley, August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel, Octavio Solis and others. Table readings of one-act length work required by quarter's end.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
TAPS 279G:
Indigenous Identity in Diaspora: People of Color Art Practice in North America (CSRE 179G, CSRE 279G, FEMGEN 179G)
This "gateway" core course to the IDA emphasis in CSRE offers a 21st century examination of people of color aesthetics and related politics, drawing from contemporary works (literature, music, visual and performing arts) in conversation with their native (especially American Indigenous and African) origins. Issues of gender and sexuality in relation to cultural identity are also integral to this study. Students will be required to produce a final work, integrating critical writing with a creative project.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
TAPS 284:
Empathy Lab (ANTHRO 379, TAPS 384)
This lab-based class examines the ways in which various disciplines and art forms conceive of, and tell stories about, the experiences and stories of others. With permission of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
TAPS 289:
Buechner and Wedekind (GERMAN 289)
Modern theatre owes an incalculable debt to two German playwrights: Georg Büchner (1813-1837) and Frank Wedekind (1864-1918). We will read their still-shocking portraits of sex, madness, and social brutality in plays such as Woyzeck and Spring's Awakening, and explore the international journeys these works have made from stage to film and from opera to musical theatre.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
TAPS 290:
Special Research
Individual project on the work of a playwright, period, or genre.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 311:
Analyzing Performance
Literary criticism and theory, emphasizing style as evidence of historical, cultural, and ideological concerns. Assumptions about written texts by authors such as Coleridge, Bradley, and Burke. How style reveals context. Overtones and undertones of critical thought in performance making and performance analysis. Students will generate weekly critical and creative responses to readings from contemporary writers and artists such as Jacques Rancière, Amelia Jones, Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Marina Abramovic. Workshop activities and performances will take place alongside seminar discussions of readings.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
TAPS 312:
The Archive in the Repertoire
This course looks at recent scholarship in theater and performance studies that engages the idea of the "archive." We will also debate questions about historiography. Texts may include work by Joseph Roach, Tracy Davis, Hayden White, Jacques Derrida, Amelia Jones, Rebecca Schneider, Fred Moten, Diana Taylor, Shannon Jackson, Peggy Phelan, Akira Lippit and Susan Foster.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
TAPS 313:
Performance and Performativity (FEMGEN 313)
Performance theory through topics including: affect/trauma, embodiment, empathy, theatricality/performativity, specularity/visibility, liveness/disappearance, belonging/abjection, and utopias and dystopias. Readings from Schechner, Phelan, Austin, Butler, Conquergood, Roach, Schneider, Silverman, Caruth, Fanon, Moten, Anzaldúa, Agamben, Freud, and Lacan. May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-4
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 314:
Performing Identities (FEMGEN 314)
This course focuses on "the performance of identities" as the concept pertains to U.S. women of color. The foundational text, This Bridge Called My Back (Moraga, Anzaldúa, eds.), in its 4th and 2015 edition, will serve as the basis for an intergenerational conversation on U.S. Third World and Transnational and Queer Feminisms with an emphasis on lived experience and the performance of everyday life. Theoretical work will revolve around the concept of "Theory in the Flesh," initially introduced in Bridge in 1981 and its significance to performance theory, queer and feminist theory and political practice. In addition to Bridge, texts may include recent anthologies on women of color feminisms and the writings by a variety of scholars, e.g. Norma Alarcón, Jacqui Alexander, Alicia Arrizón, Anne Cheng, E. Patrick Johnson, Chandra Mohanty, Ann Pellegrini, Ramón Rivera-Severa, Chela Sandoval & Hortense Spillers. A final project "performing identity" as "theory in the flesh," is required, along with a written 'metacommentary." As part of the class project students will help organize a campus-wide event, featuring local original contributors to Bridge and offering students the opportunity to exchange "in the flesh" with women of color performers, artists, activists and scholars.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
TAPS 334:
Stage Management Techniques (TAPS 34)
The production process, duties, and responsibilities of a stage manager. Skills needed to stage manage a production.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 3
TAPS 336:
Comprehensive 1st Year Exam
Required course for first-year Ph.D. students in Theater & Performance Studies. Credits for work toward the Comprehensive 1st-year Exam taken in late February or Early March.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2
TAPS 341E:
English Drama Before Shakespeare (ENGLISH 314E)
English dramatic and theatrical culture from the mystery cycles of the late medieval period to the establishment of professional playhouses in late sixteenth-century London. Different dramatic genres (interludes, moralities, farces, tragedies, comedies, histories, pastoral plays), performance venues (streets, households, inns, schools, universities, court, playhouses), and dramatic traditions (classical, native, continental European) will be represented. Authors (of those who have names) range from Medwall, Skelton, Heywood, Preston, and Edwards to Lyly, Kyd, Greene, Peele, and Marlowe.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
TAPS 344:
Puppetry with a Twist (TAPS 144)
Creative course is an introduction to puppetry with a survey of important styles and techniques from around the world including Twist's own. Hands on and individualized experience with the aim of each student creating or contributing to a puppet or object/figure performance. Course is as broad as the individual's creative expression.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-4
TAPS 345:
Choreography and Corporeality
In this course, we explore American-derived theoretical praxes for analyzing organized movement. How has dance studies been constituted as a field? What theoretical lines of inquiry have served it, and how have they fared over time? What tools do scholars bring to bear on the study of dance, choreography, and corporeality, and where have these tools been most effective? Weekly parings of creative works and theoretical approaches to considerations of dance practice and performance. Special emphasis on practices of writing about bodies in motion and dance.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
TAPS 351:
Great Books: Dramatic Traditions (COMPLIT 151B, COMPLIT 351B, TAPS 151T)
The most influential and enduring texts in the dramatic canon from Sophocles to Shakepeare, Chekhov to Soyinka. Their historical and geopolitical contexts. Questions about the power dynamics involved in the formation of canons.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
TAPS 357:
World Drama and Performance (TAPS 157)
This course takes up a geographically expansive conversation by looking at modern and contemporary drama from nations including Ghana, Egypt, India, Argentina, among others. Considering influential texts from the Global South will also enable us to explore a range of themes and methodologies that are radically re-shaping the field of Performance Studies. We will examine the relationship between colonialism and globalization, empire and capital, cosmopolitanism and neoliberalism. Re-situating our perspective from the Global South and the non-western world, we will 'provincialize Europe' and probe the limits of its universalizing discourses.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
TAPS 358L:
The Ethics of Storytelling: The Autobiographical Monologue in Theory, in Practice, and in the World (ETHICSOC 201R, TAPS 158L)
Recently a theatrical monologuist gained notoriety when it was revealed that key aspects of one of his "autobiographical" stories had been fabricated. In this class another autobiographical monologuist -- who has himself lied many times in his theater pieces, without ever getting caught -- will examine the ethics of telling our life stories onstage. Does theatrical "truth" trump factual truth? We will interrogate several autobiographical works, and then -- through autobiographical pieces created in class -- we will interrogate ourselves.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
TAPS 359:
The Other Body/The Body Other
Writing creatively through critical thinking. Writing critically through creative imagination. Advanced Creative/Critical Writing course, designed for those "other" creative writers and thinkers who want to use language in original, innovative and embodied introspective ways to respond to (and from) non-dominant cultures, themes and identities. All genres. Readings, performances, films assigned to provoke an(other) response. Permission of Instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
TAPS 360:
Greek Tragedy
The seminar explores the intellectual, political, and cultural background of 5th-century Athenian tragedy, with special focus on the theatrical dynamics of the major plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Although the seminar emphasizes a close reading of the tragedies themselves, secondary sources include selections from Homer, Thucydides, Aristophanes, Aristotle, Hegel, and Nietzsche, as well as modern and contemporary classical scholars (Jebb, Dodds, Segal, Taplin, Goldhill, Nussbaum, Easterling, Foley, Seidensticker, Griffiths, Rehm, Wiles, Hall, Budelmann, and others). The seminar assigns the plays in English translation, but students with ancient Greek are encouraged to enroll, and accommodations can be made to attend to their interests. Plays include Persians, Prometheus Bound, the Oresteia trilogy (Aeschylus); Antigone, Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus, Electra, and Philoctetes (Sophocles); and Medea, Heracles, Electra, Ion, Helen, and Bacchae (Euripides).
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
TAPS 371:
Performance Making (TAPS 171)
A studio course focused on creative processes and generating original material. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the relationship between form and content exploring the possibilities of site specific, gallery and theatre settings. Students will reflect throughout on the types of contact and communication uniquely possible in the live moment, such as interaction or the engagement of the senses. The emphasis is on weekly experimentation in the creation of short works rather than on a final production.
Terms: Aut, Win
| Units: 4
TAPS 372:
Directing Workshop: The Actor-Director Dialogue (TAPS 170B)
This course focuses on the actor-director dialogue. We will work with actors and directors developing approaches to collaboration that make the actor-director dialogue in theater.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 373:
Directing & Dramaturgy: Composition and Adaptation for Theatre (TAPS 273)
This course explores dramaturgy and directing in the research and production of theatre primarily through practical creative projects with secondary readings on dramaturgy as a discipline. In this course we will consider the role of the dramaturg in its broadest sense, running across theatrical production from research to playwriting, adaptation, choreography, devising and directing. Students will work individually and in small groups researching, adapting, crafting and workshopping material.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
TAPS 376:
Projects in Performance
Creative projects to be determined in consultation with Drama graduate faculty and production advisor
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 10 units total)
TAPS 377:
Graduate Directors' Staged Reading Project
Presentation of a new or newly adapted work for the stage, in a mode employed in professional theater for the development of new plays. Two to four rehearsals. Public performance.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 2
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 382:
Brecht (GERMAN 283)
Arguably the most influential theatrical artist of the twentieth century, Bertolt Brecht continues to be a lightning rod for debates over art and politics. This course will consider Brecht as playwright, director, and theorist. Alongside reading and discussing texts such as Threepenny Opera, Mother Courage, and Galileo, students will also be expected to participate in occasional in-class performances in order better to grapple with his plays and theories. No previous theatrical experience is necessary.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
TAPS 384:
Empathy Lab (ANTHRO 379, TAPS 284)
This lab-based class examines the ways in which various disciplines and art forms conceive of, and tell stories about, the experiences and stories of others. With permission of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
TAPS 390:
Directed Reading
(Staff) Students may take directing reading only with the permission of their dissertation advisor. Might be repeatable for credit twice for 6 units total.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-6
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 6 units total)
Instructors: ;
Apostolides, J. (PI);
Brody, J. (PI);
Elam, H. (PI);
George, N. (PI);
Hill, L. (PI);
Jakovljevic, B. (PI);
Looser, D. (PI);
Menon, J. (PI);
Moraga, C. (PI);
Phelan, P. (PI);
Rayner, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Ross, J. (PI);
Smith, M. (PI)
TAPS 397:
Curricular Practical Training for Theater and Performance Studies
Course to support curricular practical training for Ph.D. students in Theater and Performance Studies.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 1-3
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 9 units total)
TAPS 399:
Dissertation Research
(Staff)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-9
| Repeatable
for credit
TAPS 802:
TGR Dissertation
(Staff)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 0
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Apostolides, J. (PI);
Brody, J. (PI);
Elam, H. (PI);
Hill, L. (PI);
Jakovljevic, B. (PI);
Menon, J. (PI);
Paris, H. (PI);
Phelan, P. (PI);
Rayner, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Ross, J. (PI)
TAPS 123:
Speaking with Distinction
Find your voice, focus your presence, stand your ground, and deliver your message with authority, clarity, and grace. nSPEAKING WITH DISTINCTION is a course is designed for anyone who has a need to speak to one person or a hundred people and make the message clear.nnEssential for presentations of all kinds ¿ whether in the classroom, workplace, or marketplacen¿ present key concepts and ideas with power and enthusiasmn¿ Speak to large audiencesn¿ One-on-one presentationsn¿ Speak to motivate, collaborate, inspirennLearn to think on your feet so that you are not dependent on notes, slides or luck.nIncrease your presence and build your public speaking skills in a fun and supportive environment
| Units: 3
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 6 units total)
TAPS 383:
Performance and Transnationalism
Coming soon
| Units: 4
