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The German writers Georg Büchner (1813-1837) and Frank Wedekind (1864-1918). Many of the most important theater and film directors of the last century, including Max Reinhardt, G. W. Pabst, Orson Welles, Robert Wilson, and Werner Herzog, have wrestled with their works, as have composers and writers from Alban Berg and Bertolt Brecht through Christa Wolf and Thalia Field. Rock artists as diverse as Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Duncan Sheik, and Metallica have recently rediscovered their urgency. Reading these works in translation and examining artistic creations they inspired. Classroom discussions and written responses; students also rehearse and present in-class performances of excerpts from the plays. The aim of these performances is not to produce polished stagings but to creatively engage with the texts and their interpretive traditions. No previous theatrical experience required.

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.

Students begin to create pieces that are fresh and innovative forms of musical theater that do not necessarily appeal to specifically popular audiences but perhaps to audiences more associated with high art, opera, or even contemporary independent music. Musical theater is an untapped resource of potential artistic innovation and has unfortunately become stuck in an ideal of universal accessibility. In present popular culture and the culture of contemporary art forms, musical theater almost exclusively refers to popular productions such as Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Wicked, Jesus Christ Superstar. Although excellent pieces of art in their own way, both dramaturgically and in their ability to evoke emotion through catchy melodies, for the most part each of them have their basis in popular and traditional musical idioms and theatrical forms, seldom exploring more advanced or avant-garde and experimental compositional and theatrical techniques.

This course would teach conductors, composers, sound engineers and directors what to consider when directing the music for a musical theater production. Students would learn to efficiently schedule and conduct rehearsals, create legible scores and parts, make a checklist for all the required nuances ie: Music stands, stand lights, stools etc. Additionally, it is evident that musicians, theater artists, dancers, lighting designers, costume designers and scenic designers all have very different cultures in the way they operate: punctuality, preparation, warm ups, expectations etc. In order to have a smooth and successful working relationship with all of these important members of a theatrical production, a musical director must understand these cultures and how to communicate with them using a language they all understand.

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.

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.

An introductory study of the vocal mechanism and the development of voice and articulation for the stage. Students will be introduced to the actor's tools of phonetics, verbal action and text analysis. Vocal technique will then be applied to the actor's process in preparation for audition. Actors will fully participate in the audition process, from beginning to end. Emphasis will be on relaxation, selection of appropriate material, and versatility to show contrast and range.

Workshop incorporating styles of movement and characterization for the stage. Tools to aid in theatrical transformation. Triggers include psychological gesture, shifting centers, full face photographs, collected live studies, vocal shifts, and rhythmic and metabolic changes.

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 in (an edited) full-length play, the student will learn how to bring Shakespeare's passions to life through research, analysis, and a dynamic use of voice, body and imagination.nnnThis course is designed to increase the actor's physical, vocal, emotional, and intellectual responsiveness to the demands, challenges and joys of playing Shakespeare.