Results for TAPS

TAPS 1 provides you with a solid foundation in Theater Studies and traces the development of the burgeoning field of Performance Studies. We will consider a range of canonical plays and emerging performance forms, and explore how performance can also function as an interpretive framework for analyzing a broad range of social behaviors, sites, and institutions. Through a series of close readings, discussions, written and practical exercises, and viewings of live performance, this course will help you achieve a richer understanding of the performances you see and the performances you may wish to make. This quarter, TAPS 1 will serve as the platform for the Theater & Performance Studies professionalization series. We will host several guest speakers (directors, actors, playwrights, and dance practitioners), who will give you some real connections in the theater world and will provide you with information and skills to help you build a career in the arts.

This seminar is offered in conjunction with the annual "Arts Immersion" trip to New York that takes place over the spring break and is organized by the Stanford Arts Institute (SAI). Participation in the trip is a requirement for taking part in the seminar (and vice versa). The trip is designed to provide a group of students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the cultural life of New York City guided by faculty and the SAI programming director. Students will experience a broad range and variety of art forms (visual arts, theater, opera, dance, etc.) and will meet with prominent arts administrators and practitioners, some of whom are Stanford alumni. For further details and updates about the trip, see http://arts.stanford.edu.

Preference to Freshmen. This seminar starts with the unlikely question of what can the performing arts, particularly dance and theater, illuminate about the situation of mass incarceration in America. Part seminar, part immersive context building, students will read and view a cross-section of dance and theater works where the subject, performers, choreographers or authors, belong to part of the 2.4 million people currently behind bars in US prisons. Class includes conversations with formerly incarcerated youth, prison staff, juvenile justice lawyers and artists working in juvenile and adult prisons as well as those who are part of the 7.3 million people currently on parole or probation. Using performance as our lens we will investigate the unique kinds of understanding the arts make possible as well as the growing use of theater and dance to affect social change and personal transformation among prison inmates. Class trips will include visits to locked facilities and meetings with artists and inmates working behind bars.

What are the roles of sexuality, intimacy, and relationships in my life? How do I tell a compelling story? In this class, students will learn about these topics from the inside out. We will explore various perspectives on sexuality, intimacy, and relationships and then dive into our own stories to discover the richness and vibrancy of this part of our lives. Due to the personal nature of the topic, we will emphasize safety, trust, and confidentiality throughout. The class offers the structure and guidance to 1) mine your life for stories, 2) craft the structure and shape of your stories, and 3) perform with presence, authenticity, and connection. Students will be selected from this class to tell their stories in Beyond Sex Ed Part 1 during NSO 2019. Please fill out this short application for enrollment: bit.ly/Spring2019StoryCraft. Class will be held in KINGSCOTE Gardens 140.

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.

For students working backstage, on run crew, or in the theater shops on TAPS department productions. Night and weekend time required. Pre-approval from Jane Casamajor (janecasa@stanford.edu) is required for enrollment.

A weekly lecture course for singers, pianists, directors, conductors, and anyone who is interested in the art and craft of the voice. Students will learn about the vocal instrument, how to use it efficiently and keep it healthy in all styles from rock to classical, and how to lead and participate in vocal productions and ensembles. Ability to sing and/or read music is not required; this is not a voice class. Required readings. Taught by Music Department Faculty; coordinated by Wendy Hillhouse.

A creative workshop offering a range of generative exercises and techniques in order to devise, compose and perform original works. Students will explore a variety of texts (plays, poems, short stories, paintings) and work with the body, object and site. nnStudents will be encouraged to think critically about various compositional themes and ideas including: the relationship between form and content, aesthetics, space, proximity, and audience. Students will work independently and collaboratively creating original performances.

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. All who sign up are placed on a waitlist. Official enrollment will be determined after the first day of class. Attendance at the first class session is mandatory to be considered for enrollment in the course.

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. May be repeat for credit.

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.

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. Priority given to TAPS majors and minors.

This course provides singing technique and vocal coaching to students participating in the TAPS Spring 2019 main stage production of Cabaret. During ensemble and solo sessions, students will learn about the physical process of healthy singing and work on the musical phrasing of the songs they perform in the musical. Both will be applied to the art of acting their songs and creating their characters.

The Main Stage Theater Project provides students the opportunity to receive units for participating in a TAPS Main Stage Show. The Spring 2019 Main Stage Theater Project presents Cabaret. Audition required. Preference to majors/minors. May be repeated for credit. 4 maximum completions allowed. If repeated, 20 total units allowed.

Formerly 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.

This course is an introduction to the technique and spirit of Commedia dell'Arte: the form which began in Italy in the 16th century and lives on in contemporary comedy. Through the observation and embodiment of archetypes and the use of character masks, students will explore active, physical improvisation and partnership (improviso), personalized comic routines (lazzi), and ensemble storytelling based on a theme. Areas of study include partnership and status play, timing, audience awareness, improvisation, characterization, size and scale. All coursework will be experiential and practical. Some stage and improvisation experience is recommended but not required. Some outside rehearsal/investigation time required.

This course introduces the goals, directives and techniques of designing costumes for performance. From the first reading of the script to opening night, all aspects will be covered including director/designer relationships, design approach, research, rendering, fabric selection, procurement or construction of costumes, fittings and final dress rehearsals. Each student will work on, or be assigned one main project of their choice. This class can coincide or be taken in advance of a student's involvement in a campus show, utilizing the campus project as their main project in the class. Smaller exercises will be given throughout the quarter to emphasize principles and invigorate design discussions. All students will be required to attend the performances of their peers' projects. One field trip to a professional theater may be planned.

For students stage managing a production in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies.

This course uses commercial music videos as a springboard for teaching fundamental concepts in visual design. Students analyze popular music videos for key design elements (such as color, texture or light) and then explore these ideas through interactive assignments both in and out of class. Through class discussion and two written papers, students will build upon these core visual elements to discover meaning and value in the video as a whole. Students will learn a practical design vocabulary as well as visual research methods including online databases available through Stanford.nnCourse Objectives and Learning OutcomesnnIn this course, students will:nn1. Become familiar with fundamental design principles (such as color, texture and shape) through class discussion, group projects, individual creative projects and short written papers focused on a select group of music videos.nn2. Compare and contrast the use of these design principles in specific music videos.nn3. Justify the intellectual validity of pop culture by explicitly connecting music videos to broader historical, political and cultural themes.nn4. Learn how to use the resources of Stanford¿s Art & Architecture library, including the digital collections, to find historic photographs and art images for academic and design projects of any type.

A seminar course for students performing significant production work on Theater and Performance Studies Department or other Stanford University student theater 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, Laxmi Kumaran. nPrerequisite: consent of instructor.

This class examines the role of narrativity in live performance. Class topics range from the classics, to contemporary theater, dance, new media, performance art curatorship, and beyond, to grand social narratives. Integration of scholarship and practice is one of basic principles of dramaturgy, and this class follows in that spirit. Exploration of dramaturgical techniques is aimed to help students prepare to work on production dramaturgy. To that end, they will have an option to complete their final course assignment by serving as production dramaturgs on one of TAPS shows.

The most influential and enduring texts in the dramatic canon from Sophocles to Shakespeare, Chekhov to Soyinka. Their historical and geopolitical contexts. Questions about the power dynamics involved in the formation of canons. This course counts as a Writing in the Major course for TAPS in 2016-17.

This course investigates the immediacy of the body as material and sculpture in order to investigate private and social spaces. Actions are often used to understand or question the function and psychological aspects of a space and are documented for the perpetuation of these ideas. Throughout the quarter we will investigate the body as material and develop site specific performances enacted for: Private/Domestic and Public Space; Constructed Space & Physical Space; ecological systems; and generate both Individual & Collaborative based Actions, Interventions, & Events."

TAPS 156X is an introductory level course that considers how theatre and performance provide a vital platform to examine political dissonance, the mobilities and (im)mobilities that shape transnational migration, and the formation of Latinx/Chicanx identity in the Americas. We will further examine the differences between key terminology in performance, including the notion of Latinidad, by looking at different aesthetic and socio-cultural performance practices and methodologies, re-occuring performance themes, and site-specific performance in the Americas. This course will primarily concentrate on works written in/about the Western Pacific US Southwest, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Cuba, and Colombia through a variety of theatrical play texts, recorded performances, workshops, and creative projects.

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.

Instructor Young Jean Lee has written and directed ten shows with her theater company and toured her work to over thirty cities around the world. In 2018, she became the first Asian-American female to have had her play produced in Broadway. In this workshop, students will collaborate on the creation, development, and performance of an original short play directed by Young Jean, culminating in an invited performance during the last class. The students will be responsible for researching, writing, designing, and performing the play. This class will teach the basics of creating a play, the process of theatrical collaboration, and the tools of devised ensemble work. Students must email the instructor at yjl@stanford.edu for permission to enroll in the class.

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.

To participate in this workshop, students must bring in a draft of a full length straight play for revision, which was written in part one of this course, WRITING A FULL-LENGTH PLAY. In conjunction with a variety of other editing techniques, students will focus on editing in collaboration with others. They will learn how to edit in response to hearing their plays read aloud; how to give and solicit the most useful kinds of feedback; how to cope with harsh criticism; what to do when people are offended by what they have written; how to know which notes to pay attention to and which notes to ignore; and how to let go of ideas and text that are not working. Other topics to be discussed: getting your work produced vs. self-producing; directing your own work vs. working with a director; and starting your own theater company. Enrollment for this course is closed.

In 2018, instructor Young Jean Lee became the first Asian-American female to have had her play produced in Broadway. She has written a screenplay commission for Plan B Entertainment with Paramount Pictures, is currently working on a screenplay commission for Cinereach, and has shown her short films at Sundance, Locarno, and BAMcinemaFest. This class is for students who have completed a draft of a full-length play or screenplay that they wish to develop. The course will involve reading work aloud and giving feedback. Students should email the instructor at yjl@stanford.edu for permission to enroll in the class.

Studies in stagecraft, acting and performance for singers, culminating in a public performance. Repertoire to be drawn from the art song, opera, American Songbook and musical theater genres. Audition or consent of instructor required. May be repeated for credit a total of 4 times. Zero unit enrollment option available with instructor permission. See website: (http://music.stanford.edu) for policy and procedure. By enrolling in this course you are giving consent for the video and audio recording and distribution of your image and performance for use by any entity at Stanford University.

Individual project on the work of a playwright, period, or genre. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

Credit given for student board members of the Experimental Nitery Studio. Undergraduate students should enroll in TAPS 192. Ph.D. students should enroll in TAPS 292.

All TAPS Majors must complete a Senior Project that represents significant work in any area of theater and/or performance. The project must be an original contribution and can consist of any of the following: devising a performance, choreographing a dance, stage managing a production, designing a large theater work, performing a major role, writing a play, directing a show, or researching and writing a senior essay. Work for this project normally begins in Spring Quarter of the junior year and must be completed by the end of the senior year. Students receive credit for senior projects through TAPS 200. A minimum of 4 units is required, but additional units are available for larger projects. Students pursuing senior projects must submit a two-page proposal to a faculty advisor of their choice, which must be approved by the Undergraduate Advisor and the department faculty no later than the end of Spring Quarter of the junior year.

An advanced written project to fulfill the requirements for the Honors degree in TAPS. There are two ways to undertake an honors thesis. The first is to write a 40-50 page essay, which presents research on an important issue or subject of the student's choice. The second option is a 30-page essay that takes the student's capstone project as a case study and critically analyzes the creative work. Students are expected to work consistently throughout the year with their advisor, whom they identify at the time of application. Advisors can be selected from Academic Council faculty or artists-in-residence. Students should enroll in TAPS 202 each quarter during the senior year (1 unit in Autumn; 1 unit in Winter; 2 units in Spring).

Individually structured class in lighting mechanics and design through experimentation, discussions, and written reports. Prerequisite: 131 or consent of instructor.

Individually structured tutorial for costume designers. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: 132 or consent of instructor.

Individually structured workshop. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: 133 or consent of instructor.

For students stage managing a Department of Theater and Performance Studies production. May be repeat for credit. Prerequisite: 134.

Instructor Young Jean Lee has written and directed ten shows with her theater company and toured her work to over thirty cities around the world. In 2018, she became the first Asian-American female to have had her play produced in Broadway. In this workshop, students will collaborate on the creation, development, and performance of an original short play directed by Young Jean, culminating in an invited performance during the last class. The students will be responsible for researching, writing, designing, and performing the play. This class will teach the basics of creating a play, the process of theatrical collaboration, and the tools of devised ensemble work. Students must email the instructor at yjl@stanford.edu for permission to enroll in the class.

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.

To participate in this workshop, students must bring in a draft of a full length straight play for revision, which was written in part one of this course, WRITING A FULL-LENGTH PLAY. In conjunction with a variety of other editing techniques, students will focus on editing in collaboration with others. They will learn how to edit in response to hearing their plays read aloud; how to give and solicit the most useful kinds of feedback; how to cope with harsh criticism; what to do when people are offended by what they have written; how to know which notes to pay attention to and which notes to ignore; and how to let go of ideas and text that are not working. Other topics to be discussed: getting your work produced vs. self-producing; directing your own work vs. working with a director; and starting your own theater company. Enrollment for this course is closed.

In 2018, instructor Young Jean Lee became the first Asian-American female to have had her play produced in Broadway. She has written a screenplay commission for Plan B Entertainment with Paramount Pictures, is currently working on a screenplay commission for Cinereach, and has shown her short films at Sundance, Locarno, and BAMcinemaFest. This class is for students who have completed a draft of a full-length play or screenplay that they wish to develop. The course will involve reading work aloud and giving feedback. Students should email the instructor at yjl@stanford.edu for permission to enroll in the class.

Credit given for student board members of the Experimental Nitery Studio. Undergraduate students should enroll in TAPS 192. Ph.D. students should enroll in TAPS 292.

This course examines claims and counter-claims of identity, a heated political and cultural concept over the past few decades. We will consider the ways in which theories of performance have offered generative discursive frameworks for the study of identities, variously shaped by vectors of race, gender, sexuality, religion, class, nation, ethnicity, among others. How is identity as a social category different from identity as a unique and personal attribute of selfhood? Throughout the course we will focus on the inter-locking ways in which certain dimensions of identity become salient at particular historical conjunctures. In addition, we will consider the complex discourses of identity within transnational and historical frameworks. Readings include Robin Bernstein, Ann Pellegrini, Tavia Nyong'o, Jose Munoz, Michael Taussig, Wendy Brown, Talal Asad, Jasbir Puar, among others. Note: This course satisfies the Concepts of Modernity II requirement in the interdisciplinary graduate program in Modern Thought and Literature.

This class examines the role of narrativity in live performance. Class topics range from the classics, to contemporary theater, dance, new media, performance art curatorship, and beyond, to grand social narratives. Integration of scholarship and practice is one of basic principles of dramaturgy, and this class follows in that spirit. Exploration of dramaturgical techniques is aimed to help students prepare to work on production dramaturgy. To that end, they will have an option to complete their final course assignment by serving as production dramaturgs on one of TAPS shows.

This course introduces first-year TAPS PhD student to the TAPS production process and resources. Meetings will be scheduled ad hoc.

The most influential and enduring texts in the dramatic canon from Sophocles to Shakespeare, Chekhov to Soyinka. Their historical and geopolitical contexts. Questions about the power dynamics involved in the formation of canons. This course counts as a Writing in the Major course for TAPS in 2016-17.

Primary reading in Freud, Lacan, Laplanche, Irigaray and Kristeva. Secondary readings in film theory (Mulvey to Silverman), art history (Bryson, Bersani) and poststructuralism (Derrida, Foucault, Butler).

A creative workshop offering a range of generative exercises and techniques in order to devise, compose and perform original works. Students will explore a variety of texts (plays, poems, short stories, paintings) and work with the body, object and site. nnStudents will be encouraged to think critically about various compositional themes and ideas including: the relationship between form and content, aesthetics, space, proximity, and audience. Students will work independently and collaboratively creating original performances.

Students may take directing reading only with the permission of their dissertation advisor. Might be repeatable for credit twice for 6 units total.

(Staff)