In the first-year course, Fundamentals of Stagecraft, students in Tisch Drama's Production and Design Studio were asked to build a mechanism that contained many of the elements typically seen onstage, from platforms to automation. The project—titled "The Rube Goldberg Study," after the American cartoonist best known for his popular animations depicting complicated gadgets—was designed to teach theatrical construction techniques, and gave students a chance to explore the collaborative process that goes into creating art. See it in action