Drama

Honors Seminar:
Neuroscience of Theatre

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Professor Erin Mee
Email: ebm2049@nyu.edu
Fall 2021
THEA_UT 801.002 – 4 credits
Time: TBD 

The more we understand about how empathy works in the brain and body, the better we will be at knowing how to move people emotionally. The more we learn about visual and auditory perception, the better our ability to direct, design, and perform in plays. This seminar explores the science of empathy, the neuroscience of acting, and visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory perception in order to know the science behind what we do. Why is it bad to step on someone else’s line? How can visual grouping be an advantage in designing and staging theatre? How can science help us enable spectators to feel the characters’ pain? Readings, experiments, and viewings will be drawn from: The Simons Visual Cognition Lab, CSUN’s auditory perception lab, field trips to two museums, and excerpts from: Performance and Cognition, Embodied Acting: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Performance, and Affective Performance and Cognitive Science.

 

Application Instructions

Honors Seminars have rolling application that remain open until the Seminar is filled. 
Please provide the following information in the body of an email 

  1. Name / email address / student ID number / local telephone number / number of credits completed.
  2. A brief statement of interest in the specific Seminar.
  3. Attach to the email your best essay written for another theatre studies course. 
  4. To apply for a second Honors Seminar, include the title of the Seminar you have taken, the name of the instructor, and your grade.  

Send your application to the instructor of the Seminar with a copy to John Dietrich - john.dietrich@nyu.edu. Instructor email addresses are included in the seminar descriptions.

Selection Process
Instructors select students based on stated interest in the subject matter, writing sample, interest in research, and, when applicable, previous work.  

Notification
Notification of acceptance will be made by the end of the semester. Because individual registration dates occur before seminar acceptance dates, students are advised to register for an alternative 4-credit course that can be dropped once the student is admitted to a Seminar. 

Questions about the Honors Program can be addressed to the Director of the Honors Program, Professor Carol Martin - cm7@nyu.edu.