Summer Theatre Studies Courses

The study of Shakespeare on film offers an opportunity for observing actual historical artifacts (the films) in relation to the texts on which they were based (the plays). By engaging directly with realized versions of the scripts, it is possible to more fully consider how changing social, cultural, political and technological mores affect the performance and interpretation of seemingly fixed texts that are often the object of cultural reverence and a purist devotion to the “original.” By looking at a field that involves filmmakers from the silent era to the present and from both English and non-English speaking cinematic traditions, one confronts both the interpretive fluidity of the scripts themselves and the contingency of tastes and values as they relate to styles of acting, textual fidelity, technological polish, and identity issues such as race, sex and gender, class, and colonialism. That a quintessentially theatrical body of work has resulted in a rich and varied body of work in a different medium will lead to a discussion of dramatic adaptation and what it means to realize a “version” of a Shakespearean play.

Drama therapy is defined as the intentional use of dramatic processes in order to facilitate change, healing, and growth. In this course, we will learn what drama therapy is, from a theoretical and experiential point of view. Drama therapy is an active form of psychotherapy, experiential in essence, and therefore in order to understand drama therapy and how it can help others, we must experience it. In addition, each class will consist of a theoretical presentation on the drama therapy method that we experience.

Through the study of performance techniques, acting theory, and select dramatic texts from the Spanish-speaking world, we explore the actor's role — and, at the same time, advance skills in pronunciation, intonation, and expressive communication in Spanish. We engage key performance techniques from Latin America — including theater of the oppressed, collective creation and biodrama — as we study the foundational elements of the actor’s craft. The course is built around practical exercises that link linguistic elements with vocal and situational expression in the theatrical context, including physical and phonetic practice, theater games and exercises, staging fragments of plays, and improvisation. Latin American theater professionals will be invited to special class sessions, allowing students to explore real-world perspectives on the theater. Students will also develop a complete Spanish vocabulary about acting as a field and profession.

A fascinating look at the history and design of museums and other shows: from medieval fairs to contemporary institutions. In particular, a focus on how museums and shows have presented displays using theatrical contentions as well as a how objects “perform” for an audience. Course work will cover the histories of museums, world’s fairs, circuses, zoos, and freak shows, as well as include field trips throughout New York City.

This class introduces students to fundamental directing tools: principles of stage composition and visual story telling, action based script analysis, basic directing theory, applied Viewpoints and theatrical conceptualization. Through weekly composition and scene exercises students learn to create communicative stage imagery, physicalize dramatic action and articulate sub-textual behavior. Class work includes written analysis and production concept papers. Readings include writings of Brecht, Erving Goffman, Stanislavski, Grotowski, Bogart and Francis Hodges.

Realism and Naturalism are foundations of contemporary theatre but where and how did these forms begin and take shape and how are they distinct from each other? This class explores the societal and theatrical pressures that gave rise to these genres around the start of the Industrial Revolution and how they continue to impact and shape theatre and audiences today. Plays by Zola, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov and Shaw as well as critical and historical writings will be dissected along with consideration of movements from Romanticism to the birth of Avant-Garde movements like Symbolism , Futurism and Dada. The birth of the director, the craft of acting and the impact of new technologies on the stage and playwriting will also be placed into context.

This class will take a detailed look at Augusto Boal and the impact of his body of work, known collectively as the Theatre of the Oppressed: a collection of games, techniques, and exercises for using theatre as a vehicle for personal and social change. Boal, one of the most well-known theatre artists from Latin America, has influenced a wide number of areas in applied and political theatre. The class will begin by locating Boal autobiographically and through his work with actors and non-actors. We will then explore his idea of the facilitator or Joker and then investigate Boal in light of some of his central influences including Aristotle, Brecht, Freire, and others. We will continue with theoretical and hands-on investigations of the many stages of the Theatre of the Oppressed such as Image Theatre and Forum Theatre. In the later parts of the class, we will investigate a number of case studies where Boal’s techniques have been applied across different contexts. Throughout, Boal’s idea of the spect-actor, an activated audience member who co-creates the material, will guide us philosophically and pedagogically. This means that students are fully expected to co-create the class alongside the teacher.

What makes a villain and who decides? In this course, we will track the evolution of the villain across the globe and through the ages, exploring representations of evil in mythology, literature, and art history, as well as on the stage and screen. We’ll identify the origins of iconic imagery, interrogate the scapegoating of characters and populations in popular narratives, and question our own perceptions of villainy in art and culture. Our material will include sacred text, global performance traditions, political documents, psychological studies, essential works of early cinema, and relevant works of today from Disney to Jordan Peele. Assignments will take the form of textual analysis and research as well as artistic responses in a variety of mediums, all seeking to understand new perspectives on those we label “villain.”