Fall 2013
AMS 337/THR 336Performance and Politics in the 1960s: Hippies and "Homos," Black Arts and Broadway(LA)This course will explore U.S. performance in the 1960s, from Broadway to the avant-garde to community and political theaters, in the context of the decade's social, cultural and intellectual politics. We'll examine production practices and artists' intentions, scripted and unscripted "texts," and critical and public reception of these works. Our goal will be to construct a complex and nuanced "thick description" of performance and politics during this remarkable period, while also questioning the value and limitations of decade-oriented historiography.Stacy E. Wolf
ATL 499/THR 499Princeton Atelier: Making Theater without a Script(LA)Led by Artistic Director and Founder John Collins and ensemble members of Elevator Repair Service Theater, this course will offer students the opportunity to learn about how the 22-year-old NYC-based ensemble works, and to develop material with the ensemble culminating in a performance directed by John Collins. The course will look at the ensemble's work with choreography, sound design, space and text. Students will then generate material and create a performance using all of the above elements and the Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe as text.John W. Collins
ENG 376/THR 376Curious Aesthetics: Twentieth-Century American Musical Theatre(LA)The musical possesses unique conventions of form and narrative. Focusing primarily on the American musical post-WWII, this course will look at the phenomenon of musical theatre, analyzing musicals both as texts and as performances. We will use a variety of critical methods to address a number of related questions, including: how do musicals work on audiences? What kinds of cultural work do musicals do? What about the experiences and form of musical theatre, the friction or fusion of song, dance, and script, makes it enduringly popular and perhaps particularly American?Tamsen O. Wolff
ENG 410/AMS 393/THR 368/JDS 410Jewish Identity and Performance in the US(LA)What does Jewishness mean in the U.S.? Is it ethnicity or religion? Identity or culture? Belief or practice? How do performance and theater answer or illuminate these questions? We'll consider plays and performances, bodies and texts, performers and spectators, history, memory, and the present.Stacy E. WolfJill S. Dolan
FRE 211/THR 211French Theater Workshop(LA)L'Avant-Scène will offer students the opportunity to put their language skills in motion by discovering French theater in general and by acting in French, in particular. The course will introduce students to acting techniques while allowing them to discover the richness of the French dramatic canon. Particular emphasis will be placed on improving students' oral skills through pronunciation and diction exercises. At the end of the semester, the course will culminate in the performance of the students' work.Florent Masse
GSS 316/AMS 366/THR 358Queer Boyhoods(LA)This course examines enactments of youthful masculinity in U.S. popular performance with a particular eye toward accounts of variant or queer boyhoods. As we scrutinize the regimentation and valorization of specific boyish behaviors, we will explore the cultural impact of non-normative youthful masculinities (ie. sissies, tomboys, bois, punks, transguys, etcetera) as we also assess the place of queer boyhoods in American life. Course readings will be historical, literary and theoretical, with play scripts, films, memoirs and literature for young readers functioning as primary objects for the course's analytic project.Brian E. Herrera
THR 201Beginning Studies in Acting: Scene Study(LA)An introduction to the craft of acting through scene study monologues and, finally, a longer scene drawn from a play, to develop a method of working on a script. Emphasis will be placed on honesty, spontaneity, and establishing a personal connection with the scene's substance.Suzanne L. AginsTracy E. Bersley
THR 205Introductory Playwriting(LA)This is a workshop in the fundamentals of writing plays. Emphasis will be on solving problems of structure, dramatic action, and character. Attention will also be given to innerlife, language, atmosphere on stage, creating living dialogue, and examining the sources to be used in writing, etc.Robert N. Sandberg
THR 236/AMS 333American Stages(LA)This course investigates the history of theatre and performance in the United States during the past two centuries. Through archival excavations, bibliographic exercises, and close examinations of theatre history methodologies, and through a deep engagement with human and archival resources local to Princeton, this course undertakes an intensive introduction to the use of primary documents within both performance scholarship and performance practice (playwriting, directing, design, devised performance, etceteras).Brian E. Herrera
THR 301Intermediate Studies in Acting: Scene Study II(LA)A continuation of THR 201: Guide students in ways to develop a role and to explore important texts and characters in an imaginative and honest manner.Mark S. Nelson
THR 319/VIS 319Scenic Design(LA)An introduction to the art and craft of scenic design for the stage and and exploration of the use of space as a medium of textual interpretation. Students will develop an ability to think about scenography as a way deepening and reinforcing an interpretation of a play or other form of performance event. While no experience in scenic design is anticipated, students will learn to create model renderings in order to acquire the creative, theatrical vocabulary needed to work with collaborators to turn a vision of text into a fully articulated visual world.Riccardo J. Hernández
THR 331/ENG 398/ECS 332Special Topics in Performance History and Theory: Ibsen and the Invention of Modern Theater(LA)Ibsen is, after Shakespeare, the greatest playwright of the Western world; he also invented almost everything we now define as theater, drama, and acting, to say nothing of film, television and modernity itself. We'll investigate the full range of his dramaturgy from the early epic plays, through the "social" and "symbolic dramas", to the final, crowning achievements of his career - his equivalents of Shakespeare's romances. Ibsen once wrote, "Only by grasping and comprehending my entire production as a continuous and coherent whole will the reader be able to receive the precise impression I sought to convey in the individual parts of it."Michael W. Cadden
THR 334The Nature of Theatrical Reinvention(LA)This seminar explores how iconic pieces of theatre can be re-explored for modern audiences. The course will examine various aspects of how an artist can think out-of-the-box and the mechanisms the artist can use to do so. There will be discussions, theatre visits, possible access to theatre practitioners and assignments which will encourage the participant to explore their own imaginative approach to storytelling. The course is designed for performers, directors, designers but would also be of interest to dancers, writers and those interested in how theatre can be challenging and relevant.Staff
THR 335/MUS 303Development of the Multi-Skilled Performer(LA)A practical class. This is a workshop based class for those interested in multi-skilled performance and in how performance skills can illuminate new forms of theatre making. Ideally participants should have musical skills and be able to bring an instrument to work with. A lack of instrument would not preclude somebody from participating. It is helpful, but not necessary if students can read music. The course is also open to those interested in directing or other aspects of storytelling. It is also available to music students who are interested in all aspects of performance.Staff
THR 361The Art of Producing Theater(LA)This course will cultivate an understanding of the reciprocal relationship between reading and producing plays. Students will learn to read plays as literature written for production, by developing an appreciation for what production entails. This course will offer a candid exploration of the wide-ranging role of artistic producing in professional theater and its relationship to the produced work. Using the season planning process at McCarter and other professional venues as a catalyst for discussion, we will explore the process of creating work for the stage, both classic and contemporary, and the context in which it is produced.Mara L. Isaacs
THR 411Directing Workshop(LA)Special directing assignments will be made for each student, whose work will be analyzed by the instructor and other members of the workshop. Students will be aided in their preparations by the instructor; they will also study the spectrum of responsibilities and forms of research involved in directing plays of different styles.Timothy K. Vasen
THR 451The Fall Show(LA)The Fall Show provides students with a rigorous and challenging experience of creating theater under near-professional circumstances. A professional director, design team, and stage manager, as well as two weeks of performances in the Berlind Theatre, are key components.The Fall Show involves an extensive rehearsal period and a concentrated tech week,often requiring more time and focus than a typical student-produced production might. For the first time, students cast in the Fall Show, or those who take on major production roles (such as Assistant Stage Manager, Assistant Designer, or Assistant Director), will receive course credit.Staff
