This course surveys a broad range of theories and methodologies pertinent to the fields of Performance Studies. Each unit addresses important concepts and frameworks that help you write about, think about, and make performance art. Lecture, close reading, application exercises, and writing assignments will strengthen your theoretical vocabularies, hone your analytical writing skills and apply various tests to your own work as scholars/artists.

This practice-based course offers a broad introduction to concepts of the body in the context of performance. Using tools of theatre, dance, improvisation, and other mind/body practice, we will uncover the performative possibilities of our physical forms in relation to space and time. Together we will critically consider and actively explore a range of embodied approaches to increase bodily awareness and expand our expressive capacity.

The purpose of this course is to put principles of speech into practice; students will learn to communicate effectively primarily through practical experience. Students will (1) learn the basic principles of speech preparation and delivery, including invention of topics and arguments, organization, and style; (2) apply these principles to your speech preparation and delivery; and (3) develop and use listening skills in the analysis of speeches.

An introduction to the tools and technical processes of performance lighting. Students will explore a range of lighting technologies central to lighting production for live theatre, dance, opera, and concerts. Through lecture, demonstration, digital media, and hands-on experience, students are prepared for work as theatrical electricians and introduced to the craft essential to the theatrical lighting design process.

Application of lighting design and technology in production. May be repeated up to 4 credits.

This course explores how to turn everyday spaces into stages. Discover how ordinary rooms, streets, parks, vehicles, and other spaces of daily life can be transformed by story-telling and creative performance!  We will study different principles for designing spaces for immersive, site-specific, environmentally aware, and other kinds of performances. Open to all students who are interested in storytelling in different spaces.

In this class, students will discover methods to design projects on CAD (computer-aided design) applications for total control of the result, and we will develop scenic design from software (mainly Vectorworks) to take advantage of the ability to digitally create 2D drawings and 3D models of real-world products before they're ever manufactured. Open to all students who have basic design knowledge and are interested in digital creation.

This studio course explores various styles of jazz dance. Combinations will focus on isolation, coordination, juxtaposition and musicality. Styles include but are not limited to contemporary, Broadway/musical theatre and lyrical.

This course provides students with firsthand experience in the creative practice of choreography and performance while providing exposure to basic production skills. In addition to gaining insight into choreography and performance as modes of critical inquiry, students will also be involved in various aspects of the production and will gain an appreciation of the skills that are required to produce a dance concert.

Application of acting skills in production laboratory. May be repeated up to four credits. Prerequisite: Instructor permission