DR 101 Theatre I (3) Lecture
An introduction to the nature of theatre as a performing art. Students study selected plays from the perspectives of actors and directors, and the strategies of playwrights to develop the ability to imagine the play in performance and to appreciate the range of theatre’s possibilities. Required of concentrators and sub-concentrators.
DR 102 Introduction to the Alexander Technique (3) Lecture
Introduction to the principles and practices of the Alexander Technique, critical for actors and performers for freeing the body for maximum efficiency of self-expression by identifying unwanted movement patterns and constrictions. Students learn to release restrictive bodily tensions and move with more ease and freedom thus becoming more conscious and accountable for the way they use their bodies. Class work includes simple anatomy, developmental movement, monologue videoing, animal observations, breathing and relaxation techniques.
DR 104 Theatre II (3) Lecture
An introduction to the technical elements of theatrical production (e.g., sets, lights, costumes, and sound) and their relation to each other. Involves hands-on, practical work. Students also consider the major types of theatrical organizations. Required of concentrators.
DR 201 Theatre Topics (3) Lecture
Study of drama, theatre, criticism, and culture through focus on selected problems, issues, or periods. Topics and faculty for each term announced in advance. Recent topics have included theatre architecture; critical approaches to drama from Freud to feminism; plays of political, social, and personal expression; the role of the director in pre-modern, modern, and post-modern eras; and plays since World War II. Open as humanities electives. Drama concentrators must take a total of three theatre topics courses, one of which must be 305 (see below). Courses may involve costs of attending professional theatre productions.
DR 202 Theatre Topics (3) Lecture
Study of drama, theatre, criticism, and culture through focus on selected problems, issues, or periods. Topics and faculty for each term announced in advance. Recent topics have included theatre architecture; critical approaches to drama from Freud to feminism; plays of political, social, and personal expression; the role of the director in pre-modern, modern, and post-modern eras; and plays since World War II. Open as humanities electives. Drama concentrators must take a total of three theatre topics courses, one of which must be 305 (see below). Courses may involve costs of attending professional theatre productions.
DR 205 Introduction to Speech Communications (3) Lecture
Theory and exercises in speech communication, emphasizing perception, language (verbal and nonverbal), and interaction. Students apply principles in a variety of transactions.
DR 206 Acting I (3) Lecture
Self discovery. Acting I is an introduction to the basic elements of the Stanislavski system. Students train in exercises to develop concentration, imagination and life observation. Improvisations will encourage physical freedom and a sense of truth. This beginning work will teach stage craft, “moment to moment” spontaneity and a specific approach to researching and rehearsing a contemporary scene and monologue.
DR 207 Introduction to Design (3) Lecture
An entry-level design course, focusing on the development of a comprehensive production aesthetic for a dramatic production . Scene, costume, light, and sound design are taught in the service of plays and production concepts. Required of concentrators. Prerequisites: 104 or equivalent.
DR 300 Performance 300 (3) Lecture
Students receive credit for work on a Department of Drama production, directed by a faculty member or guest director. The director must approve of the work before the student registers for the course. Examples of work that might be approved include performance in a major role; dramaturgy; assistant direction.
DR 305 Theatre Topics III (3) Lecture
Study of drama, theatre, criticism, and culture through focus on selected problems, issues, or periods. Topics and faculty for each term announced in advance. Recently the topic has been Shakespeare on film. Open as a humanities elective. Drama concentrators must take a total of three theatre topics courses, one of which must be 305. Courses may involve costs of attending a few theatre productions. Faculty.
DR 306 Theatre Production (3) Lecture
Study of the business of theatre and theatrical organization. Students study the importance of various aspects of a viable theatrical organization including: the mission statement, incorporation and non-profit status, organizational structure, funding sources, and marketing strategies. As part of the class, students will create a hypothetical theatrical organization, locate and design a venue in the U.S., identify funding sources and develop an inaugural season based on the organization’s mission statement. Required of concentrators. Prerequisites: 104, 201 or 202, and 207.
DR 307 Speech for the Actor (3) Lecture
Lecture/Studio A voice and speech course that enables students to learn experientially the basic tools of ‘acting through voice’ by exploring Relaxation, Alignment, Breathing, Phonation, Resonation, Articulation, Vocal Range, Inflection and Rhythm Skills through the development of a daily vocal workout and warm-up; to develop Articulation, Listening and Hearing Skills for regional dialect correction and dialect acquisition through learning the International Phonetic Alphabet and thereby to acquire the knowledge and use of their own voices and speech as it expresses in multiple ways their senses, emotions, images and intentions with different kinds of text..
DR 312 Directing I (3) Lecture
Introduction to stage directing and basic directorial concepts and techniques, applied to scenes and short plays. Required of Majors. For Drama majors only.
DR 341 Costume Construction (3) Lecture
Students are trained in the skills required to create costumes from renderings, including skills of basic sewing, patterning, draping, fitting, fabric selection, fabric dyeing and painting, and millinery. Prerequisites: 104, 207, or permission of department.
DR 403 Public Speaking (3) Lecture
An introduction to the rhetorical types and techniques of platform speaking and to the organization of speech materials. Develops the skills needed for effective communication in public settings. Topics include speech development and structure, audience analysis, presentation techniques, and critical listening. Open to students in all disciplines.
DR 407 Advanced Speech for the Actor: Dialects (3) Lecture
Study of those accents from the U.S., British Empire, Europe, Africa and Asia which will be most useful for the actors in the class.
DR 415 Acting II (3) Lecture
Characterization. Acting II is a continuation of self discovery and script analysis using the basic elements of the Stanislavski system, focused more directly toward developing the skills necessary to create characterization in monologues and scenes from contemporary plays. Prerequisite: 206 or permission of instructor.
DR 451 Senior Seminar (3) Seminar
Selected readings and research projects form the basis for discussion and papers involving a synthesis of previous knowledge acquired in the field of drama and in the liberal arts program. Required of concentrators. Prerequisites: All previous courses on Drama track.
DR 505 Acting III (3) Lecture
Advanced Scene work and Shakespeare. Creating characters in monologues and scenes from classical play texts with a concentration on those of Shakespeare. Acting III is also an introduction to the business of acting, developing audition material, practicing cold readings, understanding headshot/resume requirements and how to pursue a career in the theatre. Prerequisite: 206, 415 or permission of the instructor.
DR 507 Drama Beyond the Theatre (3) Lecture
Adaptation of acting and directing techniques, exercises, improvisations, and theatre games for use in a variety of settings and disciplines. Strategies in teaching and working with children and adolescents across the curriculum. Topics include creative drama, drama as a means for teaching about conflict resolution, peace, cultural diversity, and virtues consistent with the CUA mission. Same as EDUC 507.
DR 509 Drama in Education (3) Lecture
This course offers an introduction to the philosophy, methodologies and practice of drama in education. This is a form of learning where teachers and their students use lesson plans that integrate theatre games, role-playing, and the creation of imaginative dramatic worlds to achieve goals across the curriculum. The course includes readings and written assignments based on the work of Dorothy Heathcote, Gavin Bolton, Cecily O'Neill and Kathleen Warren. The course includes a lab in which students in the M.A. Theatre Education program work with young adults and children to develop drama in education techniques. These techniques are introduced and discussed in the classroom, applied in the lab, and each student's ability to use these techniques is assessed by the class after each lab.
DR 524 Acting/Directing Workshop (3) Lecture
Actors and directors work on scenes and short plays with close supervision and critiques. Prerequisite: 206 or equivalent for actors; 206 and 312 for directors.
DR 526 Teaching Theatre (3) Lecture
Consideration of appropriate methods for teaching theatre in the secondary school. In addition to an investigation of the curriculum and materials, students examine and experiment with a variety of techniques for instruction.
DR 540 Scene Design (3) Lecture
A study of modern theories of scene design and practice in the research and creation of the stage setting for both period and modern plays in the contemporary theatre. The course includes sections on drafting techniques, rendering styles, and scale model construction. Prerequisites: 104 and 207.
DR 541 Scene Painting (3) Lecture
Practical training in paints, painting tools, and layout and painting techniques for flats, drops, scrims, and three-dimensional surfaces. Coverage includes translucent painting, scrim and large drop layout and painting, and techniques for foliage and architectural painting.
DR 542 Design Applications (3) Lecture
This course is a participant based practicum lab on application methods for dramatic activities and presentations in a secondary and primary education. The course addresses issues of resource management, student involvement, and educational intent of a variety of activities. The issues will be discussed, developed, and evaluated as part of the on-going class process.
DR 543 Stage Lighting (3) Lecture
A study of methods and materials for lighting the stage. Courses focus on script analysis, the design process, equipment, and application. The illustration and application of the uses of light, both for illumination and for subtle dramatic purposes. Prerequisites: 104, and 207.
DR 545 Production Design and Management (3) Lecture
This course is a study of the relationship of aethetics and real-life parameters in the design process and management styles for dramatic presesntationa. The student investigates how to define a production aesthetic that is relevant to the event participants. The course reviews the communication tools of production design and how those tools can be modified for various student and production levels. Management and organixational issues are also addressed.
DR 549 Costume Design (3) Lecture
A survey of costume design techniques, including character analysis, research, rendering skills, and fabric choices, each considered within the context of the production. Prerequisites: 104 and 207.
DR 565 Playwriting I (3) Lecture
Study and practice of dramatic writing for the stage with emphasis on structure, characterization and dialogue. Selected plays and productions, and scenes written by class members, are analyzed in class discussions. The class culminates in the students writing a complete one-act play.
DR 566 Screenwriting (3) Lecture
This class will introduce the basics of writing for film, including formatting, structure, plot development and characterization. Using film clips and trade reports, we will also discuss the contemporary film industry - including both studio and independent films - and current writing trends. The end result will be the writing of a polished, hour-long film script.
DR 570 Theatre Internship (3) Internship
Advanced Drama students work with a professional theatre company or distinguished art institution in such capacities as are mutually agreed upon by the student, the company, and the student advisor. Each student is responsible for seeking and winning such an internship position; the availability of internships cannot be guaranteed. The student must develop, in conjunction with the instructor/advisor and responsible members of the professional theatre staff, a detailed proposal that includes a description of the responsibilities of the student, the extent of the commitment in terms of time, and the means by which the student is to be evaluated at the end of the internship. Proposals will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, considering the impact on the department’s productions, the value of the internship for the particular student’s development, and the student’s overall record. Students working in internships should commit to no other department obligations in that term and should be aware that an internship may lengthen the time needed to complete their degree program.
DR 594 Independent Study (3) Independent Study
Independent projects developed in consultation with a departmental faculty mentor. Permission of department required.
DR 601 Introduction to Theatre Research (3) Lecture
An introduction to tools for research in theatre history and dramatic literature and to traditional and new methods in historiography. Each student develops, with the guidance of the instructor, a research project. Required in the M.A. program; open to all graduate students and to seniors by permission of instructor.
DR 603 Western Theatre and Culture I (3) Lecture
A study of theatrical production in selected major periods in Western nations such as ancient Greece and Elizabethan-Jacobean England (603) or eighteenth-century England and nineteenth-century America (608). Chief attention to the play in performance, to staging methods, theatre architecture, acting, audiences, production organization and finance, and all of these as they intersect with cultural processes. Also introduces historiographical issues such as periodization problems, and cultural studies in race, gender, power, and class.
DR 604 Dramatic Structures I (3) Lecture
Historical and comparative exploration of significant plays in major periods in Western drama. The historic sequence of plays is intersected with responses to them from throughout the ages in plays and theories. For example, the Medea works of Seneca and Heiner Muller are juxtaposed and examined in light of feminist and semiotic readings; Sophocles and Euripides are read in conjunction with Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Lee Breuer’s The Gospel at Colonus; the Don Juans of Tirso de Molina, Moliere, Mozart, and Shaw are juxtaposed, considered in light of contemporary productions, and read with Kierkegaard. Contextual readings are not limited to dramatic theory.
DR 605 Modern European Drama (3) Lecture
Analysis and interpretation of the works of major European playwrights: Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, Shaw, Pirandello, Anouilh, Brecht, Durrenmatt, Beckett, and Ionesco.
DR 606 Theatre Theory (3) Lecture
Study of selected texts in Western criticism, with emphasis on twentieth-century theories. Critical readings and considerations of theatrical performances are selected to raise contemporary intellectual, ethical, and aesthetic problems. Twentieth-century readings include works representing gender studies, post-colonial studies, and cultural materialism. A sound background in the drama and theatre of major western periods is necessary. or dramatic literature, or permission of instructor.
DR 607 Dramatic Structures II (3) Lecture
Historical and comparative exploration of significant plays in major periods in Western drama. The historic sequence of plays is intersected with responses to them from throughout the ages in plays and theories. For example, the Medea works of Seneca and Heiner Muller are juxtaposed and examined in light of feminist and semiotic readings; Sophocles and Euripides are read in conjunction with Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Lee Breuer’s The Gospel at Colonus; the Don Juans of Tirso de Molina, Moliere, Mozart, and Shaw are juxtaposed, considered in light of contemporary productions, and read with Kierkegaard. Contextual readings are not limited to dramatic theory.
DR 608 Western Theatre and Culture II (3) Lecture
A study of theatrical production in two or three selected major periods in Western nations, such as ancient Greece and Elizabethan-Jacobean England (603) or eighteenth-century England and nineteenth-century America (608). Chief attention to the play in performance, to staging methods, theatre architecture, acting, audiences, production organization and finance, and all of these as they intersect with cultural processes. Students also are introduced to historiographical issues, such as periodization problems, and to cultural studies in race, gender, power, and class.
DR 610 Twentieth Century Theatres (3) Lecture
A study of selected major European and American innovators and innovative movements in theatre from the late 19th to the early 21st-century. The readings focus on those artists and movements that have influenced how contemporary practitioners and audiences produce and view live performance. By investigating the major innovators alongside readings in multicultural, feminist, and postmodern theatre practices as well as popular theatre and performance art, the course examines how alternative forms of performance have impacted mainstream and commercial theatre. The course’s readings include but are not limited to the selected works of Maeterlink, Tzara, Appollinaire, Meyerhold, Artaud, Grotowski, Brook, Bogart, and Taymor.
DR 630 Graduate Acting I (3) Lecture
The practice of various training methodologies to prepare the actor to approach text. Training includes physical and vocal Viewpoints, exercise and games from the repertoire of Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed, and the object and repetition exercises of Uta Hagen and Sanford Meisner.
DR 631 Graduate Acting II (3) Lecture
Stanislavski methodology utilized for scene preparation, which will involve analysis of text to determine the actor's actions and objectives. It is the study of the playwright's work, exploring the actor's job from page to stage. The actor will continue to develop a personal and professional rehearsal process, utilizing contemporary texts.
DR 632 Alexander Technique (2) Lecture
Students learn and begin to apply principles of the Alexander Technique to class work. The objective: to enable students to free the body for maximum efficiency of self-expression by identifying unwanted movement patterns and emotional constrictions and by releasing bodily tension. Students learn to move with more ease and freedom, and in general become more conscious of and accountable for the ways in which they use their bodies. Class work includes simple anatomy, developmental movement, monologue videoing, animal observation, breathing, and relaxation techniques. Private hands-on sessions are included in the course work. For M.F.A. students.
DR 633 Alexander Technique II (2) Lecture
Continuation of Alexander I. This course is a more intense exploration of the students’ emotional and physical bodies. Application of the principles of the Alexander Technique becomes more specific. Students gain a greater understanding of the stress and startle patterns of their bodies and that of their characters. Study of emotional anatomy and other movement modalities will be included. Private hands-on sessions continued. Includes the application of the principles to character and scene work. For M.F.A. students. Pre-requisite: DR 632.
DR 634 Forms of Movement I (2) Lecture
This course is designed to develop greater physical condition, strength and flexibility and addresses the inherent dynamic wisdom of the body as a vehicle to find freedom, awareness and expression in performance. It will focus on developing a sense of how to move economically in space along with an increased kinesthetic observation for characterization purposes. Structures of the class include: Neutral Mask, Dynamic Studies I, Corporeal Education, Analysis of Movement I and physical fitness.
DR 635 Forms of Movement II (2) Lecture
Physical characterization with masks. Working with rhythm and the architecture of the body to find creative play and essential action. Structures of the class include: Larval and Utilitarian Masks, Dynamic Studies II, Analysis of Movement II, Corporeal Education and physical fitness.
DR 636 Forms of Movement III (2) Lecture
The Art of Stage Violence: Stage combat is the art of creating the illusion of violence for the stage within a dramatic structure. Students in this course will study the basics of unarmed combat including falls, grappling, throws, and strikes with all parts of the body. Emphasis will be placed on storytelling, safety, body awareness and partnering skills. Students will learn all techniques as an integral part of the acting process.
DR 637 Forms of Movement IV (2) Lecture
The Sword on Stage: Students will continue their work in performing stage violence with the addition of a prop, the single rapier. Students will learn the basics of swordplay (from a time period roughly spanning the European Renaissance) including stance, footwork, cuts, parries and thrusts. Emphasis will remain on storytelling, safety and partnering skills with additional special attention placed on centering and spatial awareness. As with the previous semster's work, all techniques will be learned within the context of a dramatic scene.
DR 638 Performance Studio I (2) Lecture
Experiencing the creative process. The first year company of actors, directors and playwrights re-examine their creative impulses using improvisation to develop original material as a laboratory for increased freedom during rehearsal. It is a course that will practice the art of rehearsing toward an actor’s independence, a director’s exploration of different techniques and a playwrights skill to create within an ensemble. The semester will conclude with more traditional scene work rehearsed with renewed approaches.
DR 639 Performance Studio II (2) Lecture
Building on the experiences of Performance Studio 1, this course emphasizes rehearsal techniques and procedures, specifically during the development of new play scripts. The elements of protocol and communication between playwright, director and actor are further explored, through the use of practical exercises and the creation of company-developed text
DR 650 Directing III (3) Lecture
Theatre and Music: This process oriented and hands on course focuses on the interactions between theatre and music including composition for the stage, opera and alternative forms of collaboration.
DR 651 Elements of Directing I (3) Lecture
This process-oriented and hands-on course introduces students to the fundamental principles of Directing.The focus is on the exploration of the director's dramatic imagination, her/his role as an auteur and modes of text analysis. This course culminates in the direction of a short scene from a play for public performance. For MFA students.
DR 652 Elements of Directing II (3) Lecture
This is a continuation of DR 651. The focus is on more complex directorial issues, centering on the notion of style in performance. This work culminates in the direction of a one-act play or an act from a full-length play. For MFA students
DR 660 Playwriting Strategies (3) Lecture
Exploration of strategies by which selected playwrights have organized their work to produce effective plays. For M.F.A. students. Faculty.
DR 661 Writing in the Profession (3) Lecture
The work of second- or third-year playwrights is critiqued by a professional writer, from the perspective of professional venues of theatre, film, or television.
DR 670 Portfolio Evaluation (3) Directed Study
Designed for students entering our graduate degree program with considerable prior professional experience in the theatre who seek specific course credit for knowledge gained in their extra-institutional work. Students who seek credit for prior learning are required to demonstrate to the faculty an understanding and command of the skills and knowledge expected of students completing the conventional track programs. The student presents to the faculty a portfolio that provides comprehensive evidence of the skills and knowledge for which academic credit is being requested. The student may provide documentation in the form of theatre programs, photographs, audio/video recordings, reviews by professional critics, letters from directors or professional theatre teachers, and an essay by the student explaining the match between this work and the goals and objectives of the course for which credit is being requested. The maximum number of credit hours that may be awarded for transfer credit and portfolio evaluation combined is 24. This course may be repeated if the student has not submitted satisfactory evidence or seeks course credit for more than 12 credit hours in one semester. The portfolio Evaluation Review must be completed during the first two semesters of the student’s enrollment in the program.
DR 730 Graduate Acting III (3) Lecture
Modern drama and the rehearsal process: students continue developing their rehearsal process and script analysis as they explore the actor's actions and objectives from a broader range of monologues and scenes that are chosen from modern dramatists such as Chekhov, Strindberg and Ibsen.
DR 731 Graduate Acting IV (3) Lecture
Drama and the rehearsal process: students continue developing their rehearsal process and script analysis as they explore the actor's actions and objectives from a broader range of monologues and scenes that are chosen from modern dramatists such as Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter and Albee.
DR 733 Voice I (3) Lecture
First in a four semester sequence designed to: enrich students’ physical, vocal, mental and emotional understanding of their voice instrument, habits and patterns; enable them to experience and, by choice, to release negative habitual patterns; explore the relationships among concentrated relaxation, breathing and sound initiation and resonance production and to extend the students’ discovery of habitual tension release and sound exploration into text, characterization and emotional life of those characters.
DR 734 Voice II (2) Lecture
Second in a four semester sequence designed to: enhance students’ hearing ability to enable them both to hear individual sounds and the variations used in world languages and enable students to produce individual sounds and the variations used in world languages through the study of the International Phonetic Alphabet in specific relationship to text, characterization and intentions and emotional life of those characters.
DR 738 Performance Studio III (2) Lecture
Styles in performance. The class will explore the presentational and representational performance with classical texts. It will introduce Greek Tragedy and continue into Shakespearean characterization utilizing Shakespeare’s sonnets, monologues and scenes.
DR 739 Performance Studio IV (2) Lecture
Restoration Comedy and Moliere. A continuation of Performance Studio III concluding the Shakespeare sequence and introducing the heightened style of performance necessary in Restoration comedy and Moliere.
DR 750 Directing IV (3) (Performance)
This process-oriented and hands-on course focuses on alternative forms of performance and collaboration including site-specific theatre, intercultural theatre and performance art.
DR 762 Adaptation (3) Lecture
Second-year playwrights explore issues of adaptation, considering both dramatic and nondramatic sources. Students with a working knowledge of a foreign language are encouraged to explore issues of translation. Final project: an adaptation or translation of a text selected by the student. For M.F.A. students.
DR 831 and 832 Master Class (3) Lecture
For all second year M.F.A. and M.A. candidates, this two course sequence is intended to create a galvanizing collaborative experience in the creation of theatrical work under the mentorship of a master theatre artist with a unique vision. The theme of the course is western classical traditions in the fall semester and non western theatre in the spring.
DR 833 Voice III (1) Lecture/Studio
Third in a four semester sequence designed to review first year vocal work; extend first year vocal work through pitch, inflection and range work within text: Greek Choral Work; singing as an extension of speech; work with Poetic Structures, primarily Shakespeare and Moliere; work with Heightened Text and Imagery, using opening choruses and soliloquies from Shakespeare and scenes and monologues from Moliere. Research period language with Shakespearean history, romance and confrontation scenes and research translation language through work on Moliere’s poetry and prose translations of the same monologues and scenes.
DR 834 Voice IV (1) Lecture
Lecture/Studio Fourth in a four semester sequence designed to extend work on Shakespeare; integrate extended physical and vocal use in plays; extend students’ vocal capacity in range, resonance and volume to accommodate various performance spaces and to prepare students for specific potential vocal careers in the theatre: radio, voice-over work in industrial film, television and radio commercials, books-on-tape as well as auditions, cold readings and prepared auditions.
DR 835 Forms of Movement V (1) Lecture
The focus is on body isolation, balance, and the contrasts between sharpness and fluidity in movement, beginning with basic pantomime skills toward more advanced pantomime skills, such as pantomime dead-point and specific pantomime walks. Basic body awareness, coordination and flexibility, through participation in intensive aerobic warm-ups and an introduction to ensemble.
DR 836 Forms of Movement VI (1) Lecture
A continuation of Movement V, utilizing more advanced improvisations in the art of silent acting, using various approaches in mediums such as commedia dell’ arte and the films of Charlie Chaplin, with a focus on farce and the grotesque. This course introduces the beginnings of stylized character development through movement, including dramatic and comedic group improvisation and scene study; leading to the development of a production, incorporating various elements of movement, music and text.
DR 838 Performance Studio V (2) Lecture
Monographs: students will develop a one-person show, first by exploring existing solo performance projects and then entering research, rehearsal and production of their own performance piece.
DR 839 Performance Studio VI (2)
Internship and preparation for NY/DC showcase. Professional internship/understudy or acting job at a greater Washington, D.C. area theatre. Showcase preparation will involve experimenting with contemporary works by emerging American playwrights as well as further exploration of scene work and monologues from previous CUA Drama classes and productions. Selected scenes and monologues will be rehearsed and produced as a "First Look" CUA Showcase in D.C., and possibly other cities such as L.A., Chicago and/or New York.
DR 850 Directing Thesis Workshop (3) Lecture
DR 851 Internship (3) Internship
Advanced M.F.A. students work with a professional theatre company in such capacities as are mutually agreed upon by the student, the company, and the Program Director. Each student is responsible for seeking and winning such an internship position; the availability of internships cannot be guaranteed. The student must develop, in conjunction with the instructor and responsible members of the professional theatre staff, a detailed proposal that includes a description of the responsibilities of the student, the extent of the commitment in terms of time, and the means by which the student is to be evaluated at the end of the internship. Proposals will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, considering the impact on the department’s productions, the value of the internship for the particular student’s development, and the student’s overall record. Students working in internships should commit to no other department obligations in that term and should be aware that an internship may lengthen the time needed to complete the degree program.
DR 860 Playwriting Internship (3) Lecture
Advanced playwriting students in the M.F.A. program work with a professional theatre company in such capacities as are mutually agreed upon by the student, the company, and the Program Directors. Students seeking an internship must develop, in conjunction with the instructor and the responsible member(s) of the theatre staff, a detailed proposal that includes a description of the responsibilities of the student, the extent of the commitment, and the means by which the student is to be evaluated. The availability of internships cannot be guaranteed. Proposals will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, considering the function of the internship within the student’s program and the student’s record. Students working in internships should commit to no other departmental obligations in that term and should be aware that an internship may lengthen the time needed to complete the program.
DR 930 Acting Internship (3) Lecture
Advanced acting students work with a professional theatre company in such roles (including understudies) as are agreed on by the student, the instructor, and the company. Requires a specific contract with the theatre that must be approved by the Program Director and department chair, as far in advance as possible. The availability of internships cannot be guaranteed. Possible arrangements will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, considering the impact on the department’s productions, the value of the internship for the particular student’s development, and the student’s overall record. Students working in internships should commit to no other departmental obligations in that term and should be aware that an internship may lengthen the time needed to complete the degree program.
DR 937 Audition Workshop (1) Lecture
The business of acting. This class concentrates on choosing contemporary and classical monologues best suited for an audition. Class will explore the audition process itself, how to find work as an actor and insights into the day to day workplace of theatre, television, film and commercials. The class will discuss cold readings, creating showcases, voice-overs, meeting agents, contacting regional theatres, pictures and resumes, mailings and life as an actor in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. It will endeavor to provide auditions and lectures with professional casting directors and guest artists. Actors will prepare performance material for either a NY showcase and/or the Washington, D.C. theatre community.
DR 938 Voice V (1) Lecture Dialects
Work on thos accents from the U.S., British Empire, Europe, Africa and Asia which are deemed to be useful for the specific actors in the company.
DR 938 Voice VI (1) Private sessions
Individual sessions in which students work on dealing with those sound changes still needed to take them to General U.S. English with full knowledge of Standard U.S. English
DR 950 Theatre Seminar: Directing (3) Lecture
DR 951 Supervised Theatre Education Project (3)
The supervised project helps M.A. students develop their skills as educators and theatre practitioners by allowing the students to direct a performance at an elementary or secondary school or create and implement an educational theatre project. All M.A.T.E. students must complete 27 credits before they begin the supervised study. They must also submit a proposal.
DR 960 Playwriting Seminar (3) Lecture
Students develop extended dramatic writing.
DR 961 Playwriting Seminar (3) Lecture
Students develop extended dramatic writing.
DR 962 Playwriting Seminar (3) Lecture
Students develop extended dramatic writing.
DR 983 Seminar: Dramaturgy I (3) Directed Study
Study of the historical development and present-day role of the dramaturg, with the chief work of the seminar being dramaturgical work on a current production. See also 988. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.
DR 984 Seminar: Shakespeare In Theatre (3) Lecture
Study of Shakespeare’s plays in performance. Subjects include the theatrical dynamics and production of selected plays in Shakespeare’s playhouse and the theatrical and cultural study of significant productions in selected periods, such as modernism and postmodernism. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.
DR 987 Research Internship (3) Internship
Advanced students in the M.A. program work on an approved research project or as interns in a research collection and on projects mutually agreeable to the collection staff, the Program Directors, and the student. Each student is responsible for seeking such internships as may be available. The student seeking an internship must develop a detailed proposal. In the case of a research collection internship, the proposal should specify the responsibility of the extent of the commitment in terms of time, and the means by which the student is to be evaluated. Proposals will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, considering the appropriateness of the proposed internship to the student’s program and academic record. Prerequisite: Permission of instructors.
DR 988 Seminar: Dramaturgy II (3) Lecture
The chief project for the seminar will be dramaturging a current production. The project, in the assessment of the instructor, must entail work distinctly different from the student’s project in Dramaturgy I, whether in playwright, period, or production concept. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor and Program Director.
DR 993 Directed Readings (3) Lecture
DR 994 Directed Readings (3) Lecture
DR 995 Master’s Thesis Guidance: (3) Lecture
