M.F.A. Acting
The three-year M.F.A. Acting program enrolls one class every three years.
The next class will be enrolled for Fall 2009.
The actor will join a company of actors, directors and playwrights in a program that emphasizes a personalized approach to developing their talent, increasing their performance experience, deepening their technique, increasing their academic knowledge of theatre history and new dramatists, beginning their utilization of a personal creative process and honoring their spiritual essence.
First year courses focus on the actor’s self awareness – on the actor’s instrument and tools: the body and voice, the senses and feelings, strengthening their confidence of impulse, sense of play and exploring personal resources through various acting approaches. Special attention is given to improvisation and contemporary material.
In the second year actors concentrate on “character”- the process of transformation and performing, with progressive emphasis on creating a world from modern and classical texts. Particular focus is put on the discovery of the play’s action, character development, language demands and analysis of more complex literary material from classic and experimental origins.
Third year actors focus on scenes from living playwrights, dialect work, commedia, a monograph performance, audition techniques and studying theatre as a business. In the third year, actors will be eligible to audition for professional opportunities in the DC theatre community depending on university casting and/or assistantships. Actors prepare scenes and monologues for their final graduating acting project: a Washington, D.C. first look showcase that helps transition into their professional careers.
Actors are required to audition for and play as cast in all department productions and are required to serve on one production crew as well as an artistic practicum that supports the directors and playwrights.
First Year
Dramatic Structures I and II
Performance Studio I and II
Acting I and II
Forms of Movement I and II
Voice I and II
Alexander Technique
Second Year
Shakespeare in Theatre
Twentieth Century Theatres
Master Class
Performance Studio III and IV
Acting III and IV
Movement -III and IV
Voice III and IV
Alexander Technique
Third Year
Performance Studio V and VI
Audition Workshop
Voice V
Voice - Private sessions
Movement VI
Alexander Technique - Private sessions
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 (3) 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.(1) Lecture Theatre and Music
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. Faculty.
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. Plan = M.F.A.
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. In addition, students will develop a methodology for learning and researching all dialects and accents work through basic European and American dialects used regularly in theatre and film, work with texts specifically written for the various accents to enable students to create dialects based on playwright’s language work, time period, social and cultural conditions and characters. Plan = M.F.A.
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 3 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. Faculty.
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. Plan = M.F.A
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. Plan = M.F.A.
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 Guidance (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 939 Voice V (1) Lecture Dialects
DR 950 Directing Thesis Guidance (3) Lecture
DR 951 Supervised Theatre Education Project (3)
The supervised project helps M.S. 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 Faculty.
DR 994 Directed Readings (3) Lecture Faculty.
DR 995 Master’s Thesis Guidance (3) Lecture