Theatre

The Theatre Department prepares students for competency in all areas, ( theatre acting and directing, design and technical theatre, theatre history, and dramatic literature)  in order that students can acquire a strong foundation for further training in professional theatre. The theatre curriculum offers students an opportunity to undertake intensive study in an important field of the creative arts while pursuing a liberal arts education.

Students from any area of study are encouraged to participate in the frequent productions which are a part of the general program of aesthetic and cultural development offered to the entire student body.

Degrees

Courses

TH130: INTRODUCTION TO THEATRE

Credits 4
A survey of theatre for the general student. Includes an examination of the origins of theatre, directing, acting, forms of drama, structure and texture of drama, physical theatres, theatre history, and theatrical styles. Provides the student an opportunity to be exposed to many aspects of theatrical production.

TH140: STAGE MAKEUP

Credits 2

The techniques and special applications of makeup for the stage. Methods and application of the essentials in stage makeup including corrective, age. animal, character, creative ,and special effects.

TH185: APPLIED THEATRE

Credits 1

A practical involvement with the actual preparation of a play for production. Phases of production involved are, acting, stage management, and technical theatre. 1 hour of credit requires 40 hours of work in a semester. No more than 6 hours of Applied Theatre (TH 185 or 385) may be taken in the 124 semester hours required for graduation.

TH231G: THEATRE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Credits 4
Framed by critical investigations of the relationship between theatre/art, ideology, and social change/justice, this participatory course will explore theories on, and creative processes for, devising and employing various theatre forms with the intension of affecting personal, political, institutional, social, and/or community change.

TH235: STAGECRAFT

Credits 4
Theoretical and practical work in the fundamentals of technical theatre production. Content includes, but is not limited to, set construction, scene painting, properties, theatrical rigging and lighting, and basic design processes and realization. The use of quantitative skills and problem solving in interpreting representations will be stressed.

TH240: ACTING

Credits 4
Exposes the actor to freedom found through expressiveness, the discipline of the actor in acting theories, and the relationship between freedom and discipline. Introduces movement and vocal training as well as stage terminology and technique.

TH250: TOPICS IN THEATRE

Credits 2
Skill
Vary with Topic

Explores a particular aspect of theatre selected that semester. A variety of subjects will be covered including scene painting, stage combat, stage management.

TH330G: DRAMATIC LITERATURE I

Credits 4
Skill
W
Traces the history and development of two phases of dramatic literature. Phase I: modern drama–a study of drama beginning with Ibsen, with attention paid to social and philosophical significances as well as technique. Phase II: modern American drama–a study of American drama in its historical, cultural, and social reform perspective with special emphasis on the development of the American theatre as an art.

TH331G: DRAMATIC LITERATURE II

Credits 4
Skill
W
An overview of dramatic and contemporary theatre from 1960 to the present. Offers a survey of the development of global theatre from pre-World War I to the million-dollar spectacular musicals of the present day, as well as a study of dramatic literature beginning with the "Happenings of the 1960s" to the present day social/historical comment theatre.

TH335: LIGHTING DESIGN

Credits 4
Explores the basic theories of lighting for the stage through lecture, projects, and demonstration.

TH336: SCENE DESIGN

Credits 4
Includes mechanical drawing, model-making, watercolor technique, period decoration, script analysis, and scene painting techniques.

TH340: DIRECTING I

Credits 4
The student learns the function of a director and develops the necessary basic techniques of stage direction. Includes production problems, directing movement and action, direction for character, climax, and tempo. Includes workshop experience.

TH342G: THEATRE HISTORY

Credits 4
Skill
W
An Investigation of theatre as the evolution of a multidisciplinary artistic, cultural, social, economic, religious, and political form. Dramatic texts representing eras will be studied as well as evidence of historical theatre practice. Course will focus on the origins of the theatre through Elizabethan.

TH350: ADVANCED TOPICS IN THEATRE

Credits 4
Skill
Vary with Topic

Explores in depth a particular aspect of theatre, selected that semester. A variety of subjects may be covered including Advanced Acting Methods, Period Styles, Advanced Scenic or Lighting Design or Theatre Production Workshop.

TH385: APPLIED THEATRE

Credits 1
A practical involvement with the actual preparation of a play for production. Phases of production involved are: acting, stage management, and technical theatre. 1 hour of credit requires 40 hours of work in a semester. No more than 6 hours of Applied Theatre (TH185 or 385) may be taken in the 124 semester hours required for graduation.

TH495: CAPSTONE PROJECT

Credits 4
Skill
W
A senior project for the serious theatre student; this is an intense practical application of the art of directing, designing, acting, or stage managing.