Department of Theatre and Dance Courses
Course descriptions listed on this page for the Department of Theatre are from the College Catalog. For more information on the courses offered during the fall and spring semesters, please log in to the course schedule through STAR.
THEA 101 — Acting 1
This course offers, through classroom exercises, improvisations and performance of scenes from plays, an approach to understanding, appreciating, and practicing the art of acting and theatre.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 110 — Theatre Practicum I
Weekly lab work introduces students to tools and techniques in costumes, scenery, properties, and lighting. Student participation in Department of Theatre and Dance major productions gives them the opportunity to put those skills into practice. The course cannot be taken independently of a theatre class.
GPA units: 0.5
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 111 — Basic Dance
This is an introductory course for students with little or no dance experience. The course is a combination of studio and lecture/discussion. Students will learn proper alignment, basic positions, and dance combinations. Readings will cover the history of dance and the political and social changes that influence the creative process in the development of dance. Movement studies will be integrated with readings.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 121 — Decolonizing Dance
The course examines who and what has been excluded from dance history and why. Students investigate the relationships between dance and society throughout history, the social construction of privileged dance forms, unrecognized contributions of marginalized communities, gender inequity, and the expression of culture, politics, religion, and race within dance performance.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
THEA 125 — American Drama 1920 To Present
American plays from the early work of Eugene O'Neill through that of contemporary dramatists are explored as theatre (through film and video) and as dramatic literature. This course looks at drama in historical and thematic contexts and as the expression of major American playwrights.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 126 — Asia on Stage
Asia on Stage focuses on the intricate classical performance traditions of theatre, dance, and music of South and Southeast Asia and how contemporary artists have borrowed from these traditions to create new or avant-garde work. Students develop analytical skill through observation of similarities and differences between counterparts in other Asian nations and the West.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 127 — Design & Tech Production
Examines the arts and crafts required to mount a live theatrical production during the planning, preparation, and performance phases. Also explores the function and responsibilities of the design team. Class projects and enrollment in Theatre Practicum provide practical experience in many areas.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall
THEA 131 — Balinese Dance 1 - 2
Balinese Dance is a dance performance class which surveys the rich classical, contemporary, and folk traditions of music, mask, dance, and theatre from Bali, Indonesia. Hinduism plays a significant role in the performing arts of Bali and will be discussed in relationship to performance. Students rehearse and perform with Gamelan Gita Sari, the Holy Cross gamelan orchestra. This course can be taken for two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 134 — Television Comedy
Television Comedy is designed to introduce students to the history of television comedy, key artists and situation comedies, and theoretical frameworks for examining these works both in and out of context. The goal is for students to learn to analyze television from a variety of standpoints as well as the ways it has both influenced and been influenced by time, place, and culture.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 135 — Comedy on Stage and Screen
This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of comic styles as represented in theatre and film from the Classical period to the present with an emphasis on twentieth-century works.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall
THEA 136 — Horror Films, Sex & Gender
This course is designed to examine the horror film using Queer, Gender, and Feminist theory. The course will explore seminal works from the genre and examine the horror film's evolution using these critical lenses. The goal is for students to develop a foundational understanding of the conventions of the genre and its relationship to evolving notions of identity.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 139 — Great Film Actors
This course is designed to introduce students significant film actors who embody different approaches to acting. Students will study acting theory and film criticism, applying those concepts to films of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 141 — Jazz Dance 1 - 2
A studio course open to students with less than six months of dance experience. The course focuses on technique and touches on aspects of jazz history and its relationship to music and social history. This course can be taken for two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 145 — Queer Theatre & Film
Queer Film and Theatre is designed to examine how art (specifically film and theatre) helps us define ourselves, both collectively and individually. Films and plays from different periods and cultures allow the students to examine the evolution of the human condition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered populations.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 151 — Ballet 1 - 2
Beginning ballet technique is offered for beginners and those with less than six months of dance experience. The course will emphasize alignment, ballet positions and vocabulary, as well as the mastery of skills such as turning, jumping, and coordination. In addition to technique, the course will introduce dance history and dance appreciation through readings, videos, and class discussion. To offer a richer and more contemporary experience of ballet, students will depart from the ballet idiom and experiment with creating a personal movement vocabulary. This course can be taken for two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 160 — American Film
This introductory course teaches the student how to read a movie. Films are presented by genre and conventional examples of each genre are paired with movies that play with, undercut, or expand the conventions. The syllabus includes American movies from 1930 to the present.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 161 — Theatre History 1:Classical To Romantic
Focuses on theatre in Europe, Asia and North America from the classical period until the mid-1800s. Readings include: Euripides, Moliere, Calderon, Montzaemon, Behn, and Boucicault.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 162 — Theatre History 2: Modern and Contemporary
Studies movements in theatre from the late nineteenth century to the present, including realism, surrealism, epic theatre, absurdism, and postmodernism. Readings include Ibsen, Shaw, Lorca, Soyinka, Wedekind and Nottage.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 165 — World Film
Like American Film, this is an introductory course that teaches the student how to read a movie. However, the content is exclusively non-American films, viewed thematically and historically, as well as in their cultural contexts. The syllabus typically includes films from France, Italy, England, Japan, Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Mexico, Germany, Canada, and other countries.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
THEA 170 — Modern Drama
Surveys the major aesthetic movements of the last century, employing dramatic texts and theoretical writings to illustrate successive ideas. Movements such as naturalism, symbolism, expressionism, surrealism, and the absurd are examined through a close reading of works by Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw, Wedekind, Pirandello, Brecht, Beckett, and others.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 171 — Hip Hop/Breaking 1-2
An introductory breaking technique course for beginners who have no prior dance experience. Students learn foundational exercises, improvisation and movement combinations. The course will emphasize the cultural and historical roots of the form along with key artists who have contributed to its evolution.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 172 — Modern British Drama
Modern British Drama uses literary texts and movies to explore how English playwrights have grappled with the post-war loss of empire; the search for a new national identity, the emergence of Thatcherism, the vapid materialism of the Sloane Rangers, the challenges of multiculturalism, and the impending catastrophe of Brexit. In a seminar setting, students will read, reflect and critically analyze a series of challenging (and often disturbing) works of contemporary British literature.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 181 — Modern Dance 1 - 2
A basic introductory modern dance technique course for beginners or students with less than six months of dance experience. Students learn beginning modern dance exercises and movement combinations. The basic components of modern dance and its place in 20th-century art will be examined. This course can be taken for two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 190 — Stage Combat
Stage Combat unites creativity and critical thinking in a course that investigates the uses and effects of representative violence in classical and contemporary plays. The course introduces both armed and unarmed techniques while developing an appreciation of the use of the human body to express the intentions of the characters and the ideas of the work through physical means. Specific attention is paid to how the physical action can heighten and support the text. One unit.
Prerequisite: THEA 101
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 191 — Afro-Haitian Dance
This course is an introduction to movements from the African Diaspora, focusing on traditional Haitian Folkloric dances and the distinct rhythms and characters of Nago, Mayi, Ibo, Banda, Yanvalou and Kongo. Through videos, discussion, technique and embodied practice, students gain an appreciation of the rich cultural heritage of Afro-Haitian dance and its unique connection to modern dance.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
THEA 199-F02 — Broadway Dance
This course covers a fundamental understanding of the terminology and principles of the Broadway dance genre. Students engage in an historical approach to learning, looking at the origins of the form and famous musicals andchoreographers, while mastering some of the earliest Broadway dances and traditions. They explore technical and historical aspects of various other dance genres such as jazz, tap, and ballroom and define Broadway dance in relationship to its social, cultural, and political context.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 199-S01 — Cult Films & Camp Movies
This course is designed to examine films created outside the studio system or those whose unique, marginal qualities have led to significant critical and cultural discourse and reappraisal. The course will use readings and viewings to reframe analysis of film narratives, challenge canonical thinking, and develop students unique critical voices.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 200 — Tutorial
GPA units: 1
THEA 202 — Voice In Acting 1
Students learn how to correct regionalisms, support the voice, and increase range in songs and dramatic texts. Healthy vocal production, flexibility, relaxation, and power are emphasized.
Prerequisite: THEA 101
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
THEA 203 — Advanced Acting
An intensive scene study class. Plays ranging in style from contemporary to Restoration are analyzed and performed. Physical and vocal exercises from Basic Acting and Voice in Acting will be continued with the addition of period style work.
Prerequisite: THEA 101 THEA 202
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
THEA 204 — Singing for the Broadway Stage
Students will develop an approach to learning and performing pieces from musical theatre with equal focus on musicianship, vocal technique, and physical interpretation. Students will be assigned both solo and ensemble pieces and the course will culminate in a public showing of the work.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall
THEA 205 — Speaking and Communication
This course explores techniques of effective communication. Topics covered include creating clear intentions and objectives for moments of public speaking; connecting to others and listening actively in both casual and formal interactions; and cultivating strong, flexible vocal production. To develop these skills, interactive exercises inspired by theatre techniques serve as building blocks. Both impromptu and prepared speech techniques are explored with projects encompassing academic presentations, interview techniques, and presenting personal stories.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
THEA 210 — Theatre Practicum II (Advanced)
Students participate in Department of Theatre major productions through crew assignments in scenery and props, lighting, costumes, sound, and stage management. Schedule for the course is determined by the production schedule. This course is taken pass/fail as an overload and may be taken multiple times. Theatre majors must take it twice.
Prerequisite: THEA 110
GPA units: 0.5
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 211 — Dance Composition
Dance Composition introduces students to principles and practices of creating dance choreography as a form of human expression. Methods of learning include guided improvisations, solo and small group presentations, written assignments, performance viewings (live and video), observation, motif notation, and class discussion. Students will develop an understanding of the choreographic/creative process and its relevance to other areas of study.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 214 — Singing for Broadway Stage 2
Students will refine their approach to learning and performing musical theatre repertoire with equal focus on musicianship, vocal technique, and physical interpretation, building on the foundation established in the first level of the course. Particular attention will be given to building an audition book of diverse repertoire. The course will also dig deeper into exploring the history of musical theatre and examining its great composers. Students will be assigned both solo and ensemble pieces and the course will culminate in a public showing of the work.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 227 — Scene Design
Principles of scenic design and script analysis are used to create an environment for the action of the play. Includes a historical survey of scenic design, theatre architecture, period style, drafting, and rendering techniques. Work on a set for a Fenwick Theatre production provides practical experience.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
THEA 228 — Lighting Design
A study of the properties of light and the objectives of stage lighting in drama and dance, this course includes basic electricity and its control, lighting equipment, and drafting. Practical experience is obtained through designing and running a production.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
THEA 229 — Virtual Realities
This course explores the theory and practice of virtual environment design. How do we know where we are? How do we know what to do there? Students will learn to use a variety of digital tools for 3D modeling and rendering. Using these tools, students will experiment with the use of composition, color, texture, and scale to convey emotional cues, as well as orienting the audience in a virtual world.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 230 — Costume Design
An introductory course which involves the student in the process of script and character analysis as it relates to costumes. It develops sketching and painting techniques as well as research of Greek, Renaissance, and 18th- and 19th-century fashion.
Prerequisite: THEA 101, THEA 161, THEA 162 or THEA 170.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
THEA 232 — Balinese Dance 3 - 4
Advanced Balinese Dance builds on the background and techniques covered in Balinese Dance 1-2. Students delve more deeply into the traditions of Bali and perform more advanced repertoire in a concert setting. Students may take this course for two semesters with the permission of the instructor, progressing to advanced repertoire of both traditional and contemporary Balinese dances, including solos.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 240 — Directing 1
Introduces students to the craft and theory of theatrical production. Students function as autonomous artists-writers, dramaturgs, and directors, producing a series of dramatic pieces in a workshop environment. This practical work is augmented by extensive scholarly research that provides a theoretical underpinning. Emphasis is placed upon conceptualization, composition, blocking, textual analysis, and working with actors.
Prerequisite: THEA 101. Students without the prerequisite should consult the department.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall
THEA 242 — Jazz 3-4
A studio course open to students with at least one year of previous dance experience. The course focuses on technique and touches on aspects of jazz history and its relationship to music and social history. This course can be taken for two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
THEA 252 — Ballet 3 - 4
The class will follow a traditional format, Including barre, adagio, waltz, petit allegro, and grand allegro. In addition to technique, the course will include dance history and dance appreciation through readings, videos, and class discussion. To offer a richer and more contemporary experience of ballet, students will depart from the ballet idiom and experiment with creating a personal movement vocabulary. Students may take this course for a total of two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
THEA 262 — Body Stories
BODY STORIES is a course for students with no previous dance experience. Through movement, readings and digital media we will create dances that ask: what do our bodies say about who we are? What stories do we carry in our bodies? We will create dance studies that reflect the movement of our communities, which tell fictional and non-fictional stories.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
THEA 263 — Selected American Film Artists
This advanced course is an intensive study of the work of two playwrights and/or filmmakers. The authors on the syllabus vary, according to the current offerings of the Fenwick Theatre season and other considerations. By permission.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
THEA 272 — Hip Hop/Breaking 3-4
Students build on foundational exercises, improvisation and movement combinations, and apply these skills to study in the context of dance circles and battles. The course emphasizes the cultural and historical roots of the form along with key artists who have contributed to its evolution.
Prerequisite: 1 year of dance experience with Hip Hop and Breaking or one semester of THEA171 Hip Hop / Breaking 1-2.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
THEA 282 — Modern Dance 3 - 4
An intermediate-level modern dance technique class. Students grow in understanding the aesthetic of modern dance both by practicing modern dance exercises and combinations and by engaging in critical discussion of selected dance performances in class and on video. Students may take this course for a total of two semesters, progressing to choreography and performance.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 310 — Dance Performance
This multi-level course is is built around an end of semester performance. Students will learn and create movement which will become a finished piece. It requires rehearsal and performance of major dance segments in a main stage production or a dance concert. Permission required.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 340 — Advanced Directing
Explores advanced theories and practices of theatrical direction. The course begins with a series of lectures that introduces the avant-garde ideas and practices of artists such as Grotowski, Beck, Chaikin, Serban, Wilson, Akalaitis, Bogart, and Boal. Students are expected to put some of these ideas into production as they tackle a short classical piece (Greek or Elizabethan) and then mount a full-length one-act by a major figure of the modern theatre (e.g., Chekhov, Strindberg, O'Neill, Pirandello, Beckett).
Prerequisite: THEA 240
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Spring
THEA 360 — Shakespeare Through Performance
Functioning as scholarly artists in a laboratory setting, students - working from both the Folio and modern editions - master the rudiments of Shakespearean performance, become acquainted with historical and contemporary staging conventions, investigate the notion of textual integrity, and explore dramaturgical issues. Particular emphasis is placed upon the desirability and/or need to subvert problematic texts through performance.
Prerequisite: THEA 101 and THEA 202. Enrollment limited to 3rd and 4th year students.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Spring
THEA 361 — Film As Narrative
This advanced course deals with narrative issues in film (point of view, time, structure, style, tone, adaptation). The syllabus includes American, British, French, Italian, Japanese and Scandinavian movies.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
THEA 370 — Performance Art
Students write, coach, design, and act in original work that they develop. Directors, actors, and theorists who stretch the limits of performance stylistically, socially, or conceptually serve as models for students.
Prerequisite: THEA 101 and THEA 202 and THEA 203
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 400 — Tutorial
Tutorials consist of directed study in selected theatre, dance, and film topics such as acting, directing, play- writing, literature, dance, stage management, set, costume, lighting and sound design, film, and screenwriting.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 405 — Performance Recital
Designed for the individual needs of advanced acting students. Rehearsal and performance in a major production is the main basis of grading.
Prerequisite: THEA 101 and THEA 203; by audition only
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 406 — Performance For Audience
Advanced acting work in a major role.
Prerequisite: THEA 101 and THEA 203; by audition only
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring