TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01     Leslie Danzig    TR 9:30-10:50am      BARS
Section 02     David New        TR 11:00-12:20pm    BARS

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals
Section 01     Pamela Pascoe       TR 12:30-1:50pm  BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance
Section 01     John Muse           TR  9:30-10:50am     LC-701
Section 02     John Muse           TR 12:30-1:50pm      LC-701
Section 03     Devon de Mayo    TR  2:00-3:20pm      LC-701

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course offers an introduction to a number of significant dramatic works and seminal figures in the theorization of theater and performance. But the course's aspirations go much further: we will be concentrating upon the intersection of interpretation and enactment, asking how these pieces appear on stage and why. This will not be merely descriptive work, but crucially it will be interpretive and physical work. Students will prepare and present applied interpretations—that is, interpretations that enable conceptual insights to take artistic form. Throughout, we will be searching for that elusive combination of philological rigor, theoretical sophistication, and creative inspiration—probing the theoretical stakes of creativity and testing the creative implications of analytic insights. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10700. Introduction to Stage Design
Section 01   Jessica Wardell     TR 11:00-12:20pm       LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20100. Twentieth-Century American Drama
Section 01   Heidi Coleman     TR 11:00-12:20pm       LC-701

Beginning with O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey into Night' through the American avant-garde to the most recent production on Broadway, this course focuses on American contemporary playwrights who have made a significant impact with regard to dramatic form in context to specific decade as well as cumulatively through the twentieth century. Textual analysis is consistently oriented towards production possibilities, both historically and hypothetically. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21700. An Actor Observes
Section 01     Pamela Pascoe     TR 2:00-3:20pm       BARS

This course addresses techniques and modes of observation and their application to scene study. Observation study is used to strengthen acting choices, build the physical world of the play, and create original, vital characterizations. It also serves to deepen awareness of group dynamics; integrate symbolic, psychological, and physical meaning in a character's behavior; and guide the process of breaking down a scene. Students will perform observation exercises and apply their discoveries to scene work. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22600/32600. Chance in Performance
Section 01   Annie Dorsen    TR 2:00-3:20pm    LC-501

The course will cover the historical, theoretical and practical issues surrounding the use of chance in artistic production, with an emphasis on how these techniques have been used in live performance. We begin with the historical avant-garde, particularly Dada and Duchamp, continue with mid-century experiments by Cage/Cunningham and Fluxus artists, and finish with contemporary work like “No Dice” of Nature Theatre of Oklahoma and “Algorithmic Noir” by Eve Sussman. By creating performance projects using, or responding to, the techniques studied, students will have an opportunity to develop their own critical and practice-based point of view. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22900/32900. Introduction to Theater & Performance Studies
Section 01     David Levin    TR 12:30-1:50pm        LC-501

This course is designed to introduce students to foundational concepts and critical skills relevant to the study of theater and performance. In addition to wide-ranging readings and discussions, students will attend a variety of performances and screenings representing a cross-section of genres, interpretive styles, and institutional settings. The course is open to all undergraduate students as an elective; it also serves as a required course for all TAPS majors and minors. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23000. Introduction to Directing
Section 01     Shade Murray         M 12:30-3:20pm      LC-501

This course employs a practice in the fundamental theory of play direction and the role of the director in collaboration with the development of textual analysis. By examining five diversely different texts using three different approaches to play analysis (Aristotle, Stanislavski, Ball) students begin developing a method of directing for the stage in support of the written text. In alternating weeks, students implement textual analysis in building an understanding of directorial concept, theme, imagery and staging through rehearsal and in-class presentations of three-minute excerpts from the play analysis the previous week. The culmination is a final five-minute scene combining the tools of direction with a method of analysis devised over the entire course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IN MANDATORY.

TAPS 23110/33110. Directing Study
Section 01     Heidi Coleman       ARR

This seminar results from the production work of the quarter, with text analysis, dramaturgical reading, and discussions based on the participating MainStage directors. Typically initiating in weekly sessions the quarter prior to production, academic credit is given the quarter of production following a final written exam. Instructor Consent Required.

TAPS 23600. Improv & Sketch
Section 01    Susan Messing       M 9:30-12:20pm        LC-501

This course will explore the many different schools of thought in the Chicago improv comedy community, including but not limited to The Second City, iO, and The Annoyance. Organic discovery and plot will be highlighted within scene work as well as the group dynamic, with comedy as the result. Come ready to play and play hard. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23700. Playwriting: Creating Natural Dialogue for the Stage

Section 01     Evan Linder           W 12:30-3:20pm         LC-701

This course employs collaboration among the students to help each individual writer create natural dialogue for the stage. Students will utilize improvisation to write a contemporary scene focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication. Through these improvisations, the students create a framework for their narrative with a special focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays which emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explore the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write two complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25515/35515. Contemporary Political Strategies in Performance
Section 01    Annie Dorsen     W 3:30-6:20pm     LC-701

The emphasis of the course is on strategies—in the words of curator Florian Malzacher, “artistic strategies in politics, and political strategies in art.” In moments of political struggle, what can art DO, and what can it not? We will be combining case studies with theoretical background, examining strategies like occupation, participation, parafiction, 'technologies of care,' détournement and the art strike. Students will have the opportunity to put some of these approaches to the test by designing one or more local interventions according to the interests of the group. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26100. Dance Composition

Section 01     Julia Rhoads        M 3:30-6:20pm         LC-701

In this course, dance making is approached through the basic elements of space, time, shape, and dynamics, as well as a variety of choreographic processes including improvisation, thematic development, abstraction, and musical phrasing.  Working alone, in duets, or small groups, students will create short choreographic studies in response to a variety of assigned exercises.  These studies will build skills in generating material for a final choreographic project. In addition to choreographic exercises, students will view videos of historical and contemporary choreographers from a variety of styles, and write about their own and others' work as a way to develop skills in constructive criticism. Short readings will also supplement physical work.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27610. Engineering Shadow Puppetry
Section 01     Frank Maugeri     W 3:30-6:20pm       LC-501 

This course will begin with historical research of shadow puppetry and directed design exploration, using both scripting and visual storyboarding to get your concept ready for production. We will then create scenery and visual environments while learning to bring shadow characters to life with movement, sound, and advanced manipulation techniques. We will also learn methods for crafting puppets from durable materials and will utilize mechanisms such as hinges and rivets. Students will be expected to work on projects outside of class time. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28405, ENGL 16500, FNDL 21403. Shakespeare I: Histories and Comedies
Section 01     Ellen MacKay      TR 12:30-1:50pm      STU 101
Section 02     Michal Zecharia     F 9:30-10:20am      WB 103
Section 03     Katherine Nolan     F 11:30-12:20pm    WB 103
Section 04     Shiri Yang               F 12:30-1:20pm      WB 103

This course will explore a selection of seven or eight plays representing Shakespeare’s youthful genres of Comedy and History. We will consider how each play fits, or doesn’t fit, within organizing dichotomies like playhouse versus print, popular versus elite, and early versus late. We will also consider how terms that structure our encounter with Shakespeare both form and deform his work, leaving us to ask, Can we do better?

TAPS 28452, CMST 25204, HUMA 25202. Media Ecology: Embodiment & Software
Section 01     Margot Browning     TR 12:30-1:50pm     W 302

Media ecology examines how the structure and content of our media environments—online and offline, in words, images, sounds, and textures—affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value; or alternatively, media ecology investigates the massive and dynamic interrelation of processes and objects, beings and things, patterns and matter. At stake are issues about agency—human or material—and about determinism—how does society or culture interact with or shape its technologies, or vice versa? This course investigates theories of media ecology by exploring systems of meanings that humans embody (cultural, social, ecological) in conjunction with the emerging field of software studies about the cultural, political, social, and aesthetic impacts of software (e.g., code, interaction, interface). In our actual and virtual environments, how do we understand performing our multiple human embodiments in relation to other bodies (organism or machine) in pursuit of social or political goals?

TAPS 28414, ARTV 24301/34301. Writing for Performance
Section 01     William Pope.L     MW 10:30-12:20pm    LC-802

This course is an exploration of select texts for performance written by performance artists primarily but not entirely operating within the context of art. Via historical context and literary technique, students read, discuss, and analyze texts by various authors spanning the history of performance art: Hugo Ball, John Cage, Richard Foreman, Carolee Schneeman, Joseph Beuys, Karen Finley, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, John Leguizamo, and create and perform their own writing. Field trips and attendance at first class are required.

TAPS 29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium.
Section 01     Leslie Danzig   F 12:30-3:20pm           LC-501

This two-quarter sequence is open only to fourth-year students who are majoring and/or minoring in theater and performance studies. Instructor Consent Required.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General
Section 01      Faculty           ABR

TAPS 36800, ENGL 36800. Imagining the Audience in Early Modern English Performance
Section 01     Ellen MacKay     TR 9:30-10:50am     RO-405

This course will explore the idea of the audience in early modern England by looking hard at the range and subtlety of its expressions, both from a distance and up close. At the outset, our remit will be digital/philological. We will track the concept of the collectivity across the EEBO corpus, looking for patterns of use and lexical innovation. We will also search the six (non-digitized) volumes of the Catalogue of British Drama. To prepare ourselves to make arguments on the basis of this work, we will consult methodological criticism on literary data mining and gain some hands-on experience with topic modeling, and possibly network visualization.

The second leg of the course will involve reading works and criticism that not only address and represent, but in some measure also theorize, the audience as collective entity, zone of conduct, mode of encounter, etc. Primary texts will likely include Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, The Roaring Girl (Middleton and Dekker), Bussy D’Ambois (Chapman) and some court masques, royal entries and mayoral pageants. Non-dramatic works will likely include The Art of the Courtier (Castiglione), The Gull’s Horn-book (Dekker), The Art of English Poesie (Puttenham) and possibly some political tracts and treatises of the interregnum. A few of our dramatic and critical choices will be decided by vote at the start of the quarter.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01     Devon de Mayo    TR   9:30-10:50am    BARS
Section 02     David New            TR 12:30-1:50pm      BARS
Section 03     David New            TR   2:00-3:20pm      BARS

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals
Section 01     Marti Lyons               M  12:30-3:20pm  BARS
Section 02     Thom Pasculli          TR  3:30-4:50pm    BARS
Section 03     Shade Murray           W 12:30-3:20pm   BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance
Section 01     David Levin           TR 11:00-12:20pm      LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course offers an introduction to a number of significant dramatic works and seminal figures in the theorization of theater and performance. But the course's aspirations go much further: we will be concentrating upon the intersection of interpretation and enactment, asking how these pieces appear on stage and why. This will not be merely descriptive work, but crucially it will be interpretive and physical work. Students will prepare and present applied interpretations—that is, interpretations that enable conceptual insights to take artistic form. Throughout, we will be searching for that elusive combination of philological rigor, theoretical sophistication, and creative inspiration—probing the theoretical stakes of creativity and testing the creative implications of analytic insights. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting
Section 01    Terrence Brown        W 9:30am-12:20pm        LC-603       

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20600. Adapting the Unadaptable
Section 01     Seth Bockley          W 9:30-12:20pm      LC-701

Fiction has always provided rich source material for drama. But much 20th and 21st century fiction can seem unadaptable—it is often sprawling, poetic, interior, fragmentary, or cerebral (or all of the above!). This hands-on course will challenge students to approach modern and contemporary literature with unconventional tools of staging, editing, and design. Students will also be introduced to the work of contemporary theater companies and productions that have taken on seemingly impossible adaptation projects, and closely study adaptations of Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, Virginia Woolf and others.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. 

TAPS 20700. Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism
Section 01     Derek Matson          R 3:30-6:20pm      LC-802

This course is an orientation and practicum in contemporary dramaturgy. After surveying Enlightenment treatises that occasioned Western dramaturgical practices, students will critically engage present-day writings that consider the objectives and ultimate raisons d’être for the production dramaturg. Students then undertake dramaturgical research, exploring different methodologies and creative mind-sets for four representative performance genres: period plays; new plays; operas or musicals; and installations or performance art. Special attention will be given to cultivating skills for providing constructive feedback and practicing dramaturgy as an artistic collaborator and fellow creator. The class culminates in the design and compilation of a sourcebook for actors, directors, and designers, followed by a dramaturgical presentation intended for a professional rehearsal room. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. 

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop
Section 01    Darci Nalepa      M 3:30-6:20pm    LC-501

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via REQUEST FORM.

TAPS 21715/31715. A Physical Approach to Acting
Section 01    Adrian Danzig     W 9:30am-12:30pm      LC-501

This course offers students a multi-faceted approach to making acting choices and tactics concrete, legible and dramatic—through physical training, adventurous scene work and developing a critical framework for understanding acting as a corporeal practice. The first half of each class will be dedicated to rigorous physical training building strength, extending range of motion, and developing skills, which may include head and handstands, juggling, balance, and basic tumbling. In the second half of each class, students will work on scenes with a focus on strong physical choices. Over the course of the quarter, students will research theater-makers and forms that approach physical theater in a variety of ways, and will attend one to two professional productions in Chicago. For questions about the physical fitness level necessary to be successful in this class, please email the instructor.

TAPS 22310/32310. Performance Art Installations: Performing Diaspora
Section 01     Pamela Pascoe          M 3:30-6:20pm      BARS

We are living in an age of unprecedented movements and migrations of populations, some voluntary, many under extreme duress. The course will focus on the lives of those who have in one form or another lived through this great displacement. On the basis of material developed through our examinations and experimentations, we will create a performance installation piece. The “archive” for the piece will be drawn from a variety of sources: plays, essays, popular and social media, student-conducted interviews. Further material will be generated through acting exercises and our own work with video and visual arts. By consent only (contact instructor by email). ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22510/32510. Performing Non-Fiction
Section 01    Leslie Danzig & Emily Lansana     M 12:30-3:20pm    LC-701

How do you create a performance out of non-fictional material, whether that be someone’s story, multiple stories, an occurrence, an investigation of a topic?  What are the methods for collecting non-fictional material, learning about someone else’s experience, uncovering the complexities of something that has occurred?  And how does one compose that material into a staged event?   This course explores challenging questions around what constitutes a story, the blurred boundaries between what’s ‘real’ and what’s ‘fiction’, the status of interpretation, the stakes of performing as oneself and as other people, and the ethics of turning lived experience into staged performance.  Students will work individually and collaboratively on creating original performances of non-fiction material, in addition to viewing live and recorded performances, reading essays and scripts, and talking directly with visiting local and international artists.  Open to undergraduate and graduate students.  Attendance at first class is mandatory.  For more information, please write directly to the instructors listed below.
Co-Instructors
Leslie Danzig (lbdanzig@uchicago.edu) is Assistant Professor of Practice in TAPS and a director of devised theater.   More info:  https://arts.uchicago.edu/theater-and-performance-studies/people/faculty/faculty.
Emily Hooper Lansana (elansana@uchicago.edu) is the Associate Director of Community Arts Engagement at the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. She performs with In the Spirit. She has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival, the National Association of Black Storytellers Festival, and at many venues. She enjoys passing on traditions as a coach and mentor with Ase Youth Group and Rebirth Poetry Ensemble. She received her BA in Theater Studies from Yale University and MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University.

TAPS 23100. Advanced Directing
Section 01     Will Davis & Charlie Newell          T 3:30-6:20pm      LC-501

This course will investigate the intersections of time, space, text and the body in the creation of performance. The coursework is structured to deconstruct all four ideas and practice their application through a range of scripted and unscripted projects.

TAPS 23110/33110. Directing Study
Section 01     Heidi Coleman       ARR

This seminar results from the production work of the quarter, with text analysis, dramaturgical reading, and discussions based on the participating MainStage directors. Typically initiating in weekly sessions the quarter prior to production, academic credit is given the quarter of production following a final written exam. Instructor Consent Required.

TAPS 23910. Advanced Playwriting Workshop
Section 01  E. Edele (Calamity West)    W 12:30-3:20p     LC-603

The goal of this playwriting workshop is for each student to end the quarter with a first draft of a full-length play. In addition to generating new material on a weekly basis, students will be expected to attend two Chicago-based productions for in-class discussion and criticism. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24400/34400. Circus Performance Lab
Section 01     Leslie Danzig     T 3:30–6:20pm    LC-701
 
Students will develop a fully realized original circus-theater performance piece to be presented at the end of the quarter. Theater-maker Leslie Danzig and visiting circus artist Amanda Crockett will lead this studio-based investigation into how to stage narrative texts through circus arts and physical theater vocabularies.  How do you stage scenes on trapeze? Through tumbling, juggling, rope climbing, dance choreography?  How do you compose these shorter scenes into a coherent production?  Previous experience with physical practices preferred (circus arts, gymnastics, athletics, dance). Beginners are also welcome.  Course will be customized to students’ backgrounds. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24415/34415. Games & Performance
Section 01     Heidi Coleman     M 9:30–12:20pm    LC-501

This experimental course explores the emerging genre of “immersive performance,” “alternate reality,” and “transmedia” gaming.  For all of their novelty, these games build on the narrative strategies of novels, the performative role-playing of theater, the branching techniques of electronic literature, the procedural qualities of videogames, and the team dynamics of sports.  Throughout the quarter, we will approach new media theory through the history, aesthetics, and design of immersive games, while working in labs with three Chicago-area companies including The House Theater, Mystery League, and Humans vs. Zombies. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27214/37214, ARTV 27214/37214. Art and Knowledge
Section 01     William PopeL., D. Roelstraete     T 9:30am-12:20pm    Midway 112

This course is an exploration of questions concerning the relationship between Art and knowledge. Is Art knowledge? Can Art create knowledge? If Art is neither knowledge nor creates knowledge, what is its function? These questions are discussed using themes: secrecy, rumor, ignorance and surveillance, and a corresponding set of artworks by a group of artists who utilize these approaches: Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Sophie Calle and Julia Scher, among others. We will also do close readings of essays relating to our themes, for example: texts on recent theories of ignorance as knowledge or Derrida's metaphysics of presence. To round out our discussions, students will participate in a series of hands-on art exercises to give our analyses more material form and further ‎exemplify our exploration.

TAPS 28000 Scenic Design
Section 01    Kurtis Boetcher    W 3:30-6:20pm     LC-501

This course is an exploration of various forms and processes of designing sets for theatrical performance. We pay particular attention to a cohesive reading of a text, contextual and historical exploration, and visual and thematic research, as well as the documentation needed to complete a show (e.g., model, drafting, paint elevations). We also explore, nominally, the history of stage design and look at major trends in modern stage design. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28406, ENGL 16600, FNDL 21404. Shakespeare II: Tragedies & Romances
Section 01     Ellen MacKay     TR 12:30pm - 1:50pm     RO 011

This course will explore a selection of seven or eight plays representing Shakespeare’s mature genres of Tragedy and Romance (the latter a posthumous designation). Like Shakespeare I, this course will examine Shakespeare’s plays as well as the history and limitations of their conceptualization. We will give special attention to the biographical, formal, theatrical, historical, and cultural implications that ensue from the sequencing of Shakespeare’s corpus, before trying out alternatives to the rise and fall paradigm.

TAPS 28438, ENGL 24408/44408. Before and After Becket: Theater and Theory
Section 01     Loren Kruger     TR 11:00am-12:20pm    Cobb 116

Beckett is conventionally typed as the playwright of minimalist scenes of unremitting bleakness but his experiments with theatre and film echo the irreverent play of popular culture (vaudeville on stage and screen eg.  Chaplin and Keaton) as well as experimental Theatre and modern philosophy, even when there are no direct lines of influence. This course will juxtapose these points of reference with Beckett’s plays and those of his contemporaries (Ionesco, Genet and others in French, Pinter in English. It will then explore more recent plays that suggest the influence of Beckett by Pinter, Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane in English, Albert Jarry and Michel Vinaver in French, as well as the relevance of theorists and philosophers include Barthes, Wittgenstein, and critics writing on specific plays.

TAPS 29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium.
Section 01     Leslie Danzig   F 12:30-3:20pm           LC-501

This two-quarter sequence is open only to fourth-year students who are majoring and/or minoring in theater and performance studies. Instructor Consent Required.

TAPS 48017, CLAS 48017, CDIN 48017, FREN 48017. Phaedras Compared: Adaptation, Gender, Tragic Form
Section 01     David Wray & Larry Norman     W 1:30pm - 4:20pm     JRL-207

This seminar places Racine’s French neoclassical tragedy Phaedra within a wide-ranging series of adaptations of the ancient myth, from its Greek and Latin sources (Euripides, Seneca, Ovid) to twentieth-century and contemporary translations and stage adaptations (Ted Hughes, Sarah Kane), read along with a series of theoretical and critical texts. Particular attention will be paid to critical paradigms and approaches in the evolving fields of classical reception studies, theater and performance studies, and gender studies. Reading knowledge of French strongly preferred.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01     Pamela Pascoe    TR   9:30-10:50am     BARS
Section 02     Pamela Pascoe    TR 11:00-12:20pm     BARS
Section 03     Shade Murray      TR    2:00-3:20pm      BARS
Section 04     Drew Dir                W   9:30-12:20pm     BARS

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals
Section 01     Thom Pasculli            M 9:30-12:20pm  BARS
Section 02     Devon de Mayo       TR 12:30-1:50pm  BARS
Section 03     David New                W 12:30-3:20pm  BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance
Section 01     Loren Kruger           TR  9:30-10:50am     LC-802
Section 02     Seth Bockley           TR  2:00-3:30pm      LC-701
Section 03     Shade Murray          W  12:30-3:20pm     LC-701

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course offers an introduction to a number of significant dramatic works and seminal figures in the theorization of theater and performance. But the course's aspirations go much further: we will be concentrating upon the intersection of interpretation and enactment, asking how these pieces appear on stage and why. This will not be merely descriptive work, but crucially it will be interpretive and physical work. Students will prepare and present applied interpretations—that is, interpretations that enable conceptual insights to take artistic form. Throughout, we will be searching for that elusive combination of philological rigor, theoretical sophistication, and creative inspiration—probing the theoretical stakes of creativity and testing the creative implications of analytic insights. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10500. Text & Performance: Staging Terror
Section 01   Heidi Coleman     TR 12:30-1:50pm       LC-501

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course explores the interplay between horror, terror, and pleasure through in-class discussions of theoretical works and the possibilities of practical creative application. The paradox of the attraction to repulsion will be considered as well as the values of shock, suspense, and subtlety. Texts will include Grand Guignol, Shakespeare, Gothic novels, and horror films.

TAPS 10700. Introduction to Stage Design
Section 01   Kurtis Boetcher    TR 11:00-12:20pm       LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20150. Tall Tales / Adapting Americana
Section 01     Seth Bockley    T 3:30 - 6:20pm      LC-701

How can American legends, ghost stories and tall tales be adapted for the twenty-first century stage? This hands-on course challenges students to consider American mythology and lore from multiple regional, historical and cultural vantage points. Starting with Washington Irving’s ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and ‘Rip van Winkle’, students will explore story theater staging techniques alongside writing and individual projects inspired by their own research. The class will also delve into field recordings, folk music, tabloids, and popular lore, and examine contemporary plays that find inspiration in urban legends and folk tales. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21730 Movement for Actors
Section 01    Devon de Mayo    M 12:30-3:20pm    BARS

This course will explore how an actor uses movement as a tool to communicate character, psychological perspective and style. The foundation of our movement work will center on the skills of balance, coordination, strength, flexibility, breath control and focus. Building on the skills of the actor both in terms of naturalistic character work and stylized theatrical text. Students will put the work into practice utilizing scene work and abstract gesture sequences through studying the techniques of Michael Chekov, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Anne Bogart, Complicite and Frantic Assembly. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22110/32110, GRMN 23110/32110, CMST 28310/38310. Kafka & Performance
Section 01   David Levin    W 3:30-6:20pm    LC-501
  
This laboratory seminar is devoted to exploring the texts of Franz Kafka through the lens of performance.  In addition to weekly scenic experiments and extensive critical readings (on Kafka as well as performance theory) we will explore the rich history of adapting Kafka in film, theater, puppetry, opera, and performance. Attendance at first class session is mandatory.

TAPS 23305, CMPL 23305. Directors and Directing: Theory, Stage, Text
Section 01    Michal Peles-Almagor    T/R 2:00-3:20pm       CL 113

Theater has always needed the concept of directing when staging a play. However, the role of the director as we know it has emerged only with the beginning of modern drama. This course will investigate the role of the director as an intersection between text, theory, and performance. The course explores the impact of the director in shaping modern drama, as well as critical approaches of literary and theatrical theory. We will deal not only with the historical development of the director’s role and textual interpretation, but also with the dynamics between theory and practice, and the changes in the concepts of space, acting, and performing. We will focus on approaches and writings by André Antoine, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Konstantin Stanislavski, Gordon Craig, Max Reinhardt, Jacques Copeau, Leopold Jessner, Erwin Piscator, Bertolt Brecht, and Samuel Beckett. We will examine these approaches in relation to literary theories of performativity (John Austin, John Searle, Judith Butler, Mikhail Bakhtin). We will also be interested in testing whether these theories match the practice, and discuss the potential of constructing a theory of acting, performing, and directing today.

TAPS 22318/32318, MUSC 22318/32318. Music and Disability Studies
Section 01     Jennifer Iverson

This course studies the ways that attitudes toward disability are constructed within a cultural sphere. From the perspective of disability studies, bodies and minds have many kinds of differences, but what is considered “disability” is determined by culture, not given by nature. Music, as well as film, literature, visual art, theatre, and so on, participate in the complex process of constructing and modulating attitudes toward disability. In this course, we will examine the interaction of disability and music in several ways: composers and performers whose creative production is shaped by bodily difference and disability; opera and film characters who embody and stage disability for our consumption; and more abstractly, music whose formal, sonic unfolding seems to engage issues of disability, even in purely instrumental art-pour-l’art works. We will read from the disability studies literature that critiques and theorizes disability themes in literature, film, and visual art, as well as musicology, music theory, and ethnomusicology literature that shows how disability themes are crucial in music. In this interdisciplinary class, students will gain a much more intimate understanding of the ways that attitudes toward abilities and bodies are constructed in art works, as well as be able to think, analyze, critique, write, and create with this understanding in mind. It is not necessary to read music notation for this course; for guidance, inquire with the instructor.

TAPS 23110/33110. Directing Study
Section 01     Heidi Coleman       ARR

This seminar results from the production work of the quarter, with text analysis, dramaturgical reading, and discussions based on the participating MainStage directors. Typically initiating in weekly sessions the quarter prior to production, academic credit is given the quarter of production following a final written exam. Instructor Consent Required.

TAPS 23610. Fundamentals of Musical Improv
Section 01      Julie Nichols, Matthew Van Colton          TH 3:30-6:20pm     LC-701

Learn story and song structure and game-in-song techniques using real theatre-driven emotional response preparation with working industry professionals Julie Nichols & Matthew Van Colton. This course explores the fundamental concepts of improvisation, comedic games and theatre-based techniques for on-the-spot musical improvisation. Students of all experiences and backgrounds are encouraged to enroll. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23810/33810. Playwriting: Crafting Meaning through Action and Image
Section 01   Aaron Carter   M 3:30-6:20pm   LC-603
    
In this course students will explore writing techniques that use plot, character conflict and heightened theatrical image to transform theme and subject into dynamic dramatic action. Students will read, analyze and discuss selected plays in order to identify the specific ways in which those texts make meaning. Selected texts will include Mr. Burns by Anne Washburn, We are Proud to Present… by Jackie Sibblies Drury,  Good People by David Lindsay Abaire and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Students will be given weekly writing assignments in which to explore these techniques through carefully constructed prompts. Each session will include reading and discussing these assignments. Through the course students will identify a theme or subject matter that interests them and develop that impulse into an outline for a full-length play. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24610/34610. Research and Performance: Mapping the Effect of Love
Section 01     Will Davis     M 3:30-6:20pm     LC-501

This course will function as a lab for a new performance currently titled: Country Line Dance Grandma. We will build a container for the world of this piece through a series of experiments involving country line dance and the two step waltz. The primary goal of this development phase is to investigate the ritual of moving together in these forms and explore what it means to build a geometry of love and desire. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24410/34410 Transmedia Puzzle Design & Performance
Section 01    Sandor Weisz    M 9:30-12:20am    LC - 603

This course will introduce students to the burgeoning field of immersive puzzle design. Students will develop, implement and playtest puzzles that are suited for a range of experiences: from the tabletop to the immersive, from online puzzle hunts to broad-scoped alternate reality games (ARG). Students in this course will work directly with master puzzler, Sandor Wiesz, the commissioner of The Mystery League. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25200 “Neo-Futurist” Performance Workshop
Section 01    Greg Allen            W 3:30- 6:20pm        LC-701

This course is a hands-on introduction to Neo-Futurism - a method of transforming your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences into creative, task-oriented, audience-participatory, non-illusory, unique theatrical events. Students will be encouraged to find their own voice as fully rounded theater artists by writing, directing and performing their own short performances using their own lives as source material. By pursuing the goal of absolute truth on stage, the class will focus on an alternative to narrative Realism by embracing such elements as deconstruction, found-text, collage, abstraction, synthesis, and chaos. Classes will consist of original group exercises as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25910 Short Form Digital Storytelling: Creating a Web Series
Section 01      Terrance Brown    W 9:30-12:20pm   LC-603

This course examines the short form storytelling of the digital web series. Through lectures, viewings and discussions in weekly meetings students will determine what makes a strong web series and apply the findings to writing and polishing the pilot episode of their own web series. Students will write weekly 4-5 page assignments building toward the creation of a 5-6 episode series. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26217/36217, FREN 26217/36217. History of the French Theater from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
Section 01     Julien Perrier-Chartrand

Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, the French theater experienced a period of remarkable effervescence. The tragedy is renewed by Étienne Jodelle’s Cléopâtre captive (1553), pastoral and tragicomedy enjoy unprecedented popularity, comedy is forever transformed by the representation of L’école des femmes (1663), the lyric theater and comic-opera acquire their respective specificities and the bourgeois drama meets its first successes. This course of History of the French Theater from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment proposes to examine the poetics of each of these genres in the context of the great aesthetic currents of the period (humanism, baroque and classicism). While emphasizing that the plays produced during the three centuries studied are still dependent on ancient and medieval sources, this panorama will show how the genius of certain authors—as well as the quarrels aroused by the moral and intellectual opposition to the dramatic art—contributes to the development of one of the most brilliant and acclaimed theater in Europe.

TAPS 26310/36310. Dramaturgical Investigations of Antigone: Violence and Resistance
Section 01     Freddie Rokem (with Amy Stebbins, pending)     TH 3:30-6:20p     LC-501

This course aims at re-imagining the procedural role of 'research' in the creation of a new work of theater. We will focus on the multifaceted historical, philosophical and performative traditions of Sophocles' Antigone and its depiction of a confrontational ideological and political situation where a young woman opposes an oppressive political  leader over the  legal right to bury and mourn her dead brother who has been killed in a meaningless war. Besides studying previous productions (Bertolt Brecht and Ulrich Rasche), adaptations (Jean Anouilh), films (Liliana Cavani and Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub) and interpretations (Jacques Lacan and Judith Butler), as well as texts on violence (Walter Benjamin and Hanna Arendt) and resistance (Frantz Fanon)—investigating the possibilities for making this drama meaningful on the stages of our own time—Antigone will also serve as a point of departure for exploring some of the basic workings of a theatre performance, its 'dispositive', as expressed by individual and choral acting and the uses of theatrical space.

The final aim of the course is to provide the tools for a self-reflective dramaturgical process where academic research methodologies, philosophical thinking and artistic creativity are combined and where the contexts within which these investigations are developed can be come meaningfully integrated in theoretical/academic as well as in creative contexts.

TAPS 26515/36515, EALC 26515/36515. Literature of the Fantastic and Operatic Adaptation
Section 01     Judith Zeitlin

This co-taught interdisciplinary course, offered through the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, explores literature of the fantastic (here including ghost stories and fairy tales) and the adaptation of such materials into opera, primary “Western-style” opera but also including some examples from Chinese opera. We will read some theoretical essays on adaptation, trans- or re-mediality, and the uncanny, but our focus will be on concrete examples and the historical arc of their transformation (which often entailed at least one intermediary step from story to play on the way to opera). This history, as in the famous case of Turandot, often involves an interesting chain of East-West crossings, misappropriations, and reappropriations; Chinoiserie has been a potent force in the history of Western opera and in a new form, is currently in vogue again (at least judging from the recent proliferation of Chinese-themed Western style or fusion operas being created and staged). We will select several specific operas or excerpts from opera as cases, reading their libretti, studying their music, and watching select productions on recorded media.

For their final project, students will have several options: 1) for musicians: composition of a short piece of text set to music, either working with the composer’s own original text or a preexisting text or collaborating with another student in the class to write the libretto and dramaturgical outline; 2) for creative writers: option of independently creating a libretto and dramaturgical outline; 3) for students in TAPS: option of designing a (hypothetical) stage production, either of an existing opera, or in collaboration with composers and or/ librettist; or 4) for students in any discipline: an academic paper on some aspect related to the subjects of the class.

TAPS 26330/36330. The Appearance of Gods, Angels and Ghosts in Modern Drama and Theater and on the Screen
Section 01     Freddie Rokem     TR 11:00-12:20pm     LC-603

Beginning with Aristotle there has always been a strong resistance to the appearance of gods (deus ex machina) as well as other supernatural figures on the stage. In spite of this, a wide range of supernatural figures both in drama and theatre, as well as on the movie screen, have always thrived. After studying the historical roots of the appearance of such supernatural figures the focus will be directed toward modern drama and theatre, as well as the movie screen. We will study selections from the work of playwrights like Ibsen, Strindberg, Pirandello, Brecht and Kushner and contemporary productions of classical plays like Medea and Hamlet. Examples of this phenomenon on the screen, focusing on directors like Ingmar Bergman and Wim Wenders will also be discussed. And we will begin by raising a question that will literally haunt us throughout the course: In which sense do we have to 'believe' in ghosts in order to enjoy or even understand a (good) performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet or even be able to read it? Attendance at first class session is MANDATORY.

TAPS 27500 Costume Design for the Stage
Section 01     Carolyn Ratke   T 3:30-6:20pm      LC-501

In this course, students will learn the basics of designing costumes for theatrical productions, encompassing the skills of text and character analysis, theatrical rendering and sketching, and developing a strong point of view for storytelling through clothing. Students will explore the vocabulary and visual impact of the elements and principles of design, and dive into the relationship between physical expression and visual expression on stage. Through various physical and creative exercises, students will come to understand and experience the process intrinsic to producing costumes for the theater, analyze the production needs related to costumes, and prepare a finalized costume design for a theatrical production. Attendance at first class session is MANDATORY.

TAPS 28100. Lighting Design for the Stage
Section 01     Mike Durst         M 12:30-3:20pm     LC-501

This course places equal emphasis on the theory and practice of modern stage lighting. Students learn the mechanical properties of lighting equipment; how to create, read, and execute a lighting plot; the functions of lighting in a theatrical context; color and design theory; and how to read a text as a lighting designer. Attendance at first class session is MANDATORY.

TAPS 28320/38320. The Mind as Stage: Podcasting
Section 01     Sarah Geis         W 12:30-3:20pm     LC-603

Audio storytelling insinuates itself into the day-to-day unlike other narrative forms. People listen to podcasts while they do the dishes, drive to work, or walk the dog. This hands-on course will explore the unique opportunities that this intimate relationship with an audience affords the storyteller. Documentary techniques and practices will form the basis of the course, with assignments from audio fiction and non-fiction, oral history, documentary theater, and comedy. Students will complete several short audio exercises and one larger podcast project. Attendance at first class session is MANDATORY.

TAPS 28431, ENGL 24412, SIGN 26020. Theater about Theater
Section 01     John Muse

This course is a transhistorical study of changing ideas about representation, explored through the lens of early modern and twentieth-century plays that foreground theatrical form. Every play frames time and space and in the process singles out a portion of life for consideration. The plays we will consider this term call conspicuous attention to the frame itself, to the materials and capacities of theater. What happens when plays comment on their own activity? Why might they do so? Why has theatrical self-consciousness emerged more strongly in particular historical periods? What might such plays teach us about the nature of art, and about the nature of life? To what extent can we distinguish between art and life? We’ll explore these and other questions through plays by Marlowe, Kyd, Shakespeare, Maeterlinck, Pirandello, Brecht, Beckett, Genet, Peter Weiss, Handke, Levine, and Baker; and through theoretical work by Abel, Puchner, Hornby, Sofer, Fuchs, and others.

TAPS 28467, MUSI 24417. Making and Meaning in the American Musical
Section 01     Thomas Christensen     TR 9:30-10:50am     LC-901

The history of the American Musical in the 20th century is paradoxical. While the genre is one often denigrated as staging lyrical utopias of Romance and adventure allowing audiences to escape depressing quotidian realities, many musicals did seek to engage some of the most pressing social issues of their day. In this course, we will look—and listen—closely to four differing musicals from the 20th century, studying their creative origins, while also analyzing their complex social meanings revealed through the story, music, lyrics, staging, and dance.

TAPS 28479/34879. Theater and Performance in Latin America
Section 01     Danielle Roper

What is performance? How has it been used in Latin America and the Caribbean? This course is an introduction to theatre and performance in Latin America and the Caribbean that will examine the intersection of performance and social life. While we will place particular emphasis on performance art, we will examine some theatrical works. We ask: how have embodied practice, theatre and visual art been used to negotiate ideologies of race, gender and sexuality? What is the role of performance in relation to systems of power? How has it negotiated dictatorship, military rule, and social memory? Ultimately, the aim of this course is to give students an overview of Latin American performance including blackface performance, indigenous performance, as well as performance and activism. This course will be taught in English. Also listed as SPAN 39117, LACS 29117, LACS 39117, GNSE 29117, GNSE 39117, CRES 29117, CRES 39117.

TAPS 28702/38702, ITAL 28702/38702. Italian Comic Theater
Section 01     Rocco Rubini

A survey of the history of Italian theatre from the Erudite Renaissance Comedy to Goldoni’s reform. We will pay particular attention to the tradition of commedia dell’arte (scenarios, stock characters, and plot formation), ancient and medieval influences, evolution and emancipation of female characters, and the question of language. Readings include works by Plautus, Ariosto, Machiavelli, Angelo Beolco (Ruzante), Flaminio Scala, and Goldoni. Toward the end of the course we will consider the legacy of Italian Comedy in relation to the birth of grotesque and realist drama in Pirandello.

TAPS 32312, ENGL 32312. Virtual Theaters
Section 01     John Muse

This course probes the nature and limits of theater by exploring a range of theatrical texts whose relation to performances are either partially or fully virtual. Like the works we will read, the course transgresses disciplinary, generic, and temporal boundaries, bringing together from various centuries philosophical dialogues (Plato), closet dramas, novel chapters in dramatic form (Melville’s Moby-Dick, Joyce’s Ulysses), radio drama, nonsense drama, and new media forms that test conventional definitions of theatrical performance: twitter theater, digital theater, algorithmic theater, and transmedia games. ADVANCED UNDERGRADS ADMITTED WITH CONSENT OF THE INSTRUCTOR.

TAPS 40305, GRMN 40305. Oedipus & Hamlet: Philosophy of Tragedy
Section 01     David Wellbery

In this class we will consider closely attempts to understand tragedy philosophically. Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, two texts that have particularly attracted philosophical attention will serve as constant reference points, but other paradigmatic tragedies (Euripides Bacchae, Goethe’s Faust, Beckett’s Endgame) will also be considered. Among the philosophical contributions to be considered are works by Aristotle, Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Scheler, Schmitt, Benjamin, Murdoch, and Menke. Major issues to be dealt with: the structure of tragic plot; the tragic affects; catharsis; ancient and modern tragedy; tragedy and the tragic; the aesthetics of tragedy; tragedy and society; tragedy and the sacred.

TAPS 41451, EALC 41451. Palace of Lasting Life: History, Drama, Fantasy
Section 01     Judith Zeitlin

This course covers the history of Chinese theater from its emergence as a full-fledged art  form in the 10th-11th centuries (the Northern Song) up through its incorporation into modern urban life and nationalist discourse in the first decades of the 20th century (the Republican period). In addition to reading selections from masterpieces of Chinese dramatic literature such as Orphan of Zhao, Romance of the Western Chamber, The Peony Pavilion, we will pay particular attention to the different types of venues, occasions, and performance practices associated with different genres of opera at different moments in time. A central theme will be the changing status of the entertainer and the cultural meanings assigned to acting.  All texts to be read in English translation, but students are also encouraged to read Chinese texts in the original if feasible.

TAPS 44500, ENGL 44500, CMST 36200, CMPL 40500. Brechtian Representations: Theatre, Theory, Cinema
Section 01     Loren Kruger

Brecht is indisputably the most influential playwright in the 20th century, but his influence on film theory and practice and on cultural theory generally is also considerable. In this course we will explore the range and variety of Brecht's own theatre, from the anarchic plays of the 1920's to the agitprop Lehrstück and film esp Kühle Wampe) to the classical parable plays, as well as the work of his heirs in German theatre (Heiner Müller, Peter Weiss) and film (RW Fassbinder, Alexander Kluge), in French film (Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker)), film and theatre in Britain (Mike Leigh), theatre and film in Africa, from South Africa  to Senegal, and a rare US Brechtian response to the 2008 crisis, The Big Short. Crucially for graduate critical work: we will also give due attention to the often unacknowledged impact of Brecht’s theorizing on a range of genres and media on his better known contemporaries Adorno, Benjamin, Lukács as well as on cultural theory elsewhere from the Situationists to the digital labor.
Requirements: oral presentations; short midterm and final research paper
Designed for: MAPH or HUM PhD; MFA with prior permission of instructor

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01     David New    TR 1:30-2:50pm      BARS

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals
Section 01     Pamela Pascoe       TR 10:30-11:50am  BARS
Section 02     Pamela Pascoe       TR 12:00-1:20pm    BARS
Section 03     Leslie Danzig           TR  9:00-10:20am   LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance
Section 01     Shade Murray           W 12:00-2:50pm      LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300-02. Text and Performance
Section 02     David Levin               TR 1:30-2:50pm       LC-701

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course offers an introduction to a number of important works for the stage and a number of important theorists of theater and performance. Initially, we will do what seminars in the Humanities tend to do – carefully examining texts, trying to determine what they are up to and how they are up to it.  But we will quickly veer into less familiar territory, concentrating upon the work of enactment, asking how these pieces should appear on stage.  This will not be merely descriptive work, but crucially it will be interpretive and physical work.  Thus, I will be asking you to prepare and present applied interpretations–interpretations that will take form on stage. Experience in dramatic analysis or performance are not required. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. This class meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Workshops in dramatic technique, group rehearsals, and attendance at performances at Chicago theaters, outside of class time, are required. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10700 Introduction to Stage Design
Section 01   Jessica Wardell     TR 10:30-11:50am                 LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting
Section 01 John Petrakis               T 3:30-6:20pm         LC-603

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 16550 Shakespeare’s History Plays
Section 01     David Bevington          MW 1:30-02:50pm

This course on Shakespeare's English history plays will adopt an unusual stratagem of reading the plays in order of the historical events they depict: that is, starting with King John, who ruled England from 1199 until his death in 1216, down to Henry VIII (1509-47), the father of Queen Elizabeth. The emphasis will be on the great plays, Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and II, Henry V, and Richard III. My hope is that this approach will enable us to explore Shakespeare's concept of English history over a large sweep of time.

TAPS 21800. Creating a Musical Revue
Section 01     Julie Nichols                        T 3:00-5:50pm         LC-501

This course is open to students looking to deepen and explore their relationship with music, song writing, theatrical creation and collaboration. Students will be required to attend three or four performances throughout Chicago, and become familiar with a listening, reading and watching list.
Focusing on songwriting and collaboration, though previous song writing experience is not a requirement. Goals are to explore the nature of songwriting and musical theater, and the relationship between music and storytelling. At the end of the course, students will stage performances of their collaboratively developed, original musical revue. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23400 Visual Language: On Time and Space
Section 01 Catherine Sullivan                  T 9:30- 12:20pm LC-003

Through studio work and critical discussion on four-dimensional form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of the moving image, performance, and/or the production of digital-based media. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as but not limited to narrative, mechanical reproduction, verisimilitude, historical tableaux, time and memory, the body politic, and the role of the author can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Some sections focus solely on performance; others incorporate moving image technology. Please check the time schedule for details. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week in order to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0. Note(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, and 10300 may be taken in sequence or individually. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Previous experience in media-based studio courses not accepted as a substitute for this course.
First week attendance required. PINK SLIP/WAITLIST REQUESTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 9/19/16 at this link: http://dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0

TAPS 23700 Playwriting:  Creating Natural Dialogue for the Stage
Section 01     Evan Linder  M 3:00-5:50pm         LC-501

This course employs collaboration among the students to help each individual writer create natural dialogue for the stage. Students will utilize improvisation to write a contemporary scene focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication. Through these improvisations, the students create a framework for their narrative with a special focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays which emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explore the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write two complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24100 Aristophanes: Analyzing and Adapting
Section 01 Sean Graney                M 12:00-2:50pm      LC-501

This course will examine the eleven extant plays of Aristophanes, the master of Old Comedy while concurrently analyzing an early-draft conjoined-adaptation of the eleven plays written by the instructor called the Aristophanesathon. Through critical analysis of the texts, both old and new, we will create a method for looking at these Ancient Greek comedies with immediacy, empathy and hopefully humor. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IN MANDATORY.

TAPS 24200 Performance Curation and Cultural Production
Section 01 Shoshona Currier       R 3:00-5:50pm         LC-603

The current landscape of curatorial practices and models for cultural production in the contemporary performance world is a unique and ever-evolving environment. Utilizing the experiences of the instructor and special guests and the resources of the Chicago performance scene, this course will provide students with the knowledge and skills to build their curatorial practice and expand their knowledge of Chicago's cultural resources, building a foundation to support a sustained career in cultural production. Students will engage in critical dialogue about their own curatorial work as well as other’s work, examining the most relevant models for funding and producing work, alternative models of artist support, and  the range of skills (from budgeting to crafting an articulate curatorial statement) that are necessary to support a life in the contemporary performance world. A large portion of the coursework will include seeing live performances around Chicago and viewing national and international performances online. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IN MANDATORY.

TAPS 25200 “Neo-Futurist” Performance Workshop
Section 01    Greg Allen            W 3- 5:50pm        LC-501

This course is a hands-on introduction to Neo-Futurism - a method of transforming your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences into creative, task-oriented, audience-participatory, non-illusory, unique theatrical events. Students will be encouraged to find their own voice as fully rounded theater artists by writing, directing and performing their own short performances using their own lives as source material. By pursuing the goal of absolute truth on stage, the class will focus on an alternative to narrative Realism by embracing such elements as deconstruction, found-text, collage, abstraction, synthesis, and chaos. Classes will consist of original group exercises as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26100 Dance Composition

Section 01 Julia Rhoads              M 3:00-5:50pm         LC- 701

In this course, dance making is approached through the basic elements of space, time, shape, and dynamics, as well as a variety of choreographic processes including improvisation, thematic development, abstraction, and musical phrasing.  Working alone, in duets, or small groups, students will create short choreographic studies in response to a variety of assigned exercises.  These studies will build skills in generating material for a final choreographic project. In addition to choreographic exercises, students will view videos of historical and contemporary choreographers from a variety of styles, and write about their own and others' work as a way to develop skills in constructive criticism. Short readings will also supplement physical work.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26900 Miniature Theater: Production & Performance
Section 01    Frank Maugeri     W 3:00-5:50pm     LC-701

"Miniature Theater" is an exploration of intimate theater inspired by the traditions of "toy theater" - a medium defined by highly stylized performance, miniature scale images, object manipulation and small scale puppetry. While there will be readings, class discussions, and lectures (focusing on the history, culture, theory and literature of miniatures, object performance and puppetry), this is primarily a PRODUCTION and PERFORMANCE-based course, and as such we will focus on creating miniature worlds, toy theatre puppets and original short performance pieces. Previous performance experience is not necessary. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27100 Scene Painting
Section 01   Jessica Wardell    W 12-2:50pm       LC-111 (Logan Shop)

This course is designed to introduce students to the theatrical art of scenic painting for the stage and film. A scenic artist is the hand of the theatrical designer, translating the small scale of the designer’s rendering into full size theatrical environments. In this course, students will explore the unique tools and techniques used by scenic artists to create scenery. The end result of this class will be a basic mastery of painting “faux” surfaces and an understanding of how a scenic artist transforms the designer’s ideas into realized pieces of theatrical art. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27900 Shopcraft: Methods and Materials
Section 01     David Wolf     MW 10:30-12:20pm            LC-111

Designed as a complementary course to the DOVA sculpture sequence, Shopcraft explores the tools and techniques available to students in the wood shop. Topics covered include shop safety; the properties of woods; the planning and material selection process for sculpture, furniture, and other woodworking applications; the care and use of hand tools; and interpreting and creating scale drawings and conceptual plans. A series of small projects designed to challenge and expand students' design, drafting, and woodworking skills are assigned. In addition, students are invited to incorporate projects from sculpture classes or their individual studio practice into the course. Prerequisite(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, or 10300

TAPS 28414 Writing for Performance
Section 01      L.Pope          MW 10:30-12:20p                  LC-802

This course is an exploration of select texts for performance written by performance artists primarily but not entirely operating within the context of art. Via historical context and literary technique, students read, discuss, and analyze texts by various authors spanning the history of performance art: Hugo Ball, John Cage, Richard Foreman, Carolee Schneeman, Joseph Beuys, Karen Finley, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, John Leguizamo, and create and perform their own writing. Field trips and attendance at first class are required. Prerequisite(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, or 10300

TAPS 28466 Alternate Reality Games:  Theory and Production
Section 01     P. Jagoda, H. Coleman      TR 12:00-1:20pm    LC-501

This experimental course explores the emerging genre of “alternate reality” or “transmedia” gaming. Throughout the quarter, we will approach new media theory through the history, aesthetics, and design of transmedia games. For all of their novelty, these games build on the narrative strategies of novels, the performative role-playing of theater, the branching techniques of electronic literature, the procedural qualities of videogames, and the team dynamics of sports. Beyond the subject matter, this course is a springboard for transforming the 2017 orientation for the incoming class of approximately 1,500 first-year students into an alternate reality game. Students in this course, thus, will not only be learning how to design a game but also contributing directly to the research and construction of this large-scale project. Building on this interdisciplinary research, we intend to design the University of Chicago orientation as a game that might help undergraduate students acclimate to the University setting and develop capacities linked to collaboration, leadership, and twenty-first century literacies. In particular, we are interested in discovering how interactive and participatory learning methods might help University students discuss and better understand complicated issues of inclusivity, diversity, and safety. Instructor consent is required. To apply, see prerequisite below. Once given consent, attendance on first day is mandatory. Instructor consent required. To apply, submit writing through online form at http://bigproblems.uchicago.edu; see course description. Once given consent, attendance on the first day is mandatory. Questions: mb31@uchicago.edu. Note(s): English majors: this course fulfills the Theory (H) distribution requirement. Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 20700,ARTV 30700,ENGL 25970,ENGL 32314,TAPS 28466,CMST 25954,CMST 35954           

28500-29600. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. Interested students should contact the TAPS office.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting. 

TAPS 28600. Advanced Study: Directing.

TAPS 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting.

TAPS 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design.

TAPS 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design.

TAPS 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design.

TAPS 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography.

TAPS 29200. Advanced Study: Dance.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General.

TAPS 29400. Advanced Study: Stage Management. 

TAPS 29500. Advanced Study: Directing Study. 

TAPS 29700. Advanced Study: Production Management. 

TAPS 29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium.
Section 01 Leslie Danzig   F 2-5pm                  LC- 501

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01   David New            TR Noon-1:20pm                     BARS
Section 02   David New            TR 1:30-2:50pm                       BARS

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals
Section 01   Devon De Mayo   TR 10:30-11:50am          BARS


Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance.

Section 01   Devon De Mayo      M Noon-2:50pm   LC-701
Section 02   Seth Bockley        TR Noon- 1:20pm  LC-603

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500/ CRWR 27102. Beginning Screenwriting
Section 01   John Petrakis        T 3:30pm- 6:20pm        LC-603       

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 18600. Introduction to Puppetry. 
Section 01  Jessica Wardell            W Noon-2:50pm             LC-501

In this course we will explore the varied performance types of puppetry. While there will be readings, class discussions, and lectures focusing on the history, culture, theory and literature of puppetry. This is primarily a production and performance-based course, and as such we will focus on creating puppets and short performance pieces. Previous performance experience is not necessary. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20700. Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.
Section 01 Derek Matson          W Noon – 2:50pm     
LC-701

This course is an orientation and practicum in contemporary dramaturgy. After surveying Enlightenment treatises that occasioned Western dramaturgical practices, students will critically engage present-day writings that consider the objectives and ultimate raisons d’être for the production dramaturg. Students then undertake dramaturgical research, exploring different methodologies and creative mind-sets for four representative performance genres: period plays; new plays; operas or musicals; and installations or performance art. Special attention will be given to cultivating skills for providing constructive feedback and practicing dramaturgy as an artistic collaborator and fellow creator. The class culminates in the design and compilation of a sourcebook for actors, directors, and designers, followed by a dramaturgical presentation intended for a professional rehearsal room. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop
Section 01   Conor Woods      M Noon-2:50pm    LC- 501

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via REQUEST FORM.

TAPS 22100. Solo Performance
Section 01    Vanessa Stalling   M 3-5:50pm   BARS

Prior solo work not required. Students will immerse themselves in the theatrical art of solo performance and develop their own solo pieces through in-class and take-home assignments. We will explore the art form as text that is both written and embodied through live performance. Students will discover that “solo performance” is a broad descriptor and includes storytelling, performance art, monologue, character-based work, and stand-up comedy. The classroom will become our laboratory where students will develop, experiment, and demonstrate a proficiency in diverse performance skills, including the following: the generation of storytelling moments through physicality, the innovative use of objects and images as storytelling devices, the ability to explore various vocal ranges, and the ability to empathize and therefore step into the shoes of another. These skills will be developed through individual and collaborative group work. When possible, students will attend live solo performances in the city of Chicago. Assignments will include selected readings, written responses, and the generation of an original solo performance that each student will stage at the culmination of the course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22300 Performance Art Installation:  The Dreamer and the Dream
Section 01    Pamela Pascoe     T 3:00pm-5:50pm              BARS

In this course we will explore the relations between dreaming and waking life using a broad interdisciplinary approach. Our point of departure will be psychological, cultural, and religious understandings of dreams. On the basis of the readings and the skills and backgrounds of participants, the class will develop a “performance installation” around the liminal spaces of dream and wakefulness. Readings will include literary texts by Apuleius, Calderon, Shakespeare, Schnitzler, and Neil Gaimen and theoretical texts by Freud, Jung, Klein, and Winnicott. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22600/32600. Chance in Performance
Section 01   Annie Dorsen    TR 10:30-11:50am  LC- 501

The course will cover the historical, theoretical and practical issues surrounding the use of chance in artistic production, with an emphasis on how these techniques have been used in live performance. We begin with the historical avant-garde, particularly Dada and Duchamp, continue with mid-century experiments by Cage/Cunningham and Fluxus artists, and finish with contemporary work like “No Dice” of Nature Theatre of Oklahoma and “Algorithmic Noir” by Eve Sussman. By creating performance projects using, or responding to, the techniques studied, students will have an opportunity to develop their own critical and practice-based point of view. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23000. Introduction to Directing
Section 01 Shade Murray      T 3-5:50pm  LC-501

This course employs a practice in the fundamental theory of play direction and the role of the director in collaboration with the development of textual analysis. By examining five diversely different texts and using the director supported play analysis, Backwards and Forwards, students will begin developing a method of directing for the stage in support of the written text. In alternating weeks, students will implement textual analysis in building an understanding of directorial concept, theme, imagery and staging through rehearsal and in-class presentations of three-minute excerpts from the play analysis the previous week. The class will culminate with a final five-minute scene combining the tools of direction with a method of analysis devised over the ten-week course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23400/ ARTV 10300/ CMST 10300 Visual Language: On Time and Space
Section 01     Pope L. William         TuTh  1:30-3:20pm        LC- 802
Section 02     Catherine Sullivan     TH  9:30am-12:20pm    LC-003
Section 03     Catherine Sullivan     TH  1:30pm- 4:20pm     LC- 003

Through studio work and critical discussion on four-dimensional form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of the moving image, performance, and/or the production of digital-based media. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as but not limited to narrative, mechanical reproduction, verisimilitude, historical tableaux, time and memory, the body politic, and the role of the author can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Some sections focus solely on performance; others incorporate moving image technology. Please check the time schedule for details. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week in order to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0. Note(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, and 10300 may be taken in sequence or individually. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Previous experience in media-based studio courses not accepted as a substitute for this course.

TAPS 23900. Playwriting: Sketch to Play
Section 01 Evan Linder               M 3-5:50pm   LC-701

This course follows a story from outline to sketch to short play. Using improvisation with their fellow classmates, writers will create sketches that will be the foundation for a short play. These improvisations will help each writer learn more about the characters they are writing, helping a stock character in a sketch grow to a fully dimensional character for their short play. Classes will include roundtable discussions and active improvisation with their classmates. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write three complete sketches and one short play that will receive a reading by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS  24900 Performance Lab: Walkabout Theater
Section 01 Thom Pasculli          Th 3-5:50pm     LC- 501

Working with Walkabout Theater Company this course commits to developing a fully realized performance piece within the ten weeks of the quarter.  Immersive in intent and demand, writing and performance skills will be developed by participants for participants.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26400/36400 / GRMN 26400/36401  Post -Dramatic Theater
Section 01  David J. Levin, Seth Bockley   Th 3-5:50pm   LC-701

This class sets out to explore the gamut of contemporary experimental theater, encompassing its varied theories and practices. Using Hans-Thies Lehmann’s path-breaking study *Postdramatic Theatre* as an ongoing point of reference, we consider a diverse array of practices from an eclectic group of artists spanning a broad range of eras and theatrical cultures (e.g., Annie Dorsen, Elevator Repair Service, Forced Entertainment, Richard Foreman, Heiner Müller, Theater Oobleck, SheShePop, Robert Wilson) in a format that encompasses seminar-style discussion and laboratory-style practical experimentation. Team-taught by Seth Bockley (Chicago-based director) and David Levin (Chair of TAPS). ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26500/36500 The Contemporary Sublime
Section 01   Annie Dorsen   W 3-5:50pm    LC-501

This class uses Annie Dorsen's upcoming performance project “The Great Outdoors” as a frame within which to explore contemporary notions of the sublime as both an aesthetic and a political imaginary. Our readings include a survey of the classic texts (Longinus, Burke, Kant) as well as modern and contemporary writers (Lyotard, Nye, Costa) as a way into formulating hypotheses about the position of the sublime in our hyper-linked and environmentally fragile era. Practice-based experiments and exercises will respond to the readings, offering an opportunity to test ideas against their applications. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27800. Story through Music and Sound
Section 01  Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen              M 3-5:50pm            LC- 501
                                                                        M 3:30-5:50pm       LC- 003

This course will explore ways in which music and sound can be used to tell and support a story in the theatre. We will examine how in the simplest moment to the more layered and complex, music and sound are used to create time, place or emotional context.  We will analyze the connections of plot, dialogue, music and sound in the theatre.   We will also be learning the basics of Pro Tools and sound system design enabling us to create our own audio productions interacting with live performance. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28402 / ENGL 10950  Approaches to Theatre I:  Ancient to Renaissance
Section 01   John Muse    TuTh  12:00pm-1:20pm   

A survey of key concepts and trends in Western and non-Western theater from the ancient Greeks through the Renaissance, the course offers its students tools to understand and interpret dramatic literature and theatrical performance. We will read plays and performances closely, taking into account form, character, plot, and genre, but also staging, acting, spectatorship, and historical conventions. In the process we will ask how various agents—playwrights, directors, performers, and audiences—generate plays and give them meaning, and students will become agents themselves by devising and performing scenes as a parallel mode of interpretation. No experience making theater required.

TAPS 28406 / ENGL 16600  /  FNDL 21404 Shakespeare-2: Tragedies/Romances
Section 01   Timothy Harrison   TuTh  1:30-2:50pm      

This course explores some of the major plays in the genres of tragedy and romance in the latter half of Shakespeare’s career. After having examined how Shakespeare develops and deepens the conventions of tragedy in Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Antony and Cleopatra, we will turn our attention to how he complicates and even subverts these conventions in three romances: Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest. Throughout, we will treat the plays as literary texts, performance prompts, and historical documents. Section attendance is required.

TAPS 28444 / ARTV 10100 Visual Language: On Images
Section 01   Lauren Beck          MW 1:30-3:20pm   LC-401
Section 02   Nicole Mauser       TuTh 1:30-3:20pm  LC-401
Section 03   Carol Jackson       MW 10:30am -12:20pm  LC-108

Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, illusion, analogy, metaphor, time and memory, nature and culture, abstraction, the role of the author, and universal systems can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0. Note(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, and 10300 may be taken in sequence or individually. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Previous experience in media-based studio courses not accepted as a substitute for this course. First week attendance required. PINK SLIP/WAITLIST REQUESTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 12/18/2016 at this link: http://dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0

TAPS 28455/ ARTV 10200 Visual Language: On Objects
Section 01   Carol Jackson     MW 1:30-3:20pm  LC-108

Through studio work and critical discussions on 3D form, this course is intended to reveal the conventions of sculpture while investigating its modes of production. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, platonic form, analogy, metaphor, verisimilitude, abstraction, nature and culture, and the body politic can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0. Note(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, and 10300 may be taken in sequence or individually. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Previous experience in media-based studio courses not accepted as a substitute for this course.

TAPS 28469/ EALC 24333/ 34333 Actors and Playwrights in Chinese Theater
Section 01   Judith Zeitlin    MW 3-4:20pm   TBA

Before there were playwrights, there were actors. In the Chinese case, representations of actors found in tombs or paintings (10th-11th c.) predate any extant plays; but by the 13th century, playwrights like Guan Hanqing were already producing literary masterpieces with courtesan-actresses starring in big public urban theaters. With each subsequent era and dramatic genre, the algorithm governing the relative importance of actors and playwrights shifts. This course will examine the development of Chinese theater up to the present day through a focus on the changing dynamics between actors and playwrights, troupes and patrons, public and private theatrical spaces. Thematic clusters to be explored include 1) dramatic character/role type/ actor/ star; 2) cross-dressing/gender/ sexuality; 4) text/ performance/visual images; and 5) plays within plays.  We will read works such as The Injustice to Dou E (14th c.), The Peony Pavilion (1598), The Peach Blossom Fan (1699), Guan Hanqing (1958), and Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land  (1986). Students may have the option of doing a creative final project in lieu of a final paper. All texts to be read in English translation, but students with Chinese are encouraged to read materials in the original.
No prereq, but previous courses on China or on theater would be helpful.

TAPS 28479/38479 / SPAN 29117/39117 / LACS 29117/39117 Theater and Performance in Latin America
Section 01  Danielle Roper   MW 1:30-2:30pm   Wieboldt Hall 207

This course is an introduction to theatre, performance, and visual art in Latin America and the Caribbean. We will examine the intersection of performance and social life by looking at performance practices in key historical moments in Latin America and the Caribbean. We ask: how have embodied practice, theatre and visual art been used to negotiate particular moments in Latin American history? We will study performances during independence, revolution, dictatorships, processes of democratization, truth and reconciliation, as well as the rise of neoliberalism. In our investigation, we will pay close attention to how ideologies of race, gender, and sexuality are articulated and disseminated within these performances at critical historical junctures. Our corpus may include blackface performance traditions in the Caribbean, indigenous performance, queer performance and we will look closely at the artistic works of Coco Fusco, Neo Bustamante, Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis, Yuyachkani, Griselda Gámbaro, and others. We will also read key theoretical work in Performance Studies including the work Joseph Roach, Richard Schechner, Diana Taylor, Jill Lane, and others.

TAPS 28495 / EALC 24810/34810 EALC 34895 Literature and Performance in Medieval Japan
Section 01  Asthon Lazarus   TuTh  3-4:20pm  TBA

This course acquaints students with some of the major genres of medieval Japanese literature and performance, including setsuwa (explanatory tales), sarugaku (“monkey music”) and dengaku (“field music”), imayō (popular songs), gunki monogatari (warrior tales), and the noh and kyōgen theaters. We will explore the religious, social, and political contexts from which these genres emerge, as well as the rich and intricate ways in which performance and literature overlap throughout the medieval period. Specific topics of interest include the significance of “medievality” in conceptions of Japanese culture, the shifting relationship between elite and commoner culture, the emergence of a “national” culture, and the role of women authors and performers. We will read primary texts in translation, examine visual materials, and watch and listen to recordings of contemporary performances. Additionally, we will read relevant secondary scholarship in order to broaden our understanding of both the medieval texts themselves and their reception over time and space. No Japanese language ability is necessary, although students who have taken Japanese literature or culture courses will be particularly well prepared.

28500-29600. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Independent Study for those with advanced experience in theater. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue self-motivated study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Faculty advisor required. Completed forms to be submitted to the TAPS office by the end of first week of quarter of enrollment.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting. 

TAPS 28600. Advanced Study: Directing.

TAPS 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting.

TAPS 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design.

TAPS 28810/ 38810 / CMST 28810 / ENGL 21118. Advanced Study: Games & Performance.  This course is a working group to develop and implement a large scale alternate reality game (ARG) to be launched in 2017. Students in this course, thus, will not only be learning how to design a game but also contributing directly to the research and construction of this large-scale project that will develop capacities linked to collaboration, leadership, and twenty-first century literacies. In particular, we are interested in discovering how interactive and participatory learning methods might help University students discuss and better understand complicated issues of inclusivity, diversity, and safety.  REQUEST FORM

TAPS 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design.

TAPS 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design.

TAPS 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography.

TAPS 29200. Advanced Study: Dance.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General.

TAPS 29400. Advanced Study: Stage Management. 

TAPS 29500/ 39500. Advanced Study: Directing Study. 

TAPS 29700. Advanced Study: Production Management. 

TAPS 29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium.
Section 01 Leslie Danzig    F 1:30-4:20pm                  LC- 501

TAPS 32312 / ENGL 32312.  Virtual Theaters
Section 01 John Muse   Tu 3:00-5:50pm   Classics-110

This course probes the nature and limits of theater by exploring a range of theatrical texts whose relation to performance is either partially or fully virtual. Like the works we will read, the course transgresses disciplinary, generic, and temporal boundaries, bringing together from various centuries philosophical dialogues (Plato), closet dramas, novel chapters in dramatic form (Melville’s Moby-Dick, Joyce’s Ulysses), radio drama, nonsense drama, and new media forms that test conventional definitions of theatrical performance: twitter theater, digital theater, algorithmic theater, and transmedia games. Interested 3rd and 4th year undergraduates allowed by instructor consent.

TAPS 59306 / ENGL 59306 / CMST 62201. Performance Theory: Action, Affect, Archive
Section 01 Loren A Kruger   W 1:30-4:20pm   Cobb Hall 425

This PhD seminar offers a critical introduction to performance theory and its applications not only to theatre but also to performance on film and, more controversially, to ‘performativity’ to fictional and other texts that have nothing directly to do with performance. The seminar will be organized around three key conceptual clusters: a) action, acting, and other forms of production or play, in theories from the classical (Aristotle) through the modern (Hegel, Brecht, Artaud), to the contemporary (Richard Schechner, Philip Zarilli, and others) b) affect, and its intersections with emotion and feeling: in addition to the impact of contemporary theories of affect and emotion (Massumi, Sedgwick) on performance theory (Erin Hurley), we will read earlier modern texts that anticipate recent debates (Diderot, Freud) and their current interpreters (Joseph Roach, Tim Murray and others), as well as those writing about the absence of affect and the performance of failure (Sara Bailes and others) c) archives and related institutions, practices and theories of recording performance, including the formation of audiences (Susan Bennett and with evaluating print and other media yielding evidence of ephemeral acts, including the work of theorists of memory (Pierre Nora) and remains (Rebecca Schneider), theatre historians (Rose Bank, Jody Enders, Tracy Davis and others) as well as current theorists on the tensions between the archive and the repertoire

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01   Devon De Mayo           TR 9-10:20am                        BARS
Section 02   Pamela Pascoe            TR 10:30-11:50am                 BARS
Section 03   Pamela Pascoe            TR 12-1:20pm                        BARS
Section 04   Shade Murray              TR 1:30-2:50pm                      BARS

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals
Section 01   Vanessa Stalling        M 3:00-5:50pm            BARS
Section 02   Vanessa Stalling        TR 3:00-4:20pm           BARS
Section 03   Thom Pasculli            TR 4:30-5:50pm           BARS
Section 04   David New                 W 12-2:50pm               BARS


Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance.

Section 01   Loren Kruger    TR 10:30-11:50am      LC-603

Theatre combines words and bodies in time and space in ways that audiences find convincing or realistic. What counts as realistic representation and why? How can the illusionistic stage and empathetic performances of Henrik Ibsen’s Dollhouse and the experimental dis‑illusion of Bertolt Brecht’s Ui both be called ‘realist theatre’? How do we make sense of Shakespeare’s empty stage and abundant verse? To answer these questions we will study playwrights alongside critical theory and performances. Assignments will include written analysis of theatre in Chicago as well as short physical and verbal exercises in embodiment.  Course meets General Ed Requirement in Dramatic, Musical and Visual Arts. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance.

Section 02   Emma Stanton  TR 1:30-2:50pm          LC-701
Section 03   Shade Murray   W  12-2:50pm             LC-701

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10700. Introduction to Stage Design
Section 01   Jessica Wardell     TR 12-1:20pm      LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21440/31440. Court Theatre Artist Master Class
Section 01      Timothy Kane            M 12-2:50pm              BARS

This advanced acting class will develop the actor’s ability to apply contemporary acting technique to the performance of classical roles. Additionally, there will be opportunities to attend different stages of the rehearsal process for Harvey at Court Theatre, question the process techniques observed, and learn from guest lecturers affiliated with Chicago’s top classical theatres. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop
Section 01   Conor Woods   W Noon-2:50pm    LC- 501

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via REQUEST FORM.

TAPS 23110/ 33110. Directing Study
Section 01   Heidi Coleman 

This seminar results from the production work of the quarter, with text analysis, dramaturgical reading, and discussions based on the participating MainStage directors.  Typically initiating in weekly sessions the quarter prior to production, academic credit is given the quarter of production following a final written exam. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23610. Fundamentals of Musical Improv
Section 01      Julie Nichols, Matthew Van Colton          R 3-5:50pm     LC-501

Learn story and song structure and game-in-song techniques using real theatre-driven emotional response preparation with working industry professionals Julie Nichols & Matthew Van Colton. This course explores the fundamental concepts of improvisation, comedic games and theatre-based techniques for on-the-spot musical improvisation. Students of all experiences and backgrounds are encouraged to enroll. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23910. Advanced Playwrighting Workshop
Section 01  Calamity West    W 3-5:50pm     LC-701

A workshop that explores and develops authenticity in playwriting with playwright, Calamity West. Students will write original full-length plays to be developed over the course of ten weeks. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24410/ 34410 Transmedia Puzzle Design & Performance
Section 01  Sandor Wiesz   M 3-5:50pm  LC- 603

Building on the momentum from Winter Quarter’s Advances Studies: Games and Performance led by Heidi Coleman and Patrick Jagoda, this course continues the working group model to develop and implement puzzles that will be an integral component of a large scale alternate reality game (ARG). Students in this course will work directly with master puzzler, Sandor Wiesz, the commissioner of The Mystery League, in collaboration with Heidi Coleman and Patrick Jagoda to embed learning objectives relevant to first-year undergraduates. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24500. Chicago Theater: Budgets and Buildings

Section 01 Heidi Coleman  M 12-2:50p           LC-603

This course examines the current state of Chicago theatre, focusing on the relationships between facilities, budgets and missions.  Over the quarter the class will travel off-campus to Chicago theatres including Court Theatre, The Den, MCA, Steppenwolf, Red Orchid and Chopin.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25500. Advanced Screenwriting
Section 01 John Petrakis         

T  3:30-6:20pm                  LC-603

This course requires students to complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay (at least ninety pages in length), based on an original idea brought to the first or second class. No adaptations or partially completed scripts are allowed. Weekly class sessions include reading of script pages and critique by classmates and instructor. PQ: TAPS 15500/ CRWR 27102, and consent of instructor based on twelve-page writing sample in screenplay format. Limited class size. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 25510 / BRPO 25500 / ARTV 20009 / HIST 29906 / HMRT 25502.
Art and Human Rights
Section 01 Leslie Buxbaum Danzig, TAPS and Mark Philip Bradley, History
T    3:00-5:50pm    LC-501

This seminar style course will explore historical and contemporary interventions in visual and performative artistic practices with human rights. Co-taught by a historian and theater-maker, the course will consider various paradigms for looking at how artists work on human rights. Course work will include critical readings, viewings of artistic work, and direct conversations with artists. Students will also participate in a multi-day summit on campus (April 29-May 2) that will bring distinguished artists from throughout the world to address the question “What is an artistic practice of human rights, conceptually, aesthetically and pragmatically?”  Students will be given the option to produce either an academic or artistic final project. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. THIRD- OR FOURTH-YEAR STANDING.

TAPS 26510/36510. Drama/Theatre/Performance and Philosophy
Section 01  Freddie Rokem            W 3-5:50pm   Cobb Hall 112

This seminar will explore the multi-faceted interactions between the discursive practices of Drama/Theatre/Performance and Philosophy which have recently become a central focus for theatre and performance studies. The course will explore two interrelated and closely connected dramatic, performative and philosophical constellations: Sophocles' Theban Plays, Plato's Symposium and selected passages from Aristotle's Poetics, on the one hand, and a selection of texts by Kafka, Benjamin and Brecht as well as some of Brecht's key productions like his Antigone and Mother Courage and her Children and the Model-Books that were composed on the basis of these productions. 

The theoretical discussions and the dramaturgical exercises will focus on the following issues and the connections between them:
    1.     The agon and the encounter
    2.     Violence and the ludic logic of tragedy
    3.     Entrances, exits and supernatural interventions
    4.     Models 'for' and models 'of' theatrical and performative practices
    5.     Dramaturgies of thinking and doing

As a common backdrop to these issues the seminar will explore the possibilities to outline a coherent basis for a theatrical and performative dispositive, laying the basis for what Brecht in 1929 envisioned as a philosophical future for the theatre.
Interested 3rd and 4th year undergraduates allowed by instructor consent. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28100. Lighting Design for the Stage
Section 01 Joseph "Mike" Durst    M 3:00-5:50pm   LC-501

This course places equal emphasis on the theory and practice of modern stage lighting. Students learn the mechanical properties of lighting equipment; how to create, read, and execute a lighting plot; the functions of lighting in a theatrical context; color and design theory; and how to read a text as a lighting designer. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28310/38310 / CMST 26504/36504.  Ingmar Bergman: Cinema & Theater
Section 01  Freddie Rokem            Lectures:  TR 10:30-11:50am      LC-501
                                                      Screening:   T    9:00-10:20am      LC-501

This course will focus on cinematographic representations of theatrical and other artistic practices, primarily exemplified by many of Ingmar Bergman's films (e.g. The Seventh Seal and Fanny and Alexander) but also in the work of other film directors. It will explore historical and theoretical issues related to the mutual interactions between cinema and theatre also discussing cinematographic techniques in playwriting as exemplified in plays by Henrik Ibsen (e.g. Peer Gynt) and August Strindberg (e.g. A Dream Play and The Ghost Sonata).

Throughout most of his creative career Bergman worked both in theatre and film and even if he is mostly known outside of Sweden as a film director, his theatrical career was as innovative. The work of the film-auteur and the theatre director are for Bergman closely connected, not only through the actors he worked with—during summers for the screen and during the theatre seasons in stage productions—but also through the choice of themes, which are often in direct dialogue with each other in the two media, generating complex meta-aesthetic, inter-medial discourses, depicting and problematizing the work and role of the artist in a broad range of social and ideological contexts. Interested 3rd and 4th year undergraduates allowed by instructor consent. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28422/38422 / GRMN 27717/37717 / MUSI 24417/34417 / CMST 28301/38301. Opera in the Age of its Mechanical Reproducibility
Section 01  David Levin            Screenings: M 6:30-10:00pm      Cobb Hall 311
                                                      Lectures: TH 3:00-6:00pm      Cobb Hall 310

Focusing on a diverse set of productions of Mozart’s The Magic Flute by Ingmar Bergman, William Kentridge, Martin Kusej, Simon McBurney, and Julie Taymor, we will seek to locate opera in the contemporary medial landscape, exploring some of the theoretical stakes, dramaturgical challenges, and interpretive achievements that characterize opera on film, DVD, and via live-streaming.  Readings by W. Benjamin, T.W. Adorno, F. Jameson, M. Dolar, C. Abbate, P. Auslander, et al. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01 Pamela Pascoe               TR 10:30-11:50am BARS
Section 02 Pamela Pascoe              TR 12-1:20pm     BARS
Section 03 Joseph Court                TR 1:30-2:50pm       BARS

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals
Section 01 Shade Murray               W 12- 2:50pm           BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance.

Section 01 John Muse                     TR 10:30-11:50am    LC-501
Section 02 Pamela Pascoe              T 3-5:50pm    BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10600. Staging Desire.
Section 01 Heidi Coleman              TR 1:30-2:50pm       LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts.  This course explores the interplays between romance, attractions, and distractions through in-class discussions of theoretical works and the possibilities of practical creative application. The paradox of instant gratification and prolonged desire will be considered as well as the values of shock, suspense, and subtlety. Texts will include classic and contemporary drama, vampire cult fiction, fairy tales, films, and theoretic source material.  Working 4-dimensionally, we will examine how theorized stagings can evoke and undermine sentimentality.  This course will constantly question how analysis itself can be a performative practice and how performance can serve as a critical endeavor.  The course will culminate in a series of original scenes to be shown at the end of the quarter. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10700 Introduction to Stage Design
Section 01   Jessica Wardell     TR 12-1:20pm                LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting.
Section 01 John Petrakis                 T 3:30-6:20pm          LC-603

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20600. Adapting the Unadaptable
Section 01  Seth Bockley                  M 12-2:50pm                        LC-501

Fiction has always provided rich source material for drama. But much 20^th and 21^st century fiction can seem unadaptable—it is often sprawling, poetic, interior, fragmentary or cerebral (or all of the above!) This hands-on course will challenge students to approach modern and contemporary literature with unconventional tools of staging, editing and design. Students will also be introduced to the work of contemporary theater companies and productions that have taken on seemingly impossible adaptation projects, and closely study adaptations of Jorge Luis Borges and Roberto Bolaño currently in development. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.
 

TAPS 20800. Engineering Story: Building New Worlds with Playwriting and Performance
Section 01   Ike Holter    M 12-2:50pm               LC- 603     

Great new work can be made very quickly with passion, precision, attitude and verve. The tools are simple: An aggressive attention to detail, an obsession for truth telling and a general fearlessness in the face of total collapse.
The class focuses on the bones that make a play: Essays that incite action, monologues, articles and news stories as inspiration for tone; Soundtracks and backstory laid out and investigated. The exploration of storytelling plays a crucial part in every single person’s daily lives whether they’re a writer, a surgeon, a janitor or an accountant: Theater Makers are encouraged, but everyone has a story and a need to tell it. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21800. Creating a Musical Revue
Section 01  Julie Nichols                   W 12-2:50pm                        LC-501

This course is open to students looking to deepen and explore their relationship with music, song writing, theatrical creation and collaboration. Students will be required to attend three or four performances throughout Chicago, and become familiar with a listening, reading and watching list. Focusing on songwriting and collaboration, though previous song writing experience is not a requirement. Goals are to explore the nature of songwriting and musical theater, and the relationship between music and storytelling. At the end of the course, students will stage performances of their collaboratively developed, original musical revue. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24300. Story and Stagecraft
Section 01 Nathan Allen    W 12-2:50pm     LC-701

Nathan Allen, founder and Artistic Director of the The House Theatre of Chicago, leads an investigation into the ancient social technologies at work in live theatrical storytelling to reconnect students with possible primal, social, and civic purposes to continue the art-form in the digital age. The class will experiment then with possible story -shapes for an original theatrical experience that satisfies such an ethic for popular storytelling.

TAPS 25200 “Neo-Futurist” Performance Workshop

Section 01  Greg Allen            W 3- 5:50pm        LC-501

This course is a hands-on introduction to Neo-Futurism - a method of transforming your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences into creative, task-oriented, audience-participatory, non-illusory, unique theatrical events. Students will be encouraged to find their own voice as fully rounded theater artists by writing, directing and performing their own short performances using their own lives as source material. By pursuing the goal of absolute truth on stage, the class will focus on an alternative to narrative Realism by embracing such elements as deconstruction, found-text, collage, abstraction, synthesis, and chaos. Classes will consist of original group exercises as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26100 Dance Composition
Section 01 Julia Rhoads                  M 1:30-4:20pm LC- 701

In this course, dance making is approached through the basic elements of space, time, shape, and dynamics, as well as a variety of choreographic processes including improvisation, thematic development, abstraction, and musical phrasing.  Working alone, in duets, or small groups, students will create short choreographic studies in response to a variety of assigned exercises.  These studies will build skills in generating material for a final choreographic project. In addition to choreographic exercises, students will view videos of historical and contemporary choreographers from a variety of styles, and write about their own and others' work as a way to develop skills in constructive criticism. Short readings will also supplement physical work.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27050 Dracula: Spectacle in Miniature
Section 01  Frank Maugeri, Seth Bockley        M 3-5:50pm          LC- 501

This course explores the core artistic principles of creating an original devised work of spectacle art. Students will begin with Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, and develop images, design moments, and create an arc of a fully imagined spectacle event reduced to a "miniature" scale. Through literature, visual research, film viewings and guest experts, students will be introduced to the practices of modern puppetry, spectacle art, and highly visual site-specific theater. Throughout the duration of the course, students will be responsible for generating ideas for scenery, an events storyboard, script dramaturgy, and production elements, which will together shape the first stages of a large-scale theatrical event in miniature. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

28500-29600. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. Interested students should contact the TAPS office.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting. 

TAPS 28600. Advanced Study: Directing.

TAPS 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting.

TAPS 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design.

TAPS 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design.

TAPS 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design.

TAPS 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography.

TAPS 29200. Advanced Study: Dance.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General.

TAPS 29500. Advanced Study: Directing Study. 

TAPS 29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium.
Section 01 Heidi Coleman, Rebecca Rugg    F 2-5pm                  LC- 501

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01   Devon DeMayo     TR 10:30am-11:50am              BARS
Section 02   David New            TR Noon-1:20pm                     BARS

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals
Section 01   Vanessa Stalling   M Noon-2:50pm    LC-501


Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance.

Section 01   Joanie Schultz      M Noon-2:50pm   LC-701

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting
Section 01   John Petrakis        T 3:30pm- 6:20pm        LC-603       

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20700. Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.
Section 01 Derek Matson          W Noon – 2:50pm     
LC-603

This course is an orientation and practicum in contemporary dramaturgy. After surveying Enlightenment treatises that occasioned Western dramaturgical practices, students will critically engage present-day writings that consider the objectives and ultimate raisons d’être for the production dramaturg. Students then undertake dramaturgical research, exploring different methodologies and creative mind-sets for four representative performance genres: period plays; new plays; operas or musicals; and installations or performance art. Special attention will be given to cultivating skills for providing constructive feedback and practicing dramaturgy as an artistic collaborator and fellow creator. The class culminates in the design and compilation of a sourcebook for actors, directors, and designers, followed by a dramaturgical presentation intended for a professional rehearsal room. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop
Section 01   Audrey Francis      M Noon-2:50pm    LC- 501

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via REQUEST FORM.

TAPS 23000. Introduction to Directing.
Section 01 Shade Murray      T 3-5:50pm  LC-501

This course employs a practice in the fundamental theory of play direction and the role of the director in collaboration with the development of textual analysis. By examining five diversely different texts and using the director supported play analysis, Backwards and Forwards, students will begin developing a method of directing for the stage in support of the written text. In alternating weeks, students will implement textual analysis in building an understanding of directorial concept, theme, imagery and staging through rehearsal and in-class presentations of three-minute excerpts from the play analysis the previous week. The class will culminate with a final five-minute scene combining the tools of direction with a method of analysis devised over the ten-week course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23600. Improv and Sketch.
Section 01   Susan Messing       M 9am-11:50am    LC-701

This class will explore the many different schools of thought in Chicago improv comedy community, including but not limited to The Second City, iO, and The Annoyance.  Organic discovery and plot will be highlighted within scenework as well as the group dynamic, with comedy as the result. Come ready to play and play hard. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23700 Playwriting: Creating Natural Dialogue for the Stage
Section 01   Evan Linder         M 3-5:50pm         LC- 501

This course employs collaboration among the students to help each individual writer create natural dialogue for the stage. Students will utilize improvisation to write a contemporary scene focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication. Through these improvisations, the students create a framework for their narrative with a special focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays, which emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explore the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write two complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS  24900 Performance Lab: The Girl Show
Section 01 Heidi Coleman     R 3-5:50pm        LC- 501

Working with curator, Jane Beachy, choreographer, Erin Kilmurray, and Composer, Julie Nichols, this course commits to developing a fully realized performance piece entitled THE GIRL SHOW, within the ten weeks of the quarter.  Immersive in intent and demand, writing and performance skills will be developed by participants for participants.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via REQUEST FORM.  

TAPS 27500 Costume Design for the Stage.
Section 01   Jessica Wardell       W Noon-2:50pm    LC-028

In this course, students will learn the basics of designing costumes for theatrical productions, encompassing the skills of text and character analysis, theatrical rendering and sketching. Students will learn to adopt a vocabulary using the elements and principles of design, understand and experience the process intrinsic to producing costumes for the theater, analyze the production needs related to costumes, and prepare a finalized costume design for a theatrical production. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

REES 24400/TAPS 28445 Twentieth Century Central and East European Theater
Winter 2016 MW 3:00-4:20 Instructor: Cheryl Stephenson cas1@uchicago.edu

This course provides an introduction to drama, performance, and production in Central and Eastern Europe in the twentieth century. Focusing on major developments in Czech, Russian and Polish theatrical practice, we will examine the relationship between the performance and the dramatic text, changing approaches to both the practical and creative work of staging a play, and the social and political climates that impacted theatrical production. Rather than attempting a broad survey of Central and East European theater, we will focus our attention on major turning points, high and low moments, and major innovators and innovations in theatrical culture.

28500-29600. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. Interested students should contact the TAPS office.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting. 

TAPS 28600. Advanced Study: Directing.

TAPS 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting.

TAPS 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design.

TAPS 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design.

TAPS 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design.

TAPS 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography.

TAPS 29200. Advanced Study: Dance.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General.

TAPS 29400. Advanced Study: Stage Management. 

TAPS 29500. Advanced Study: Directing Study. 

TAPS 29700. Advanced Study: Production Management. 

TAPS 29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium.
Section 01 Heidi Coleman    F 2-5pm                  LC- 501

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

Section 01 Devon DeMayo      TR 9:00-10:20am           BARS
Section 02 Seth Bockley                  TR 4:30- 5:50pm           BARS        

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals

Section 01 Joanie Schultz       M 12-2:50pm                BARS

Section 02 Pamela Pascoe     TR 10:30-11:50am        BARS

Section 03 David New             W 12-2:50pm               BARS
Section 04 David New             W 3-5:50pm                 BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300 Text and Performance: Dramaturgy

Section 01 Loren Kruger          TR 10:30-11:50am         LC-603
Section 02 Seth Bockley                  TR 1:30-2:50pm            LC-701
Section 03 Shade Murray        W 12-2:50pm                LC- 701

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Experience in dramatic analysis or performance not required. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20110. Twentieth-Century American Drama
Section 01 Heidi Coleman       TR 12-1:20pm      LC-701

Beginning with O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night through the American avant-garde to the most recent production on Broadway, this course focuses on American contemporary playwrights who have made a significant impact with regard to dramatic form in context to specific decade as well as cumulatively through the twentieth century. Textual analysis is consistently oriented towards production possibilities, both historically and hypothetically. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21550. The Space Between
Section 01 Vanessa Stalling    T 3-5:50pm         LC-501

This course explores the idea that a compelling performance event is created through precise choices about the manipulation of space and visual aesthetics. We will examine the space between actors and the space between actor and audience.  Students will develop skills for heightening their awareness of stimuli from the world around them and their ability to be in kinesthetic response. We will pay particular attention to the psychic dimensions of space, the idea that a theatrical event is made all the more compelling when deep attention to the spectator’s perception of space is considered. This includes a developed understanding about theatrical planes, levels, line, point, vacuums, focus, and power. Classes will include readings, discussions, and writings about action in time and space, as well as scene work based upon improvisation or text. Students will work collaboratively in pairs and groups and will often take on roles as director, designer, or performer. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST https://www.acheterviagrafr24.com/prix-du-viagra/ CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop.


Section 01 Audrey Francis       M 12-2:50pm        LC-501

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via REQUEST FORM.

TAPS 21700 Acting: An Actor Observes

Section 01 Pamela Pascoe      TR 12-1:20pm      BARS             

This course addresses techniques and modes of observation and their application to scene study. Observation study is used to strengthen acting choices, build the physical world of the play, and create original, vital characterizations. It also serves to deepen awareness of group dynamics, integrate symbolic, psychological and physical meaning in a character's behavior, and guide the process of breaking down a scene. Students will perform observation exercises and apply their discoveries to scene work. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22500. Styles and Practice in Storytelling.
Section 01  Emily Lansana     W 12-2:50pm    LC-603

“What is storytelling? It can be said that it is the oldest form of observing, synthesizing and communicating feelings thoughts and information.”   -Temujin the Storyteller
Everyday we use stories to communicate. This course provides students with an overview of the art and practice of storytelling. Chicago is a storytelling town from the Moth to Second Story and from Story Slams to traditional storytelling; performance artists give voice to a wide range of expression. Throughout this learning experience, students will be encouraged to explore the world of storytelling and to nurture their creative voices.  Students will create and adapt tales focusing on personal experience, folklore, history and ethnography. We will learn through participation and observation. The creative experiences in this course will enable students to further their skills in: oral presentation, story construction, performance, artistic critique and analysis.  Students will develop and perform stories from at least three distinct areas of experience. The course provides a creative space for learning and exploration. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23900. Playwriting: Sketch to Play
Section 01 Evan Linder  M 3-5:50pm                  LC-701

This course follows a story from outline to sketch to short play. Using improvisation with their fellow classmates, writers will create sketches that will be the foundation for a short play. These improvisations will help each writer learn more about the characters they are writing, helping a stock character in a sketch grow to a fully dimensional character for their short play. Classes will include roundtable discussions and active improvisation with their classmates. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write three complete sketches and one short play that will receive a reading by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25500. Advanced Screenwriting.
Section 01 John Petrakis         

T  3:30-6:20pm             LC-603

This course requires students to complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay (at least ninety pages in length), based on an original idea brought to the first or second class. No adaptations or partially completed scripts are allowed. Weekly class sessions include reading of script pages and critique by classmates and instructor. PQ: TAPS 15500/ CRWR 27102, and consent of instructor based on fifteen-page writing sample in screenplay format. Limited class size. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via REQUEST FORM.

TAPS 27300. Principles of Stage Management
Section 01 Amanda Frederickson      M 12-2:50pm        LC-603

This course introduces the basics of stage management. We will follow the timeline of the theater process, learning practices and paperwork for prep week, rehearsal, technical rehearsals and performance. We will also spend time discussing interpersonal communication and the importance of the stage manager's role as the hub of communication. Class will be part lecture and part in-class project and part group discussion. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. 

TAPS 28100. Lighting Design for the Stage
Section 01 Joseph "Mike" Durst    M 3:00-5:50pm   LC-501

This course places equal emphasis on the theory and practice of modern stage lighting. Students learn the mechanical properties of lighting equipment; how to create, read, and execute a lighting plot; the functions of lighting in a theatrical context; color and design theory; and how to read a text as a lighting designer. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

28500-29700. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. Interested students should contact the TAPS office.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting. 

TAPS 28600. Advanced Study: Directing.

TAPS 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting.

TAPS 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design.

TAPS 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design.

TAPS 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design.

TAPS 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography.

TAPS 29200. Advanced Study: Dance.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General.

TAPS 29400. Advanced Study: Stage Management. 

TAPS 29500. Advanced Study: Directing Study. 

TAPS 29700. Advanced Study: Production Management. 

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals
Section 01   Devon De Mayo           M 9-11:50am                BARS
Section 02   Pamela Pascoe            TR 10:30-11:50am         BARS
Section 03   Shade Murray              W 12:00-2:50pm            BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10500 Text and Performance: Staging Terror
Section 01   Heidi Coleman      TR 10:30-11:50am                  LC- 501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course explores the interplay between horror, terror, and pleasure through in-class discussions of theoretical works and the possibilities of practical creative application. The paradox of the attraction to repulsion will be considered as well as the values of shock, suspense, and subtlety. Texts will include Grand Guignol, Shakespeare, Gothic Novels, and horror films. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10700 Introduction to Stage Design
Section 01   Jessica Wardell     TR 12-1:20pm                LC-501

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting (=CRWR 27102)
Section 01   John Petrakis                 T 3-5:50pm          LC- 603

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21700 Acting: An Actor Prepares
Section 01   Pamela Pascoe              TR 9-10:20a                  BARS

This course addresses techniques and modes of observation and their application to scene study. Observation study is used to strengthen acting choices, build the physical world of the play, and create original, vital characterizations. It also serves to deepen awareness of group dynamics, integrate symbolic, psychological and physical meaning in a character's behavior, and guide the process of breaking down a scene. Students will perform observation exercises and apply their discoveries to scene work. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 22800 Introduction to Performance Theory
Section 01   Kristin Leahey                TR 9-10:10am       LC 603

Every act is a performance.  Theatre, dance, music, and art to rituals, celebrations, protests, and social media, among many other sites, are the fodder for contemporary performance theory. This class is an introductory exploration of performance as a theory and a practice. Some of the questions we will address through a survey of scholarship, performances, and application activities include: What is performance? How can performance live outside of the theatre and where?  How do we perform the past, present, and future?  How can performance incite dialogue, which may inspire sociopolitical change?
 Some of the scholar/artist/activists’ work we will examine include Bertolt Brecht, Dwight Conquergood, Richard Schechner, Victor Turner, Augusto Boal, Michel Foucault, Richard Foreman, Diana Taylor, Jill Dolan, Peggy Phelan, Anna Deavere Smith, and Susan Foster, among others.  We will investigate how ideologies of affect, race, gender, sexuality, class, technology, and citizenship are articulated through performance. This course is intended as preparation aimed towards Majors and Minors that will be taking BA Colloquium in the following year. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23700 Playwriting: Creating Natural Dialogue for the Stage
Section 01   Evan Linder         M 3-5:50pm         LC- 501

This course employs collaboration among the students to help each individual writer create natural dialogue for the stage. Students will utilize improvisation to write a contemporary scene focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication. Through these improvisations, the students create a framework for their narrative with a special focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays, which emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explore the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write two complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25200 “NeoFuturist” Performance Workshop

Section 01  Greg Allen            W 3- 5:50pm        LC-501

This course is a hands-on introduction to Neo-Futurism - a method of transforming your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences into creative, task-oriented, audience-participatory, non-illusory, unique theatrical events. Students will be encouraged to find their own voice as fully rounded theater artists by writing, directing and performing their own short performances using their own lives as source material. By pursuing the goal of absolute truth on stage, the class will focus on an alternative to narrative Realism by embracing such elements as deconstruction, found-text, collage, abstraction, synthesis, and chaos. Classes will consist of original group exercises as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26100 Dance Composition

Section 01 Julia Rhoads                  M 3-5:50pm          LC- 701

In this course, dance making is approached through the basic elements of space, time, shape, and dynamics, as well as a variety of choreographic processes including improvisation, thematic development, abstraction, and musical phrasing.  Working alone, in duets, or small groups, students will create short choreographic studies in response to a variety of assigned exercises.  These studies will build skills in generating material for a final choreographic project. In addition to choreographic exercises, students will view videos of historical and contemporary choreographers from a variety of styles, and write about their own and others' work as a way to develop skills in constructive criticism. Short readings will also supplement physical work.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27100 Scene Painting
Section 01   Jessica Wardell     W 3-5:50pm                  LC- 111

This course is designed to introduce students to the theatrical art of Scenic Painting for the stage and film.  A scenic artist is the hand of the theatrical designer, translating the small scale of the designer’s rendering into full size theatrical environments.  In this course, students will explore the unique tools and techniques used by scenic artists to create scenery.  The end result of this class will be a basic mastery of painting “faux” surfaces and an understanding of how a scenic artist transforms the designer’s ideas into realized pieces of theatrical art. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27550 Costume Design and Technology for the Stage

Section 01  Nathan Rohrer      TR 12-1:20pm      LC- 032

In this course, students will learn the basics of designing costumes for theatrical productions, encompassing the skills of theatrical rendering and sketching, as well as the implementation of the design and basic sewing techniques. Students will learn to adopt a vocabulary using the elements and principles of design, understand and experience the process intrinsic to producing costumes for the theater, analyze the production needs related to costumes, and prepare a finalized costume design for a theatrical production. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27900 Shopcraft: Methods and Materials. (PQ ARTV 10100, 10200 or 10300)
Section 01 David Wolf     MW 10:30-12:20pm        LC- 111

Designed as a complementary course to the DOVA sculpture sequence, Shopcraft explores the tools and techniques available to students in the wood shop. Topics covered include shop safety; the properties of woods; the planning and material selection process for sculpture, furniture, and other woodworking applications; the care and use of hand tools; and interpreting and creating scale drawings and conceptual plans. A series of small projects designed to challenge and expand students' design, drafting, and woodworking skills are assigned. In addition, students are invited to incorporate projects from sculpture classes or their individual studio practice into the course. Students who do not attend the full first week will forfeit their spot in the class.

TAPS 28100 Lighting Design for the Stage
Section 01 Matthew Gawryk     M 12-1:20pm        LC- 501

This course places equal emphasis on the theory and practice of modern stage lighting. Students learn the mechanical properties of lighting equipment; how to create, read, and execute a lighting plot; the functions of lighting in a theatrical context; color and design theory; and how to read a text as a lighting designer. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28400 History and Theory of Drama I (=ENGL 13800, CLAS 31200, CLCV 21200, CMLT 20500, CMLT 30500, ENGL 3100)
Course        David Bevington    TR 1:30-2:50pm  
Dis. 01        David Bevington    F 12:30-1:20pm
Dis. 02        David Bevington    F 1:30-2:20pm

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. The course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in drama from the ancient Greeks through the Renaissance: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, classical Sanskrit theater, medieval religious drama, Japanese Noh drama, Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Molière, along with some consideration of dramatic theory by Aristotle, Sir Philip Sidney, Corneille, and others. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other members of the course. The goal of these scenes is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended.

TAPS 28414 Writing for Performance (PQ: ARTV 10100, 10200, 10300)
Section 01   William L. Pope     MW 10:30-12:20pm        LC- 603

This course is an exploration of select texts for performance written by performance artists primarily but not entirely operating within the context of art. Via historical context and literary technique, students read, discuss, and analyze texts by various authors spanning the history of performance art: Hugo Ball, John Cage, Richard Foreman, Carolee Schneeman, Joseph Beuys, Karen Finley, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, John Leguizamo, and create and perform their own writing. Field trips and attendance at first class are required. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0.

TAPS 28417 Munich-Chicago Performance Laboratory: Jephta’s Daughter.  ( =GRMN 28914/38914, RLST 28914, RLIT 38914, MUSI 28914/38914)
Section 01   David Levin and Saar Magal (Choreographer and Director, Tel Aviv)     TR 3:00 - 4:20pm    LC-701

In July, 2015, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich will present the world premiere of a piece tentatively titled Jephta’s Daughter to be directed by Saar Magal and conceived by Magal in collaboration with U of C Professor David Levin.  In the autumn quarter, Magal and Levin will offer a laboratory course in which to prepare the piece.  As presently conceived, the piece will combine theater, dance, oratorio, film, contemporary composition, and a variety of contemporary performance idioms to adapt and interrogate the story of Jephta’s daughter (in the Book of Judges, from which the story is adapted, she remains nameless). We are hoping to attract students keen to explore a broad cross-section of materials through seminar-style discussion and experimentation on stage (we will work through biblical criticism, films like Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers (2013) or Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise: Love-Faith-Hope, operas like Mozart’s Idomeneo, oratorios like Handel’s Jephta and Carrisimi’s Jephte, and a range of critical theory, including Rene Girard’s Violence and the Sacred and Derek Hughes’ Culture and Sacrifice).  Stage work will encompass improvisational, physical, and text-based work.  Students with an interest in any of the following are especially welcome: adaptation, theater practice, performance theory, dramaturgy, design, and/or directing. Undergraduate students require consent of instructor.

TAPS 28444. Visual Language: On Images.
Section 01   Robert Peters        TR 10:30-12:20pm         LC-108
Section 02   William L. Pope     MW 1:30-3:20pm           LC-401

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, illusion, analogy, metaphor, time and memory, nature and culture, abstraction, the role of the author, and universal systems can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0.

TAPS 28445. Visual Language: On Objects.
Section 01   Karthik Pandian     WR 10:30-12:20pm        LC-110
Section 02   Robert Peters        TR 1:30-3:30pm             LC- 108

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Through studio work and critical discussions on 3D form, this course is intended to reveal the conventions of sculpture while investigating its modes of production. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, platonic form, analogy, metaphor, verisimilitude, abstraction, nature and culture, and the body politic can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0.

TAPS 28472. Iphigenia: Text, Dramaturgy, and Performance. 
Section 01   A. Akavla    MW 3-4:20pm            G-B - 411

What is the relation between script and performance, between academia and theater production, and between the Classics and the present? The course is an investigation of these questions, using Euripides’Iphigenia in Aulis and Court Theatre’s concomitant production of it as a case study. It has three foci: First, we will look at the complex history of transmission and reception of Euripides’ text, from antiquity through modern to postmodern adaptations (including Racine, Gluck, Svich, and Teevan). Second, we will explore the development of the role of dramaturg from when it was first coined by Lessing in 1767 to present-day literary managers. Third, we will follow closely the Court production, observing rehearsals and engaging in conversation with Charles Newell (director) and Nicholas Rudall (translator). Through all this we will ask ourselves, what is the role of the scholar of Classics for contemporary culture and society? Why and how are the Classics still relevant for us?

28500-29600. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. Interested students should contact the TAPS office.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting.

TAPS 28600. Advanced Study: Directing.

TAPS 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting.

TAPS 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design.

TAPS 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design.

TAPS 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design.

TAPS 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography.

TAPS 29200. Advanced Study: Dance.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General.

TAPS 29500. Advanced Study: Directing Study. 

TAPS 29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium.
Section 01 Heidi Coleman    F 2-5pm                  LC- 501

This two-quarter sequence is open only to fourth-year students who are majoring and/or minoring in theater and performance studies.

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance.

Section 01 Seth Bockley       TR 9-10:20am       LC-501
Section 02 Joanie Schultz     M 12-2:50pm        BARS

Section 03 David Levin          TR 1:30-2:50pm    LC-501

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting.
Section 01 John Petrakis T 3-5:50pm 
          LC-603

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20700. Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.
Section 01 Derek Matson          M 12 – 2:50pm     
LC-603

This course is an orientation and practicum in contemporary dramaturgy. After surveying Enlightenment treatises that occasioned Western dramaturgical practices, students will critically engage present-day writings that consider the objectives and ultimate raisons d’être for the production dramaturg. Students then undertake dramaturgical research, exploring different methodologies and creative mind-sets for four representative performance genres: period plays; new plays; operas or musicals; and installations or performance art. Special attention will be given to cultivating skills for providing constructive feedback and practicing dramaturgy as an artistic collaborator and fellow creator. The class culminates in the design and compilation of a sourcebook for actors, directors, and designers, followed by a dramaturgical presentation intended for a professional rehearsal room. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop.
Section 01 Audrey Francis        M  9am-11:50am       LC-701

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 21900. Clown Performance: Intro Le Jeu Lab.
Section 01 Jay Torrence   W 12-2:50pm        LC-701 

In this introductory class, we are in a savage pursuit to understand the act of “playing” specifically in clown performance. How it functions and engages the stage and possibly the world at large. What specific clown presence is inherent to you? And how do you apply that into performance? The majority of the term will be spent actively pursuing “clown play” and defining one’s own personal clown presence, status and character development. Weekly meetings will include physical conditioning, clown/game/play exercises, performance labs, critiques, discussion and presentations on historical clown archetypes and key movements. Students will also be expected to investigate, create, showcase and critique short original solo, partner and group performance pieces. Audience interaction, breath and heightening emotional impact on stage are a few of the key practical skills students will gain useful and applied knowledge of through this coursework. Students should come to the work with a focused willingness to risk emotionally and physically while also learning to support and engage, not just as classmates, but as an active, experimenting, artistic ensemble. All performance experience levels are welcome; a disciplined focus and engagement is required by all participants. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 22100. Solo Performance.
Section 01 Vanessa Stalling      W 12-2:50pm   LC-501

Prior solo work not required. Students will immerse themselves in the theatrical art of solo performance and develop their own solo pieces through in-class and take-home assignments. We will explore the art form as text that is both written and embodied through live performance. Students will discover that “solo performance” is a broad descriptor and includes storytelling, performance art, monologue, character-based work, and stand-up comedy. The classroom will become our laboratory where students will develop, experiment, and demonstrate a proficiency in diverse performance skills, including the following: the generation of storytelling moments through physicality, the innovative use of objects and images as storytelling devices, the ability to explore various vocal ranges, and the ability to empathize and therefore step into the shoes of another. These skills will be developed through individual and collaborative group work. When possible, students will attend live solo performances in the city of Chicago. Assignments will include selected readings, written responses, and the generation of an original solo performance that each student will stage at the culmination of the course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23000. Introduction to Directing.
Section 01 Shade Murray      R 3-5:50pm  LC-501

This course employs a practice in the fundamental theory of play direction and the role of the director in collaboration with the development of textual analysis. By examining five diversely different texts and using the director supported play analysis, Backwards and Forwards, students will begin developing a method of directing for the stage in support of the written text. In alternating weeks, students will implement textual analysis in building an understanding of directorial concept, theme, imagery and staging through rehearsal and in-class presentations of three-minute excerpts from the play analysis the previous week. The class will culminate with a final five-minute scene combining the tools of direction with a method of analysis devised over the ten week course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23800. Playwriting: Writing Utilizing Improvisation.
Section 01 Evan Linder 
  M 3-5:50pm          LC- 701

This course incorporates the spontaneity and freedom allowed by improvisation into the writing process. In addition to focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication, the class will also learn to write for individual performers and ensembles. Through these improvisations, the students focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays that emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explores the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write three complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24000. Director/Designer Collaboration

Section 01 Heidi Coleman & Jessica Wardell        T 3-5:50pm     LC-802

The concept phase of the shared creative process in theater requires clarity of vision and impulse to dream while negotiating the realities of budget and space. With students in the roles of director and designer, this class tackles the preproduction period from initial concept meetings to design presentations for rehearsal. Students develop vocabulary that fully expresses the director's vision and simultaneously provides creative room for the designer. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26600. Interactive Comedic Musical Workshop.
Section 01 Tim Mason & Julie Nichols    T 3-5:50pm     LC-501

This course will work as a laboratory for an interactive comedic musical exploring the nature of privacy and information in contemporary culture.  Classes will include improvisation, scene work and musical performance as well as collaborative devising of technologically driven audience interactions.  Ensemble members will be asked to attend several productions around Chicago as well as completing weekly performance, reading, writing, and/or songwriting assignments. The Winter Course culminates in UT/TAPS mainstage production as a cast member in the premiere of the work.  Casting in class, assumes participation in the spring production to be rehearsed in spring quarter and perform 5th and 6th week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 27800. Story through Music and Sound.
Section 01 M. Milburn & R. Bodeen     M 12-2:50pm      LC-501 & LC 003

This course will explore ways in which music and sound can be used to tell and support a story in the theatre. We will examine how in the simplest moment to the more layered and complex, music and sound are used to create time, place or emotional context.  We will analyze the connections of plot, dialogue, music and sound in the theatre.   We will also be learning the basics of Pro Tools and sound system design enabling us to create our own audio productions interacting with live performance. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28000. Scenic Design.
Section 01 Jessica Wardell         M 3-5:50pm          LC-028

This course is an exploration of various forms and processes of designing sets for theatrical performance. We pay particular attention to a cohesive reading of a text, contextual and historical exploration, and visual and thematic research, as well as the documentation needed to complete a show (e.g., model, drafting, paint elevations). We also explore, nominally, the history of stage design and look at major trends in modern stage design. PQ: TAPS 10700 or consent of instructor required; previous experience in stage design or visual art recommended. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28400 History and Theory of Drama I (=ENGL 13800, CLAS 31200, CLCV 21200, CMLT 20500, CMLT 30500, ENGL 3100)
TBD

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. The course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in drama from the ancient Greeks through the Renaissance: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, classical Sanskrit theater, medieval religious drama, Japanese Noh drama, Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Molière, along with some consideration of dramatic theory by Aristotle, Sir Philip Sidney, Corneille, and others. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other members of the course. The goal of these scenes is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended.

28500-29600. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. Interested students should contact the TAPS office.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting.

TAPS 28600. Advanced Study: Directing.

TAPS 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting.

TAPS 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design.

TAPS 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design.

TAPS 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design.

TAPS 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography.

TAPS 29200. Advanced Study: Dance.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General.

TAPS 29500. Advanced Study: Directing Study. 

TAPS 29800. Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium.
Section 01 Jay Torrence    F 10:30a-12:20p                  LC- 501

This two-quarter sequence is open only to fourth-year students who are majoring and/or minoring in theater and performance studies.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

Section 01 Pamela Pascoe      TR 10:30-11:50am         BARS
Section 02 Pamela Pascoe      TR 12-1:20pm               BARS        

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals

Section 01 Vanessa Stalling    M 9-11:50am         BARS

Section 02 Joanie Schultz       M 12-2:50pm        BARS

Section 03 David New             W 12-2:50pm        BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300 Text and Performance: Dramaturgy

Section 01 John Muse             TR 10:30-11:50am         LC-501
Section 02 Loren Kruger          TR 10:30-11:50am         LC-603
Section 03 Shade Murray        W 12-2:50pm                LC-501
Section 04 Pamela Pascoe      W 3-5:50pm                  BARS

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Experience in dramatic analysis or performance not required. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10700 Intro to Stage Design

Section 01 Jessica Wardell    TR 12-1:30pm      LC-501

This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop.


Section 01 Audrey Francis       M 12-2:50pm        LC-501

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 23400 Visual Language: On Time and Space.
Section 01      Karthik Pandian        R 3:30-4:50pm Lab, TR 1:30-3:20pm Course       LC-003
Section 02      Daniel Volk     W 1-4:50pm Course        LC-003

(=ARTV 10300, CMST 1300) Through studio work and critical discussion on four-dimensional form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of the moving image, performance, and/or the production of digital-based media. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as but not limited to narrative, mechanical reproduction, verisimilitude, historical tableaux, time and memory, the body politic, and the role of the author can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Some sections focus solely on performance; others incorporate moving image technology. Please check the time schedule for details. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week in order to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0.

TAPS 23500. Aerial and Circus with Actors Gymnasium.

Section 01 N.Drackett & K.Kato        R 3-5:50pm LC-701

Students gain an introduction to aerial and circus arts, developing a basic skill set while increasing their strength and flexibility. Skills covered in class may include: trapeze, silks, lyra, unicycling, juggling, tightrope, tumbling, and acro. While no acrobatic experience is necessary to enroll in this class, it is recommended that participants be in good physical health. Students should wear comfortable clothes to class, being aware that they will be, at times, upside down. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 23900. Playwriting: Sketch to Play
Section 01 Evan Linder  M 3-5:50pm                  LC-701

This course follows a story from outline to sketch to short play. Using improvisation with their fellow classmates, writers will create sketches that will be the foundation for a short play. These improvisations will help each writer learn more about the characters they are writing, helping a stock character in a sketch grow to a fully dimensional character for their short play. Classes will include roundtable discussions and active improvisation with their classmates. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write three complete sketches and one short play that will receive a reading by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24300. Story and Stagecraft
Section 01 Nathan Allen    W 12-2:50pm     LC-603

Nathan Allen, fouder and Artistic Director of the The House Theater of Chicago, leads an investigation into the ancient social technologies at work in live theatrical storytelling to reconnect students with possible primal, social, and civic purposes to continue the artform in the digitial age. The class will experiement then with possible story -shapes for an original theatrical experience that statisfies such an ethic for popular storytelling.

TAPS 24500. Chicago Theater: Budgets and Buildings

Section 01 H. Coleman & C. Besse     M 12-2:50p           LC-603

This course examines the current state of Chicago Theater, focusing on the relationships between facilities, budgets, and missions. Field trips required to venues including Timeline, Raven, Steppenwolf, Theater Building, and Green House. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25500. Advanced Screenwriting.
Section 01 John Petrakis         

T  3:30-6:20pm                  LC-603

This course requires students to complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay (at least ninety pages in length), based on an original idea brought to the first or second class. No adaptations or partially completed scripts are allowed. Weekly class sessions include reading of script pages and critique by classmates and instructor. PQ: TAPS 15500/ CRWR 27102, and consent of instructor based on twelve-page writing sample in screenplay format. Limited class size. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 26515 Opera, Society and Politics.
Section 01      Claudio Vellutini        TR 1:30-2:50pm       GO H- 402

(MUSI 26514, ITAL 26514, HIST 23608) This course explores the role of opera within the history of modernity. We will study representative works spanning four centuries—from Claudio Monteverdi to John Adams—in relation to important political and social issues raised in pertinent documentary sources and theoretical writings. Our approach to these materials will revolve around five overarching themes: (1) opera’s interaction with different kinds of social elites and with the ideology of absolutism in the 17th and early 18th centuries; (2) the political implications of opera’s becoming a topic of public debates before and after the French Revolution; (3) opera’s complex relation with national ideologies and the notion of the Other; (4) the responsiveness of opera to changing conceptions of subjectivity and social order at the turn of the 20th century; (5) opera’s political and social function amid the rise of mass media after World War II.

TAPS 28444 Visual Language: On Images.
Section 01      Laura Letinksy           W 9:30-12:20pm       LC-401
Section 02      David Schutter          MW 1:30-3:20pm       LC-601
Section 03      Lauren Beck               MW 1:30-3:20pm      LC-110
Section 04      Nicole Mauser            F 9- 12:20pm            LC-401

(=ARTV 10100) Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to https://www.acheterviagrafr24.com/prix-du-viagra/ reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, illusion, analogy, metaphor, time and memory, nature and culture, abstraction, the role of the author, and universal systems can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0.

TAPS 28445 Visual Language: On Objects.
Section 01      Theaster Gates          W 1-4pm                    LC-401
Section 02      Geof Oppenheimer   T 1:30-4:20pm          LC-110
Section 03      Karthik Pandian        TR 10:30-12:20pm   LC-601

(=ARTV 10200) Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, illusion, analogy, metaphor, time and memory, nature and culture, abstraction, the role of the author, and universal systems can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques. Students must attend class for the full first week to confirm enrollment. Pink slip/wait list requests are due several weeks before the quarter begins. Sign up for the wait list at dova.uchicago.edu/content/wait-list-core-courses-0.

TAPS 28474 Don Juan’s Word: Speech Acts, Acting and Lying.
Info to be annouced.

TAPS 28482 “Unsavory Plays”: Polish Modernist Drama 
Section 01  Bożena Shallcross        MW 1:30-2:50pm  C- 202

(= POLI 25500/ 35500) This course explores the main artistic practices, innovations and trajectories taking place in the Polish drama and theatre from the early twentieth century to the first decade of this century.  Our reading list includes the plays, which were initially considered as hermetic texts written by obscure authors which became part and parcel of the Polish literary canon; on the other hand, we read textual collages, fragmentary scores and notations, which demonstrate how the great theatre reformers Kantor and Grotowski gradually dissolved the drama’s formal characteristics. 

TAPS 28492 Introduction to Japanese Theater.
Section 01      Reginald Jackson       TR 1:30-2:50pm       WB-301N

(=EALC 29491) In this course we will explore a variety of Japanese theatrical forms from the fourteenth century to the present, including Noh, Kyogen, Bunraku, Kabuki, Shimpa, Shingeki, Butoh, and Takarazuka. Our emphasis will be on understanding the forms in their historical and performative contexts through close textual analysis as well as performance analysis of video footage, whenever possible. No background assumed or required in Japanese language or theater.

28500-29600. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. Interested students should contact the TAPS office.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting.

TAPS 28600. Advanced Study: Directing.

TAPS 28700. Advanced Study: Playwriting.

TAPS 28800. Advanced Study: Scenic Design.

TAPS 28900. Advanced Study: Costume Design.

TAPS 29000. Advanced Study: Lighting Design.

TAPS 29100. Advanced Study: Choreography.

TAPS 29200. Advanced Study: Dance.

TAPS 29300. Advanced Study: General.

TAPS 29500. Advanced Study: Directing Study. 

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01   T/TH   3:00-4:20            
            Matthew Gawryk (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)
Section 02   T/TH   4:30-5:50
                        David New (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals
Section 01 T/TH 10:30-11:50
            Pamela Pascoe (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)
Section 02 Mon 10:30-1:20              Halena Kays (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300 Text and Performance: Dramaturgy
Section 01 T/Th 12:00-1:20
            David Levin (Logan Center 501)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Experience in dramatic analysis or performance not required. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10700 Intro to Stage Design
Section 01 T/TH 9:00-10:20           Jessica Wardell (Logan Center 501)

This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500 Beginning Screenwriting
Section 01 T 12:00-2:50p            John Petrakis (Logan Center 603)

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20100. Twentieth-Century American Drama
Section 01 T/TH 10:30-11:50            Heidi Coleman (Logan Center 501)

Beginning with O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night through the American avant-garde to the most recent production on Broadway, this course focuses on American contemporary playwrights who have made a significant impact with regard to dramatic form in context to specific decade as well as cumulatively through the twentieth century. Textual analysis is consistently oriented towards production possibilities, both historically and hypothetically. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21500 Advanced Acting
Section 01 T 1:30-4:20                        Timothy Kane (Logan Center 501)

This advanced class will be a further development of performance technique as it relates to the professional rehearsal process. Scene work from classical texts will be used as a means of exercising the actor’s ability to apply studio work to the text; specifically exploring those classical roles most age appropriate for young professionals and how to avoid the pitfalls of contemporary attitudes when dealing with style. Additionally, there will be opportunities to attend all stages of the rehearsal process for An Iliad at Court Theatre, question process techniques and learn from guest lecturers. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 21700 Acting: An Actor Observes

Section 01 R 12-2:50pm                    Pamela Pascoe (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

This course addresses techniques and modes of observation and their application to scene study. Observation study is used to strengthen acting choices, build the physical world of the play, and create original, vital characterizations. It also serves to deepen awareness of group dynamics, integrate symbolic, psychological and physical meaning in a character's behavior, and guide the process of breaking down a scene. Students will perform observation exercises and apply their discoveries to scene work. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23000 Introduction to Directing
Section 01 M 1:30-4:20                        Joanie Schultz (Logan Center 501)

This course employs a practice in the fundamental theory of play direction and the role of the director in collaboration with the development of textual analysis. By examining five diversely different texts and using the director supported play analysis, Backwards and Forwards, students will begin developing a method of directing for the stage in support of the written text. In alternating weeks, students will implement textual analysis in building an understanding of directorial concept, theme, imagery and staging through rehearsal and in-class presentations of three-minute excerpts from the play analysis the previous week. The class will culminate with a final five-minute scene combining the tools of direction with a method of analysis devised over the ten-week course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23400. Visual Language: On Time and Space
Section 01        T 9:00am- 12:50pm     Course            Pandian Karthik (LC 003)
                       R 10:30am-12:50pm    Lab                  Pandian Karthik (LC 014)

(= ARTV 10300,CMST 10300) ARTV 10100, 10200, 10300 meet the core requirement in dramatic, musical, and visual arts and may be taken in any order. First week attendance is mandatory. Sign up for the wait list here.

TAPS 23500. Aerial and Circus with Actors Gymnasium.
Section 01 TH 3:00-5:50pm                  Kasumi Kato, Alexander Knapp (Logan Center 701)

Students gain an introduction to aerial and circus arts, developing a basic skill set while increasing their strength and flexibility. Skills covered in class may include: trapeze, silks, lyra, unicycling, juggling, tightrope, tumbling, and acro. While no acrobatic experience is necessary to enroll in this class, it is recommended that participants be in good physical health. Students should wear comfortable clothes to class, being aware that they will be, at times, upside down. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 23700. Playwriting: Creating Natural Dialogue for the Stage
Section 01 M 12:00-2:50                        Evan Linder (Logan Center 603)

This course employs collaboration among the students to help each individual writer create natural dialogue for the stage. Students will utilize improvisation to write a contemporary scene focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication. Through these improvisations, the students create a framework for their narrative with a special focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays, which emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explore the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write two complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25200 “NeoFuturist” Performance Workshop
Section 01 TH 3:00- 5:50                        Greg Allen (Logan Center 501)

This course is a hands-on introduction to Neo-Futurism - a method of transforming your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences into creative, task-oriented, audience-participatory, non-illusory, unique theatrical events. Students will be encouraged to find their own voice as fully rounded theater artists by writing, directing and performing their own short performances using their own lives as source material. By pursuing the goal of absolute truth on stage, the class will focus on an alternative to narrative Realism by embracing such elements as deconstruction, found-text, collage, abstraction, synthesis, and chaos. Classes will consist of original group exercises as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 26100 Dance Composition
Section 01 M 1:30-4:20
                        Julia Rhoads (Logan Center 701)

In this course, dance making is approached through the basic elements of space, time, shape, and dynamics, as well as a variety of choreographic processes including improvisation, thematic development, abstraction, and musical phrasing.  Working alone, in duets, or small groups, students will create short choreographic studies in response to a variety of assigned exercises.  These studies will build skills in generating material for a final choreographic project. In addition to choreographic exercises, students will view videos of historical and contemporary choreographers from a variety of styles, and write about their own and others' work as a way to develop skills in constructive criticism. Short readings will also supplement physical work.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27550. Costume Design and Technology for the Stage
Section 01 M 3:00-5:50            Nathan Rohrer (Logan Center 032)

In this course, students will learn the basics of designing costumes for theatrical productions, encompassing the skills of theatrical rendering and sketching, as well as the implementation of the design and basic sewing techniques. Students will learn to adopt a vocabulary using the elements and principles of design, understand and experience the process intrinsic to producing costumes for the theater, analyze the production needs related to costumes, and prepare a finalized costume design for a theatrical production. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS  28400. History And Theory Of Drama-1
Section- 00 TR 1:30-2:50pm Lecture David Bevington, Drew Dir (SS-302)

                  F 12:30- 1:20pm Discussion David Bevington, Andrew Inchiosa (SS-302)

                  F 1:30- 2:20pm Discussion David Bevington, Drew Dir (SS-302)

(=CLAS 31200, CLCV 21200, CMLT 20500/30500, ENGL 13800/31000) The course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in drama from the ancient Greeks through the Renaissance: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, classical Sanskrit theater, medieval religious drama, Japanese Noh drama, Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Molière, along with some consideration of dramatic theory by Aristotle, Sir Philip Sidney, Corneille, and others. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other members of the course. The goal of these scenes is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended. 

Notes: This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Preference will be given to students with third- or fourth-year standing. May be taken in sequence with ENGL 13900/31100 or individually. Equivalent courses: CLAS 31200, CLCV 21200, CMLT 20500/30500, ENGL 13800/31000. 

TAPS 28414. Writing for Performance Writing for Performance

Section - 01  MW 1:30-3:20pm William L. Pope (LC 802)

(=ARTV 24301,ARTV 34301) PQ: ARTV 10100, 10200, or 10300

TAPS 28426. Tell Me the Truth: The Politics of Narrative Construction

- 01 MW 3:00-4:20pm Course Schilt, Kristen (GSRP 101)

       W 4:30-5:50pm Screening Schilt, Kristen (GSRP 101)

(=GNSE 27502,ARTV 27502,SOCI 20227)

TAPS 28428. 20th Century Performance Art

- 01 TR 4:30-5:50pm Maydanchik, Michelle (CWAC 156)

(=ARTH 25800)

TAPS 28441. Anagnorisis & the Cognitive Work of Theater

- 01 W 1:30-4:20pm Wild, Christopher (WB 206)

(=GRMN 26913,CMLT 26913,GRMN 36913,CMLT 36913,CLCV 25513,CLCV 35513)

TAPS 28444. Visual Language: On Images

- 01 MW 10:30-12:20pm Peters, Robert C (LC 110)

- 02 MW 10:30-12:20pm Pope, William L. (LC 401)

- 03 TR 1:30-4:20pm Rosen, Danielle (LC 401)

- 04 TR 1:30-4:20pm Harvath, Katherine (LC 601)

(=ARTV 10100) ARTV 10100, 10200, 10300 meet the core requirement in dramatic, musical, and visual arts and may be taken in any order. First week attendance is mandatory. Sign up for the wait list here.

TAPS 28445.  Visual Language: On Objects

- 01 TR 10:30-12:20pm Ginsburg, Amber (LC 108)

- 02 MW 1:30-3:20pm Peters, Robert C (LC 110)

(= ARTV 10200) ARTV 10100, 10200, 10300 meet the core requirement in dramatic, musical, and visual arts and may be taken in any order. First week attendance is mandatory. Sign up for the wait list here.

TAPS 28452.  Media Ecology: Embodiment & Software

- 01 TR 12:00-1:20pm Browning, Margot (C 409)

(=HUMA 25202,LLSO 27801,HIPS 25203,CMST 25204)

TAPS 28500-29600 Advanced Topics (e.g. Directing, Design, Dramaturgy, Choreography)
Consent of Advisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies (Heidi Coleman) NEEDED

TAPS 29800. BA Colloq

Section 01
F 11:30-1:20p Alternating Weeks
Heidi Coleman (Logan Center 501)

Required of fourth-year students who are majoring in TAPS. Creative Writing or MAPH students who are preparing theses for performance may participate with consent from their home department and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. NOTE: Students participate in both Autumn and Winter Quarters but register once and receive one grade.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
T/TH 4:30-5:50pm
David New (BARS)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. At least three sections are offered per quarter with enrollment limited to twenty. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals.
W 10:30a- 1:20pm   
Shade Murray (BARS)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts.PQ: Consent of instructor. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance.
T/TH 1:30- 2:50pm
Seth Bockley (Logan 501)

Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10600. Staging Desire.
T/TH  10:30- 11:50am
Heidi Coleman (Logan 501)

This course explores the interplays between romance, attractions, and distractions  through in-class discussions of theoretical works and the possibilities of practical creative application. The paradox of instant gratification and prolonged desire will be considered as well as the values of shock, suspense, and subtlety. Texts will include classic and contemporary drama, vampire cult fiction, fairy tales, films, and theoretic source material.  Working 4-dimensionally, we will examine how theorized stagings can evoke and undermine sentimentality.  This course will constantly question how analysis itself can be a performative practice and how performance can serve as a critical endeavor.  The course will culminate in a series of original scenes to be shown at the end of the quarter. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting.
T          12-2:50pm
John Petrakis (Logan 603)

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 18600. Introduction to Puppetry. 
W        10:30- 1:20pm
Jessica Wardell (Logan 501)

In this course we will explore the varied performance types of puppetry. While there will be readings, class discussions, and lectures (focusing on the history, culture, theory and literature of puppetry), this is primarily a PRODUCTION and PERFORMANCE-based course, and as such we will focus on creating puppets and short performance pieces. Previous performance experience is not necessary. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 20700. Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.
TH        1:30-4:20pm
Derek Matson (Logan 802)

This course is an orientation and practicum in contemporary dramaturgy. After surveying Enlightenment treatises that occasioned Western dramaturgical practices, students will critically engage present-day writings that consider the objectives and ultimate raisons d’être for the production dramaturg. Students then undertake dramaturgical research, exploring different methodologies and creative mind-sets for four representative performance genres: period plays; new plays; operas or musicals; and installations or performance art. Special attention will be given to cultivating skills for providing constructive feedback and practicing dramaturgy as an artistic collaborator and fellow creator. The class culminates in the design and compilation of a sourcebook for actors, directors, and designers, followed by a dramaturgical presentation intended for a professional rehearsal room. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop.
M         1:30-4:20pm
Audrey Francis (Logan 501)

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 22500. Styles and Practice in Storytelling.
T         3-5:50pm
Emily Lansana (Logan 501)

“What is storytelling? It can be said that it is the oldest form of observing, synthesizing and communicating feelings thoughts and information.”   -Temujin the Storyteller
Everyday we use stories to communicate. This course provides students with an overview of the art and practice of storytelling. Chicago is a storytelling town from the Moth to Second Story and from Story Slams to traditional storytelling; performance artists give voice to a wide range of expression. Throughout this learning experience, students will be encouraged to explore the world of storytelling and to nurture their creative voices.  Students will create and adapt tales focusing on personal experience, folklore, history and ethnography. We will learn through participation and observation. The creative experiences in this course will enable students to further their skills in: oral presentation, story construction, performance, artistic critique and analysis.  Students will develop and perform stories from at least three distinct areas of experience. The course provides a creative space for learning and exploration. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23600. Improv and Sketch.
R        10:30a 1:20pm
Susan Messing (Logan 701)
This class will explore the many different schools of thought in Chicago improv comedy community, including but not limited to The Second City, iO, and The Annoyance.  Organic discovery and plot will be highlighted within scenework as well as the group dynamic, with comedy as the result. Come ready to play and play hard. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.
 

TAPS 23800. Playwriting: Writing Utilizing Improvisation
M     10:30-1:20pm
Evan Linder (Logan 701)

This course incorporates the spontaneity and freedom allowed by improvisation into the writing process. In addition to focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication, the class will also learn to write for individual performers and ensembles. Through these improvisations, the students focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays which emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explores the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write three complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24400. Circus Performance Lab.
T          10:30- 1:20pm
Halena Kays (Logan 701)

This course will work as a laboratory for an ensemble created circus and physical theater production based on the work of Studs Terkel.  Classes will include a collaborative devising of story and character using dance, classic and contemporary circus skills, clown and improvisation. Ensemble members will divide their time researching both Terkel and contemporary circus culture and group physical stunts to generate the basis for the final script.  As part of the research students will also be asked to attend several productions around Chicago.  The Winter Course culminates in UT/TAPS mainstage production as a cast member or playwright in the premiere of the work.  Casting in class, assumes participation in the spring production to be rehearsed in spring quarter and perform 5th and 6th week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 28100. Lighting Design for the Stage.
M         10:30-1:20pm
Matt Gawryk, (Logan 501)

This course places equal emphasis on the theory and practice of modern stage lighting. Students learn the mechanical properties of lighting equipment; how to create, read, and execute a lighting plot; the functions of lighting in a theatrical context; color and design theory; and how to read a text as a lighting designer. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28439. Seminar & Workshop: Absorption, Distanceation, Distraction: Wagner, Brecht, Kluge.
T/TH               12-1:20pm
David Levin (Logan 501)

( = GRMN 29614/33914) Explores Richard Wagner's music-dramas, Bertolt Brecht's plays, and Alexander Kluge's films as a forum for the formulation, circulation, and contestation of absorption, distanceation, and distraction.  While a conventional historical account would map the tensions among these terms as a one-way trip, moving from absorption (in Wagner) to distanceation (as coined by Brecht) to distraction (as deployed by Kluge), we will explore how each artist deploys each term to varying effects.  Works to be considered include Wagner's *The Flying Dutchman* & *Parsifal*, Brecht's *Man is Man* & "The Measures Taken", and Kluge's *Yesterday Girl* and *The Power of Emotions."  Readings by each artist, as well as by TW Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Michael Fried, Miriam Hansen, Andreas Huyssen, and Gertrud Koch. In addition to our academic engagement with each of these artists, students will be asked to propose creative solutions to the questions raised by the works under consideration. In English.  Some experience in film studies, theater, or musical analysis will be helpful. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28500-29600 Advanced Topics (e.g. Directing, Design, Dramaturgy, Choreography)
Consent of Advisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies (Heidi Coleman) NEEDED

TAPS 29800. BA Colloq
Section 01

F 10:30- 12:20p Alternating Weeks

Heidi Coleman, Jay Torrence (Logan Center 501)

Required of fourth-year students who are majoring in TAPS. Creative Writing or MAPH students who are preparing theses for performance may participate with consent from their home department and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. NOTE: Students participate in both Autumn and Winter Quarters but register once and receive one grade.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation
Section 01     T/TH 10:30am-11:50pm  Pamela Pascoe (BARS)
Section 02     T/TH 12pm- 1:20pm       Pamela Pascoe (BARS)
Section 03     T/TH 9am-10:20am         Matthew Gawryk (BARS)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. At least three sections are offered per quarter with enrollment limited to twenty. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals.

Section 01     M 10:30a- 1:20pm         Halena Kays (BARS)
Section 02     M 1:30pm- 4:20pm        Joanie Schultz (BARS)
Section 03     T  1:30pm-4:20pm         David New (BARS)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance.

Section 01     T/TH 9am- 10:20am       Devon de Mayo (Logan Center 701)
Section 02     T/TH 10:30am- 11:50am Loren Kruger (Logan Center 603)
Section 03     W  3-5:50pm                 Pamela Pascoe (BARS)

Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10700 Intro to Stage Design

T/TH 10:30am-11:50am Jessica Wardell (Logan Center 501)

This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop.

M         1:30-4:20pm
           Audrey Francis (Logan Center 501)

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 22800. Introduction to Performance Theory.
T/TH   9-10:20am  Kristin Leahey (Logan Center 603)

Every act is a performance.  Theatre, dance, music, and art to rituals, celebrations, protests, and social media, among many other sites, are the fodder for contemporary performance theory. This class is an introductory exploration of performance as a theory and a practice. Some of the questions we will address through a survey of scholarship, performances, and application activities include: What is performance? How can performance live outside of the theatre and where?  How do we perform the past, present, and future?  How can performance incite dialogue, which may inspire sociopolitical change?
 Some of the scholar/artist/activists’ work we will examine include Bertolt Brecht, Dwight Conquergood, Richard Schechner, Victor Turner, Augusto Boal, Michel Foucault, Richard Foreman, Diana Taylor, Jill Dolan, Peggy Phelan, Anna Deavere Smith, and Susan Foster, among others.  We will investigate how ideologies of affect, race, gender, sexuality, class, technology, and citizenship are articulated through performance. This course is intended as preparation aimed towards Majors and Minors that will be taking BA Colloquium in the following year. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23100. Advanced Directing.
T 1:30pm- 4:20pm         Heidi Coleman (Logan Center 501)

This course is intended for more experienced students interested in exploring professional careers as directors.  Students will work with both composition and scene work to further develop a critical eye with regard to staging through alternated showings and critique.  Focus will additionally be on use of self in rehearsal and communication with actors, designers, and audience.  The scene work will include work with a range of representational and presentational styes.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.  CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 23900. Playwriting: Sketch to Play

M 10:30a-1:20p      Evan Linder (Logan Center 701)

This course follows a story from outline to sketch to short play. Using improvisation with their fellow classmates, writers will create sketches that will be the foundation for a short play. These improvisations will help each writer learn more about the characters they are writing, helping a stock character in a sketch grow to a fully dimensional character for their short play. Classes will include roundtable discussions and active improvisation with their classmates. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write three complete sketches and one short play that will receive a reading by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25500. Advanced Screenwriting.

T 12-2:50pm          
J. Petrakis (Logan Center 603)

This course requires students to complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay (at least ninety pages in length), based on an original idea brought to the first or second class. No adaptations or partially completed scripts are allowed. Weekly class sessions include reading of script pages and critique by classmates and instructor. PQ: TAPS 15500/ CRWR 27102, and consent of instructor based on fifteen-page writing sample in screenplay format. Limited class size. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 27000. Spectacle, Ephemera and Urban Engagement.
Seminars meet M 10:30- 1:20pm 3/31, 4/7, 4/21, 5/5, 5/19, 6/2 (Logan Center 603) 
and will meet at 6-8:50pm on 4/14, 4/28, 5/12, TUES 5/27
Rebecca Rugg & Jim Lasko 

This course will focus on interventions into public space – fleeting expressions of art and culture that fully embrace their social context.  We will consider how ephemeral rituals such as the Olympic Games, The Tomatina Festival, The The Burning Man Festival, and other cultural events function in culture and what difference they make, what leftover they leave.
The professors for this course both hail from Redmoon theater company, a 23-year-old Chicago institution where the mission is to transform the experience of our city through free large-scale theatrical events that promote community, creativity, and an empowered democracy.  Our inquiry into interventions in public space in the course will be fueled by the large scale project in which Redmoon is currently engaged: creating a new urban ritual for the City of Chicago.  Presented by Redmoon in partnership with the City, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the inaugural Great Chicago Fire Festival in October 2014 will be a massive, citywide event that celebrates the city’s powerful spirit of resilience.  The festival was born from the city’s determination to innovate, reinvent, to rise from the ashes.  From the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire to Millennium Park’s spectacular emergence out of the old rail yards, the epic story of Chicago has been one of destruction and renewal.  Drawing on this rich history, the Fire Festival will be a city-wide event built around urban planner and MIT professor Mark Schuster’s concept of a ‘signature event’ on par with New Orleans’ Mardi Gras and Pampelona’s Running of the Bulls.
The format of the course will alternate seminar meetings with four open roundtable conversations, curated by Lasko and Rugg, to be held every other week during the spring quarter.  These will be held at Redmoon, the Logan Center, The Cultural Center, and Homan Square Community Center.  We will bring together leaders in a variety of disciplines, as well as artists, city culture workers, representatives from the Fire Festival’s core partner institutions: Young Chicago Authors, Family Focus, and Cure Violence, in conversations about the function of public art in civic life.
ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. 

TAPS 27400. Staging Sound and Unseen Theatre.
W 10:30a- 1:20pm     M. Fiksel, S.Murray (Logan Center 501)

Is "showing" always better than "telling"? Can our ears paint a better picture than our eyes? When is the thing UN-seen is what best effects our audience? 
Audience - from audire (Latin) - to HEAR.
Through script analysis, discussion and multiple small collaborative performance projects, this class will explore these questions using various sound design tools such as live foley, pre-recorded sound, live music as well staging techniques - direct address, radio dramas, off-stage action, etc. Every student will be a part of several small group performances and will have a chance take on the role of the director, the designer and the performer. Prior experience in sound design or music not required. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27500 Costume Design for the Stage.
W 1:30pm- 4:20pm    Jessica Wardell (Logan 032)

In this course, students will learn the basics of designing costumes for theatrical productions, encompassing the skills of text and character analysis, theatrical rendering and sketching. Students will learn to adopt a vocabulary using the elements and principles of design, understand and experience the process intrinsic to producing costumes for the theater, analyze the production needs related to costumes, and prepare a finalized costume design for a theatrical production. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28200. Onstage Presence.

TH 10:30am-1:20pm            
Adrian Danzig (Logan Center 701)

The relationship to ones partners is the single most predictably generative asset we have on stage. How can we use this reliable relationship to create work that is truthful and grounded in the real, so that we can forge experience with audiences rather than asking them to "suspend disbelief." In this class we will explore action and aliveness in theater performance and creation. At the very core of the theatrical act is the live interaction between the actor and her/his partners. We will look at improvisation, action art, and 500 Clown techniques as ways of finding ourselves present on stage. There will be writing (creative and papers) and reading (you know...books), but this class is mostly a time to acquire knowledge with the body. We will be stretching physically and emotionally each class period. Journaling will be required, as will clothes that allow for free movement with no flashiness or logos. (Burlap sack not required). Performance experience not required. If you're not interested in performance though, why are still reading this? 500 Clown is a Clown-theater company founded in 1999. The core members of which have developed a way of teaching performance that produces visceral and accessible theater. Adrian Danzig is the founding Artistic Director of 500 Clown. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28500-29600 Advanced Topics (e.g. Directing, Design, Dramaturgy, Choreography)
Consent of Advisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies (Heidi Coleman) NEEDED.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

Section 01   T/TH   12:00-1:20    
David New (Logan Center 701)

Section 02   T/TH   1:30-2:50    
David New (Logan Center 701)

Section 03 T/TH 3:00-4:20p
Devon de Mayo (Logan Center 701)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. At least three sections are offered per quarter with enrollment limited to twenty. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200 Acting Fundamentals

Section 01 T/TH 10:30-11:50
Pamela Pascoe (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

Section 02 Wed 10:30-1:20pm
Halena Kays (Logan Center 701)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts.PQ: Consent of instructor. Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10300 Text and Performance: Dramaturgy

Instructor: David Levin 
When: T/Th 12:00-1:20
Where: Logan Center 603

TAPS 10500 Text and Performance: Staging Terror

Instructor: Heidi Coleman
When: T/Th 12:00-1:20
Where: Logan Center 501

This course explores the interplay between horror, terror, and pleasure through in-class discussions of theoretical works and the possibilities of practical creative application. The paradox of the attraction to repulsion will be considered as well as the values of shock, suspense, and subtlety. Texts will include Grand Guignol, Shakespeare, Gothic Novels, and horror films. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS IS MANDATORY

TAPS 10700 Intro to Stage Design

Instructor: Matthew Gawryk
When: T/Th 10:30-11:50
Where: Logan Center Shop

This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 15000 Beginning Playwriting

Instructor: Seth Bockley 
When: W 10:30-1:20
Where: Logan Center 501

This course is a writing workshop introducing students to the art of playwriting. The workshop introduces a range of strategies for writing dramatic text, with a special focus on the playwright as collaborator, use of source materials and found text, and the writer’s relationship to practices of staging and styles of performance. Students read several contemporary and classic plays from a range of styles to develop a playwriting vocabulary that includes the concepts of character, dramatic action, voice and mise-en-scene. Students write three complete scenes in contrasting styles over the course of the quarter and engage in active discussion of the writing presented by their colleagues during each workshop session. Writers are required to complete weekly exercises and post responses to the reading list on a class website.ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500 Beginning Screenwriting

Instructor: John Petrakis
When: Tuesday 1:30 - 4:20
Where: Logan Center 603

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 21700 Acting: An Actor Observes

Instructor: Pamela Pascoe
When: Tuesday 1:30-4:20
Where: Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space

This course addresses techniques and modes of observation and their application to scene study. Observation study is used to strengthen acting choices, build the physical world of the play, and create original, vital characterizations. It also serves to deepen awareness of group dynamics, integrate symbolic, psychological and physical meaning in a character's behavior, and guide the process of breaking down a scene. Students will perform observation exercises and apply their discoveries to scene work. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 23000 Introduction to Directing

Instructor: Andrew Hobgood
When: Mon/Wed 1:30-2:50
Where: Logan Center 501

This course employs a practice in the fundamental theory of play direction and the role of the director in collaboration with the development of textual analysis. By examining five diversely different texts and using the director supported play analysis, Backwards and Forwards, students will begin developing a method of directing for the stage in support of the written text. In alternating weeks, students will implement textual analysis in building an understanding of directorial concept, theme, imagery and staging through rehearsal and in-class presentations of three-minute excerpts from the play analysis the previous week. The class will culminate with a final five-minute scene combining the tools of direction with a method of analysis devised over the ten week course. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23600 Improv and Sketch

Instructor: Susan Messing
When: Monday 10:30-12:20
Where: Logan Center 701

This class will explore the many different schools of thought in Chicago improv comedy community, including but not limited to The Second City, iO, and The Annoyance.  Organic discovery and plot will be highlighted within scenework as well as the group dynamic, with comedy as the result. Come ready to play and play hard. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 23700 Playwriting: Creating Natural Dialogue for the Stage

Instructor: Evan Linder
When: Tuesday 1:30-4:20
Where: Logan Center 501

This course employs collaboration among the students to help each individual writer create natural dialogue for the stage. Students will utilize improvisation to write a contemporary scene focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication. Through these improvisations, the students create a framework for their narrative with a special focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays which emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explores the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write two complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 25200 “NeoFuturist” Performance Workshop

Instructor: Greg Allen
When: Thursday 3:00-5:50
Where: Logan Center 501

This course is a hands-on introduction to Neo-Futurism - a method of transforming your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences into creative, task-oriented, audience-participatory, non-illusory, unique theatrical events. Students will be encouraged to find their own voice as fully rounded theater artists by writing, directing and performing their own short performances using their own lives as source material. By pursuing the goal of absolute truth on stage, the class will focus on an alternative to narrative Realism by embracing such elements as deconstruction, found-text, collage, abstraction, sythesis, and chaos. Classes will consist of original group exercises as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY

TAPS 26100 Dance Composition

Instructor: Julia Rhoads
When: Monday 2:30 - 5:20
Where: Logan Center 701

In this course, dance making is approached through the basic  elements of space, time, shape, and dynamics, as well as a variety of choreographic processes including improvisation, thematic development, abstraction, and musical phrasing.  Working alone, in duets, or small groups, students will create short choreographic studies in response to a variety of assigned exercises.  These studies will build skills in generating material for a final choreographic project. In addition to choreographic exercises, students will view videos of historical and contemporary choreographers from a variety of styles, and write about their own and others' work as a way to develop skills in constructive criticism. Short readings will also supplement physical work.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27500 Costume Design for the Stage

Instructor: Nathan Rohrer
When: Monday 3:00-5:50
Where: Logan Center Costume Shop

In this course, students will learn the basics of designing costumes for theatrical productions, encompassing the skills of theatrical rendering and sketching, as well as the implementation of the design and basic sewing techniques. Students will learn to adopt a vocabulary using the elements and principles of design, understand and experience the process intrinsic to the producing costumes for the theatre, analyze the production needs related to costumes, and prepare a finalized costume design for a theatrical production.

TAPS 27100 Scene Painting

Instructor: Jessica Wardell
When: Thursday 3:00-5:50
Where: Logan Center Scene Shop

This course is designed to introduce students to the theatrical art of Scenic Painting for the stage and film.  A scenic artist is the hand of the theatrical designer, translating the small scale of the designer’s rendering into full size theatrical environments.  In this course, students will explore the unique tools and techniques used by scenic artists to create scenery.  The end result of this class will be a basic mastery of painting “faux” surfaces and an understanding of how a scenic artist transforms the designer’s ideas into realized pieces of theatrical art. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 27600 Manual Cinema

Instructor: Drew Dir and Sarah Fornace
When: Monday 3:00 - 5:50
Where: Logan Center 501

Manual Cinema’s work combines handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic motifs, and live sound manipulation to create immersive theatrical stories. In this course, students will collaborate with Manual Cinema company members on the development of a new work. In the process, we will explore the theory and practice of creating a live cinematic experience, especially through the techniques of shadow puppetry, staging, sound design, and music. Critical thinking about the aesthetic parameters of theater, cinema, and liveness will be central to the creative and theoretical work of the course. (A special track will be offered for musicians and sound designers; for these students, experience with audio editing software is encouraged but not required.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28400 History and Theory of Drama - I

Instructor: David Bevington/John Muse
When: T/TH 1:30-2:50 
Where: Stuart 102

(=CLAS 31200, CLCV 21200, CMLT 20500/30500, ENGL 13800/31000) The course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in drama from the ancient Greeks through the Renaissance: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, classical Sanskrit theater, medieval religious drama, Japanese Noh drama, Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Molière, along with some consideration of dramatic theory by Aristotle, Sir Philip Sidney, Corneille, and others. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other members of the course. The goal of these scenes is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended. 

Notes: This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Preference will be given to students with third- or fourth-year standing. May be taken in sequence with ENGL 13900/31100 or individually. Equivalent courses: CLAS 31200, CLCV 21200, CMLT 20500/30500, ENGL 13800/31000. 

TAPS 28449 The Interaction of Light and Matter: Art and Science

Instructor: Sidney Nagel and Jamie Carpenter
When:  Fridays 9:30am - 12:20
Where: TBA

(= ARTV 25412 / 35412, PHYS 30100) Co-taught by a physicist and an architect/designer, this experimental studio course taught in the new Logan Center for the Arts explores the relationship between light and matter with a special focus upon low-level light.  Topics include: light phenomena as they are perceived within various environments as well as the physiological and cultural impact of light.  Instructors: Sidney Nagel, Stein-Freiler Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Physicsand Visiting Architect/Designer Jamie Carpenter of James Carpenter Design Associates, Inc. 
The course will be aimed primarily at advanced undergraduates and interested graduate students from multiple disciplines.   Students will establish collaborative partnerships and working groups.  Each group will document its investigations for class presentations and ultimately for publication and produce a ‘work’ that demonstrates or allows the experience of a ‘low-light phenomenon’.   
This course is sponsored by the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry and the Mellon Residential Fellowship for Arts Practice and Scholarship Program, which is supporting a long-term experimental collaboration between Nagel and Carpenter.  Open to PhD, MA, and advanced undergraduate students from a wide variety of fields by permission only. For permission, please send a paragraph describing your background and interest in the course to lbdanzig@uchicago.edu. 

TAPS 28455 Transmedia Games: Theory and Design

Instructor: Patrick Jagoda
When: Thursday 3:00 - 6:00pm
Where: TBA

(= ENG 25953) This experimental course explores the emerging game genre of “transmedia,” “pervasive,” or “alternate reality” gaming. Transmedia games are not bound by any single medium or hardware system. Conventionally, they use the real world as their primary platform while incorporating text, video, audio, social media, live performance, phone calls, email, websites, and locative technologies. The stories that organize most of these games are nonlinear and broken into discrete pieces that audiences must discover and actively reassemble. Players of these games must generally collaborate to solve puzzles. Throughout the quarter, we will approach new media theory through the history, aesthetics, and design of transmedia games. For all of their novelty, these games build on the narrative strategies of novels, the performative role-playing of theater, the branching narratives of electronic literature, the procedural qualities of videogames, and the team dynamics of sports contests. Moreover, their genealogical roots stretch back to a diverse series of gaming practices such as nineteenth-centuryEnglish “letterboxing,”the Polish tradition of “podchody,” scavenger hunts,assassination games, and pervasive Live Action Role-Playing games. An understanding of these related forms will be critical to our analytical and creative work.

TAPS 28456 Mediating Japanese Gesture

Instructor: Reginald Jackson
When: TBD
Where: WB 301N

(=EALC 41920) This course takes up gesture as a concept through which to explore the relationship between Performance Studies and Japanese Studies. Through close readings of literary, cinematic, and theoretical texts, we will examine a range of issues related to embodiment in Japanese culture. What is gesture and how should we understand the aesthetic and political work it performs? How does technological medium alter the shape and significance of bodily movements? The centerpiece of the course will be a two-week residency by award-winning choreographer and filmaker Yasuko Yokoshi during which she will engage students as she develops her newest dance composition, which melds Kabuki and ballet.  Students will develop skills of performance analysis and critical writing. Readings by Tanizaki, Sontag, Sedwick, Zeami, Lamarre, Berlant, J. Butler, A. Lippit,  Kittler, Uchino.  

TAPS 28464 The Martial Arts Tradition in Chinese Cinema 

Instructor: Judith Zeitlin
When: T/Th 1:30 -2:50
Where: Cobb

(=EALC 24323/34323) This year’s course focuses on the martial arts film in Hong Kong cinema, in conjunction with a special quarter-long series on this topic at Doc Films.  We will pay particular attention to the wuxia genre, tracing the genealogy of the chivalric code in the Chinese literary and performing tradition, and examining its continuous reinvention in the films of masters like King Hu, Chang Cheh, Bruce Lee, and Tsui Hark. Recurrent issues to be examined include the representation of violence, fantasy, and nationalism; the interplay between body, film style, and technology; the performance of masculinity and femininity; and the complex interactions between the global and local in today’s trans-national film culture. 

TAPS 28500-29600 Advanced Topics (e.g. Directing, Design, Dramaturgy, Choreography)

Consent of Advisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies (Heidi Coleman) NEEDED

TAPS 29800 BA Colloq

Instructor: Heidi Coleman
When: Friday 3:00-4:20p 
Alternating Weeks
Where: TBA

Required of fourth-year students who are majoring in TAPS. Creative Writing or MAPH students who are preparing theses for performance may participate with consent from their home department and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. NOTE: Students participate in both Autumn and Winter Quarters but register once and receive one grade.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

Section 01
TR 1:30p-2:50p
Seth Bockley (Logan Center 501)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. At least three sections are offered per quarter with enrollment limited to twenty. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals

Section 01
T 1:30-4:20pm
Halena Kays (Logan Center 701)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. PQ: Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.  ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting

Section 01
T 1:30-4:20p
John Petrakis (Logan Center 603)

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop

Section 01
M 1:30-4:20p
Audrey Francis (Logan Center 501)

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 23800. Playwriting: Writing Utilizing Improvisation

Section 01
W 10:30-1:20p
Evan Linder (Logan Center 501)

This course incorporates the spontaneity and freedom allowed by improvisation into the writing process. In addition to focusing on the natural rhythms and nuances of modern communication, the class will also learn to write for individual performers and ensembles. Through these improvisations, the students focus on developing unique voices for each character. Students read scenes from contemporary plays which emphasize spontaneous and realistic dialogue. Students have weekly assignments that further explore the characters they are writing. Each class includes an active roundtable discussion of the weekly assignments as well as collaborative exercises that further explores the voices of their characters. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write three complete scenes that will receive readings by their classmates. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24000. Director/Designer Collaboration

Section 01
T 3:00-5:50p
Heidi Coleman & Jessica Wardell (Logan Center 601)

The concept phase of the shared creative process in theater requires clarity of vision and impulse to dream while negotiating the realities of budget and space. With students in the roles of director and designer, this class tackles the preproduction period from initial concept meetings to design presentations for rehearsal. Students develop vocabulary that fully expresses the director's vision and simultaneously provides creative room for the designer. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 24900. New Colony Performance Workshop

Section 01
R 1:30-4:20p
Evan Linder & Andrew Hobgood (Logan Center 701)

The course will employ an ensemble-based method to devising new work by utilizing the process of Chicago theatre company The New Colony. Starting with nothing more than a concept or brief outline, The New Colony process draws fro the ensemble's areas of expertise and develops all of the moving parts of the story before any part of the script is solidified. The process is grounded in the idea that there are three fields of creative expertise in any production: the actors are experts in who the characters and how they think and feel at any given moment, the playwright is the expert on the story, and the directors and designers are experts on the audience experience. Classes will include a collaborative devising of story and character monologues, as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments. Winter Course culminates in UT/TAPS mainstage production as cast member in premiere of work.  Casting in class, assumes acting in the spring production to be rehearsed in spring quarter and perform 5th and 6th week. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 24700. Examining Greek Tragedy

Section 01
M 10:30-1:20p
Sean Graney (Logan Center 501)

This course is designed to submerge students in the process of creating a script that adapts all of the surviving Greek Tragedies. We will read classic translations as well as the adaptations prepared by the instructor; there will be discussions comparing and contrasting. This course will also discuss the relevancy of Greek Tragedy for contemporary audiences and their relation to contemporary plays.

TAPS 28100. Lighting Design for the Stage

Section 01
R 3-5:50p
Matthew Gawryk (Logan Center 501)

This course places equal emphasis on the theory and practice of modern stage lighting. Students learn the mechanical properties of lighting equipment; how to create, read, and execute a lighting plot; the functions of lighting in a theatrical context; color and design theory; and how to read a text as a lighting designer. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28200. Onstage Presence

Section 01
M 1:30-4:20p
Adrian Danzig (Logan Center 701)

The relationship to ones partners is the single most predictably generative asset we have on stage. How can we use this reliable relationship to create work that is truthful and grounded in the real, so that we can forge experience with audiences rather than asking them to "suspend disbelief." In this class we will explore action and aliveness in theater performance and creation. At the very core of the theatrical act is the live interaction between the actor and her/his partners. We will look at improvisation, action art, and 500 Clown techniques as ways of finding ourselves present on stage. There will be writing (creative and papers) and reading (you know...books), but this class is mostly a time to acquire knowledge with the body. We will be stretching physically and emotionally each class period. Journaling will be required, as will clothes that allow for free movement with no flashiness or logos. (Burlap sack not required). Performance experience not required. If you're not interested in performance though, why are still reading this? 500 Clown is a Clown-theater company founded in 1999. The core members of which have developed a way of teaching performance that produces visceral and accessible theater. Adrian Danzig is the founding Artistic Director of 500 Clown. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

TAPS 28436. Lohengrin Laboratory: Opera, Dramaturgy, and Stage Practice

Section 01
W 1:30- 4:30p
David Levin, Majel Connery  (Logan Center 901)

GRMN 29113/39113 (TAPS 28436, MUSI 39113/29113).  In 2014, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) will stage a production of Salvatore Sciarrino's *Lohengrin* directed by Majel Connery, Executive Director of Opera Cabal, an experimental opera company based in New York City and Chicago.  This team-taught, interdisciplinary seminar will serve as a laboratory for the production. The first half of the class explores in depth the work’s genesis (Wagner’s opera, *Lohengrin*) and subsequent adaptation (a short story by Symbolist poet Jules Laforgue which, in turn, is re-adapted for opera by Sciarrino). As a class we will cultivate a fluency with the theoretical stakes of these multiple *Lohengrins* (including Alain Badiou’s and Adorno’s writings on Wagner, Michel Poizat on voice, and Slavoj Zizek/Mladen Dolar on opera, voice and the gaze) in order, finally, to develop a suite of mini-Lohengrins—group-based scenic reflections and solutions. No previous experience staging opera is expected, although an interest in exploring the intersection of textual exegesis, conceptual analysis, and stage practice is essential.  Students with an interest in any of the following are especially welcome: contemporary music, performance theory, dramaturgy, design, and/or directing. Instructors: Majel Connery (Executive Director, Opera Cabal, NYC/Chicago) and David Levin (Germanic Studies, Theater & Performance Studies, Cinema and Media Studies, and Director of the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry). ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 28500-29600 Advanced Topics (e.g. Directing, Design, Dramaturgy, Choreography)
Consent of Advisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies (Heidi Coleman) NEEDED

TAPS 29800. BA Colloq

Section 01
F 11:30-1:20p Alternating Weeks
Jay Torrence (Logan Center 501)

Required of fourth-year students who are majoring in TAPS. Creative Writing or MAPH students who are preparing theses for performance may participate with consent from their home department and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. NOTE: Students participate in both Autumn and Winter Quarters but register once and receive one grade.

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment & Transformation

Section 01
TR 10:30a-11:50a
Pamela Pascoe (BARS)

Section 02
TR 12-1:20p
Pamela Pascoe (BARS)

Section 03
TR 4:30-5:50p
Drew Dir (BARS)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of the course is to develop in the students an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, this course concentrates on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals

Section 01
TR 12-1:20p
David New (Logan Center 701)

Section 02
T 1:30-4:20p
C. Sullivan (Logan Center 501)

Course meets the General Education Requirement in the Dramatic, Musical, and Visual Arts. PQ: Prior theater or acting training not required. This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance

Section 01
T 1:30-4:20p
P. Pascoe (BARS)

Section 02
TR 9-10:20a 
L. Kruger (COBB 425)

Section 03
R 10:30a- 1:20p
Halena Kays (Logan Center 501)

Course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before. Experience in dramatic analysis or performance not required. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.

TAPS 10400. Text and Performance: Staging Secrecy

Section 01
M 10:30a-1:20p
Seth Bockley (Logan Center 501) 

Course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. What are the dynamics of a secret society, a closed community? This research-based course will examine alternative staging practices using found texts from American history and popular culture. From the Manhattan Project to Scientology to Alcoholics Anonymous, secrecy and closed and intentional communities are part of the lifeblood of American culture. This course will investigate codes, cryptography, double meanings and exclusionary groups and their possible manifestations onstage. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.

TAPS 10700. Introduction to Stage Design

Section 01
TR 4:30-5:50p
Matt Gawyrk (Logan Center 501)

Course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects.  Lab Fee is required. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop

Section 01
M 1:30-4:20p
Audrey Francis (Logan Center 501)

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 23500. Aerial and Circus with Actors Gymnasium

Section 01
R 3-5:50p
N. Drackett (Logan Center 701)

Students gain an introduction to Aerial & Circus Arts, developing a basic skill set while increasing their strength and flexibility.  Skills covered in class may include: trapeze, silks, lyra, unicycling, juggling, tightrope, tumbling, acro and Spanish web. While no acrobatic experience is necessary to enroll in this class, it is recommended that participants be in good physical health. Students should wear comfortable clothes to class, being aware that they will be, at times, upside down.  Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.  CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 23900. Playwriting: Sketch to Play

Section 01
W 10:30a-1:20p
Evan Linder (Logan Center 501)

This course follows a story from outline to sketch to short play. Using improvisation with their fellow classmates, writers will create sketches that will be the foundation for a short play. These improvisations will help each writer learn more about the characters they are writing, helping a stock character in a sketch grow to a fully dimensional character for their short play. Classes will include roundtable discussions and active improvisation with their classmates. In addition to the weekly assignments, students write three complete sketches and one short play that will receive a reading by their classmates. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.

TAPS 24500. Chicago Theater: Budgets and Buildings

Section 01
R 1:30-4:20p
Heidi Coleman (Logan Center –Theater West)

This course examines the current state of Chicago theater, focusing on the relationships between facilities, budgets, and missions. Field trips required to venues including Side Project, Timeline, Raven, Steppenwolf, Theater Building, and Green House. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.

TAPS 24600. Developing Mozart

Section 01
T 1:30-4:20  
Heidi Coleman (Logan Center 701)

Working with Broadway producers, Gregory Young and Atanas Ilitch, this class rises to to the challenge of developing a book and lyrics for the contemporary French musical, Mozart, l'Opera Rock. Within the course of ten weeks, we will translate the original, and adapt it for an American audience, with the potential of our work being realized in the ultimate production.  This class seeks those interested in the challenge, with a passion for script development and musicals.  Those with French verbal skills also highly encouraged.  Attendance at all classes is mandatory. CONSENT ONLY.  No email requests will be considered.  

TAPS 25500. Advanced Screenwriting

Section 01
T 1:30-4:20p
J. Petrakis (Logan Center 603)

This course requires students to complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay (at least ninety pages in length), based on an original idea brought to the first or second class. No adaptations or partially completed scripts are allowed. Weekly class sessions include reading of script pages and critique by classmates and instructor. PQ:TAPS 27311, and consent of instructor based on eight-page writing sample in screenplay format. Limited class size. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. CONSENT ONLY via APPROVAL FORM.

TAPS 27800. Story through Music and Sound

Section 01 
M 1:30-4:20p
M. Milburn & R. Bodeen (Logan Center 003)

This course will explore ways in which music and sound can be used to tell and support a story in the theatre. We will examine how in the simplest moment to the more layered and complex, music and sound are used to create time, place or emotional context.  We will analyze the connections of plot, dialogue, music and sound in the theatre.   We will also be learning the basics of Pro Tools and sound system design enabling us to create our own audio productions interacting with live performance. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. CONSENT ONLY.

TAPS 28000. Scenic Design

Section 01
TR 10:30-11:50a
Jessica Wardell (Logan Center 401)

This course is an exploration of various forms and processes of designing sets for theatrical performance. We pay particular attention to a cohesive reading of a text, contextual and historical exploration, and visual and thematic research, as well as the documentation needed to complete a show (e.g., model, drafting, paint elevations). We also explore, nominally, the history of stage design and look at major trends in modern stage design. PQ:TAPS 10700 or consent of instructor required; previous experience in stage design or visual art recommended. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.