Production of Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, Bosque River Stage, April, 2021.
Course Learning Objectives:
Modules Overviews: There are seven modules in this course. Each module takes approximately two weeks to complete, with two exceptions--What is Theatre? only takes one week and Designers will take three weeks and includes a group project.
1. What is Theatre? Theatre has its origins in religious ritual and myth. For something to be theatre it must have three things: an actor, an audience, and a space that they inhabit together. Theatre's purpose is to educate and entertain. Theatre is a way of explaining the world to ourselves. Humans have a mimetic impulse to act. The Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelly said, "The highest moral purpose aimed at in the highest species of the drama, is the teaching the human heart, through its sympathies and antipathies, the knowledge of itself." In this module we will examine our own theatrical experiences and discuss what makes good drama.
2. Audience: Theatre must have an actor and an audience together in a space. Audiences experience two contradictory impulses while watching theatre: empathy and aesthetic distance. Empathy is the emotional connection you feel to the characters and their story. Empathy is different from sympathy in that empathy requires you to feel as if you were the character, rather than just feeling for them. Aesthetic distance is a sense of detachment from the play happening on stage. It is the knowledge that what you are seeing is not real. Aesthetic distance is what lets you appreciate the skill with which the play has been crafted, the verisimilitude of the actors, the beauty of the sets and costumes, the atmosphere of magic created by lighting and sound. Empathy works on the audience's hearts, while aesthetic distance works on their minds. To this end, there are two different views of how theatre should affect an audience. Aristotle's view was that the audience should have a catharsis or a strong emotional release by the end of the play. Bertolt Brecht's view was that the audience should remain emotionally detached throughout the play and incite social change because of it. In this module we will examine the four types of stages as well as the different spaces in a theater building.
3. Actors: Actors attempt to take on the outer mannerisms and inner life of a character. The first actor was Thespis who during a performance stepped out of the chorus to speak his lines alone. The first actors used masks to create the persona of their characters. 2000+ years later, masks were still being used by commedia del arte troupes in Italy, where all the actors wore them to play the stock characters of the vecchi (old people) and the zanni (servants), but not the inamoratos (the lovers). By the time of Shakespeare, masks were only used for special circumstances. Shakespeare wrote a famous speech that is known as "Hamlet's Advice to the Players" that advocated for a more realistic acting style. Hamlet is the most famous role that great actors long to play. Hamlet is the longest of Shakespeare's plays and the character of Hamlet has the most lines of any of Shakespeare's plays. But it was not until the 19th Century that Shakespeare's advice was headed. A Russian, Constantine Stanislavski, re-defined the approach to acting by inventing "The Method": a more realistic and natural style of acting. Lee Strasberg was responsible for spreading this style of acting to the United States, through his school, The Actor's Studio. Acting styles have evolved radically since the Greeks and actors have different styles too which can radically alter the audience's reaction to the character the actor is portraying. In this module we will examine the differences between US and UK acting training and then compare/contrast James Earl Jones and Denzel Washington in their performances in Fences by August Wilson.
4. Critics: All plays have a unique cultural and historical context that reflects the time it was written in as well as the attitudes of the playwright and the society he lived in. Many plays have a significant performance history and knowing this history will help the student to understand the play better. A script is just a blueprint and the director will inevitably put his own spin on the play as will all the collaborators. The same script can be performed in a number of radically different ways. The collaborators choose how to present the play in order to focus attention on the story they are trying to tell, which may be similar or completely different from the playwright's intent. Acting styles have evolved radically since the Greeks and actors have different styles too which can radically alter the audience's reaction to the character the actor is portraying. In this module we will examine other reviews of productions and then you will write your own review of an MCC production.
5. Playwrights: Aristotle's Poetics states that plays must have 6 things: plot, character, theme, language, music, and spectacle. Aristotle thought that of these, plot was the most important. Plot is what happens in the play, in other words, the events of the play as well as how those events are organized and structured. Character is the people in the play. Theme is the message the playwright is trying to convey to the audience; the moral of the story. Language is both the words the playwright uses as well as the way the words are arranged. For example Shakespeare wrote his plays (mostly) in blank verse called Iambic Pentameter (which is the way writers of the time felt that people talked naturally) and sometimes included rhyming couplets (poetry, not the way people naturally speak). Music refers to actual music like when actors sing in a musical or opera, incidental music like on a radio or TV, or scoring music to cover a scene change or enhance the mood of the play. Music also refers to all the sound effects used in the play, like environmental sounds of animals or weather, or man made sounds like crashes, gun shots, or doorbells. Music also refers to the way the actors' voices sound. Spectacle refers to all the visual elements--the scenery, costumes, props, lighting, makeup and hair, as well as special effects. Spectacle also refers to the "goings on" of the actors be it dancing, fighting, or dying. In this module we will examine Lin Manuel Miranda and his best known work, Hamilton.
6. Directors: The director's job is to oversee all aspects of the entire production. To the playwright, the director is the person into whose hands the play is given to be fully realized onstage, much like a parent sending a child off to school, hoping that everything turns out all right, but knowing that they are no longer in control of what happens to their offspring. To the designers, the director is the artistic visionary whose concept they are trying to bring to life. To the actors, the director is an acting coach who helps them find their characters and tells them when and where to move on stage. To the audience, the director is the invisible force that gives each production its own unique style. To the critic, the director is the Captain of the Ship that is entirely 100% responsible for whatever the critic liked or didn't like about the performance. A script is just a blueprint and the director will inevitably put his own spin on the play as will all the collaborators. The same script can be performed in a number of radically different ways. The collaborators choose how to present the play in order to focus attention on the story they are trying to tell, which may be similar or completely different from the playwright's intent. In this module we will examine Julie Taymor and her best known work, The Lion King.
7. Designers: Designers are an important and necessary collaborator in theatre production. There are 5 types of designers who have unique and specific responsibilities toward the production. Scenic designers create the play's environment, costume designers create the way each character dresses, makeup designers create the way each character looks, lighting designers create the environment's atmosphere, and sound designers create the play's mood. Designers go through a series of steps to create the unique look of the play. Those steps are reading the play, making notes, researching, sketching, conferencing with the director, and building the designs. Plays have 7 characteristics that designers need to accommodate: genre, period, location, season, time of day, activity, and concept. Designers utilize the 5 elements of design: line, shape, form, color, and texture to influence the audience's reaction to the play. Designers utilize the 5 principles of design to organize and structure the elements of design. Those principles are contrast, balance, ratio and proportion, rhythm and movement, harmony and unity. In this module we will examine Marisol by Jose Rivera. We will form teams of 3-4 designers each and create a design concept for the play.
- Upon completion of this course, students will be able to discuss how theatre reflects the time and culture in which the play was written as well as the time and culture of those who are performing and watching it.
- Upon completion of this course, students will be able to discuss that theatre is a collaborative art and the collaborators are playwrights, directors, designers, actors and audience members.
- Upon completion of this course, students will be able to watch a play and successfully analyze and critique the performance in terms of its historical and cultural relevance both when the play was written and when it was being performed, as well as the success or failure of all of its collaborators.
Modules Overviews: There are seven modules in this course. Each module takes approximately two weeks to complete, with two exceptions--What is Theatre? only takes one week and Designers will take three weeks and includes a group project.
1. What is Theatre? Theatre has its origins in religious ritual and myth. For something to be theatre it must have three things: an actor, an audience, and a space that they inhabit together. Theatre's purpose is to educate and entertain. Theatre is a way of explaining the world to ourselves. Humans have a mimetic impulse to act. The Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelly said, "The highest moral purpose aimed at in the highest species of the drama, is the teaching the human heart, through its sympathies and antipathies, the knowledge of itself." In this module we will examine our own theatrical experiences and discuss what makes good drama.
2. Audience: Theatre must have an actor and an audience together in a space. Audiences experience two contradictory impulses while watching theatre: empathy and aesthetic distance. Empathy is the emotional connection you feel to the characters and their story. Empathy is different from sympathy in that empathy requires you to feel as if you were the character, rather than just feeling for them. Aesthetic distance is a sense of detachment from the play happening on stage. It is the knowledge that what you are seeing is not real. Aesthetic distance is what lets you appreciate the skill with which the play has been crafted, the verisimilitude of the actors, the beauty of the sets and costumes, the atmosphere of magic created by lighting and sound. Empathy works on the audience's hearts, while aesthetic distance works on their minds. To this end, there are two different views of how theatre should affect an audience. Aristotle's view was that the audience should have a catharsis or a strong emotional release by the end of the play. Bertolt Brecht's view was that the audience should remain emotionally detached throughout the play and incite social change because of it. In this module we will examine the four types of stages as well as the different spaces in a theater building.
3. Actors: Actors attempt to take on the outer mannerisms and inner life of a character. The first actor was Thespis who during a performance stepped out of the chorus to speak his lines alone. The first actors used masks to create the persona of their characters. 2000+ years later, masks were still being used by commedia del arte troupes in Italy, where all the actors wore them to play the stock characters of the vecchi (old people) and the zanni (servants), but not the inamoratos (the lovers). By the time of Shakespeare, masks were only used for special circumstances. Shakespeare wrote a famous speech that is known as "Hamlet's Advice to the Players" that advocated for a more realistic acting style. Hamlet is the most famous role that great actors long to play. Hamlet is the longest of Shakespeare's plays and the character of Hamlet has the most lines of any of Shakespeare's plays. But it was not until the 19th Century that Shakespeare's advice was headed. A Russian, Constantine Stanislavski, re-defined the approach to acting by inventing "The Method": a more realistic and natural style of acting. Lee Strasberg was responsible for spreading this style of acting to the United States, through his school, The Actor's Studio. Acting styles have evolved radically since the Greeks and actors have different styles too which can radically alter the audience's reaction to the character the actor is portraying. In this module we will examine the differences between US and UK acting training and then compare/contrast James Earl Jones and Denzel Washington in their performances in Fences by August Wilson.
4. Critics: All plays have a unique cultural and historical context that reflects the time it was written in as well as the attitudes of the playwright and the society he lived in. Many plays have a significant performance history and knowing this history will help the student to understand the play better. A script is just a blueprint and the director will inevitably put his own spin on the play as will all the collaborators. The same script can be performed in a number of radically different ways. The collaborators choose how to present the play in order to focus attention on the story they are trying to tell, which may be similar or completely different from the playwright's intent. Acting styles have evolved radically since the Greeks and actors have different styles too which can radically alter the audience's reaction to the character the actor is portraying. In this module we will examine other reviews of productions and then you will write your own review of an MCC production.
5. Playwrights: Aristotle's Poetics states that plays must have 6 things: plot, character, theme, language, music, and spectacle. Aristotle thought that of these, plot was the most important. Plot is what happens in the play, in other words, the events of the play as well as how those events are organized and structured. Character is the people in the play. Theme is the message the playwright is trying to convey to the audience; the moral of the story. Language is both the words the playwright uses as well as the way the words are arranged. For example Shakespeare wrote his plays (mostly) in blank verse called Iambic Pentameter (which is the way writers of the time felt that people talked naturally) and sometimes included rhyming couplets (poetry, not the way people naturally speak). Music refers to actual music like when actors sing in a musical or opera, incidental music like on a radio or TV, or scoring music to cover a scene change or enhance the mood of the play. Music also refers to all the sound effects used in the play, like environmental sounds of animals or weather, or man made sounds like crashes, gun shots, or doorbells. Music also refers to the way the actors' voices sound. Spectacle refers to all the visual elements--the scenery, costumes, props, lighting, makeup and hair, as well as special effects. Spectacle also refers to the "goings on" of the actors be it dancing, fighting, or dying. In this module we will examine Lin Manuel Miranda and his best known work, Hamilton.
6. Directors: The director's job is to oversee all aspects of the entire production. To the playwright, the director is the person into whose hands the play is given to be fully realized onstage, much like a parent sending a child off to school, hoping that everything turns out all right, but knowing that they are no longer in control of what happens to their offspring. To the designers, the director is the artistic visionary whose concept they are trying to bring to life. To the actors, the director is an acting coach who helps them find their characters and tells them when and where to move on stage. To the audience, the director is the invisible force that gives each production its own unique style. To the critic, the director is the Captain of the Ship that is entirely 100% responsible for whatever the critic liked or didn't like about the performance. A script is just a blueprint and the director will inevitably put his own spin on the play as will all the collaborators. The same script can be performed in a number of radically different ways. The collaborators choose how to present the play in order to focus attention on the story they are trying to tell, which may be similar or completely different from the playwright's intent. In this module we will examine Julie Taymor and her best known work, The Lion King.
7. Designers: Designers are an important and necessary collaborator in theatre production. There are 5 types of designers who have unique and specific responsibilities toward the production. Scenic designers create the play's environment, costume designers create the way each character dresses, makeup designers create the way each character looks, lighting designers create the environment's atmosphere, and sound designers create the play's mood. Designers go through a series of steps to create the unique look of the play. Those steps are reading the play, making notes, researching, sketching, conferencing with the director, and building the designs. Plays have 7 characteristics that designers need to accommodate: genre, period, location, season, time of day, activity, and concept. Designers utilize the 5 elements of design: line, shape, form, color, and texture to influence the audience's reaction to the play. Designers utilize the 5 principles of design to organize and structure the elements of design. Those principles are contrast, balance, ratio and proportion, rhythm and movement, harmony and unity. In this module we will examine Marisol by Jose Rivera. We will form teams of 3-4 designers each and create a design concept for the play.
Representation matters
I am aware that racism deeply impacts all the work I do in theatre; It is my job as a teacher to counter the racism inherent in the theatre industry with anti-racist practices through conscious effort to reduce harm, prevent harm, and repair relationships.
I teach this class through an anti-racism lens. Theatre, historically and currently, deals with complex and controversial issues; it is often challenging and at times uncomfortable. It would therefore be impossible to offer a meaningful introduction to theatre that did not engage, at times, with potentially difficult issues including systemic racism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, misogyny, ableism, and body-shaming.
These Representation Matters presentations are meant to serve as a jumping off point for Discussion Boards in which students are required to participate by posting an original opinion and then replying to another student's post. They are meant to build on each other and must be done in the order listed.
I teach this class through an anti-racism lens. Theatre, historically and currently, deals with complex and controversial issues; it is often challenging and at times uncomfortable. It would therefore be impossible to offer a meaningful introduction to theatre that did not engage, at times, with potentially difficult issues including systemic racism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, misogyny, ableism, and body-shaming.
These Representation Matters presentations are meant to serve as a jumping off point for Discussion Boards in which students are required to participate by posting an original opinion and then replying to another student's post. They are meant to build on each other and must be done in the order listed.
| black_representation_matters.pdf |
| jewish_representation_matters.pdf |
| native_american_representation_matters.pdf |
| latinx_representation_matters.pdf |
| arab_muslim_representation_matters.pdf |
| asian_representation_matters.pdf |
| cultural_misappropriation_2020.pdf |
| female_representation_matters.pdf |
| lgbtqia_representation_matters.pdf |
| physical_disability_representation_matters.pdf |
| invisible_disability_representation_matters.pdf |
| body_positivity_representation_matters.pdf |