THEA - Theater

This course introduces students to the actor’s art and techniques. Students will learn and use exercises, discussion, rehearsal and performance to broaden their experience of theatre and themselves. They will also sample a spectrum of theatrical methodologies and reflect on their own learning process in order to develop their own voice as a theatre artist. There are no prerequisites for this course.

This class is an introduction to long-form improvisation and Harold as developed by Del Close at Second City and iO in Chicago and UCB in New York. The student-improviser will be introduced to the fundamentals of improvisation: listening, trust, agreement and commitment; and come to understand callbacks, tag-outs, finding the game in a scene, yes-and, swinging doors, edits, and montage; and each student will perform many Harolds for classmates and outside audiences.

Prerequisite: Fulfillment of the Composition requirement of the Core. This class is an immersion in both the theatre and cinema of the great comedic actor, director and writer Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton. The student will come to understand Buster’s personal and artistic evolution from his early theatre days as a part of his family’s vaudeville act to his early silent films with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and on through his masterpiece of silent cinema The General (1926) and beyond.

Prerequisites: Open to students who have completed the Composition Requirement. This class is an introduction to the art of playwriting and focused on developing a reliable process for student writers as they move from creative conception to completed dramatic script. It is designed for students with previous experience as well as those with minimal experience. All students will expand their conception of artistic possibilities by discussing the shorter plays of many significant playwrights as well as these writers? thoughts about their own processes for creation and playwriting.

Prerequisites: THEA 102 or permission of the instructor. An advanced course in long-form improvisation and how it is used to create "written" sketch comedy. Students begin by creating original long-form structures; they then learn to use long-form improvisation to create original sketch comedy in the Second City style. The course reading involves advanced theories of improvisation and a consideration of the history of comedy and improvisation in the United States.

Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or ENGL 101 or 3 credits from ENGL 110-139. This course will examine the history, development, literary devices, and production values of a variety of theatre and drama, from Ancient Greece and Rome to the nineteenth century. Playwrights studied may include Sophocles, Aristophanes, liturgical dramatists, commedia performers, Shakespeare, Jonson, Chikamatsu, Molière, Sheridan, Tyler and Daly. (H1, G)

Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or ENGL 101 or 3 credits from ENGL 110-139. This course will examine the history, development, literary devices, and production values of a variety of theatre and drama, from nineteenth century Realism to the present day. Playwrights studied may include Ibsen, Wilde, Chekhov, O’Neill, Miller, Williams, Albee, Beckett, Pinter, Shepard, Mamet, Wilson and Kushner.(H2, G)

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. This class is an introduction to the artistic process of the director focusing on the fundamentals of directing plays for live theatre. We will touch on all aspects of the director's process from initial conception through the rehearsal process to performance.

Offered at the discretion of the department. An opportunity for groups of eight or more students to study topics suggested by their special interests and those of the faculty and not included in the regular offerings.

Prerequisite: ENTH 205. May not be taken on an audit basis. This workshop-based course is a follow-up on ENTH 205, Introduction to Playwriting. (CW)

Prerequisites: Declared theatre and drama minor and permission of program director. For participation in the Theatre program's curricular productions, credit can be earned in the following areas: acting, stage management, & design/technical production. An audition or interview may be required and prior approval of the Hood College Theatre director is always required. Smaller roles or responsibilities may not qualify for credit. Declared theatre minors can register for one credit hour of THEA 370 per semester, up to three times. Grading is on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Independent work in theater. Conferences.