200

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.