Theatre Performance
Department: Communication & Theatre Arts
A great misunderstanding exists in theatre nowadays – this is the tendency to think that the theatrical process falls into two stages, as in other fields. First stage: making. Second stage: selling. . . To my mind, it is just the opposite. I would say that the process consists not of two stages but of two phases. First: preparation. Second: birth. This is very different. -Peter Brook, The Shifting Point
We intend to train students to be creators of theatre. This includes training in movement, voice, speech, theatre history, theatre literature, directing, and more. We are interested in giving students more possibilities for creating theatre work as a chosen life – and the ability to fashion a life as an artist with some measure of self-direction in that life.
A liberal arts setting offers the ideal training ground for young artists. The great theatre-makers throughout history composed lives as artists from expansive learning across today’s borderlines between fields.
This Theatre Performance POE reflects a contemporary trend toward coupling professional preparation with liberal arts study in undergraduate colleges.
Company members of The Gravity Project, a professional theatre ensemble in residence at Juniata, along with Professor Belser, are the core faculty of the Performance POE. These working theatre professionals teach intensive courses throughout the year as well as coming to work with students on productions. Professional mentoring offers these students some irreplaceable advantages:
- ongoing training at the highest level possible from experienced professionals
- a ready-made network of professionals who can position students in the performance world
- training in specialized areas – Fitzmaurice Voicework, Skinner Releasing, dialect and speech work, contact improvisation, Ashtanga Yoga, to name a few. A diversity of training approaches offers the performance student a large toolbox of skills to take into the professional world.
Theatre Performance
A Designated Interdisciplinary Course of Study
Core Courses in Theatre (59 hours)
Courses in Other Depts. (12 hours)
Performance POE Total credits (71 hours)
Core Courses
| Course Number | Title | Credits | Prerequisites | Dist. | Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TH 210 | Living Theatre History | 3 | H | CW | |
| TH 310 | 20th Century Innovations | 3 | TH 210 | H | CW |
| TH 221 | Acting | 3 | FH | CS | |
| TH 360 | Movement and Improvisation | 3 | FH | ||
| TH 361 | Modern Drama | 3 | FH | CW |
Choose one of either:
| Course Number | Title | Credits | Prerequisites | Dist. | Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TH 365 | Modern American Drama | 3 | H | CW | |
| TH 366 | Women Playwrights | 3 | H | CW | |
| TH 205 | Stagecraft | 4 | F | ||
| *TH 270, 370, 470 | Performance Lab – minimum 5 semesters 10 credits required | 2 each | Instructors consent | F | |
| **TH 398 | Professional Training Intensives – 16 credits required (minimum of 8 intensives) | 1-3 | Permission | F | |
| TH 180, 181-480, 481 | Theatre Arts Practicum – this is credit for work done on productions or on performance projects. | 1-3 | permission | FH |
*This will be scheduled three days/week for 2 hours/day – either M, W, TH or T, W, TH. All Performance POE students will be advised to enroll in this LAB every semester that they are enrolled in the POE. When The Gravity Project professional artists are on campus, which will be roughly 2/3 of the academic year, they will teach with me in this Performance LAB. This is where all students will see training applied to making theatre. Each year will be slightly different, depending on the artists that are visiting, and each year the professional artist residencies are carefully scheduled and designed to offer a rounded approach to professional performance. Among the topics covered in Performance LAB: voice, speech, and dialect work; scene study; styles of acting; auditioning/finding work; preparing the body for performance; creating one’s own work; application of various movement trainings to creation of a performance.
**The schedule for the coursework is intentionally brief – typically two weeks – but very intense (4 hours/day minimum). Some of these intensives may also be taught with more than one artist from The Gravity Project, combining skill sets. These courses are a central feature of the Performance POE and it has proved extremely attractive to current and prospective students. Areas of study include: Skinner Releasing; Fitzmaurice Voicework; Ashtanga Yoga for performers; speech and dialect work; auditioning/career preparation; various dance trainings; clowning; scene study.
Optional:
| Course Number | Title | Credits | Prerequisites | Dist. | Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TH 405 | Directing | 3 | permission | F | CS |
| TH 399 | ST: Playwriting | 3 | permission | F | CW |
| TH 490,495 | Internship | variable | permission | F | CS |
Courses from other Departments
Note: all courses listed below are 3 credit courses
Required
- Fine Arts (3 credits) AR 110, Survey of Western Art
- Communication (3 credits) CM 132, Message Analysis
- History (choose 6 credits) HS 102, Ancient Judeo-Christian Heritage; HS 151, World Civilizations to 1500; HS 152, World Civilizations from 1500; HS 330, The Mystical Experience: East and West
Strongly Recommended
- World Languages and Cultures (3-9) We strongly recommend a 210 course level equivalency is required in any of the world languages we offer at Juniata.
- Biology (3 credits) BI 142, Sensory Biology
- English EN 341, Shakespearean Drama; EN 242, Major American Writers I; EN 243, Major American Writers II; EN 360, Myth and Literature
- Fine Arts AR 317, 20th Century Art (AR 110 prereq); AR 318, American Art (AR 110 prereq)
- Philosophy PL 115, Human Nature; PL 301, Modern Philosophy
- Psychology (3 credits) PY 101, Introduction to Psychology
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