Undergraduate Academics
Theatre
The Sarah Lawrence College theatre program is a community of generous and engaged artists who value diverse, intentional, and rigorous research, process, and creation. We hold each other and ourselves accountable to responsibly challenge ourselves and each other to foster our growth as both individuals and collaborative artists. We support innovation, not only in the art that we produce but also in the systems that we make to learn, share, and create. Through an interdisciplinary curriculum that prioritizes equality, care, and experimentation, we aim to create an artistic environment steeped in joy in order to envision and build a better future. This is an open and inclusive community, where everyone is welcome.
The theatre program is focused on deep collaboration, community building, and interdisciplinarity. We support performance and theatre artists through a curriculum crossing the boundaries of design, acting, directing, management, performing, writing, technology, producing, voice, movement, and much more. Courses are taught by working professionals, with the advantage of additional courses in the music and dance programs.
We encourage students to bring their own histories, experiences, and stories into the ecosystem of the program and to share in the development of new questions, political urgencies, and social engagement. Together, we will research and practice theatre and performance to expand the possibilities of critical togetherness through body, story, and experience.
Curriculum
Students create an individualized Theatre Third with the guidance of their don and the theatre faculty. Components are chosen to extend skills and interests, to explore new areas of the art, and to develop performing and/or practical experience. Students are encouraged to find the links between their academic and arts courses, creating a holistic educational process.
Students have many opportunities to synthesize their learning by taking part in the Theatre Program Season. Student-written and/or -created work is a primary focus, while productions of published plays and classical texts are also encouraged. A proposal system for student-directed, -written, and -devised work within the Theatre Program Season’s production schedule emphasizes the development of student artists. There are also opportunities in the seasons and projects organized by DownStage (a theatre program component) and by independent, student-run companies. Auditions for faculty-, student-, and guest-directed productions are open to the entire SLC community.
Practicum
Courses provide a rigorous intellectual and practical framework, and students are continually engaged in the process of examining and creating theatre. The theatre program helps students build a solid technique based on established methodologies while also being encouraged to discover and develop their individual artistic selves. Students can earn credits from internships or fieldwork in many New York City theatres and theatre organizations. The Theatre and Civic Engagement program is a training program that uses writing, theatre techniques, music, and the visual arts to embody social and community issues. Civic Engagement courses have been a vibrant component of the curriculum for more than three decades, encouraging the development of original material created inclusively with local partner institutions, communities, and neighbors. Several theatre components include an open class showing or performance in addition to the multiple performance, design, and production opportunities that are available to students throughout the academic year. The College’s performance venues include productions in the Suzanne Werner Wright Theatre and the Frances Ann Cannon Workshop Theatre, as well as work in the student-run DownStage Theatre. Workshops, readings, and productions are also mounted in the Performing Arta Center OpenSpace Theatre, the Film Viewing Room, the Remy Theatre outdoor stage, and various other performance spaces throughout the campus.
Students enrolled in a First-Year Studies course in Theatre may take one additional theatre component as part of their Theatre Third, if they choose. Students enrolled in a First-Year Studies course in Theatre are also required to attend scheduled Theatre Meetings and Colloquiums and complete a set amount of technical support hours for the department.
First-year students are not required to take their First-Year Studies course in Theatre in order to take theatre courses; interested first-year students may enroll in Theatre Program (THEA 4499), which does not include First-Year Studies.
Theatre 2025-2026 Courses
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First-Year Studies—Year | 10 credits
THEA 1028
Theatre is about social change. This course will look at how theatre responds to the events and movements that shape our lives and how theatre and theatre artists engage and inform the discourse. Students will study a dynamic collection of plays and musicals written as a means of protest and activism and stage their own group performances, of both published and original work, in response to the tremendous forces at play upon all of us right now. Building upon the tenets of mid-20th century playwrights such as Bertolt Brecht and Samuel Beckett, whose activism and form-bending works paved the way for a large number of contemporary playwrights and theatre makers, students will study a number of plays that address a range of sociopolitical issues. We will also look at a history of theatre companies—such as The Group Theatre, The Federal Theatre Project, El Teatro Campesino, and The Public Theatre—whose landmark productions helped frame the cultural landscape. Students will read works by playwrights such as Eugene O’Neill and Clifford Odets, whose plays deal with issues of immigration and union busting, and Arthur Miller, whose plays capture the struggles of working people caught in overwhelming circumstances. We will look at Hair, the first rock musical, written in response to the Vietnam War, and the plays Angels in America and The Normal Heart and the musical RENT, written in the 1980s and 1990s about the AIDS crisis. We will discuss how theatre responds to events happening right now by looking at compelling new plays by playwrights Anna Deavere Smith, Dominique Morisseau, Antoinette Nwandu, and Branden Jacobs Jenkins, among others. The course will look at a collection of plays that address concerns of LGBT communities by playwrights and theatre makers such as Taylor Mac, Paula Vogel, and Moisés Kaufman. Students will read aloud from plays in class, examine a range of texts and essays, screen films and documentaries, and see productions in New York over the course of the year. The course will culminate in a collective performance that students will devise and create. Students will meet with the instructor in conference to devise projects to serve both this presentation and their own distinct interests. Projects may include acting and directing fully-staged scenes of published plays, design work, research and dramaturgical presentations, original plays and performance pieces, among many other options. Biweekly in fall and spring, students will alternate between individual conferences with the instructor and small-group activities that will include screenings, field trips, and performances.
Faculty
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Open, Program—Year | 10 credits
THEA 4499
Note: Theatre Program/Third (THEA 4499) is required for individual component registration.
This credit-bearing course will consist of a combination of various individual components that together constitute a Theatre Third.
Faculty
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Sophomore and Above, Program—Year | 20 credits
THEA 4498
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor
Note: Theatre Program/Third (THEA 4499) or Theatre Intensive Program/Two Thirds (THEA 4498) is required for individual component registration.
This credit-bearing course will consist of a combination of various individual components that together constitute a Theatre Two Thirds.
Faculty
Acting and Performance
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Open, Component—Fall
THEA 5643
What if the stage were a playground, and you were both the player and the game? In this high energy, actor-focused studio course, we’ll train in Viewpoints, a physical technique that teaches you to work like an ensemble and respond to space, time, and each other with presence and intuition. Created by directors Anne Bogart and Tina Landau, Viewpoints gives actors powerful tools to move, listen, and make bold choices without overthinking. But that’s just the beginning. Midway through the semester, we will glitch the system. We will remix what we have learned using Frameworks, a new performance method. Frameworks brings in tools from the internet, video games, film/television/streaming, memes, music videos, and TikTok and asks: What does it mean to perform now, in a world flooded with screens, signals, and constant noise? Each week, we will move, create short performances, and watch wild, inspiring clips from today’s most exciting experimental artists. Students will collaborate, make exciting (and beautiful) things, and gain confidence performing in unconventional ways.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Fall
THEA 5620
This course will be a study of the skills necessary for a successful audition. Actors will practice cold readings and prepare monologues to performance level. Emphasis will be placed on how best to present oneself in the audition situation.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Fall and Spring
THEA 5728
This course will be an introduction to the craft and technique of voiceover acting in various forms. The course is open to performers with an interest in gaining the necessary skills to perform in the fields of animation, video games, audiobooks, commercials, and more. Actors will learn to differentiate between genres and how to adapt their performance approach to each. We will cover basic skills, such as warm-ups, common terminology, home-studio setup, and audition and performance techniques. We will then build on those skills by learning to break down text, apply breath, perform copy, develop specific characters, and receive feedback and direction. Actors will have the opportunity to dive deep into a genre of their choice, find and write their own copy, and practice recording and editing takes with the goal of creating a demo reel.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5328
Deeply rooted in movement-based theatre traditions, this course will seek to uncover our unique and highly individual clowns. The clown is not a character but, rather, an essential part of one’s self; and being such, everyone has access to the question: What is so funny about me? We will make all attempts to bring our most open, messy, and generous selves to the task of play. The clown has arrived when the audience laughs. An embrace of failure and flop in pursuit of said laughter is a must. This course will be a combination of: technique; improvisation focusing on finding and sustaining “the game” in a variety of situations; and the creation of devised, original, and collaborative performances. We will deepen our investigation through devising exercises, writing prompts, and group discussion and reflection. At the core of this course will be a commitment to curiosity, rigorous play, and joy in the body, so that students can develop and stretch their notion of theatricality. Students will have ample opportunity to generate new material—both individually and collaboratively—as well as the chance to share works in progress with the Sarah Lawrence community.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5306
Note: Open to serious students who have taken Actor’s Workshop (THEA 5341) or other acting training.
This course will be a scene-study acting class built upon a deep dive into the character’s past, their behaviors, and the tactics they use to get what they need. This course will be a dynamic, on-your-feet approach to the text that leads to vital and compelling characters. Students will play a variety of roles from contemporary plays and adaptations and across a range of styles and forms. We will also watch and analyze movies to determine how actors create characters on film and will read aloud short scenes from plays that students suggest as a way of introducing a variety of playwrights and their distinctive characters.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5564
Theatre is the art of looking at ourselves. —Augusto Boal
The unknown is where we go to find new things, and intuition is how we find them. —Viola Spolin
In this course, we will begin with improvisations from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. These exercises are developed to create empathy and connection within the participants. The goal of this work will be to experience games that a theatre artist might use to develop community and theatre material with nonactors. Once we strengthen the class community, we will begin to work on improvisations for film and theatre. Through techniques developed by filmmakers and theatre directors, course work will focus on developing an actor’s freedom and emotional truth.Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5341
This course will be a laboratory for the actor, designed for performers who are ready to search for the steps to a fully-involved performance. In fall, we will explore characters and monologues that motivate each actor’s imagination. After analysis of the text, which will include defining the imagery and exploring the emotional choices of the actor, we will work on self-taping our work for auditions. In spring, the course will be devoted to scene work. We will examine techniques used to develop heightened connection with a scene partner, as well as the importance of actors listening and finding their impulses as they work on their feet in the rehearsal room. We will observe the work and read the theories of Declan Donnellan’s The Actor and the Target and Stephen Wangh’s An Acrobat of the Heart.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5310
This course will begin with an exploration of the classic structures of stand-up comedy. The concepts of set up and punch, acting out, and heightened wordplay will be employed. The techniques used to create and become comic characters—using your past, the news, and the current social environment to craft a comic routine—will be studied. Discovering what is recognizably funny to an audience is the labor of the comic artist. The athletics of the creative comedic mind and one’s own individual perspective on the world that surrounds you will be the primary objective of the first semester. We will also study theories of comedy through the writings of Henri Bergson (philosopher), John Wright (director), and Christopher Fry (playwright). In spring, the course will be designed for collaboration through improvisational techniques. Long-form improvisational games, such as the Harold technique, and performance techniques for comic sketch writing and group work will be studied. Exercises to develop the artist’s freedom and confidence in a collaborative group setting will also be employed. The ensemble will learn to trust the spontaneous response and their own comic madness, as they write, perform, and create scenarios together. At the end of the second semester, there will be a formal presentation of the comedy devised during the year.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5725
Those actors rooted in the tradition of playing Shakespeare find themselves equipped with a skill set that enables them to successfully work on a wide range of texts and within an array of performance modalities. The objectives of this course will be to learn to identify, personalize, and embody the structural elements of Shakespeare’s language as the primary means of bringing his characters to life. Students will study a representative arc of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as the sonnets.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5347
As actors and storytellers, it is our work to transmit information or data to our audiences. In this course, we will explore how the body, as our instrument, can be a powerful tool used to amplify our ability to communicate point of view and meaning in art marking. Drawing on trainings such as, but not limited to, the Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Viewpoints, Michael Chekhov Technique, and Miller Voice Method, we will develop an increased sense of bodily awareness and practice how we can use this awareness to inform expressive choice making. We will learn how to honor and navigate our habitual psychological and physical mannerisms as we approach character and/or generative work. We will do all of this while we unpack a collection of common aesthetics to help us approach any work environment in a “front-footed” manner.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5341
This course will offer an in-depth exploration of the actor’s role within a collaborative, interdisciplinary practice in which the script emerges from the creative process itself (rather than the reverse). Through workshops on physical/vocal techniques, improvisation, research, technical theatre, and various ensemble-based practices, students will investigate techniques for making and performing in devised theatre. Students will engage with a variety of devising methodologies drawn from prominent companies and practitioners, such as the Neo-Futurists, Pig Iron, Complicité, Mabou Mines, Wooster Group, Frantic Assembly, TEAM, Familie Flöz, SITI Company, and B-Floor, among others, with an emphasis on process, collaboration, and experimentation. Useful concepts such as ensemble-generated community agreements, nonlinear narrative, physical dramaturgy, integration of technology into performance, and site-responsive creation will be examined and practiced. Throughout this course, students will function as both performers and co-creators, contributing to the development of multiple smaller works in the first semester and an original ensemble piece in the second semester. While this course will largely be concerned with the devised process from the perspective of an actor, it is open to anyone interested in both creation and performance.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5341
Note: Intended for first- and second-year theatre students; also open to others who have not taken many (or any) acting courses.
In this course, students will begin developing their own artistic practice for performance, supported by workshops on major acting methods such as Brecht, Stanislavski, and Hagen, as well as workshops on physical theatre and performance in the context of devised work. Through learning the historical and artistic context of different techniques, students will be encouraged to determine which practices are useful to them in their own work. Practices studied will include vocal and physical warm-ups, relaxation, concentration, sensory awareness, listening, communication, and collaboration. Students will complete presentations, which will spring from these workshops as well as from monologues and scene study. Students will work toward an awareness of their own process so that they might be confident in their ability to develop characters outside of the context of a classroom. Students will be asked to honestly evaluate their own work, along with feedback from the instructor.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5651
This course will explore a variety of puppetry techniques, including Bunraku, marionette, shadow puppetry, and toy theatre. The course will begin with a detailed look at these forms through individual and group research projects. Students will then have the opportunity to develop their puppet manipulation skills, as well as to gain an understanding of how to prepare the puppeteer's body for performance. Students will further their exploration with hands-on learning in various techniques of construction. The course will culminate with the creation and presentation of puppetry pieces of students' own making.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5726
In this course, students will experiment with puppetry as both a creator and a performer. Students will discover how puppets, materials, and objects move and breathe and how they can inform and enhance theatre creation. This course will blend puppetry, movement, and crafting into one. Students will work collaboratively, as well as independently, on various projects, culminating in a final site-specific spectacle.
Faculty
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Intermediate, Component—Year
THEA 5319
Prerequisite: at least one acting course
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. —Oscar Wilde
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make make it dance. —George Bernard Shaw
Inspired by the spirit of The Harvard Lampoon, with a unique twist from Sadie Lou, this course will delve into the art of satire—employing humor, irony, and exaggeration to critique the solipsism of ourselves, our culture, artists, and institutions. Students will engage in creating comic characters, political sketches, and satirical pieces targeting aspects of college life, sports, or celebrities. This course will begin with improvisation, move to creating material, and end with a performance of sketch and characters—all done for the sake of laughter and a better understanding of the absurdity of life.Faculty
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Intermediate, Component—Year
THEA 5560
Prerequisite: at least one acting course
This comprehensive, step-by-step course will focus on developing the skills and tools that young actors need in order to work in the fast-paced world of film and television while also learning how to write, direct, edit, and produce their own work for the screen. In fall, the course will focus on screen acting and in-person and taped auditions. Through intense scene study and script analysis, we will expand each performer’s range of emotional, intellectual, physical, and vocal expressiveness for the camera. Focus will also be put on the technical skills needed for the actor to give the strongest performance “within the frame” while also maintaining a high level of spontaneity and authenticity. Students will act in assigned and self-chosen scenes from film and television scripts. Toward the end of the semester, the focus will switch to on-camera auditions, where students will learn the do’s and don’ts of the in-person and the self-taped camera audition. In spring, students will learn the basics of filmmaking, allowing them to create their own work without the restraints of a large budget and crew. The basic fundamentals of screenwriting, cinematography, directing, and editing will be covered, along with weekly writing, reading, viewing, and filming assignments. At the conclusion of the course, students will have edited footage of their work and clear next steps. For this course, students must have access to a camera (iPhone, iPad, or other camera) and a computer with editing software (e.g., iMovie, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere).
Faculty
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Advanced, Graduate Component—Year
THEA 7346
Prerequisite: two undergraduate acting components
In this advanced studio course, we will explore scenes and monologues from contemporary playwrights, focusing on deepening each actor’s understanding of character, story structure, and text analysis. Students will engage in intensive scene study and monologue work, guided by the instructor in collaboration with each performer. The course will emphasize advanced acting techniques designed to foster spontaneity, looseness, and authenticity in performance. Through rigorous practice, students will develop a versatile set of tools to bring contemporary characters to life with truth and vitality. Course outcomes will include completing the course with refined scene and monologue performances, sharpened acting techniques, and a deeper mastery of contemporary theatrical texts.
Faculty
Collaborative
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5325
Note: Required as part of Theatre Program/Third (THEA 4499) and Theatre Intensive Program/Two Thirds (THEA 4498).
Think Tank is a program-wide convening of students, occurring monthly each semester. This course will be an opportunity for our community to come together around important topics in the field. Think Tank also includes the weekly Theatre Meeting, where we share updates on program activities and independent student theatre projects and discuss upcoming opportunities and events.
Faculty
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Advanced, Graduate Component—Year
THEA 7142
Note: Open to Advanced Undergraduates (juniors and seniors).
This critical seminar and creative workshop will be dedicated to investigating the relationship between research methods and artistic practice. We will study the work of performing artists that engage in what are traditionally thought of as academic research modalities in order to collectively explore far-ranging questions about the political nature of both knowledge and art. How do artists acquire knowledge in order to critique inherited relationships between knowledge and power? How do artists research so as to think unthinkable thoughts? The course will be organized around four units spread across two semesters that are themselves organized around four different research methodologies and modalities: archives (archival research and historical analysis), interviews (ethnographic and documentarian methods), experiments (lab sciences), and data (machine learning and algorithmic knowledge). Each unit will ask students to engage in both critical inquiry and creative projects and will involve visits to specific research sites and institutions around the Greater New York City area.
Faculty
Design and Media
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5588
Students will learn how to look at the world with fresh eyes and use imagination to create a theatrical world on stage. This course will cover the fundamental ideas of scenic design and basic design technique, such as research, drawing, and scale-model making. We will start from small exercise projects and complete a final design project at the end of the course. This course will design semester projects for the theatre program. Students will present most of the projects to the class, followed by questions and comments from the fellow students. Presentation and critique skills will be important in this course. Students interested in other aspects of theatre making, as well as visual arts or architecture, and with no prior experience will be able to learn from the basics.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5570
This course will introduce students to the basic elements of stage lighting, including tools and equipment, color theory, reading scripts for design elements, operation of lighting consoles and construction of lighting cues, and basic elements of lighting drawings and schedules. Students will be offered hands-on experience in hanging and focusing lighting instruments and will be invited to attend technical rehearsals. Students will have opportunities to design productions and to assist other designers as a way of developing a greater understanding of the design process. The course will design semester projects for the theatre program.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5530
This course will serve as an introduction to theatrical sound design. Students will learn about basic design principles, editing and playback software, content creation, basic system design, and sound theory. The course will examine the function and execution of sound in theatre, dance, and interdisciplinary environments. Exercises in recording, editing, and designing sequences in performance software will provide students with the basic tools needed to execute sound designs in performance.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5689
This course will serve as an introduction to theatrical video design, exploring the use of moving images in live performance, fundamental design principles, editing and playback software, content creation, and basic hardware concerns. The course will examine the function and execution of video and integrated media in theatre, dance, and live art environments. Exercises in videography, nonlinear editing, and playback design will provide students with the basic tools needed to execute projection and video design in a live-performance setting.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5637
Note: The course requires a $20 materials fee.
This course will be an introduction to the basics of designing costumes and will cover various concepts and ideas, such as the language of clothes, script analysis, the elements of design, color theory, fashion history, and figure drawing. We will work on various theoretical design projects while exploring how to develop a design concept. This course will also cover various design-room sewing techniques, as well as the basics of wardrobe technician duties; students will become familiar with all the various tools and equipment in the costume shop and wardrobe areas. Students will also have the opportunity to assist a Costume Design ll (THEA 5638) student on a departmental production to further their understanding of the design process when creating costumes. No previous experience is necessary; the course is open to actors, directors, choreographers, dancers, and theatre makers of all kinds.
Faculty
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Sophomore and Above, Component—Year
THEA 5639
Prerequisite: Costume Design l (THEA 5637) and Costume Design ll (THEA 5638) or permission of the instructor
This course is designed for students who would like to further explore any aspect of designing costumes by researching and realizing a special costume design project of their own choosing.
Faculty
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Intermediate, Component—Year
THEA 5638
Prerequisite: Costume Design I (THEA 5637) or permission of the instructor
This course will expand upon the ideas and concepts set forth in Costume Design l (THEA 5637) in order to hone and advance the student’s existing skill sets. Students will further develop their design and construction abilities, as they research and realize design concepts for a variety of theoretical design projects, as well as develop their communication skills through class discussions and presentations. Students will also have the likely opportunity to design costumes for a departmental production, assisted by a Costume Design l (THEA 5637) student. This design opportunity will allow a unique learning experience, as students collaborate with a director and creative team to produce a fully-realized theatrical production.
Faculty
Directing
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Open, Component—Fall
THEA 5609
Students, as directors, will study the processes necessary to bring a written text to life, along with the methods and goals used in working with actors to focus and strengthen their performances. Scene work and short plays will be performed in class, and student work will be analyzed and evaluated. Common directing problems will be addressed, and directors will become familiar with the conceptual process that allows them to think creatively. In spring, students will direct a short play of their choice.
Faculty
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Intermediate/Advanced, Component—Fall and Spring
THEA 5602
Prerequisite: prior directing course work or experience
This course will blend theories and ideas about directing with practical applications. Students will discuss the on-campus productions that go up each semester as a way of using the real-life situations that emerge in rehearsals, auditions, and meetings as context for the larger challenges that directors face with each production. This course will help shape a way of working and an approach to directing built upon the director’s own personal expression and the particular demands of their productions. Students will discuss their own productions in detail and determine a collective approach to the undertakings that directors have in common—text analysis, articulating style and form, using space, casting, working with designers and other collaborators, running efficient rehearsals and meetings, etc. This goal will be accomplished through a series of corresponding in-class projects that include staging scenes; analyzing texts, essays and articles; and watching film clips and documentaries on a collection of directors, artists, and theatre makers. This course will include weekly group conferences and—for students who will be directing readings, workshops, and productions in the theatre program and/or independent companies—individual rehearsal meetings. The course is also open to directors who do not have scheduled productions in the theatre program or for one of the independent companies. Among other possibilities to meet the requirements of this course, those students might suggest hypothetical or imagined productions, expand upon projects developed in other classes, or create original projects on their own and, accordingly, make presentations in this class on agreed-upon aspects of those projects.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5714
This course will be an immersive, hands-on experience designed for actors and directors to collaboratively explore the unique craft of musical theatre. Unlike straight plays, musical theatre demands a specialized approach, integrating acting, singing, and movement into a cohesive storytelling experience. This course will provide practical techniques and methodologies for both actors and directors, equipping them with the skills necessary to excel in this dynamic art form. In fall, students will focus on small-scene work—including musical-theatre songs, duets, and scenes—while learning the specifics of directing and acting in musical-theatre work. We will focus on musical-theatre directing skills, such as selecting material, the casting process and best practices for assembling a strong ensemble, scheduling and structuring rehearsals efficiently, collaborating effectively with choreographers and musical directors, developing and communicating a clear directorial concept to a creative team, and facilitating productive and inclusive rehearsals with an emphasis on creating a consent-forward rehearsal space. We will also delve into musical-theatre acting skills, such as acting through song and integrating emotional truth with musicality; character development in musical-theatre performance; vocal health and maintaining your physical instrument; movement and physical expression in musical theatre; and auditioning techniques, including preparation, song selection, and professionalism. In spring, students will apply their acquired skills in a semester-long project, culminating in a public presentation of musical-theatre scenes and performances. Each participant will take on dual roles as both an actor and director, developing a well-rounded understanding of the creative process from both perspectives. During this course, students will engage in open rehearsals and peer feedback sessions, collaborate with classmates to stage and refine scenes, and engage in hands-on learning as both actor and director. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of the unique demands of musical theatre, gaining both practical experience and confidence in their ability to direct, perform, and collaborate effectively in the field.
Faculty
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Advanced, Graduate Component—Year
THEA 7123
Note: Open to Advanced Undergraduates (juniors and seniors).
This course will offer a comprehensive training environment for directors at various stages of their craft. Students will dissect the Greek drama to understand its parts and how they work on stage. We will research various directorial interpretations and investigate the rich and diverse world of adaptation in plays by Luis Alfaro, Sarah Ruhl, Adrienne Kennedy, and others. Students will engage in hands-on learning through readings, exercises, and in-class projects that cover text analysis, stage composition, production conception, and collaboration. The course will emphasize practical experience, including managing rehearsal environments and helping actors activate text. All students will be expected to perform in each other’s projects, since understanding the actor’s challenges is essential to sensitive and effective directing. By the end of the studio, directors will be well-equipped with the skills necessary to bring their directorial visions to life.
Faculty
Movement and Voice
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5601
Note: Audition required. Taught by William D. McRee in fall and Kimberly Marable in spring.
In this course, we will explore the actor’s performance with songs in various styles of popular music, music for theatre, cabaret, and original work, emphasizing communication with the audience and material selection. Dynamics of vocal interpretation and style will also be examined. Students will perform new or returning material each week in class and have outside class time scheduled with the musical director to arrange and rehearse their material.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5716
Students will learn the basics of armed and unarmed stage fighting, emphasizing safety. Actors will be taught to create effective stage violence, from hair pulling and choking to sword fighting, with minimum risk. Basic techniques will be incorporated into short scenes to provide students with experience performing fights in both classic and modern contexts. Each semester will culminate in a skills-proficiency showcase, which allows students to perform their scenes for an audience.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Spring
THEA 5677
This course is designed to help actors and performers develop a strong, flexible, and expressive voice. Together, we will work toward vocal clarity to foster dynamic performance. Through a combination of physical, vocal, and text-based exercises, students will explore breath support, resonance, articulation, projection, and vocal range. Emphasis will be placed on vocal anatomy and developing healthy vocal habits, freeing tension, and cultivating an awareness of how the body and voice work in the process of verbal communication.
Faculty
Playwriting
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Open, Component—Fall and Spring
THEA 5658
This course will offer additional support and mentorship to playwrights who are participating in the theatre department's "First Look Reading Series, New Works" and actively participating in independent companies during the semester. Students with an interest in presenting their plays outside of the course, such as in other courses or venues, are welcome to join this course with a focus on revision and application for future semesters. The course will be a combination of weekly full-group meetings and individual one-on-one conferences with the instructor, focusing on the student’s process as a playwright in production. The instructor will observe rehearsals for individual playwrights, which will serve as the basis for one-on-one meetings. As a group, we will read and discuss selected plays, focusing on revision and refinement toward a final production draft. Students will identify goals for themselves for both writing and in their collaborations. We will delve into the nitty-gritty of the production process, covering topics such as the playwright-director relationship, how to articulate your vision to the creative team, and how to let go and leave space for others' ideas in the process. Each playwright will also have a chance to unpack their project with the group within a post-mortem structure, identifying areas of growth and success, as well as next steps for their plays. This course will be a combination of practice, theory, and critical reflection—with a strong focus on tracking of individual process.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5616
If you are new to playwrighting and looking for a safe space to experiment with your burgeoning love of the craft, this is the place for you. In this course, we will make our own plays but will be informed by the diversity that is on our stages right here, right now. Playwrights such as David Henry Hwang, Sarah Ruhl, Dominique Morisseau, Nilaja Sun, C. Julian Jiménez, and many others will be the voices that we elevate as we find our own. A combination of analysis and (primarily) creative workshop, this course will be a great place to start your first (or second, or third, or fourth) play.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5787
Squishmallows. LEGO. Barbie. Dungeons & Dragons...toys and games often ignite instant recognition and excitement; however, we rarely talk about how toys manifest onstage. From puppetry to dolls to direct use of toys, theatre has been putting play onstage for centuries. In this course, we will study plays that incorporate toys in meaningful ways, analyze theories and histories of toys, and write our own “toy theatre” that synthesizes what we read. This course will balance creative playwrighting, script reading, and textual analysis (plus a healthy dose of play!) to form an experience that will leave students with an overview of the important role that toys play in theatres past, present, and future, as well as a taste of the broad cultural impact that our playthings have. We will share and respond to creative work, read and discuss plays, and think through cultural intersections with toys. The instructor has a lengthy record of dramatizing toys, most recently writing Sewing Bears: A Play with Pockets, produced by Parity Productions in Chelsea, about the 1907 moral panic over teddy bears. As a believer that toys belong in the classroom, the instructor will encourage students to engage with their toys both creatively and academically.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5614
Students will investigate the mystery of how to release their creative process while also discovering the fundamentals of dramatic structure that will help tell the story of their play. In fall, students will write a short scene every week taken from The Playwright’s Guidebook, which we will use as a basic text. At the end of fall, students will write a short but complete play based on one of these short assignments. In spring, students will adapt a short story of their choice and then write a play based on a historical character, event, or period. The focus in all instances will be on the writer’s deepest connection to the material—where the drama lies. Work will be read aloud in class and discussed in class each week. Students will also read and discuss plays that mirror the challenges presented by their own assignments.
Faculty
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Advanced, Graduate Component—Year
THEA 7114
Note: Open to Advanced Undergraduates (juniors and seniors).
In this studio course, the vectors of pure creative impulse will hold sway over the process of writing for the stage, as we write ourselves into unknown territory. Students will be encouraged to set aside received and preconceived notions of what it means to write plays, or to be a writer, along with ideas of what a play is "supposed to" or "should" look like in order to locate their own authentic ways of seeing and making. In other words, disarming the rational, the judgmental thinking that is rooted in a concept of a final product and empowering the chaotic, spatial, associative processes that put us in immediate formal contact with our direct experience, impressions, and perceptions of reality. Emphasis on detail, texture, and contiguity will be favored over the more widely accepted, reliable, yet sometimes limiting Aristotelian virtues of structure and continuity in the making of meaningful live performance. Readings will be tailored to fit the thinking of the class. We will likely look at theoretical and creative writings of Gertrude Stein, George Steiner, Mac Wellman, María Irene Fornés, Adrienne Kennedy, Mircea Eliade, Kristen Kosmas, Richard Maxwell, and Roland Barthes, as well as work that crosses into visual art realms and radical scientific thought from physicists David Bohm and F. David Peat. The course will be conducted in workshop fashion, with strong emphasis on the tracking and documenting of process.
Faculty
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Advanced, Component—Year
THEA 5625
Prerequisite: Playwriting Techniques (THEA 5614) or equivalent or permission of the instructor.
Note: Interest in this workshop indicates a high level of seriousness about playwriting.
Who are you as a writer? What do you write about, and why? Are you writing the play that you want to write or that you need to write? Where is the nexus between the amorphous, subconscious wellspring of the material and the rigorous demands of a form that will play in real time before a live audience? This course is designed for playwriting students who have a solid knowledge of dramatic structure and an understanding of their own creative process—and who are ready to create a complete dramatic work of any length. (As Edward Albee observed, “All plays are full-length plays.”) Students will be free to work on themes, subjects, and styles of their choice. Work will be read aloud and discussed in class each week. The course will require that students enter, at minimum, with an idea of the play that they plan to work on; ideally, students will bring in a partial draft or even a completed draft that they wish to revise. We will read some existent texts, time allowing.
Faculty
Production
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5640
Theatrical producers are responsible for understanding both the creative and administrative aspects of theatre. A good producer is tasked with upholding the artistic goals of the creative team as well as the logistic and budgetary needs of a project, balancing all of these to create and maintain a successful and financially viable production. This will be a workshop-based class. Students will study tiers of producing, including nonprofit and commercial models, and will work to develop and implement projects integrating the rich and diverse production groups on campus and in the wider campus community. As a class, students will curate and manage the SLC Theatre Festival Weekend programming, based on the goal of creating connections across disciplines, supporting student organizations, and facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration across the college—offering partnering organizations community, space, publicity, organizational support, and the opportunity to expand and intermingle their audiences. Using the foundation of existing models and programming, students will develop partnerships among the theatre program, DownStage, independent student groups, and other academic programs on campus, as well as campus civic engagement and advocacy groups. Students will work as liaisons between these entities, curating programming that amplifies and connects the groups and creating distinct, cohesive production experiences for the theatre program and wider campus community. The course will also incorporate trips to New York City, including practical opportunities to act as producing partners at high-profile theatres and organizations, a visit to a general management/production firm, as well as a potential production viewing.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5646
Production managers bridge the gap between artistic and logistic elements of production. Production managers must be problem solvers, big picture thinkers, and well-versed in all aspects of theatre—blending technical, artistic, and managerial skills. This course will be a study of theatre management, with an emphasis on real-world applications to production-management concepts. Students will develop an understanding of the relationships among the creative, administrative, and production departments of a theatre company and how these function collectively to achieve common organizational and artistic goals. Through project-based activities, students will develop a working knowledge of the artistic and managerial elements of a theatre company and how these function together to deliver a cohesive season. Students will engage in dialogue with innovators in the field and analyze real-world applications of production-management concepts. A theatre-management practicum will be embedded in the course curriculum—all students will be assigned as a student production manager for an SLC Theatre production.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5745
Stage management is a practice grounded in supporting communication across all departments. A stage manager acts as a liaison between all members of the company—cast, director, designers, producers, and technical crew. Stage managers also support the director and company by helping to set the tone of the room; they establish clear and specific expectations, develop and implement systems to help move the process forward, and manage all technical elements throughout the process. Good stage managers are flexible and exhibit transparency and empathy as they hold space for everyone, curating a culture of trust and professionalism through their work. This course will explore the basic techniques and skills of stage management via the five stages of production: preproduction, rehearsals, tech, performance, and close/strike. Students will practice script analysis and develop systems for rehearsal/performance organization and the maintenance and running of a production. A theatre-management practicum will be embedded in the course curriculum—all students will be assigned as a stage manager or assistant stage manager for an SLC Theatre production.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5605
This will be a stagehand course that focuses on the nuts and bolts of light-and sound-board operation and projection technology, as well as the use of basic stage carpentry. This will not be a design course but, rather, a course about reading and drafting light plots, assembly and troubleshooting, and basic electrical repair. Students who take this course will be eligible to work as technical assistant in the theatre department.
Faculty
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Sophomore and Above, Component—Year
THEA 5670
This course is an intensive, hands-on conference in theatrical production, where student producers administrate and run their own theatre company. Student producers are responsible for all aspects of production, including determining the budget and marketing an entire season of events and productions. Student producers are expected to fill a variety of positions, both technical and artistic, and to sit as members of the board of directors of a functioning theatre organization. In addition to their obligations to class and designated productions, DownStage producers are expected to hold regular office hours. Prior producing experience is not required.
Faculty
Theatre and Civic Engagement
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5593
This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of theatre education and civic engagement through the lens of socially-engaged performance. Students will explore strategies for facilitating creative work with young people and structuring curriculum in order to become effective teaching artists. In class, we will build a strong ensemble through focused play while exploring what it means to be a leader. We will consider a variety of educational theatre theories and practices and study adolescent development through that lens—examining methods for building ethical, reciprocal relationships in community-based arts settings. As the practicum component of the course, students will design and structure theatre workshops for youth in the local community, implementing this curriculum through the Lunchbox Theatre Program and gaining hands-on experience in facilitation, curriculum development, and ensemble-building across age groups and contexts.
Faculty
Theory, History, Survey
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Open, Component—Fall
THEA 5738
This course will consist of weekly class meetings in which productions will be analyzed and discussed, supplemented by regular visits to many of the theatrical productions of the current season. The class will travel within the tri-state area, attending theatre in as many diverse venues, forms, and styles as possible. Published plays will be studied in advance of attending performances; new or unscripted works will be preceded by examinations of previous work by the author or the company. Students will be given access to available group and student discounts in purchasing tickets.
Faculty
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Advanced, Graduate Component—Fall
THEA 7669
Note: Open to Advanced undergraduates (seniors) or by permission of the instructor.
How do we, as artists, engage with an accelerating, fractured, technology-infused world? How do we, as creators, produce our work under current economic pressures? This course will focus on artists and thinkers dealing with these questions and look at how we situate our practice in the field. Students will investigate current and emerging practices in performing care, contemporary choreography, speculative theatre, immersive theatre, co-presence, performance cabaret, postdigital strategies, socially-engaged art, and mixed-reality performance. Class time will be structured around weekly readings and discussions. Through field research, embodied laboratories, and creative and professional development, we will build a skill set, network, and knowledge base for articulating and supporting our work and engaging with collaborators, organizations, and audiences.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5766
In this course, we will focus on theatre and performance in the African diasporas. This course will discuss some of the different experiences of what it means to be of an African diaspora and to create for performance. How do you express yourself when, structurally, your environment is inhospitable to such a self? We understand that the most commonly expressed histories tend to favor Western perspectives. How, then, do we understand and trust what we learn of the history of Black performance? How do we understand and trust what we hear/read about contemporary Black theatre and performance? What is theatre, and how does that word relate to non-Western traditions of performance? This course will be interested in the connection between ritual and performance, mythology and truth, house and home. It will hold space for oral traditions and modes of performance not necessarily called theatre while also maintaining a weekly practice of reading and discussing published plays, theory, and criticism.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5734
This course will explore 2,500 years of Western drama and how dramaturgical ideas can be traced from their origins in fifth-century Greece to 20th-century Nigeria—with many stops in between. We will try to understand how a play is constructed, rather than simply written, and how each succeeding epoch has both embraced and rejected what has come before it in order to create its own unique identity. We will study the major genres of Western drama, including the idea of a classically structured play, Elizabethan drama, neoclassicism, realism, naturalism, Expressionism, comedy, musical theatre, Theatre of Cruelty, and existentialism. Also, we will look at the social, cultural, architectural, and biographical context for the plays in question to better understand how and why they were written as they were. Class discussion will focus on a new play each week, with occasional written projects that explore these ideas more closely.
Faculty
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5758
For some 60 years, roughly from 1920 to 1980, the Broadway musical was in its Golden Age. The subjects were for adults, the lyrics were for the literate, and the music had a richness and depth of expression never since equaled in American composition. In fall, the course will focus mostly on the “integrated musical”—shows that tell a story with the songs woven seamlessly into the plot, such as Show Boat, Carousel, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, Fiddler on the Roof, and Sweeney Todd. We will also spend some time looking at the much more chaotic zaniness of musical comedies, such as The New Yorkers, Guys and Dolls, and Pal Joey. In spring, the course will move on to the “concept musical”—Broadway’s answer to Cubist painting, which took a subject and looked at it from every conceivable angle except that of a conventional plot. Examples of concept musicals will include Cabaret, Company, Candide, Follies, Chicago, Pacific Overtures, and Merrily We Roll Along. We will end the course by looking at two great Broadway operas: Porgy and Bess and West Side Story. In each semester, the student will become the teacher for a day: Students will choose any musical they like and give a presentation similar to the ones given by the instructor.
Faculty
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Advanced, Graduate Component—Year
THEA 7625
Note: Open to Advanced undergraduates (juniors and seniors).
To undertake a structural analysis is to ask why things are the way they are, how they got to be that way, and whether the system is still working—if the structure still holds. Dramaturgy as structural analysis considers not only the form of the drama but also the methods and modes of production and how theatre and performance organize (or potentially restructure) public life. Dramaturgy asks students to consider the infrastructure of making theatre, alongside questions of aesthetic form and political effect. This discussion-based course will teach dramaturgy as a form of structural analysis and as a set of strategies and tactics for intervening within structures as they already exist—institutions, rehearsal rooms, modes of thinking, and modes of making. Readings and viewings will pair plays and performance scores that experiment with structure alongside structuralist and poststructuralist theories of race, gender, sexuality, ecology, infrastructure, networks, phenomenology, and political philosophy; for example, the works of Ligia Lewis, the international Fluxists, Judson dance, María Irene Fornés, Una Chaudhuri, Sylvia Wynter, Bruno Latour, and Donna Haraway. Assignments will include creative, collaborative exercises and works of scholarly analysis; students will be asked to write critically, to critique one another’s writing, and to devise their own “structures”—scores and scenarios for performance—in class.
Faculty
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Advanced, Graduate Component—Spring
THEA 7669
Note: Open to Advanced undergraduates (seniors) or by permission of the instructor.
How do we, as artists, engage with an accelerating, fractured, technology-infused world? How do we, as creators, produce our work under current economic pressures? This course will focus on artists and thinkers dealing with these questions and look at how we situate our practice in the field. Students will investigate current and emerging practices in performing care, contemporary choreography, speculative theatre, immersive theatre, co-presence, performance cabaret, postdigital strategies, socially-engaged art, and mixed-reality performance. Class time will be structured around weekly readings and discussions. Through field research, embodied laboratories, and creative and professional development, we will build a skill set, network, and knowledge base for articulating and supporting our work and engaging with collaborators, organizations, and audiences.
Faculty