This course introduces students to the critical study of media, focusing on electronic media, digital technologies, and network cultures. We will analyze the aesthetics, politics, protocols, history, and theory of media, paying attention to the ways they create and erase borders; affect how we form and articulate identities; invade privacy while providing a platform for exploration; foster hate speech and progressive movements alike; and participate in capitalist economies and the acceleration of climate change.

This course offers the student a study and practice of theater as a collaborative art. Course includes the analysis of the dramatic text in terms of the actor; the director; the scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers; and technicians. Close analytical readings of play texts and critical/theoretical essays will be supplemented by attending theater productions both on and off campus and by staging students' own theatrical projects.

This course will examine the materials and techniques used in building and operating theatrical scenery. It will include prop building, rigging, and welding for the theater. Students will learn the skills to work in the scene shop interpreting scenic designs for department productions.

"Indian popular cinema, known commonly as Bollywood, is usually understood to have weak storylines, interrupted by overblown spectacles and distracting dance numbers. The course explores the narrative structure of Bollywood as what scholar Lalitha Gopalan calls a "constellation of interruptions". We will learn to see Bollywood historically, as a cultural form that brings India's visual and performative traditions into a unique cinematic configuration.

Yue Opera, an all-female art that flourished in Shanghai in 1923, resulted from China's social changes and the women's movement. Combining traditional with modern forms and Chinese with Western cultures, Yue Opera today attracts loyal and enthusiastic audiences despite pop arts crazes. We will focus on how audiences, particularly women, are fascinated by gender renegotiations as well as by the all-female cast. The class will read and watch classics of this theater, including Romance of the Western Bower, Peony Pavilion, and Butterfly Lovers.

A survey of world performance history, including: the evolution of human language and consciousness; the rise of oral, ritual, and shamanic performance; religious and civic festivals; and imperial theater practices that position the stage at the dangerous intersection of religious worship, public taste, royal patronage, and government censure. Understanding performance as both artistic practice and social institution, this course emphasizes the role performance has played in changing audiences and as a cultural and political force in various societies.

Social media connect communities, inform us about friends' lives, and give us a platform on which to share ideas and form identities. Beyond that, social media play an increasingly conspicuous role in national and transnational politics, from Arab Spring to the viral spread of fake news around the 2016 US election.

A study of some of Shakespeare's plays emphasizing the poetic and dramatic aspects of his art, with attention to the historical context and close, careful reading of the language. Eight or nine plays.

An introduction to the art and work of the costume designer in the performing arts. Students will learn how a costume designer analyzes a script, approaches research, renders costume sketches, and helps to shape a production.

This course is designed to be an introduction to the fundamental theories and principles of directing for the stage. Visual theory, text analysis, collaborative techniques, and organizational strategies are examined and applied in class exercises, including the direction of a major scene. Each student will be required to cast, rehearse, and present to the public a fully realized scene by the end of term. Directing is a complicated activity that requires you to do and be many things, and this course will help you lay the foundation to discovering your own process.