When thoughtfully and responsibly employed, the photographic craft affords practitioners a passport to the world; an excuse to closely explore issues and spaces of interest. This course uses photography to examine relationships between conflict, masculine gender, and broader social order. By drawing on the extensive body of work of the instructor, a photojournalist who has contributed to National Geographic Magazine and other leading outlets, as well as fiction and non-fiction readings, it aims to illustrate the connection between academic concepts and modern storytelling.

This course explores the role of lies and practical jokes in Italian literary culture and the way the concept of humor has changed over time. We will investigate the intimate connection between power, religion, and laughter by reading some of the funniest and politically charged works. Our authors (Machiavelli, Goldoni, Pirandello, De Filippo, Fo) will take us through the streets of Renaissance Florence, eighteenth-century Venetian canals, as well as the improvised "factory theaters" of the 1970s.

This course is designed for students with a strong grasp of acting, directing, or both. Any student interested in acting will be expected to perform weekly, drawing on styles ranging from Classical Greek to Experimental, including both scene work and audition pieces. Directing students will have the chance to work in a similar variety of styles, starting with a few short scenes and concluding with a major project between 45-60 minutes in length. Those students interested in both areas will have the chance to pursue both areas.

What and whom is theatre for? How might viewing a performance be dangerous? What rules govern theatre, and who makes them? Who should play what role? In this course we analyze major theoretical and performance texts, explore censorship, and investigate theatrical controversies. Readings (supplemented by video materials) to include both theory and drama, with a particular focus on disputes over what can be said and seen and on the politics of representation.

Students will study and compare the work of significant designers, and use this research to inspire and inform the growth of their own work. They will familiarize themselves with the best contemporary practices through reading current articles, reviews and critiques. They will develop a design project for inclusion in a portfolio and will gain a working knowledge of Photoshop, InDesign, and Vectorworks. They will assistant design for the department's spring musical Cabaret.

Research-driven weekly discussions on the history of Western clothing as it intersects with social, political and technological changes, and drawing sessions using the Mount Holyoke Antique Clothing Collection. Course covers clothing circa 1100-2016.

Through a series of readings, classroom exercises, and performances this course will focus on giving students a strong foundation in stage combat techniques, including basic martial training, unarmed combat, knife work, and sword and dagger work. Students will then use this foundation to choreograph a series of scenes, while incorporating special effects meant to heighten the violence of the scenes. Special effect techniques explored may include, blood work, scarring, burns, etc.

Students will explore the critical role that athletics and black sports figures have played in debates about racial uplift, citizenship, civil rights, gender norms, and sexuality from the late nineteenth century through the present. Our task will be to examine amateur, collegiate, and professional sports as sites where social markers of race, class, gender, and sexuality have been constructed.

Students will examine the cultural history of African American political resistance from the early to middle twentieth century. We will study the various art forms that people of African descent have employed to assert their humanity, preserve their identity, and critique oppression of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Fiction, poetry, film, music, theater, memoir, aesthetics, and athletics are the creative devices that we will explore. We will mine the complex cultures of the seminal places and organizations recognized as having played crucial roles in the long black freedom struggle.

Can an economic system predicated on infinite growth achieve sustainability on a finite planet? This question will likely define the twenty-first century. This course aims to grapple with this paradox, examining the relationships and tensions between the globally dominant form of economy - capitalism - and global climate change. We will explore the interwoven rise of capitalism and emergence of fossil fuel energy, as well as the global expansion of capitalism and the connections between resources, economic growth, and political power.