This playwriting course is designed for students with prior writing experience who are ready to dive more deeply into the art and craft of writing full-length plays across multiple genres in an advanced workshop setting.

This is an advanced-level course in contemporary dance technique with a primary focus on movement practice. Using the studio as a laboratory, we will embody increasingly complex and dynamic movement that investigates clarity, freedom, adaptability, and artistry. Additionally, contemporary dance’s roots and influences will be acknowledged and applied through movement exploration. These include the borrowing and fusing of movement vocabularies from jazz, ballet, modern, hip hop, and improvisational dance forms like contact improvisation.

An investigative look at clothes and style through the lens of costume design, rooted in cultural, socio-economic and political landscapes. In this course, students are introduced to fashion in history and the core principles of costume design for performance. Assignments consist of reading, research, and design presentations. No previous design experience is required. Limited to 14 students. Fall semester. Professor Lee.

How to handle overenrollment: Priority given to THDA majors, first-years, and sophomores.

An investigation of different performing spaces from the past, present and future. In this course, students are introduced to various space designs for performance, including plays, operas, musical theater, dance, film and television, and concerts. Built on the understanding of performance spaces, students explore the relationship between performers and audience, and audience experience. Students will also learn the creative process of visual response to language and ideas.

What if dance was more than just movement? What if it were history, resistance, and storytelling--embodied? In this course, we will explore dance as a force that shapes culture, challenges norms, and brings people together. From sacred rituals to viral dance trends, from concert stages to underground clubs, students will examine how movement speaks louder than words and the artistic innovations that shape it. We will investigate dance as a tool for activism, a mirror of society, and a global language of expression that transcends borders.

This course provides students with exposure to unconventional theatrical forms, encompassing works from diverse backgrounds, including those of femme, queer, and BIPOC makers, among others. Through engaging in performances of non-traditional plays/pieces and the development of experimental works, students will cultivate their own performance skills. This course actively encourages artistic innovation, fostering an appreciation for the rich tapestry of possibilities within modern and experimental theater. The course concludes with students sharing prepared pieces.

What are the benefits of a collaborative creative process in a dance repertory project for the dance student/performer? What cultural contexts become embedded in a repertory work through the various dance and movement backgrounds and personal histories of each contributor? What do we each bring to the process, and how can we approach the making of a choreographic project as an inclusive practice? Finally, what curiosities and inquiries can we investigate together in a unique creative process?

What are the benefits of a collaborative creative process in a dance repertory project for the dance student/performer? What cultural contexts become embedded in a repertory work through the various dance and movement backgrounds and personal histories of each contributor? What do we each bring to the process, and how can we approach the making of a choreographic project as an inclusive practice? Finally, what curiosities and inquiries can we investigate together in a unique creative process?

What are the benefits of a collaborative creative process in a dance repertory project for the dance student/performer? What cultural contexts become embedded in a repertory work through the various dance and movement backgrounds and personal histories of each contributor? What do we each bring to the process, and how can we approach the making of a choreographic project as an inclusive practice? Finally, what curiosities and inquiries can we investigate together in a unique creative process?

A course in the methodology of integrating creative study with problem-solving and technical skills in the making of theater and dance works. The primary focus is to expand understanding of the ways in which effective planning and organization, communication, sustainable labor, and the use of technology contribute to artistic creation and interpretation. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the synthesis of production elements in the creation of coherent performance moments that elicit an intended audience response.