This course will take you through the theatrical process of creating clothing and accessories for the stage. Hand sewing techniques, fabric use and identification, and clothing alterations are covered. We will explore basic pattern drafting and draping, and some accessory construction will also be covered. We will work from costume renderings to build and alter clothing for our productions.

An introduction to the art and practice of lighting design (with some sound design) for the theatre. This course will cover the basics about light, lighting equipment and how to develop a design. Students will learn how to draft a light plot, focus lights, and build light cues.

What's the difference between acting and being, and how does the idea of 'performance' structure this difference? How do we 'perform' our own identities, and how do we interpret the performances of others? This seminar offers a basic introduction to performance studies, an exciting new discipline through which everyday life, ritual behaviors, and artistic practices are studied. Perspectives from the arts, humanities, and social sciences will be explored using both textual and performative approaches.

A continuation of techniques developed in Acting I with a greater commitment to the culture of collaboration. Concentration is on scene work with realist playwrights, contemporary masters e.g. Churchill, Shepard, Wellman and Parks and with new work by contemporary playwrights. Actor training will involve the embodiment of physical behavior, the visceral use of language, and more intermediate composition work with Viewpoints to develop and refine awareness.

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 'Dream of the Red Chamber', 'Story of the Western Chamber', 'Peony Pavilion', and 'Butterfly Lovers'.

This course offers transnational approaches to the theory and political practice of performance in the Americas with a focus on work by Latinas in the United States and women in Latin America. We will interrogate the ways in which race, sexuality, class, gender, indigenous and diasporic identities inform the methodological and aesthetic mandates of an array of artists from across disciplines.

A historical survey of dramatic texts and world performance traditions from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, with attention given to: the influence of print culture on early modern theatrical movements; the rise of nationalism and the creation of dramatic genres; and the effects of industry and technology on experimental modernist forms. 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.

A study of some of Shakespeare's plays, emphasizing both the poetic and the dramatic aspects of his art, with attention to the historical context and varieties of critical interpretations, including those of the twentieth century. Nine or ten plays.

Rehearsal and performance Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, directed by Roger Babb. Performances: April 18-21, 2013

This course offers practice in the fundamentals of dramatic structure and technique. Weekly reading assignments will examine the unique nature of writing for the theatre, nuts and bolts of format, tools of the craft, and the playwright's process from formulating a dramatic idea to rewriting. Weekly writing assignments will include scenework, adaptation, and journaling. The course will culminate in the writing of a one-act play. Each class meeting will incorporate reading student work aloud with feedback from the instructor and the class.