The Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies offers two tracks within its concentration: Theatre Arts, and Performance Studies. Each track has classes that overlap with the other tracks. Each track requires 10 courses to fulfill the concentration requirements.
This concentration combines the study of dramatic literature, theatre history, performance
theory, and studio work in the various theatre arts. All concentrators in Theatre Arts will
gain practical experience through the study of acting and directing as well as in the
technical production of plays, preparing students in the practical study of a cross-section
of the vital aspects of theatre craft, including one class in either dance or speech. An
essential aim of the concentration track is the engagement of students in performance
procedures (acting, dancing, directing, choreography, design, playwriting, dramaturgy,
etc.) in order to experience the inter-relationships among social contexts, dramatic texts
and theatrical enactments. Along with practical study in craft, concentrators will
graduate having studied theatre history and performance theory in global perspective.
The study of theatre history provides a Theatre Arts concentrator with the necessary
background to understand a variety of dramatic and theatrical forms. The study of
performance theory enhances a student’s ability to ask fundamental questions about the
role of theatre in social, political, cultural and cross-cultural arenas.
Of the ten courses required, at least four must be in theatre history and dramatic and
theatrical theory that forms a backbone for further study in these areas. Students should
take at least one course that exhibits geographic or topical breadth beyond what might
loosely be called “mainstream” Euro-American tradition. Basic courses in technical
theatre and design are required of all students, as is a senior seminar, taken by most
students in their seventh semester. The remaining three courses for the concentration may
be taken in areas of applied theatre arts (though this is not a requirement); there are
sequences of courses available in acting/directing, playwriting, design/technical theatre,
and dance.
Students wishing to enroll as concentrators in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies and
take the Theatre Arts track should see Professor Lowry Marshall, who serves as the
undergraduate Theatre Arts track advisor, in order to discuss options that will best serve
their interests.
Required Courses
1: TSDA 0230 Acting/Directing
2: TSDA 0250 Technical Production of Plays
3: TSDA 1230 Performance Theory: Ritual, Play and Drama in Context
4: TSDA 1240 Performance Historiography and Theatre History
5: TSDA 1250 Twentieth-Century Western Theatre and Performance
6: One course in Dramatic or Performance Literature, Theory, History and/or Criticism offered or cross-listed in the department *
7: Either TSDA 0220 or any dance history or practice course. *
8-9: Two electives to be selected from applied areas and.or from relevant theoretical and text-based studies throughout the university. *
10: TSDA 1520 Senior Seminar
* At least one course in the mix of a concentrator's elective requirement's (6, 7, 8, 9) should demonstrate enhanced geographical breadth.
The Performance Studies track in the Theatre Arts and Performance Studies
concentration offers a base for students interested in a variety of performance forms,
performance media, or in intermedial art. A concentrator in this track will study the
multiple modes in which live performance articulates culture, negotiates difference,
constructs identity, and transmits collective historical traditions and memories. Because
Performance Studies is not primarily invested in one performance mode over another
(such as theatre or dance), a concentrator will gain exposure to a broad spectrum of
performance modes. Studying ritual, play, game, festival, spectacle and a broad spectrum
of “performance behaviors” under the umbrella of Performance Studies, a concentrator
will graduate having investigated the role of performance in culture, including
performative acts in everyday life, political enactment, ritual behavior, aesthetic or
representational practices, and social role or the performance of subjectivity. The history
of aesthetic performance practices (such as the histories of theatre and/or dance) will be
an important part of this track, serving to ground inquiry into the broader spectrum of
performance study. Students will craft their electives on this track from a wide selection
of courses both within the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance and across the
university. The study of performance behavior across mediums such as dance, theatre,
ritual, and orature allows for geographic and historical flexibility as not all cultures parse
theatre from dance, nor, historically, genres of religious or political ritual from genres of
entertainment, play, or game.
At least two of the ten required classes must show geographic or cultural breadth, and be
approved as such by the undergraduate concentration advisor. Participation in practical
classes in modes of performance is also required.
Required Courses
1: TSDA 1230 Performance Theory: Ritual, Play and Drama in Context
2: TSDA 1240 Performance Historiography and Theatre History
3-5: Three of the following, one of which must show geographical breadth:
6-7: Two full credit courses based in performance craft in either Acting, Directing, Speech, Dance, Design, Literary Arts (with a performance emphasis), Visual Arts or Music. These classes must be approved by the concentration advisor.
8-9: Two additional courses in the academic study of performance and performance culture(s) to be culled from those listed above as well as other courses in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies or throughout the university in consultation with advisor. An extensive list of courses that might be considered Performance Studies can be made available to interested students
10: TSDA 1520 Senior Seminar
In cases where dual concentrations are declared, the Department allows two courses to be counted toward both concentrations.
The standard pattern above, plus an honors thesis (TSDA 1990), the topic of which would be determined before Semester VII. Candidates for the honors program should have an outstanding academic record and should apply to the Department by Semester VI. The honors advisor is Prof. John Emigh.
The tracks come together in several courses but also in a culminating senior seminar. In addition to the senior seminar there are a wide variety of ways students who concentrate can construct a “capstone” experience– such as directing a production, a solo performance, a dance piece, an honor’s thesis, or a design project.
Page last updated in February, 2009.