Theatre Courses

THTR UN REHEARSAL AND PERFORMANCE. 0 points.

Prerequisites: Students cast as actors in a departmental stage production register for this course; course emphasizes the collaborative nature of production, and appropriate research and reading required in addition to artistic assignments. Students working as dramaturgs on departmental productions register for this course as well. Auditions for each semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions Students take part in the full production of a play as actors, designers, dramaturgs, or stage managers. Emphasizes the collaborative nature of production. Appropriate research and reading will be required in addition to artistic assignments.

THTR UN2002 New York Theatre. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited. Permission given by instructor only at first meeting.

Students attend a variety of performances as well as a weekly lab meeting. Emphasis on expanding students' critical vocabulary and understanding of current New York theatre and its history. Section on contemporary New York theatre management and production practices.

THTR UN2003 Voice and Speech. 2 points.

Not offered during 2019-20 academic year.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 14 students. Acting classes are open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Theatre Department through audition required: auditions for acting classes and for the semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult Auditions on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions

Techniques of vocal production tailored to the individual problems and potential of the student. Exercises for use in warm-up, relaxation, breathing, and rehearsal; daily work with poetry and dramatic texts.

THTR UN2004 Movement for Actors. 2 points.

Not offered during 2019-20 academic year.

Prerequisites: Recommended for students intending to focus on acting or directing in the senior thesis. Enrollment limited to 14 students. Acting classes are open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Theatre Department through audition required: auditions for acting classes and for the semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions

Exploration of the actor's physical performance. Classical and contemporary approaches to theatre movement.

THTR UN2005 Acting Workshop. 3 points.

When offered in Fall semester, open only to first-year students.

Prerequisites: Acting classes are open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Theatre Department through audition required: auditions for acting classes and for the semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions.

Course develops the processes and tools an actor needs to approach the text of a play. Students develop their physical, vocal, and imaginative range and skills through voice and speech exercises, work on non-verbal behavior, improvisation, and character development.  IN THE FALL SEMESTER OPEN ONLY TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS. Course encouraged for prospective BC Theatre and CU Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN2022 Practicum Performance 1. 3 points.

Course can be taken for 1-3 points.

Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Department through audition required.

Students cast as actors in a departmental stage production register for this course; course emphasizes the collaborative nature of production, and appropriate research and reading required in addition to artistic assignments. Students working as dramaturgs on departmental productions register for this course as well. Auditions for each semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions.

THTR UN2025 REHEARSAL AND PERFORMANCE. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Students cast as actors in a departmental stage production register for this course; course emphasizes the collaborative nature of production, and appropriate research and reading required in addition to artistic assignments. Students working as dramaturgs on departmental productions register for this course as well. Auditions for each semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions Students take part in the full production of a play as actors, designers, dramaturgs, or stage managers. Emphasizes the collaborative nature of production. Appropriate research and reading will be required in addition to artistic assignments.

THTR UN2026 REHEARSAL AND PERFORMANCE. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Students cast as actors in a departmental stage production register for this course; course emphasizes the collaborative nature of production, and appropriate research and reading required in addition to artistic assignments. Students working as dramaturgs on departmental productions register for this course as well. Auditions for each semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions Students take part in the full production of a play as actors, designers, dramaturgs, or stage managers. Emphasizes the collaborative nature of production. Appropriate research and reading will be required in addition to artistic assignments.

THTR UN2100 New York Theatre. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited. Permission given by instructor only at first meeting.

Students attend a variety of performances as well as a weekly lab meeting. Emphasis on expanding students' critical vocabulary and understanding of current New York theatre and its history. Section on contemporary New York theatre management and production practices.

THTR UN2120 TECHNICAL PRODUCTION. 3 points.

Not offered during 2019-20 academic year.

THTR UN2140 History and Practice of Producing for the Theatre. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Preference given to students who have taken New York Theatre and/or are Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors. Permission of instructor given at first class meeting, required. Course limited to 12.

Explores the role and responsibilities of the producer in commercial and not-for-profit theatre; the relationship of the producer to the cast and creative team; the creative development of plays and musicals; the evolution of the role of the producer over the twentieth century; and the pioneering work of great producers of the past century. Students develop criteria to assess artistic and financial merits of theatrical work. Attendance at productions on and off Broadway, meetings with producers and other theatre artists.

THTR UN2201 Acting Ensemble for Directing II. 1 point.

This course will examine the original vision a director can bring to a written text. We will explore and define different directorial styles in terms of acting, design, language, politics, relationship to the audience, and world-of-play. We will study five dramatists; students will make work in conversation with each figure and their particular political and artistic projects. Students will make a total of four fully-realized scenes; the two final pieces will each be presented twice, with time for rehearsal in between. Students will work with actors who come from both inside and outside the class pool. Students will have the opportunity to stage work for proscenium, in-the-round, and environmentally. There will be at least two outings to see productions in New York City. Students will write three short papers that engage with and analyze live performance. This course places equal weight on the dramatic language of a play text and a theatre practice guided by images.

THTR UN2210 Theatre Workshop. 1 point.

Prerequisites: To be taken only for P/D/F. Auditions for this class are sometimes required; please check with Theatre Department in advance. If audition is required, auditions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Class begins meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions

Various topics presented by visiting theatre scholars, artists, and practitioners in a lecture/seminar/workshop series that will meet for at least four sessions during each semester. Topics, times, and visiting instructors will be announced by the department. Students must attend all classes to receive credit for the course.

THTR UN2420 Technical Production. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Crew assignment optional. Enrollment limited to 10 students.

Introduction to the equipment, terms, and procedures employed in the creation of scenery, lighting, and sound for the stage. Classroom exercises and field visits emphasize approaches to collaborative process and production management.

THTR UN2421 Stage Management. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor, given at first class meeting.

This course explores the role of the stage manager and production manager in  theatrical production. Students undertake hands-on exercises to develop the practical and collaborative skills essential to working both as a stage manager and production manager--script analysis; production timeline and rehearsal management; technical rehearsal; budgeting; working with directors and designers; working with unions; health and safety codes; house management; box office.

THTR UN2422 Rehearsal and Performance - Props & Paint Crew. 1 point.

Prerequisites: Students working in a design, stage management, or backstage capacity on departmental stage production register for this course. Audition not required, but students must meet with Theatre Department Production Manager, Michael Banta (mbanta@barnard.edu).

Students take part in the full production of a play as designers or stage managers. Emphasizes the collaborative nature of production, the acquisition and development of technical and artistic perspectives on production, and appropriate research.

THTR UN3000 Theatre Traditions in a Global Context. 3 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 50 students.

Provides a broad introduction to several traditions of nonwestern drama and theatrical practice, often placing recent and contemporary writing in relation to established conventions.  Taking up plays and performance traditions from Asia, South Asia, and various African traditions, it may also consider the relation between elite and popular culture (adaptations of Shakespeare, for example), and between drama, theatre, and film. Fulfills one course in World Theatre for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3004 Acting Lab. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment in each section limited to 14 students. Acting classes are open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Theatre Department through audition required: auditions for acting classes and for the semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions

This is an umbrella course whose offerings will change each year. Some are narrow, some broad; all are designed with several objectives in common, including: a. To focus on a particular genre, playwright,  approach to live performance. b. To develop an interrelated set of conceptual, analytical, and embodiment skills and approaches. Courses typically involve  scene preparation, reading, research, and both individual and group projects, as well as active participation in classroom exercises. c. To develop a sense of the purposes and goals of a specific approach to acting. The acting lab courses are intentionally non-sequential; students with little previous background in acting are strongly encouraged to consider the Acting Workshop and Scene Lab courses. No more than six courses can be taken from the Acting Lab/Advanced Acting Lab offerings during a student's career. Auditions are required for all Acting Labs and will take place the first two evenings of each semester. Each course fulfills one course in Acting requirement for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors. Please check with the Theatre Department website for specific offerings and audition information.

THTR UN3005 Acting Lab. 3 points.

This is an umbrella course whose offerings will change each year. Some are narrow, some broad; all are designed with several objectives in common, including: a. To focus on a particular genre, playwright,  approach to live performance. b. To develop an interrelated set of conceptual, analytical, and embodiment skills and approaches. Courses typically involve  scene preparation, reading, research, and both individual and group projects, as well as active participation in classroom exercises. c. To develop a sense of the purposes and goals of a specific approach to acting. The acting lab courses are intentionally non-sequential; students with little previous background in acting are strongly encouraged to consider the Acting Workshop and Scene Lab courses. No more than six courses can be taken from the Acting Lab/Advanced Acting Lab offerings during a student's career. Auditions are required for all Acting Labs and will take place the first two evenings of each semester. Each course fulfills one course in Acting requirement for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors. Please check with the Theatre Department website for specific offerings and audition information.

THTR UN3006 Advanced Acting Lab. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Preference given to juniors and seniors; THTRV 3004 or 3005 prerequisite. Enrollment limited to 14 students. Acting classes are open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Theatre Department through audition required: auditions for acting classes and for the semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions

Special problems of performance. In-class scene work, extensive outside research, rehearsals, and reading.   Fulfills additional coursework in Acting for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3007 Scene Lab. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 16 students. Acting classes are open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Theatre Department through audition required: auditions for acting classes and for the semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions.

 Provides an overview of the creative process of acting: text analysis, circumstance, establishment of place, pursuit of intention in coordination with exercises and improvisation designed to enhance concentration, imagination, resonance, movement, and projection. Rehearsal 2 hours per week outside class, participation in discussion of plays, playwrights, and performances required. Fulfills one course in Acting for Theatre/Drama Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3140 Performing Women. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 16 students.

This course examines the category of "woman" as it is mobilized in performance, considering both a variety of contemporary performances chosen from a wide range of genres and a diversity of critical/theoretical perspectives.

THTR UN3141 Socialism/Communism in Performance. 4 points.

Not offered during 2019-20 academic year.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. Enrollment limited to 16 students.

Analyzes dramatic texts and performances under the Communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain before 1989. Principal focus is on Czech, Polish, and East German playwrights and their productions; we will consider their work in both legal and illegal contexts. In order to gain a wider understanding of the diversity of underground performative cultures, works from Hungary, Romania, and Slovenia will be considered as well. The seminar also attends to dissident performative activities in the framework of the 1980s revolutions, and reflects on works by western authors and emigrant/diasporic writers produced on stages behind the Iron Curtain.  Fulfills one (of two) required courses in dramatic literature for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts major.

THTR UN3142 Bertolt Brecht: The Making of Theatre. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 16; permission of instructor given at first class meeting. Course is conducted in English and readings are in English; German majors and German-speaking students may do readings and papers in German.

This class provides a comprehensive overview of the drama, theatre, and theory of Bertolt Brecht, the most influential European playwright and theorist of the twentieth century, in the context of their original historical contexts and subsequent legacies.  Fulfills one (of two) required courses in dramatic literature for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts major.

THTR UN3146 American Drama in the 1990s. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 16.

Examines American drama in the period between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the attack on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001, considering a range of aesthetic (epic theatre, performance art), social (AIDS), and political (Reaganomics) issues of the period. Fulfills one (of two) required courses in dramatic literature for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts major.

THTR UN3150 Western Theatre Traditions: Classic to Romantic. 3 points.

Dialectical approach to reading and thinking about the history of dramatic theatre in the west, interrogating the ways poetry inflects, and is inflected by, the material dynamics of performance. We will undertake careful study of the practices of performance, and of the sociocultural, economic, political, and aesthetic conditions animating representative plays of the Western tradition from the classical theatre through the early modern period to early romanticism; course will also emphasize development of important critical concepts for the analysis of drama, theatre, and performance. Specific attention will be given to classical Athens, medieval cycle drama, the professional theatre of early modern England, the rival theatres of seventeenth century France and Spain, and eighteenth-century theatre in England and Germany; topics include the sociology of theatre, the impact of print on conceptions of performance, representing gender and race, and the dynamics of court performance. Writing: 2-3 papers; Reading: 1-2 plays, critical and historical reading per week; final examination. Fulfills one (of two) Theatre History requirements for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3151 Western Theatre Traditions: Modern. 3 points.

Dialectical approach to reading and thinking about the history of dramatic theatre in the west, interrogating the ways poetry inflects, and is inflected by, the material dynamics of performance. We will undertake careful study of the practices of performance, and of the sociocultural, economic, political, and aesthetic conditions animating representative plays of the Western tradition from the late eighteenth century to today; course will also emphasize development of important critical concepts for the analysis of drama, theatre, and performance. Specific attention will be given to the ideology of realism and naturalism, the development of epic theatre, the theatre of cruelty, postcolonial performance, and the continuing invention of dramatic forms (theatre of the absurd, speechplays, postdramatic theatre), as well as to the political and theoretical impact of race, gender, sexuality in modern performance culture. Writing: 2-3 papers; Reading: 1-2 plays, critical and historical reading per week; final examination. Fulfills one (of two) Theatre History requirements for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3152 Nazism in Performance. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Course enrollment limited to 16; permission of instructor given at first class meeting.

Explores the cultivation of national and transnational performances as a significant force of National Socialism, at the same time as challenging the notion of “Nazi Theatre” as monolithic formation. The core of the course inquires into the dialectical analysis of artistic creations in diverse art genres, while working towards an understanding of the social dramaturgy of such events as staging the Führer and the racialized body of the privileged people. Nazism did not harbor ideologies without benefits for the allied nations. Thus, the dynamic performance of transnationalism among the “brothers in arms” will be included as well, in order to elucidate how works of art crossing into the Third Reich were reimagined, sometimes in ways challenging to the presumed values of the state stage. Fulfills one (of two) required courses in dramatic literature for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts major.

THTR UN3154 Theatre Traditions in a Global Context. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 50 students.

Provides a broad introduction to several traditions of nonwestern drama and theatrical practice, often placing recent and contemporary writing in relation to established conventions.  Taking up plays and performance traditions from Asia, South Asia, and various African traditions, it may also consider the relation between elite and popular culture (adaptations of Shakespeare, for example), and between drama, theatre, and film. Fulfills one course in World Theatre for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3155 Traditional Indian Theatre. 4 points.

Course provides a perspective on traditional forms of Indian performance from classical theory to contemporary traditional practices. Course covers Sanskrit drama, Kathakali, Ramlila, and Chhau; extensive video of performances and guest practitioners. Fulfills one course in World Theatre requirement for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3156 Modern Asian Performance. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor given at first class meeting; enrollment limited to 16.
Corequisites: Fulfills one course in World Theatre requirement for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

Course studies contemporary Asian performance with focus on modernity, covering most nations on the Asian continent; readings cover theoretical and aesthetic questions from performances of healing to revolutionary theatre to diasporic performance.

THTR UN3160 Queer Performance. 4 points.

This course surveys key theoretical and historical writings in the field of Queer Performance, both within and without Theatre and Performance Studies, as well as significant dramatic and performance works in the field. Beginning with an introduction to queer theory and questins surrounding gender and sexuality in performance, the course then moves into contemporary theories to examine works that use embodiment to question constructions of gender and sexuality onstage. Performances are regarded as provocations: what constitutes queer performance? Is sexuality all we mean by queer? What are the historical, aesthetic, and political aspects of queer performance? We will also pursue questions of practice and production: Where is queer performance staged and how is it received? How is it produced, fo whom, by whom, and with what funding? Is queer performance inherently or even necessarily radical? The course explores crosscultural performances, as well as performances spanning from theatrical stages to ritual to everyday performance.  Course fulfills one course in the "dramatic literature/theatre studies/performance studies" requirement for the Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts major. 

THTR UN3165 Theories of Performance Studies. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 16 students.

Course surveys the wide range of genres and categories addressed by the practice of modern "performance studies"; it introduces a number of performance practices, as well as relevant interdisciplinary methodologies. Students consider live performances as well as a number of mediated works, learning to think critically and creatively about the relation between text, technology, and the body. Course fulfills the Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts major requirement in Drama, Theatre, Theory.

THTR UN3166 Drama, Theatre, and Theory. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 16 students.

Intensive immersion in fundamental principles and practices of world drama, theatre, and performance, past and present. Close readings of performances, plays, video, film, and digital media.  Assignments include presentations, performance projects, and critical writing. Fulfills one course in Drama, Theatre, and Theory requirement for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3167 Dramaturgy. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor, given at first class meeting; enrollment limited to 12.

This course teaches the research skills and practices a production dramaturg develops as part of the conceptual work of theatrical production. Course is focused on a series of activities: analyzing dramatic text, comparing different versions of script, conducting archival and cultural research, and presenting it to the production team.  Fulfills one (of two) required courses in dramatic literature for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors. Required for students undertaking a senior thesis in dramaturgy. Required for students undertaking a senior thesis in directing prior to the thesis year.

THTR UN3200 Directing I. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor given at first class meeting.

Exploration of the evolution of the director's role in Europe and the US, including the study of important figures. Emphasis on text analysis, and varied schools of acting in relation to directing practice. Students gain a foundation in composing stage pictures and using stage movement to tell a story. All students will direct at least one fully-realized scene.  Fulfills one course in Directing requirement for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3201 Directing II. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Students required to have taken THTRV 3200 Directing I, THTRV 3203 Collaboration: Directing and Design, or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 14 students. Permission of instructor given at first class meeting.

Course focuses on developing an individual directorial style, placing emphasis on visual research, and the use of different staging environments: end-stage, in the round, environmental. Class is structured around scene-work and critique, and each student will direct at least three fully-realized scenes. Material typically drawn from European avant-garde. Fulfills additional coursework in Directing required for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors concentrating in Directing.

THTR UN3202 Advanced Directing. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Open to students who have taken at least one course in directing. Required for students approved for Directing thesis, but open to all qualified students. Permission of instructor given at first class meeting.

This course requires students to draw on all previous theatre training, synthesizing scholarship and research toward dynamic fully-realized scene work. Emphasis is on the director-actor relationship; students will direct at least three fully-realized scenes, typically drawn from Shakespeare, Chekhov, or other playwrights. Students may have the opportunity to make devised work, and will collaborate with students in the Advanced Acting class. Required for, but not limited to, students undertaking a senior thesis in directing. Fulfills additional directing coursework in Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts major.

THTR UN3203 Collaboration: Directing and Design. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructors given at first meeting; enrollment limited to 24.

Course focuses on developing both technical and collaborative skills of directors and designers.  Students are assigned to different roles in creative teams working on a series of at least three fully realized and designed scenes. Introduction to various design disciplines and directing practice. May be counted as either a course in directing or a course in design for majors. Fulfills requirement for one course in EITHER Directing OR Design for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors; counts as second or third course in either Directing or Design.

THTR UN3211 Performance Lab. 4 points.

Not offered during 2019-20 academic year.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 12 students. Acting classes are open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Theatre Department through audition required: auditions for acting classes and for the semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. Acting classes begin meeting after auditions. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance: theatre.barnard.edu/auditions

In Spring 2012 the course will provide a critical context and embodied understanding of experimental theatre and performance in the United States between 1960 and the present.  In the spirit of the critic/practitioners who emerged in this period, students will generate written assignments, research presentations, and scene work inspired by this artistic movement.

THTR UN3215 NAZISM IN PERFORMANCE. 4 points.

Explores the cultivation of national and transnational performances as a significant force of National Socialism, at the same time as challenging the notion of “Nazi Theatre” as monolithic formation. The core of the course inquires into the dialectical analysis of artistic creations in diverse art genres, while working towards an understanding of the social dramaturgy of such events as staging the Führer and the racialized body of the privileged people. Nazism did not harbor ideologies without benefits for the allied nations. Thus, the dynamic performance of transnationalism among the “brothers in arms” will be included as well, in order to elucidate how works of art crossing into the Third Reich were reimagined, sometimes in ways challenging to the presumed values of the state stage. Fulfills one (of two) required courses in dramatic literature for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts major.

THTR UN3300 Playwriting Workshop. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor given at first class meeting.

Students will create and workshop plays, with a focus on learning new approaches to language and structure. Recommended for students undertaking a senior thesis in playwriting.

THTR UN3301 Playwriting Lab. 3 points.

Students will develop original dramatic scripts. Students will also read drafts of writers currently produced on New York stages to understand why changes and rewrites were made. Recommended for students undertaking a senior thesis in playwriting.

THTR UN3401 Sound Design. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor given at first class meeting.

Studies the art and practice of designing sound and scoring music for dramatic performance. Students study the relationship between concert and incidental music, and read plays toward the production of a score for live theatre. Students also read broadly in the fields of sound, music, acoustics, and the cultural analysis of sound as a component of performance. Background in music or composition not essential. Fulfills one course in Design for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3402 Costume Design. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor given at first class meeting.

Studio course exploring designing costumes for the stage. Students become familiar with textual and character analysis, research, sketching and rendering, swatching and introductory costume history.  Fulfills one course in Design for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3403 Lighting Design. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 12 students. Permission of instructor given at first class meeting.

Focuses on both the technical and creative aspects of theatrical lighting design. Students will learn the role of lighting within the larger design and performance collaboration through individual and group projects, readings, hands-on workshops, and critique of actual designs. Fulfills one course in Design for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3404 Scenic Design. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 12 students. Permission of instructor given at first class meeting.

Introduction to designing for the theatre. The course will focus on set design, developing skills in script analysis, sketching, model making, storyboarding and design presentation. Some investigation into theatre architecture, scenic techniques and materials, and costume and lighting design. Fulfills one course in Design for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3405 Problems in Design. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Some design experience is helpful, though not required. Enrollment limited to 12 students.

Studio-based course explores the main elements of theatrical design: sets, costumes, lighting, and sound. Students examine these design elements as both individual and interrelated components of a production. A series of guest artists contribute to understanding the design process, collaboration, and making a design idea a reality on stage. Fulfills one course in Design requirement for Theatre/Drama and Theatre Arts majors.

THTR UN3406 Media and Production Design. 3 points.

Not offered during 2019-20 academic year.

Uses analysis and design to explore how media and projections can be used to construct narrative in theatre and support non-narrative forms of performance. Digital and analog media are explored for their potentials and limitations. Students learn how the media is produced and transmitted will be discussed as part of creating a video design. Students will produce projection projects using different kinds of media during the course requiring work outside of class time.

THTR UN3997 Senior Thesis: Performance. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Appropriate coursework and substantial production experience, including a major crew assignment in the junior year. Enrollment limited to senior Theatre majors. Combined and special majors may be considered under exceptional circumstances. Permission of the instructor required.

Students will act in, direct, design, or dramaturg a play in the Barnard Department of Theatre season, or write a short play or solo performance piece that will be produced (according to departmental guidelines) in the Senior Thesis Festival. Collaboration is expected and students will meet weekly with faculty and other seniors. A written proposal must be submitted in the spring of the junior year and be approved. In addition to the performance, an extensive written Casebook is required: see departmental guidelines.

THTR UN3998 Senior Thesis: Research. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to senior Theatre majors. Combined and special majors may be considered under exceptional circumstances. Permission of the instructor required.

In-depth research project culminating in a substantial written thesis on any aspect of drama, performance, or theatre research.

THTR UN3999 Independent Study. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the chair required.

Students submit, before the semester begins, a detailed proposal for independent research to a faculty sponsor.