During this course students will learn to:

collaborate creatively;

employ basic acting techniques such as sensory work, the principles of action, objectives, status, etc.;

develop an expressive speaking voice;

engage with a variety of stage props;

analyse the process of placing a dramatic text on stage;

critique and enact a variety of theatrical techniques;

define specific terms relating to the study of drama and theatre;

develop an appreciation for theatre as an art form and a reflection of society;

understand the responsibility of an actor’s work ethic, especially to one's fellow actors;

initiate and upkeep a gradable class-by-class journal (either blog or v-log) of their personal growth throughout the course.  

This class will teach students the basic terminology and craft of acting.  

As a means of facilitating the students’ knowledge of and comfort with the craft of acting, this course will include improvisation, sound and movement exercises, the actor’s exploration of stage space and text work.  This will take place both in the classroom and on the streets of Rome.  Weekly homework assignments will call for written reflection and analysis, and rehearsal of scenes.  Weekly reading assignments will augment the students’ theoretical knowledge of the craft. 

The course will commence with an intensive introduction to the craft of acting, which will focus on teamwork, discipline, physicality, memory, desire, voice and movement training, and intention.  Thereafter, students will study two four-week units which will conjoin textual analysis with performance.  The units will cover a specific era and area of theatrical representation, for example Shakespeare and Pinter.  

The first two weeks of a unit will be given over to formal reading of the texts, with accompanying critical selections, and to discussions of text and context.  The second two-week block will then work to transfer the selected material from the page to the stage.  This practical work will involve acting and directing skills. 

Students will then work towards a final, public performance - in exam week – of either a monologue or an ensemble scene.  Throughout, students will develop a personal journal which will chart their growth and their understanding of the discipline of acting. 

READING LIST:

1. William Shakespeare, Hamlet

2. Harold Pinter, The Homecoming

3. Michael Schulman and Eva Mekler, Contemporary Scenes for Student Actors

REQUIRED RESERVE READING:

1.  John Barton, Playing Shakespeare

2.  John Gielgud, Acting Shakespeare

3.  Peter Brook, The Empty Space

4.  Yoshi Oida, The Invisible Actor

5.  Jerzy Grotowski, Towards a Poor Theatre

6.  David Mamet, Three Uses of the Knife

7.  Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and its Double

8.  Bertolt Brecht, Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic

On completion of this course, students will have learnt how to:

Facilitate communication, memory, presentation, confidence, self-awareness, self-reliance, and team work, through practice, textual analysis, interpretation, and the written response.

Develop an expressive speaking voice through awareness and overcoming physical and vocal habits and limitations, including alignment, relaxation, breath support, resonance, tone and projection.

Recognise a variety of acting techniques, languages, and modes of theatrical representation.

Become confident independent learners as well as effective and responsive group members. 

Week 1: Introduction.  Inhibition-breaking games, physical stretching and conditioning, ensemble movement, full body awareness, focus, centring, breath support, action and counter-action, precision, and economy of effort.

Week 2: Mask Work (Jacques Le Coq); mime; props; creating a performance space; teamwork on stage.  

Week 3: Introduction to monologues and ensemble work.  

Week 4 – 5:  Unit 1.  Tradition #1:  The Shakespearean Stage + Hamlet, William Shakespeare.  Textual and Contextual Analysis.  Hamlet: Stage History. 

Take-Home Paper 1 due. 

Week 6 - 7:  Unit 1.  Tradition #1:  Hamlet, William Shakespeare; building a role; the soliloquy; acting and directing the set-piece spectacle; physical violence on stage.

Week 8: Introduction to Post-1945 British Drama; theatre and society; the beat, the pause, the silence; theatre and politics; Brechtian alienation.

Week 9 – 10: Unit 2.  Tradition #2:  Post-1945 British Drama + Harold Pinter, The Homecoming; textual and contextual analysis; the rise of the working class; the rise of the powerful woman on stage.

Week 11 – 12:  Unit 2.  Tradition #2: Harold Pinter, The Homecoming; acting and directing minimalism; emotional violence on stage.

Take-Home Paper 2 due. 

Week 13 - 14: Rehearsals for Performances

Exam Week: Public Performances