This class will teach students the basic terminology and craft of acting, directing and producing. 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, and text work. Homework assignments will call for rehearsal and research. Reading assignments will include written analysis. The course will commence with an intensive introduction to the craft of performance, which will focus on teamwork, physicality, memory, intention, voice and movement training. This will culminate in a gradable monologue (classic and/or contemporary), and a scene to be performed in front of the class.
Over the semester the students will read four plays: Medea by Euripides, The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov (4 acts), Our Town by Thornton Wilder (3 acts), Proof by David Auburn (2 Acts) and Medea by Christopher Durang and Wendy Wasserstein. Monologue selections include reading Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, and Shakespearean sonnets.
The first week of each play will be dedicated to discussions of text and context. This will be followed up with background research of author and period to be inserted into a theatre handbook / journal which will be graded. In the journal each student will take on both acting and directorial viewpoints. This journal will also visualize the design and the directorial view points of each play read throughout the class. As actor, the student is expected to write character bios, subtexts, memorize, rehearse and perform. As director, each student is expected to research the author and period, analyze the text and build a visual library selecting costumes, architecture, objects and images, which portray a bird’s eye view of a play.
During rehearsal, students will come together to prepare a scene to perform in class. Scene study will involve discipline team work, and interpretive skills. During the course, students will work towards a performance of both a scene and monologue and will complete a take home project on directing in preparation for the final exam. This project is to prepare the student for the final oral persuasive presentation as Director of a play to a board of producers. Each student as director presents his project, research, archive, of his chosen play and the reasoning of why and how it should be produced to “the board”. In turn, the students become the board and must prepare questions which challenge the director to think on his feet during his persuasive performance.
REQUIRED PLAYS TO BE READ IN CLASS
Medea by Euripides
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, a play in 4 acts
Our Town by Thornton Wilder, a play in 3 Acts
Proof by David Auburn, a play in 2 Acts
Medea by Christopher Durang and Wendy Wasserstein (1 act)
Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
Shakespearean sonnets
RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVE READING LIST IN JCU LIBRARY
An American Buffalo by David Mamet
The Water Engine by David Mamet
The Piano Lesson by August Wilson
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson
Painting Churches by Tina Howe
Of Mice & Men by Horton Foote
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Bus Stop by William Inge
The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams
Three Tall Women by Edward Albee
Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard
Art OR God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza
MUSICAL OPTIONS:
· Sweeney Todd OR Sunday in the Park with George
· The Wiz OR Man of La Mancha
· West Side Story OR Grease
· Chicago OR Cabaret
· Next to Normal OR La Cage Aux Faux
OPTIONAL USEFUL TEXTBOOKS ABOUT THE CRAFT:
1) Adler Stella. The Art of Acting. (2000) Canada, Applause Books
2) Chekhov Michael. To the Actor: On the technique of acting. (1953) USA, Harper & Row
3) Thomas James. Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers, 4th Edition. (2009) USA, Focal Press
4) An Actor Prepares by Konstantin Stanislavski
5) Chubbuck Ivana. The Power of the Actor. (2004) USA, Gotham Books