The program’s curriculum emphasizes courses in context and technique, ensuring that a strong foundation is built in the first two years of study. The following courses are required of all Theater and Performance students before Moderation: Introduction to Contemporary Performance, Introduction to World Theater Traditions, and Theater Making. Students must also take at least two of the following three courses as pre-Moderation requirements: Introduction to Playwriting: The Theatrical Voice; Introduction to Acting: The Actor and the Moment; and Introduction to Directing. Students participate in the creation and performance of a collaboratively created Moderation project in the context of the Theater Making class.
Beyond Moderation
After Moderation, students are required to take two electives in each of the three areas of study: context, technique, and creative practice and research (for a total of six courses). One of these should be a course designated Junior Practicum, and one elective can be substituted with participation in a faculty-or guest artist-led production. Students also complete a Senior Project, which may take the form of an original performance, production of an existing play or excerpted play, written play, or research paper.
Second Focus in Theater and Performance (five courses total):
- One of the following courses from the "Context" section of the Theater & Performance course list:
Introduction to Contemporary Performance
Introduction to World Theater Traditions
- Two of the three following courses from the "Technique" section of the Theater & Performance course list:
Introduction to Acting: The Actor and the Moment
Introduction to Playwriting
Introduction to Directing
- Two additional 200 or 300-level classes from any part of the Theater & Performance course list*
*Please note that Theater Making is the only course we cannot open to students who are not planning to moderate in T&P since it is the course directly linked to moderation.
Theater and Performance Program Guidelines for the Senior Project
Senior Projects in Theater and Performance emphasize collaboration and process. Performance projects take the form of a two-semester sequence, in which students spend the fall semester creating a short piece, to be produced in a festival format in the Fisher Center with the collaborative assistance of their senior cohort. In the spring semester, students may elect to create a longer piece to be staged in a second, more fully produced festival; to team up and collaboratively produce a project for the spring festival; or to self-produce elsewhere on campus. Projects produced in the Fisher Center receive technical and production support from Fisher Center staff.
All members of the Theater and Performance senior class participate in the Senior Colloquium, which aims to facilitate dialogue, constructive feedback, and cohort building among the group.