Courses in Drama
Note: This page contains all of the regular courses taught by this department. Not all courses are offered every year. Check the searchable schedule to see which courses are being offered in the upcoming semester.
DRAM 110 The Play: Production and Performance
Credit: 0
The work of DRAM 110 involves the realization in the theater of the work of an important playwright, as expressed in the text for a particular play. Problems in textual analysis, historical research, and the creation of a production lead, by way of independent and cooperative activity involving acting, design, and special problems, to public performance before an audience. Note: Students who, in the judgment of the instructional and directional staff, have made significant creative contributions to the effectiveness of the production will have "audit" indicated on their academic record.
DRAM 111 Introduction to the Theater
Credit: 0.5
This course examines how theater differs from other arts and how theatrical artists go about their jobs in bringing a play to life on stage. This examination is accomplished through a series of performance or creative assignments. The class is divided into four sections, two meeting in the morning and two in the afternoon. Plays, problems, and exercises are performed and discussed in the sectional meetings; about every other week, sections are combined for lectures and demonstrations. The course explores what a play is and how it is structured. Assignments consist of a series of playwriting problems and one acting problem, which students perform in class working in teams. In addition, students read at least five plays and a series of essays about the theory and practice of the theater, complete a series of brief written assignments, and take written examinations. As a culmination of the work, each student writes, directs, and presents to the class a final short play, working with fellow students. Any student with a general interest in the theater will find this a challenging course, regardless of previous experience. Because this course is an introduction to the arts of the theater, it has no prerequisite, but it is a prerequisite to many of the other courses in the department. This course will be offered every year.
DRAM 213 History of the Western Theater
Credit: 0.5
This course presents an historical study of Western theater from its origins to the present time. The course will examine the evolution of the physical theater structure and production elements of each period, as well as the relationship between each style and its historical context. The course will include lectures, readings, projects, and discussion.
DRAM 219 History of Clothing and Fashion
Credit: 0.5
This course surveys the history of Western clothing and fashion from the ancient world to the present day. Work will include papers, oral presentations, lectures, and discussion.
DRAM 220 The Actor
Credit: 0.5
Through the rehearsal and performance of various scenes, students will explore the nature of the actor's contribution to the theater. Work will include performance exercises, readings, and written assignments.
DRAM 231Y The Play: Playwriting and Dramatic Theory
Credit: 0.5
In this course, the student is given weekly exercises exploring such topics as dialogue, monologue, exposition, autobiography, writing for the opposite gender, and prismatic structure. The class discusses the resulting short plays in a group critique, after which they are rewritten. Students will finish the first semester with a collection of short plays that can later be developed into longer works. In the second semester, students will complete a one-act play, which will be performed as a staged reading. Students will keep a writer's notebook, do in-class exercises, and read a variety of plays relevant to their weekly assignments. Including plays by Pinter, Guare, Martin McDonagh, Caryl Churchill, and Tarrell Alvin McCraney. Prerequisite: DRAM 111. This course will be offered every year.
DRAM 241 The Scene Designer
Credit: 0.5
Working from varied scripts, students will move from a study of the visual choices implicit in the text to the process of designing scenery. The work of the course places an emphasis on collaboration and includes written assignments, drafting, sketching, and model building.
DRAM 242 The Costume Designer
Credit: 0.5
This course presents an introduction to the costume designer's creative process. Through a series of projects, students will explore the relation of the costume to the character, the plot, the work of the director, the actor, and the other designers. Projects involve drawing, painting, collage, writing, and research.
DRAM 243 The Lighting Designer
Credit: 0.5
This course introduces students to the properties of light and electricity, and explores the creative process of designing light for the theater, with an emphasis on collaboration. Work includes readings, written assignments, research, drafting, lectures and discussions, laboratory sessions, and design projects.
DRAM 251 Classical Drama
Credit: 0.5
This course studies the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and others. The emphasis is on reading for a theatrical understanding of these ancient texts. Coursework includes projects, lecture and discussion sessions, and written assignments.
DRAM 252 The English Renaissance Theater
Credit: 0.5
This course will explore the plays and theatrical practice of the English Renaissance. Readings will emphasize textual understanding for the stage and will be drawn from the plays of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, Middleton, Webster, and their contemporaries.
DRAM 253 Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Drama
Credit: 0.5
This course will study the development of classicism in England and France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Readings will emphasize textual understanding for the stage. The focus of the reading will be theater of England and France, covering texts of Corneille, Molière, Racine, Wycherley, Congreve, Dryden, Marivaux, Beaumarchais, Farquhar, Goldsmith, and Sheridan.
DRAM 255 Modern Drama
Credit: 0.5
This course studies the major theatrical movements of the first half of the twentieth century, emphasizing plays as they were performed in the theater of the time. The format will include readings, discussions, written assignments, projects, and lectures.
DRAM 256 Contemporary Drama
Credit: 0.5
This course will focus on plays of the last fifty years by British and American playwrights, taught from the practitioner's perspective. The class will include work by Tony Kushner, Paula Vogel, Harold Pinter, David Mamet, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, John Guare, Caryl Churchill, August Wilson, Tarrell McCraney, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson and others. The work for the class will include papers, quizzes, reading scenes from the assigned plays, and an active class presence in discussion. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or DRAM 111. This course will generally be offered every third year.
DRAM 257 Dramatic Literature of the African Diaspora
Credit: 0.5
This course will study theater made by and about people of the African Diaspora. The emphasis will be on a textual understanding for the stage. An examination of these texts may reveal fundamental cultural similarities. We will consider the circumstances of enslavement, colonization, and political oppression and the effects these have on the play-making of these particular people. The readings will include the plays of such writers as Baraka, Fugard, Fuller, Hansberry, Hurston, Parks, Shange, Soyinka, Walcott, and Wilson.
DRAM 258 South African Theater
Credit: 0.5
South Africa has a rich tradition of theater that reflects the diversity and history of the country, drawing influence from both indigenous African and Western storytelling traditions. During this course, we will investigate South African theater of the last half century with an emphasis on textual understanding for the stage. Readings are drawn from the works of Todd Matshikiza, Pat Williams, Athol Fugard, Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema, Barney Simon, Zakes Mda, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Reza de Wet, Brett Bailey, Lara Foot Newton, William Kentridge, and others. Coursework includes readings, discussions, written assignments, and projects. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or DRAM 111.
Instructor: Wolf
DRAM 261 The Director
Credit: 0.5
This course examines the work of the director through the analysis of plays and the exploration of the visual means of realizing that analysis on stage. Work includes exercises, written assignments, readings, discussion, and lectures. Students will direct scenes and a short play.
DRAM 325 Verse Acting
Credit: 0.5
In this class, we develop an approach to acting plays by Shakespeare and other authors writing in verse. The course will focus on textual analysis, methods of rehearsal, and performance approaches particular to working in verse. Prerequisite: DRAM 220 or 222. This course will generally be offered every two or three years.
DRAM 326 Character Analysis
Credit: 0.5
This course presents a study of the actor's methods of analysis of a text and development of a completed characterization. Each student will rehearse and present a series of scenes in various stages of development, which will lead to a complete understanding of a major role from dramatic literature. Prerequisite: DRAM 222. This course will be offered every other year.
DRAM 333 Advanced Playwriting
Credit: 0.5
In this course, students will be developing a full-length play while simultaneously presenting exercises that explore non-traditional narrative: solo performance, found text, and plays inspired by history and journalism. We will look at the work of such writers/performers as Bill Irwin, Spaulding Gray, David Kodeski, and Anna Deavere Smith. In addition, we will analyze plays by contemporary playwrights such as Will Eno, Doug Wright, Anne Washburn, Caryl Churchill, Bruce Norris and Itamar Moses while attempting their playwriting strategies. The course will also examine the reinvention of older plays by contemporary playwrights. The semester will culminate in a staged reading of the completed first act of a full-length play. Prerequisite: DRAM 231Y-232Y or permission of the instructor. This course will generally be offered every other year.
DRAM 362 Advanced Directing
Credit: 0.5
This course continues an investigation, from the director's point of view, of the creation of live theater from dramatic texts. We will particularly study the role of the director in the development of new work--both in collaboration with playwrights and developed with actors--and in conceiving an entire production. We will also study the history of directing (largely a twentieth-century phenomenon), and the idea of the director as an artist. Prerequisite: DRAM 221 or 261. This course will generally be offered every other year.
DRAM 397 Junior Honors
Credit: 0.5
Junior honors in the Department of Dance and Drama is the first step towards departmental honors. It is required of all students wishing to pursue senior honors.
DRAM 398 Junior Honors
Credit: 0.5
See course description for DRAM 397.
DRAM 493 Individual Study
Credit: 0.5
Individual study in dance and drama is reserved for students exploring a topic not regularly offered in the department's curriculum. Typically, the course will carry .5 unit of credit. To enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the department willing to direct the project and, in consultation with him or her, write a proposal. The department chair must approve the proposal. The one- to two-page proposal should include a preliminary bibliography and/or set of specific problems, goals, and tasks for the course, outline a schedule of reading and/or writing assignments or creative undertakings, and describe the methods of assessment (e.g. a journal to be submitted for evaluation weekly; a one-act play due at semester's end, with drafts due at given intervals, etc.). The student should also briefly describe prior coursework which qualifies him or her for this independent project. At a minimum, the department expects the student to meet regularly with the instructor one hour per week, and to submit an amount of work equivalent to that required in 300-level dance and drama courses. Students are urged to begin discussion of their proposed individual study the semester before they hope to enroll, so that they can devise a proposal and seek departmental approval before the registrar's deadline.