Courses
Theatre history students visit Reed Special Collections to learn about archival work.
THEA 100 - Theatre Laboratory
THEA 100 is a class in which students, faculty, and staff work together to create departmental stage productions. In this class, students learn about different parts of making theatre-from onstage to backstage work-that are required to make a theatre production. Students also learn the arts of collaboration and producing. Students may repeat this course for credit, and each time a student takes this class they can experience a different production role. Roles available include performer in mainstage shows, dramaturg, designer, stage manager, assistant director, and more. This course is available to majors and nonmajors, and students are admitted to the course by audition or department approval. All students, regardless of experience, are welcome to take this class, and if a student is interested in this class, the faculty will work with the student to help them find a role
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 201 - Stagecraft
An introduction to theatre technology, this course will familiarize students with the many components of theatrical production. It will provide students with a deeper understanding of the organizational structure and concepts involved in producing live performances, as well as provide instruction in safe practices. Students will be introduced to many of the tools and mechanisms that are used today and how they have been made popular and/or standard. Topics will include the historical progression of theatre technology and machinery; the science of sound, light, and material structure as related to performance technology; and current techniques used to implement production designs in scenery, lighting, sound, costumes, and properties. As a part of their work for this course students take part in the tech, dress rehearsals, and performances for a Reed theatre production as a member of the run crew, or put in lab time in one of the shops engaging with the materials of theatrical production. This lab time is scheduled with the course and lab instructors and works out to approximately four hours a week if students choose to work in the shops for the lab. Lab time can be broken up into two-hour blocks to accommodate student schedules and will happen during the day. If students choose the run crew option, the lab lasts for the duration of the tech rehearsal and show run of the mainstage production. This work happens primarily in the evening and on the weekend.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
THEA 202 - Introduction to Theatrical Design
Introduction to the design of the physical environment of the stage. Unifying aesthetic principles and distinctions will be considered in relation to scenery, costume, lighting, makeup, and sound for live performance. The course emphasizes script analysis, the elements of design, and the principles of composition and design conceptualization with reference to historical and modern practices and technologies.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 204 - Fundamentals of Acting and Performance: Movement
This course introduces students to the craft of acting and actor-driven performance creation, with a focus on embodiment. We will base our activities in physical theatre methods, including but not limited to Suzuki, Viewpoints, Composition, Lecoq, and/or Laban. Additional attention will be paid to the role of breath and voice in preparing the body to speak.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
THEA 205 - Fundamentals of Acting and Performance: Text
This course introduces students to the craft of acting and actor-driven performance creation, with a focus on scene study. We will base our activities in Stanislavskian theatre methods, as well as exercises drawn from Spolin and/or Boal. The course will include script analysis, objectives and actions, physicalization, character development, and vocal resonance and projection.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
THEA 215 - Improv
This course challenges students to embrace the challenges of improvisation in a variety of theatrical contexts, and to reflect on those experiences through a rigorous engagement with play theory. In a sequence of short units, we will explore improv-based games, improv comedy, improvisation-based devising work, and the improvisation structures commonly used in the context of applied theatre work (including forum theatre, Playback Theatre, and sociodrama)
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
THEA 223 - Visual Performance Narratives
This course will look at both the history and contemporary practice of visual storytelling as the basis for performance. We will investigate futurist sintesi, tableaux vivants, The Theatre of Images, durational and serial performance, multiscreen installation, and other similar forms. We will examine the techniques and theories of related artists, thinkers, and movements, and do readings on the nature of images. Students will invent and perform their own image-based performances, using various media and performance styles, ending the class with a public presentation of the original works
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 233 - Devising
This is a studio-based class in which students learn the tools and techniques for creating original performance based on source material-including poetry, prose, plays, found text, music, site, and self. The emphasis will be on ensemble-based/collective creation, and the key methodology will be improvisation/movement research. Students will create short, original performances
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 237 - Reimagining Classics
This course explores the ways in which classic texts from antiquity to the mid-twentieth century are reimagined, reworked, and retold. We will focus on reimaginings that highlight minoritarian perspectives and explore crossings of genre, medium, time, and culture. We will deconstruct the canon, as well as question our contemporary investment in these texts. What connects us to these stories? Why retell them? How can we make the past speak to and about the present?
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 251 - Theatre History I: Antiquity to Naturalism
This course is a survey of theatre history from antiquity to the late 1800s. In it, we will examine the relationship between theatre and society, including how theatre both reflects and shapes the world outside its walls, and vice versa. This course focuses on reading plays, critical essays, and historical documents, as well as essay writing and a final project. We will address questions of physical performance space, performance style, audience, the development of design, and the political and social consequences of making theatre at different moments in history.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 252 - Theatre History II: Naturalism to 9/11
This course surveys developments in twentieth-century European and American experimental theatre by examining the work of influential directors, playwrights, designers, theorists, and theatre collectives. Changing views of the theatre's aesthetic and social functions will be explored. Special topics will include the rise of the director, the evolution of theatrical space, models of theatrical organization, and the role of the avant-garde.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 253 - Theatre History III: 9/11 to Now
This course examines developments in theatre history from 9/11 to the present. We will look at trends in theatre practice and theory, with a particular focus on theatre in the United States. This course will include study of theatre in our own midst in Portland, Oregon. Topics we will explore in this course include technology and theatre, contemporary theatre criticism, immersive theatre, and theatre as a part of contemporary protest movements.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 261 - Play Lab
This course will serve as a laboratory in which to explore theatrical texts and develop text analysis skills fundamental for any theatre practice. Texts chosen will largely be modern works from playwrights of color and queer playwrights. Students will develop skills for cold reading and will examine plays by reading through them as an ensemble of players. This examination will be bolstered by postreading discussions centered around representation, identity, race, equity, and beyond. This course is intended both for students who are curious about theatre but don't know how to begin exploring their curiosity and for advanced theatre makers eager to discuss how to improve the art form. The course will culminate in a final project
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 270 - Race and Identity in American Theatre
The course explores the role American theatre has played in the construction, preservation, and interrogation of race and gender categories. Students analyze works that employ performance as a venue for political activism, for cultivation of intraethnic pride, and for explorations of social issues too sensitive to be addressed in other contexts. Drawing upon readings from the theatre and other humanities and social science disciplines, this course examines the ways dramatic texts help to foster intra- and cross-cultural understanding, and also how a familiarity with the politics of representation and various other concerns of identity-based cultural groups can inform performance practices. Students examine works from a variety of cultural traditions in an effort to understand how seemingly common institutions or value systems (family, gender, class dynamics) must always be viewed through specific historical and cultural lenses. This course provides students with a more nuanced understanding of what race is and how it functions in America, and how theatre has been implicated as both a tool of racism and a means by which to resist its effects
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 276 - Community-Based Performance
This course explores the role of theatre making in civic change around race and inequality. In the course, students will study approaches to theatre that directly interact with the civic life of diverse communities, as well as ways the history of theatre can be better understood as being intertwined with and responsible to civic life. In collaboration with local theatre companies and practitioners, students will incorporate their classroom studies on historically relevant theatre practices (such as Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed; the United Farmworkers' El Teatro Campesino; and the Black Arts Movement) with a firsthand engagement in local community-based theatre groups and non-arts organizations using theatre for community engagement
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 280 - Gender and Theatre
This course examines the roles gender has played in shaping world theatre as well as the roles theatre has played in shaping various cultural conceptions of gender. We will focus particularly on twentieth-century performance, including cross-dressing, "re-dressing" of canonical plays, the ascent of performance art, and questions of theatre and gender raised by performers from Japan to Cuba. We will interrogate the historical, cultural, and personal variability of the notion of gender itself, asking ourselves: What are theatre artists doing with the idea of gender?
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 290 - Introduction to Performance Studies
Performance studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines "performance" in all of its multiple incarnations-including theatre, dance, visual art, everyday life, folklore, rituals and celebrations, and protests. Richard Schechner defines performance as "twice-behaved behavior"-repeatable, embodied activities. This course serves as an introduction to the major themes and issues within the discourse of performance studies. We will look at both the roots of this interdisciplinary field and the directions it might be heading. Readings will include some of the seminal texts in the field, including the work of Richard Schechner, J.L. Austin, Judith Butler, Erving Goffman, Diana Taylor, and others. We will examine how performance studies contributes to the study of theatre, as well as to an understanding of our increasingly mediated and globalized world. The course will be divided into sections including ritual and drama; performativity/performative utterance; embodiment/performing Identity; globalization and interculturalism; and performance ethnography. Students will apply readings in performance theory to performance sites such as theatre, museums, sports events, meals, community celebrations and more.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 301 - Junior Seminar
This course is a rigorous investigation of theatre for junior theatre and interdisciplinary theatre majors. In this course, students will hone their skills in dramatic theory, critical writing, and research methodologies. Additional areas of study include theatre and social constructs, theatre and performance studies, the relationship of theatre and politics, and the business of professional theatre. This course asks the questions: What tools do I need to study and make theatre at an advanced level? How do artistic practice and academic scholarship work together to make a total artist/scholar? This course will focus on close readings, writing assignments, embodied exercises, and collaboration. This course prepares students both for the junior qualifying examination in theatre and for advanced production work and the senior thesis
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 303 - Independent Performance Production
This class focuses on grassroots producing and collaboration by immersing students in hands-on laboratory work in these areas. Students take on the role of members of a theatre company, producing a semester-long season of independent public performances. The class will include work in a variety of areas, including artistic direction, season selection, technical direction, marketing, design, and dramaturgy. Depending on the vision of the group, there may be opportunities for those in the class to produce their own work.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
THEA 310 - Advanced Acting
This course utilizes text analysis techniques acquired from THEA 205 ("Acting & Performance: Text") to use textual evidence to understand dramatic texts. Students in this course build a tool kit to analyze texts of playwrights from different time periods and finding acting choices that support the text. By the end of the semester, students will gain experience with professional audition techniques and will build a repertoire of audition pieces.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 323 - Puppetry and the Performing Object
This course focuses on the history and practice of puppetry in historical and contemporary contexts, and the incorporation of puppets and performing objects into avant-garde performance contexts. We focus our study on the traditions of shadow puppetry in various regions (e.g., Indonesia, China, Greece) as well as other puppetry traditions such as Japan's Bunraku and contemporary object performance. Lab work includes designing, constructing, and performing in various different puppetry styles. The course culminates in a large-scale shadow puppet performance
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 328 - Performance Technology
This course is an investigation into the technologies and techniques used for integrating media into the performance environment with a focus on sound and projected images. Contemporary and historical techniques for media integration will be examined through readings, viewings, and performance projects. Technologies examined include audio composition, live-feed video, prepared video content, and interactive performance.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 331 - Directing
This course is an investigation of approaches to script analysis and directorial tools for working with actors in bringing a text from page to stage. We will explore the process of developing and implementing a production concept: its formulation through analysis, rehearsal processes, and realization in theatrical terms in performance. Lab work will be supplemented by relevant writing by influential directors
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 335 - Playwriting
This course is an exploration of the art and craft of playwriting. Structure, form, character, plot, and theme will be discussed, as will the art of critique and feedback. The course is structured around readings of published plays, discussions of essays about the theory and practice of playwriting, and practical writing exercises. Writing projects will lead to the development of short plays for public readings.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
THEA 336 - Dramaturgy
This course is an examination of the art, craft, and study of dramaturgy. In it we will attempt to build an answer for the vexing question "What is a dramaturg?" and, most of all, we will seek to discover who dramaturgs are, how they work and what they do. In this course we will study the large number of things that make up the art of dramaturgy: translation and adaptation, new play development, production dramaturgy, theatre criticism, in-depth research, literary management, season selection, and artistic collaboration, among others. We will also study established dramaturgs, their writings, and how they work in the theatre. This conference will combine theoretical and practical approaches, collaborative work and individual research. This conference will prepare students to work as dramaturgs on departmental productions, and give a solid foundation in how to do research and writing in the field of theatre
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).