Theater Arts Class Schedule | Fall 2023

Prereq: None
3-0-9
HASS-A, CI-M

Seminar investigates the aesthetics of sport as theatrical performance and explores the performance of race, gender, class, nation, and sexuality in sport. Readings drawn from theatre/performance studies, anthropology, sociology, ethnic studies, gender studies, history, and kinesiology. Topics include barnstorming, Olympics, Title IX, Native American mascots, and a variety of sports ranging from football to figure skating. Limited to 18.

Prereq: None 
Units: 3-0-9 
HASS-A, CI-H

Focuses on reading a play's script critically and theatrically, with a view to mounting a coherent production. Through careful, intensive analysis of a variety of plays from different periods and aesthetics, a pattern emerges for discerning what options exist for interpreting a script from the distinct perspectives of the playwright, the actor, the designer, and the director. Students discuss the consequences of those options for production.  Enrollment limited.

Prereq: None
3-0-9
HASS-A

Through reading texts about translation and by doing an independent project, students develop skills in translation theory and practice, culminating in a public staged reading of their translations. Each student chooses a dramatic text from a non-English language and translates a scene during the semester. Readings include topics such as globalization, adaptation, gender in translation, and postcolonial approaches to translation. Weekly seminar. No final exam. Enrollment limited. No prerequisite, all language levels welcomed.

Prereq: None 
Units: 4-0-8
HASS-A

Explores the actor's tools: body, voice, mind, imagination, and the essential self. Through studio exercises, students address issues of honesty and creativity in the theatrical moment, and begin to have a sense of their strengths and limitations as communicating theatrical artists. Provides an opportunity for students to discover their relationship to "the other" in the acting partner, the group, the environment, and the audience. Limited to 20 per section.

Prereq: None
3-0-9
HASS-A

ENROLLMENT LIMITED. MUST PRE-REGISTER!

Explores drawing as a fundamental component of the design process. In-class drawing exercises focus on developing the hand-to-eye relationship and pre-visualization skills essential to any designer. Studies the use drawing as a route to understanding space and form and achieving accuracy through expression. By drawing figures, landscapes and/or still life compositions in a variety of media, students investigate the figure/ground relationship while dealing with tone, line, and composition, which are all requisite elements of design. Provides exposure to designers who have used drawing as a central component of their work. Students create a portfolio that includes in-class drawings, studies done outside of class, and one research-based written project. Lab fee of $35 required. Limited to 20 per section. 

(Same subject as 21W.754[J]) 
Prereq: None 
Units: 3-0-9 
HASS-A

Introduces the craft of writing for the theater, with special attention to the basics of dramatic structure. Through weekly assignments and in-class exercises, students explore character, conflict, language and plasticity in scenes and short plays. In workshop format, students present individual work for feedback and heavily revise their work based on that response. Readings include a variety of plays. Enrollment limited.

Prereq: None
4-0-5
HASS-A

Concentrates upon freeing the natural voice through awareness of physical, vocal and, at times, emotional habits and the willingness and desire to experience change. Teaches progression of contemporary approaches to voice through in-class vocal exercises. Students use sonnets or poems as vehicles to explore the components of language and the need to communicate and reveal oneself through the voice. Designed for students interested in theater or developing their voices for presentations and professional speaking. Limited to 18; preference to Theater majors, minors, and concentrators who have pre-registered.

Prereq: None 
Units: 3-0-9 
HASS-A
 
Explores the fundamentals of screenplay writing.  Presents skills to create compelling characters and stories in different dramatic genres (comedy, drama). In addition to their own writing, students read a selection of screenplays and watch short films that form the basis of class discussion early in the term.  Class is modeled on a professional development workshop in which participants, over the course of the term, write a short screenplay, including a final draft.  Enrollment limited.

Prereq: None
4-0-8
HASS-A

Explores physical improvisation in dance/theater from a variety of task-based, conceptual vantage points. Focuses on conceptual frameworks for generating intensely physical dramatic actions and dances that unlock the students' creativity. Investigates topics such as narrative, how stories and scenarios can elicit movement and emotionally resonant physical interaction; visual composition, creating movement and actions on stage from an imagistic starting point; and hypothetical worlds, movement based on the creation of rules for alternate worlds (e.g., strange, indigenous time, strange evolution). Explores solos, duets, trios, and larger ensemble improvisations. Enrollment limited.

Prereq: None
4-2-6
HASS-A

Explores the realities of the body in space and motion - interacting with gravity, momentum, inertia, alignment, negative space, one's imagination, one's body, other bodies, the present room and rooms from memory, geometry, stillness, and more. By releasing tension and abandoning the notion of pre-planning, students experience a natural, spontaneous flow of movement, opening themselves up to, and diving into, whatever might happen. Develops alertness in order to work in an energetic state of physical disorientation, self-correcting what doesn't work and reinforcing what does on the spot, discovering physical/emotional truths and shared moments that leave students aware, centered, incredibly present, and sharply alive. Enrollment limited.

Prereq: None
4-0-8
HASS-A, CI-M

Studio workshop explores the discipline of acting for the camera through in-class exercises that focus on the creative challenges inherent to both filming and being filmed. Investigates the performer in the history of cinema, television, and multimedia stage performance through readings, screenings, and experimentation with the theory and practice of performing for and with the camera. Culminates in student-written, edited, directed, and acted short films. Instruction in written and oral communication provided. Limited to 20.

Prereq: None
3-0-9
HASS-A

Examines the theatrical event from the perspective of composition in a performance workshop. Studio exercises address the process of developing a theatrical work through an internalized understanding of compositional principles in theater. Examines physical action in time and space. Includes outside readings, videos, short essays, and in-class discussions. Provides the performer, director, choreographer, designer or writer opportunities to engage with large and small group ensembles in creation of theatrical events. Topics include image, motion, shape, repetition, gesture, and spatial relationship. Preference to majors, minors, concentrators. Admittance may be controlled by lottery.

Prereq: None
3-0-9
HASS-A

Studies the theatrical canon of monodramas and solo performances to hone individual acting skills. Goes on to explore each student's original artistic voice by presenting strategies in composing and staging work, thus introducing them to experiments with performing the self in society. Each student creates their own original performance piece by the end of the term. Enrollment limited. 

Prereq: Permission of instructor 
Units: 4-2-6
HASS-A

A workshop course focused on choreographic methods and principles as the launching point for building dramatic performance.

Participants will propose pieces they would like to develop – solos, duets, group works, etc. and the class will both lay groundwork for generating material and focus on defining and expanding each person’s unique voice as creator of performance.

The class will culminate in public performances of students work.

Enrollment by permission of instructor.

Prereq: 21M.603 or permission of instructor 
Units: 4-0-8 
HASS-A, CI-M

Investigates the creation of set design for live performance. Students develop designs related to current production projects at MIT. Focuses on developing the designer's communication tools, particularly in the areas of visual research, 3-D digital model making, and design presentation. Examines the relationship of set design to theater architecture, emerging media technologies and dramaturgies of the 20th and 21st centuries. In addition to creating their own designs, students research, write about, and present the work and practice of a set designer.

Prereq: None
3-4-5
HASS-A

This course undertakes a study of the design, history, artistic purposes, and programming techniques involved in the development of creating interactive performance design systems for controlling video projection, media, and lighting for live performances. 

This course is designed to engage artists, designers, directors, choreographers, performers, and students of different backgrounds in the practice of interactive design for live performance.

Prereq: None
3-0-9
HASS-A

Interdisciplinary dance theater studio invites students to investigate the spaces between dance and theater. Students engage in an array of acting and dance techniques to generate text from movement and movement from text. In-studio exercises examine the process of melding the expressive languages of words with languages of the body. Students use existing texts and compose original texts in the development of solo, duet, and ensemble projects. Explores the process of seeing and providing peer feedback to further expand the process of revision. Readings, short writings, video viewings, and guest lectures provide multiple avenues of understanding and illumine differing ways of making. Culminates with an opportunity for students to refine, develop, and share their projects in performance.

Prereq: None
3-0-9
HASS-A

Students write and produce a pilot episode of a narrative podcast (about fifteen minutes in length); sources come from interviews or research that students conduct. At the start of the term, students pitch possible stories. Discussions of selected episodes of narrative podcasts such as Serial, Homecoming, and This American Life. Introduces the basics of podcast recording with a primer on using Logic Pro X and hardware like the Apogee Duet. Students record and edit a rough draft of their podcast using provided portable recording studio kits. Podcasts shared with the larger MIT community at the Podcast Listening Room at the end of term.

Prereq: 21M.600 or permission of instructor 
Units: 4-0-8
HASS-A, CI-M
21M.835 (Graduate Level)

Refines the student actor's use of the language of the stage with work on text and physical presentation. Explores issues of style, including the understanding and honoring, in performance, of the specific requirements from several different periods of the Western theatrical tradition. Periods may differ from term to term. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

Prereq: Permission of instructor
3-0-9
HASS-A Credit will be awarded 

Advanced multidisciplinary studio workshop provides opportunity for advanced study in the performing arts. Topics vary from term to term; may be taught by visiting faculty. May be repeated for credit if content differs.

Fall 2023 Topic: Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop was born out of the necessity to express one's true self in the face of any adversity. Course features dance instruction for all levels - beginner to experienced. Discussions, demonstrations and lectures on race, history, as well as exploration of musicality, gestures, beats, poly-rhythms and, mannerisms, trace the roots of the culture back to west Africa. Course concludes with a collaborative final project/performance. NOTHING is more powerful than self-exploration, especially through Hip-Hop.

Prereq: None
Units: 4-0-8
HASS-A credit will be awarded

Spring 2023 Topic: African Dance

Catalog Description

Class explores elements of performance in a studio setting. Topics vary from term to term; may be taught by visiting faculty. May be repeated for credit if content differs. Enrollment may be limited.

Prereq: Permission of instructor 
Units: 0-3-0 

Provides directed practice in the disciplines of performance practice, including design, acting, directing, technical theater, management, dramaturgy and other creative fields. Students test and refine their skills by participating in the creation of produced plays, intensive workshops, installations and other design or performance projects in dance, film, music theater, opera, and other performing arts events. Students work closely with faculty, peers and guest artists. Students seeking to design individual performance and design workshops must be supervised by a theater arts faculty member, and obtain his or her written approval.

Prereq: Permission of instructor 
Units: 0-6-0 

Provides opportunities for applied practice in the disciplines of performance, including acting, directing, playwriting, design, technical theater, dramaturgy, and management. Students test and refine their skills in the prototyping of design projects, installations, plays, dance, film, music theater, opera, and other performing arts events. They also apply theory and practice while tracing the research and rehearsal process through production and public presentation in the theater or in the studio. Students seeking to design an applied project must be supervised by a theater arts faculty member, and obtain his or her written approval. 

Prereq: Permission of instructor 
Units: 0-9-0 

Multidisciplinary, term-long, independent study geared toward the development of significant artistic and technical projects in performance and design. Students pursue projects in an array of fields and are invited to propose artistic and research projects as actors, directors, designers, dramaturges, and/or technical designers. Often in conjunction with Theater Arts-produced productions, proposals for intensives must be vetted and supervised by a member of the Theater Arts faculty with whom the student will work over the course of term.

(Meets with 21M.822: Graduate Level)
Prereq: None
Units: 3-3-6

Students to join Theater Arts faculty and staff in the development of a fully-staged production for an audience in MIT's laboratory for the performing arts at W97. Students collaborate as performers, designers, writers, choreographers and technicians. Weekly rehearsals, design labs, and workshops introduce students to an array of rehearsal and performance techniques over the course of the term. Culminates in a public performance, open to students at all levels of experience. Each term evolves a different project which may include community-driven interventions, classical or contemporary plays, devised works, screenplays, musicals or other live performance events. 

Prereq: Permission of instructor 
Units arranged 

Multidisciplinary independent study provides opportunity for individual practica in the performing arts. While opportunities may include directed theoretical research and practice in production and performance with permanent and visiting faculty, students are encouraged to propose independent programs of study to a member of the theater arts faculty. Permission of supervising faculty member required.