Course Syllabus

THEA 2601 Performance Practicum I

Course Description

This course allows application of acting skills through supervised play rehearsals and performances. This course is repeatable for credit.

Justification

This course is a lower-division core requirement for undergraduate theatre performance majors with equivalent courses at all four-year institutions in Utah and elsewhere. It fills a major requirement for theatre arts majors, and otherwise satisfies elective credit criteria.This specific course of Performance Practicum will be available to students participating in the first theatrical production of the season. Because a student may be involved in the first production of the season as a freshman, sophomore, etc. the course is repeatable for credit.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. The work of dramatic performance and the interpretation of texts from different perspectives than one's own is implicitly an exploration of humanity and the cultures of the world, from individual scale to that of entirely different societies, both current and of the past. A student participating in this practicum will demonstrate this knowledge through specific script analysis, an actor's dramaturgical work, close-reading, artistic interpretation and culminating in performance.
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Each student will be required to read and interpret the text of a play according to genre, style, theme, period, locale, mood/atmosphere, character relationships, and other relevant given circumstances which highlight the playwright's or director's vision in relationship to its origins, fictive world, and/or contemporary context. Each student develops his/her character on the basis of background, motivations, relationships, actions, and temperaments. The interpretation of each character will be evaluated, corrected, and re-evaluated by both the student and the director until performance. Students will demonstration production work through performance and participation in all rehearsals and presentations, as well as completion of all role assignments such as character analysis, memorization of dialogue, execution of blocking, script scoring, and character constancy.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. The work of the stage often requires exploration of any number of disciples depending on the precise content and context of a production. Fields frequently drawn upon that require students' attention include aspects of sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, literature, and other areas of fine arts. The Snow College Theatre Department also encourages selections that delve into subject mater of other disciplines (both general education and non-GE) from mathematics, biology, medicine, political science, etc.
   
   As the work of a performer is to understand the plight of the character, the actor must first deconstruct actions and obstacles their character faces. Then, through an informed interpretive process, the actor must attempt to connect and realize the problem-solving of the character in the situations and scenarios outlined by the playwright. The student will demonstrate this work through the audition, rehearsal, and performance of the character.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. By its very nature, the art of acting requires the student to be able to analyze the script in order to retrieve, evaluate, interpret, and respond to the author's intent. This understanding will have a direct impact on their interpretation and performance of the character through speech and nonverbal components. The critical work of exploration of a role is inherent in the creation of cooperative performance through, live scene work, receiving directorial feedback, and self-reflection. Students will demonstrate these skills through rehearsals and performance.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Analyze a specific role on the basis of genre, style, theme, period, locale, mood/atmosphere, character relationship, and other relevant given circumstances using close-reading, textual analysis, dramaturgy, interpretation, and the rehearsal process.
2. Evaluate a specific character on the basis of background, motivations, relationships, actions, objectives, super objective, tactics, beat-changes, temperaments/states, externalities, handling of language, diction, destinations, exceptions, inner-life, and/or any other acting practices appropriate for the production.
3. Memorize text, blocking, and notes.
4. Perform before live audiences maintaining concentration, focus, character consistency, energy, tempo, pace, projection, articulation, connection, action, and truth.

Course Content

Credit will be awarded for performing in Snow College Theatre productions scheduled each semester. Performance: 1. Auditions--participate in a one- to three-day audition sequence performing prepared and cold audition pieces as required by the director. 2. Rehearsals--participate in a three- to six-week rehearsal period as scheduled. The rehearsal sequence will consist of the following stages: Read-through/analysis, blocking/choreography, line/music, runthroughs, finishing, technical, costume/makeup.3. Performance--perform before a live audience for four to seven performances. Content may include intensives/workshops on additional applicable performance techniques and methodologies to expand the learners understanding of the art of acting, style, or performance approaches as determined by the instructor.