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Theater & Performance
Studies Major

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Studies Minor

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Studies Major

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Studies Minor

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SPRING / SUMMER / Audition Information/

COURSE OFFERINGS FOR FALL 2008


UNDERGRADUATE COURSES:

Theater R1A (section 1) - Introduction to Dramatic Literature - Choreographing the Page: This course will explore possible dialogues between choreography and writing. If choreography is to dance what writing is to language, we will ask ourselves to dance onto the page, keeping in mind various relationships between form and content, argument and structure. Focusing on critical thinking and expository writing, we will perform textual exercises including the argumentative essay, the performance review, and the first-person ethnographic essay. Translating our observations onto the page, we will view live and recorded performances of contemporary choreographers such as William Forsythe, Donald Byrd, Pina Bausch, Jerome Bel, Ralph Lemon, Sankai Juku, Germaine Acogny, Mia Michaels, Dwight Rhoden, and Ohad Naharin. Theorists will include Roland Barthes, Walter Benjamin, Merleau-Ponty, Gilles Deleuze, Frantz Fanon, Clifford Geertz, James Clifford, Hans-Thies Lehmann, Susan Foster, André Lepecki, and Thomas DeFrantz. We will examine the limits and possibilities of placing choreographic structure in dialogue with argumentative structure. How can an academic essay make sense of a contemporary dance piece? Keeping formal choreographic analysis at the forefront, we will attune ourselves to elements such as movement, stasis, virtuosity, musicality, and technique. We will develop our use of the lens, applying the following critical paradigms to our objects of inquiry: race, gender, geography, phenomenology, and reception. Finally, we will look at uses of text in dance performance itself, and begin to develop a critical language for reconciling the corporeal dancer with the material page. Here, the choreographic, the poetic, and the argumentative coalesce.
Prerequisite: UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam.  

Instructor: Yvonne Hardt and Ariel Scott, TuTh 9:30-11, 279 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88003.

Theater R1A (section 3) - Introduction to Dramatic Literature: Postcolonial Performance: Postcolonial studies is a rich field that engages with the history of western imperialism and its lasting imprints on the world today. In this course we will read plays from Asia, Africa, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean Islands that have a historical and/or discursive relationship to western imperialism. Focusing on British and American imperialism, our class will explore questions involving representation, globalization, nationalism, identity formation, gender and sexuality, and race and class relations. Serving the R1A requirement, this course includes writing exercises and essay assignments that will teach critical reading and writing skills essential for the crafting of an original argument. We will also incorporate live performance in our class by viewing plays, and performing scenes in class.
Prerequisite: UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam.  

Instructor: Shannon Steen and Khai Nguyen, MW 4-5:30, 235 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88009.

Theater R1A (section 4) - Introduction to Dramatic Literature   - Death, Dreams, and Devils in Early Modern Drama: Plays from the early modern period often investigate some kind of encounter with the beyond, featuring characters who meet devils, witches and fairies, who have nightmares foretelling the future, or who find themselves ensnared in plots that propel them toward death. In this course, we'll read a number of plays that make use of these tropes ^death, dreams, and devils ^ in order to ask how these tropes mobilize the larger themes at stake in the dramatic text.   Through writing exercises, short assignments and in-class discussion we will practice engaging critically with dramatic texts that are often read as literature even as they gesture toward performance. In the process, we will learn how to identify a research question, formulate an argument and craft a critical essay.
Prerequisite: UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam.  

Instructor: Mark Griffith and Joy Crosby, MW 4-5:30, 103 Wheeler, CCN 88012.

Theater R1A (section 5) - Introduction to Dramatic Literature - Performing Terrorism: Days after the tragic events of 9/11, the renowned German Composer Karlheinz Stockhausen controversially compared the attacks to "works of art." This course takes up Stockhausen's remarks and investigates the representation and performance of terrorism in contemporary drama, art, and film. While exploring various definitions of terrorism and its cognates, the course will center itself thematically on four prominent contemporary manifestations of terrorism: 1) "the Troubles" in 20th century Ireland, 2) the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, 3) the formation of the Taliban in the 1980's and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and 4) the War on Terror. We will combine historical and theoretical readings with a critical study of plays, films, artworks, television programs, and news reports that deal with the above examples in order to analyze how cultural representations of terrorism can have deep social and political consequences. Through class discussions, short writing assignments, and four longer essays, students will hone their skills as thinkers, writers and researchers while learning how to analyze cultural objects, formulate an argument, craft a critical essay, and revise their written work. Students will also gain important research skills and become familiar with Berkeley's library resources. Considering the politically charged nature of this course's topic, a primary aim of class discussions and written work will be to train students to investigate and treat controversial subjects with academic rigor and respect.
Prerequisite: UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam.  

Instructor: Peter Glazer and Shane Boyle, TuTh 11-12:30, 203 Wheeler, 4 units, CCN 88015.

Theater R1A (section 6) - Introduction to Dramatic Literature - Border-crossings--Aesthetics and Politics: This course examines different kinds of "border-crossings" in the aesthetics and politics of performance. How do "performance texts" cross representational borders--between literary texts and bodies, between stage and screen? What kinds of translation, adaption, and appropriation are taking place in performances that seek to cross cultural borders? How do experiences of physical border-crossing--traveling, migration, diasporic, and exile--figure in works of art? These multiple "crossings" often happen at the same time.   How do we participate in them, experientially and intellectually? We will address the aesthetics of "border-crossings" and its political implications by engaging with a range of critical readings and creative texts, such as intercultural encounters historically and in the present, dance and stage-plays reframed in film, Shakespeare in Chinese Opera, and Asian diasporic literature and film. We will also make use of the live performance experiences available through Cal Performances and Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. We will practice our own "border-crossing"--and reflect on its challenge-- as we move from a live performance to writing its review. Through other writing exercises and assignments, we will also learn how to identify a research question, do close readings of a text, formulate an argument and craft a critical essay.
Prerequisite: UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam.  

Instructor: Catherine Cole and Chia-Yi Seetoo, TuTh 2-3:30, 206 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88018.

Theater R1A (section 7) - Introduction to Dramatic Literature - Performing Body: Understanding How We Experience Performance through Our Phenomenal Selves:
Performance is often taken for granted as an experience that moves, and moves through, our bodies. When we attend the theater, or go see a film, it is not simply our minds and emotions that are activated, but our physical selves as well. In this course we will examine the concept of performance as one that pushes beyond traditional proscenium circumscriptions: we will consider performance as part of our everyday existence, as something we encounter all the time but take for granted; we will examine traditional modes of performance such as theater, dance, music and film; and we will look at more unusual modes of performance in visual art, ritual, and activism. Key to this examination is a focus on the body: how we experience a performance, no matter its genre, in psychic, emotional, and visceral ways. Additionally, we will pay attention to the difference between experiencing performance as a performer and as a spectator, and what it means when that line is blurred. In order to activate our discussions we will read traditional texts (plays, critical essays), but more importantly we will engage a number of non-print performance texts. In order to satisfy the requirements for first semester R&C students are expected to complete 32 pages of expository writing. In this course students will complete performance reviews, short critical response essays, as well as a series of slightly longer essays with peer reviews. All students are expected to attend class regularly and to be an active, rigorous member of discussions.
The following performances will be required: Romeo and Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare by the Mark Morris Dance Group, Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare, The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising by Gunter Grass, and Top Girls by Carol Churchill
Prerequisite: UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam.

Instructor: Catherine Cole and Joanne Taylor, TuTh 3:30-5, 206 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88021.


Theater R1A (section 8) - Introduction to Dramatic Literature - Francophone Worlds, Francophone Performance: What does the word "Francophone" refer to? While there are multiple answers to this question, the most common is that the term refers to the French-speaking world, territories formerly governed by the French empire and influenced by French culture. Yet, a brief glance at a colonial postcard from Morocco, the plays of Martinican Aime Cesaire or the recent Franco-Algerian comedy "Salut Cousin!" reveals far more difference than similarity. What does this do to our definition? In this course, we will ask this question by tracing how terms such as "language", "identity" and "culture" are defined and linked together in various texts and what these connections mean for our own thinking and writing. Using as our guide a wide range of theatrical, filmic, literary and photographic representations from across the Francophone world (including Quebec, Lebanon, North Africa and the Caribbean as well as France), we will ask: What do these works have to tell us about the diversity of postcolonial cultures? What are the relations of race, class, sexuality and gender that link the so-called center that is France and its multiple peripheries? Finally, in building these connections, how do we engage critically with "texts" that are verbal and visual, fictional and non-fictional? Through weekly readings, writing exercises and essay assignments, we will work on identifying research questions, developing our close reading skills and formulating our own essays.
Prerequisite: UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam.  

Instructor: Brandi Catanese and Emine Fisek, TuTh 12:30-2, 279 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88024.

Theater 10 - Introduction to Acting: This course is a gateway class to the more advanced acting sequence. It is a theory and performance course which provides an overview of the actor's creative process. Fundamental acting techniques are presented in conjunction with exercises, improvisation, and text work designed to enhance concentration, imagination, vocal resonance and projection as well as self confidence and communication skills. 3 units, audition required, CCN provided after audition. For audition information, look under Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies in the Schedule of Classes for Fall 2008.  

Instructors: April Sizemore-Barber, Scott Wallin, Marvin Greene, Mike Carroll
GSI Supervisor: Martin Berman

Section 1: MWF 9-11, Durham Studio
Section 2: MWF 10-12, 317 Zellerbach
Section 3: MWF 12-2, 317 Zellerbach
Section 4: TuTh 2-5, 317 Zellerbach


Theater 11 - Scene Study and Characterization: In this course the emphasis of the students' studies shifts from the development of basic skills to the development of skills necessary to the character actor. Whereas Theater 10 students are required to develop and perform characters who are close to themselves in age and background, Theater 11 students are encouraged to stretch their abilities into the development of characterizations which lie outside their personal experience. Students continue to employ the basic acting and vocal techniques introduced in Theater 10. Audition required, CCN provided after audition. 3 units. For audition information, look under Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies in the Schedule of Classes for Fall 2008.  

Section 1: MW 2-5, 317 Zellerbach
Section 2: MWF 1-3, 7 Zellerbach

Instructors: Christine Nicholson, Christopher Herold

Theater 24 - Freshman Seminar - Documentary Playmaking: School Integration, Little Rock, 1957-58: On the fateful morning of September 4, 1957, a small group of African-American students walked up to the doors of Central High, Little Rock, to enroll in school -- and were turned away by the National Guard. Arkansas State Governor Faubus had called out the Guard to surround the building. "Blood will run in the streets," said Faubus, "if Negro pupils should attempt to enter Central High School." A racist mob seethed out front. Eventually the courageous group of children did enter. The first of them graduated in the spring of 1958.   They came to be known as The Little Rock Nine; Central High as the first major integrated high school in the South. Nowadays many people regard their mentor, Daisy Bates, on a level with Martin Luther King, Jr. Each student in our Freshman Seminar will select a person who participated in the integration of Central High, study historical documents linked with that individual, and develop a monologue in the role of the person, perhaps as one of the Little Rock Nine or as the Governor or as the principal of Central High. We will encourage each student to experiment with a role different from his or her own gender and cultural background.
This seminar will meet for 8 weeks beginning September 8 and ending November 3.
Professor Dunbar H. Ogden has just published a book, entitled My Father Said, about the integration crisis at Central High School, Little Rock. He developed this civil rights book in conjunction with students in his freshman seminars since 2000. Professor Ogden is the author of books on actors, set design, and theatrical space.

Instructor: Dunbar H. Ogden, Mon 2-4, 8 Zellerbach, 1 unit, P/NP, CCN 88048.

Theater 26 - Introduction to Performance Studies: This course introduces the critical terms and practices of the contemporary study of performance. Several key terms and important genres of artistic and social performance will be engaged; the course will draw critical and disciplinary methods from anthropology and ethnography, from the theory of dance and theater, from literary and cultural theory.   Critical and theoretical concepts will be used to analyze a wide range of live and recorded performances, as well as performance texts.  

Instructor: Shannon Steen and Nina Billone, TuTh 9:30-11, 122 Wheeler, 4 units, CCN 88051.

Theater 40A - Beginning Modern Dance Technique: In this course, students will be introduced to the art of modern dance through physical practice. Attendance is required. The course will cover basic explorations in movement emphasizing increased flexibility, strength, alignment, coordination, and muscular endurance. The course will immerse students in an engaging, challenging and kinesthetic dance experience that will focus on building movement fundamentals and versatility. This is the first level of modern dance technique taught in a four-level sequence. There is an audition on the first day of class. No special preparation is required for the audition. Footless tights, leotards, or fitted gym clothes are suggested attire. Successful completion of this course prepares students for 141A, (Intermediate Modern Dance Technique.)

Instructor: Felipe Barrueto Cabello, MWF 3-5, 2401 Bancroft, 2 units, CCN 88057.

Theater 52AC - Reflections of Gender, Culture and Ethnicity in American Dance: Working with the premise that the context, content and form of any dance event serve as a window on culture, we focus on dance associated with at least three of the following groups: African Americans, Asian Americans, Indigenous Peoples of the United States, Chicano/Latinos and European Americans.   We will look at traditional dance events as well as transcultural currents in American Dance.  

Instructor: Jenefer Johnson, TuTh 12:30-2, 2 LeConte, 3 units, CCN 88060.

Theater 60 - Stagecraft: This is an introductory course focusing on various technical aspects of theatrical production. Course ranges from theatrical conception to actual performance and includes emphasis on safety, collaborative process, shop tools, set construction, lighting, rigging, costumes, props and scenic treatments. Course involves a laboratory dimension: students will work on departmental productions in Zellerbach Playhouse, 7 Zellerbach or Durham Studio Theatre.

Instructor: Chris Killion, MW 12-1, Zellerbach Playhouse, 3 units, CCN 88063.

Theater C107 - The Plays of Ibsen: "Ibsen's Houses": The prose dramas of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen are famous for their architectural metaphors--doll houses, memorial buildings, theaters in attics, master builders, and claustrophobic interiors. The persistence of Ibsen's architectural thinking makes his plays useful for examining the many connections between architectural thought, historical/philosophical theories of modernity, models of stage performance, and scenography. In this course we read many of Ibsen's prose plays through this frame of reference, emphasizing questions of text, space, and performance. (This course does not fulfill the Performance Literature requirement).

Instructor: Mark Sandberg, TuTh 12:30-2, 215 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88084.
Also listed as Scandinavian C107.

Theater 110A - Intermediate Acting: The first five weeks of the semester are a review of the material learned in the first year, culminating in a 5-7 minute modern realistic scene. This review provides all continuing and transfer students with a common base and vocabulary. The next ten weeks are devoted to plays from the turn of the century by Chekhov, Ibsen, Shaw, Strindberg, and Wilde. Students perform one 2-3 minute monologue and one 5-7 minute scene.

Instructors: Marty Berman and Deborah Sussel, MWF 11-1, 413 and 7 Zellerbach, 3 units. Audition required, CCN provided after audition. For audition information, look under Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies in the Schedule of Classes for Fall 2008.

Theater 111 - Advanced Acting: This is the final acting class in the progression which begins with Theater 10. The instructor works individually with students to stretch and strengthen basic acting, voice, movement, speech, and style techniques. Students also develop audition material and resumes and practice audition and rehearsal techniques.  

Instructor: Lura Dolas, TuTh 9:30-12:30, Durham Studio, 3 units.   Audition required, CCN provided after audition. For audition information, look under Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies in the Schedule of Classes for Fall 2008.

Theater 114 - Performance Workshop - Viewpoints: Ensemble Performance: Developed in the 1970s by choreographer Mary Overlie, Viewpoints has been adopted by some of the most exciting theater directors working in the U.S. today. Anne Bogart, Tina Landau, Robert Woodruff, and others have turned to this method to create innovative performance work that crosses the boundaries between theater, dance, music, literature, and the visual arts. In this class, Theater and Dance majors alike will be trained to think across and between these creative forms. The Viewpoints system trains performers through exercises based on six fundamental pillars: Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement, and Story. Actors are taught to advance their creativity through the emphasis on space, rhythm, and movement, and dancers through narrative and emotion. We will use these pillars to develop your creative capacities beyond those stressed within traditional training techniques in theater and dance. In order to facilitate this evolution, we will work with music and visual art to push your creative boundaries. In addition to training you to think cross-disciplinarily, we will also use Viewpoints to teach you to be creative artists in your own right in order to generate ensemble-based performance work.   During the class, we will use Viewpoints exercises to develop a performance based on the poetry of Anne Carson, which will be given a public showing on the last day of class.
Course Requirements:

- Enrollment is by audition, which will be held the first week of classes, Fall 2008. However, if you are involved in the production side of performance (i.e. as a designer, director, writer, or stage manager), you are still encouraged to apply to the course. Please email Professor Steen (steen21@berkeley.edu) for information on how to become involved (you will be asked to produce some work other than an audition to gain admittance to the course).

- You must be a TDPS Major in either Dance or Theater. Minors and non-affiliated students will not be allowed to participate in the course or performance (if you are in the process of declaring a TDPS major, please make this clear to the instructor at the time you audition, and be sure to be in discussion with Michael Mansfield about your intensions in advance of your audition. Students without prior, in-person contact with Michael about their intentions will not be permitted to audition).  

- Regular reading assignments (generally of Carson's poetry), out-of-class rehearsals to develop "scenework," in-class exercises, and a final performance.

- Six hours of in-class workshop time, and 5-8 hours of research/rehearsal beyond class per week. If you cannot commit to research and rehearsal beyond class hours, do not take the class.

Instructor: Shannon Steen, MWF 9-11, 7 Zellerbach, 3 units.

Theater 119 (section 1) - Performance Theory: Performance and Technology: This course will explore a diverse array of cultural objects and practices that showcase the performance of technological modes, methods, tools, and ways of being. The units will be: Art Foregrounding Media, Android and Robot Performances, Machines Acting Up, Digital (CGI-produced) Worlds, Electronic Warfare, Techno Futures, Surveillance, Personal and Domestic Cameras, Nation-States Performing Tech Mastery, and Performing Online. Media used in stage productions, films and television shows (Battlestar Galactica, Terminator, Star Wars, 300), music movements such as Afro-Futurism and Detroit Techno, cell phone videos, the Cold War Space Race, 1980s Japanophobia, Internet porn, and online flame wars are some of the phenomena we will examine. Students will be asked to consider questions of human-technology interactions over the last century have altered bodily, oral, visual, and written performances in art, politics, war, popular culture, and everyday life.  

Instructor: Gail Derecho, TuTh 2-3:30, 242 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88102.
Also listed as CNM 190, section 2.

Theater 119 (section 2) - Performance Theory - Thinking Dancing Bodies: This course provides an introduction to different approaches of conceptualizing and analyzing dancing bodies on stage. Reading recent publications in dance studies that draw on theories of the body and gender, we will extract categories, questions and terminologies that reveal the close interrelatedness of dance, language and theory and provide the methodological lense for further investigations. In a seconds step we will apply these multiple perspectives to the analysis of contemporary European based dancers and choreographers like Meg Stuart, Xavier Leroy, Jerome Bel, Eszter Salamon, Yasmeen Godder for they draw actively on critical theory and philosophy to challenge, question and investigate representational codes of what it means to dance.

Instructor: Yvonne Hardt, MWF 2-3, 155 Barrows, 3 units, CCN 88104.

Theater 121 - Performance and Culture - African Theater and Performance: Playwrights and performers throughout Africa have responded very differently to the tumultuous social changes wrought by colonialism and its aftermath. Some have used European languages to engage Western ideologies and literary conventions in a dialogue with African knowledge systems and oral traditions. Other artists perform exclusively in African languages while freely appropriating Western theatre conventions such as proscenium staging. Using source materials that are neither "traditional" nor "modern," "African" nor "European," but a complex amalgamation of influences, African performances defy these limited but nevertheless tenacious dichotomies. This course will examine a range of African performance forms, including theatre, dance, music, oral traditions, storytelling, masquerading, and ritual. No prior knowledge of Africa is required.

Instructor: Catherine Cole, TuTh 12:30-2, 123 Wheeler, 4 units, CCN 88105.

Theater 125 (section 1) - Performance and History - Modern Russian Theater: This is history course that begins with Konstantin Stanislavsky and Moscow Art Theatre (1897-2008) and includes the experimental work of Meyerhold, Tairov, Evgeni Vakhtangov, Michael Chekhov, Constructivist productions, Nikolai Okhlopkov's Realistic Theatre, the Moscow Yiddish Theatre, Socialist Realism, Yuri Lubimov, and post-Soviet Russian Theater. Course work will involve lectures, film viewings, and acting demonstrations. Grading be determined by examinations and student projects.

Instructor: Mel Gordon, TuTh 11-12:30, 182 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88108.

Theater 125 (section 2) - Performance and History - Performance Literatures: Greek Tragedy, in its Contexts: In this course we shall read and discuss a selection of Classical Greek tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and at least one comedy by Aristophanes ( The Frogs ). With the help of visual images and videos, as well as the assigned readings, we'll trace the evolution of Greek tragedy from its ritual beginnings, through its spread throughout the Hellenistic world, into the Renaissance and the modern era, focusing on the role of theater in society, and on some ancient and modern views on the origins, performance conventions, value, and effects of theatrical performance (Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Girard, Zeitlin, etc.). We'll also read some adaptations of Greek tragedies written by later playwrights:   Roman (Seneca), French (Racine, Anouilh), English (Pikeryng, Churchill), American (O'Neill, Mee), Japanese (Suzuki), and African (Soyinka).
All readings will be done in English.
Course requirements: two short papers (4-6 pages); midterm exam (one hour); short on-line and in-class assignments; final exam (two hours).  

Instructor: Mark Griffith, TuTh 12:30-2, 219 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88111.
Also listed as Classics 35.

Theater 125 (section 3) - Performance and History - History of Ballet from the Renaissance through the Nineteenth Century: In this class we will explore a chronological history of ballet from its early incarnation as European court ritual throughout its development as a professional theatrical form. In addition to comparing and interpreting extant historical texts we will analyze and contextualize twentieth and twenty-first century restagings/reconstructions of period works-- including popular ballets such as Giselle, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.
Course requirements: Attendance at all class meetings; regular reading and video viewing; one analytical essay; one midterm; and a cumulative final exam.

Instructor: Jenefer Johnson, TuTh 3:30-5, 122 Wheeler, 3 units, CCN 88113.

Theater 126 - Performance Literature: Adapting Shakespeare: Shakespeare is sacred in the canon of English literature, but his texts have never been sacrosanct. They have been a mutable inspiration for writers across history and across cultures to construct their own worlds in response to the canonical Bard. Nahum Tate gave Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear a happy ending in 1680 (Lear lives! Cordelia lives! She marries Edgar!) which prevailed in England for 150 years. Martiniquan poet and playwright Aimé Césair's 1969 A Tempest re-imagined The Tempest as a plea for black liberation. In Desdemona: A Play About A Handkerchief, contemporary playwright Paula Vogel shifted Othello 's focus to its women, her play's only characters. And Marx, Lenin and Mao appear onstage as three naked women in Heiner Müller's Hamletmachine, speak eight short lines, and then have their heads split open with an ax. The list goes on: Brecht, Lorca, The Women's Theater Group, Charles Marowitz, Welcome Msomi, Robert Wilson - all of them, and many more, have had their way with Shakespeare - out of reverence, revelation, an interest in critical inquiry, cultural transformation, or outright critique. This course will read a series of Shakespeare's plays paired with a disparate set of revisions, and critical essays about the plays. I am interested in adaptation as intervention, and in each of these pairings, we will work to understand the aesthetic, cultural, historical, and/or ideological motivations behind these acts of adaptation, how the source texts provoked them, and how the revisions make new meaning both independent of, and in dialogue with, their formidable antecedents. Course requirements: weekly readings, midterm, final, and a research or creative paper. I will be directing Shakespeare's Measure for Measure in Zellerbach Playhouse during the fall semester, which will also be required viewing for the class.

Instructor: Peter Glazer, TuTh 9:30-11, 102 Moffitt, 4 units, CCN 88114.

Theater 139 - Playwriting: This is an intensive workshop in playwriting and screenwriting for beginning and more advanced students. The course explores the deep story-telling structures in plays and scripts as well as traditional craftsmanship. Students will present two short plays (or sections of a screenplay) during the semester. To be considered for the course, submit a sample of creative writing (up to five pages) to the instructor by May 4 (mailbox located in 101 Dwinelle Annex). Include your name, year, major, phone number, and email address.   For those who miss the deadline, you are advised to attend the first class. Instructor will hold a few slots for special cases and transfer students.  

Instructor: Mel Gordon, Wed 4-7, 206 Dwinelle, 3 units, CCN released upon admission into the course.

Theater 141A - Intermediate Modern Dance Technique: This is the second-year course level of modern dance taught in a four-year sequence. Attendance is required. The course is designed for students with some dance experience who are ready to refine their dance skills and accept new kinesthetic challenges. In this course students will: deepen their understanding of dance as an art form; explore movement styles of the African Diaspora (i.e. Hip Hop, Afro Cuban, Afro Brazilian, Capoeira) and how those forms are connected to Modern dance. Students will learn to take more physical risks; develop partnering skills and floorwork and develop a deeper kinesthetic understanding of how to dance expressively as well as begin the exploration of their own individual identities as movement artists. The prerequisite for this course is Beginning Modern Dance Technique (40A or 40B). Enrollment is decided by audition on the first day of class.

Instructor: Amor Tabor Smith, MWF 1-3, 2401 Bancroft, 2 units, CCN 88120.

Theater 142A - Modern Dance Technique Advanced I: This is the third level of modern dance technique taught in a four-level sequence. Attendance is required. The course will teach students to use sensation to find deeper articulation of the body and to access efficient modes of moving to perform vigorous and specific dance phrases. Warm up includes the use of breath, energy work and improvisation, which leads to the exploration of three-dimensional choreography, space and presence. Working intensively with music as inspiration, instigator and partner, the class progresses from the internal to the performed. The prerequisite for this course is Intermediate Modern Dance Technique (141A or 141B). Enrollment is decided by audition on the first day of class.

Instructor: Yvonne Hardt, MWF 9-11, 2401 Bancroft, 2 units, CCN 88123.

Theater 143A - Modern Dance Technique Advanced II: Daily course. Meets for 1 1/2 hours. Attendance is required. This is the fourth level of modern dance technique taught in a four-level sequence. The main objective of this course is to expand and refine stylistic range, technical skill and personal expressiveness while dancing. Students will focus on developing qualitative differentiation and rhythmic complexity within the given movement assignments. They are expected to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the underlying supportive techniques necessary to perform highly physical and technical dance phrases. There are no prerequisites for this course, however, it is designed for dancers with significant dance training and/or successful completion of 142A and/or 142B. Enrollment is decided by audition on the first day of class.

Instructor: Lisa Wymore, MTWThF 11-12:30, 2401 Bancroft, 2units, CCN 88126.

Theater 145 - Music Resources for Performance: This course will examine the relationship between music and dance from multiple perspectives. We will look at the history, theory and philosophy of this relationship with a primary emphasis on the last hundred years of Western concert dance. There will also be daily movement/sounding and listening exercises, discussion, research, and creative work. The course will also cover basic software-based sound recording and manipulation tools.

Instructor: Sheldon Smith, TuTh 9-11, 2401 Bancroft, 3 units, CCN 88129.

Theater 146A - Choreography: This semester is devoted to creating solos and duets. The beginning of the semester includes in-class exercises in form, structure, space, and rhythm. Prerequisite is Sources of Movement (Theater 144). Student must be concurrently enrolled in dance technique class (intermediate or above).

Instructor: Lisa Wymore, MWF 3:30-5, 170 Zellerbach, 1-3 variable units, CCN 88132.

Theater 162 - Fundamentals of Stage Directing: This upper division course introduces students to the fundamental principles, practices, and problems of directing for the stage. The class will examine script analysis and research, the director's vocabulary, working with actors, effective rehearsal techniques, use of space, and the role of the director throughout the process of production. These topics will be investigated through a combination of scene work, class discussions, readings, and viewing of performances. Requirements will include directing and acting in scenes for the class, reading plays and essays, maintaining a journal, and two short papers. Some classroom training as an actor is desirable for Theater 162. Admission is by permission of instructor. Interviews will be held on the first day of class. Course control number released by instructor upon admission.

Instructor: Chris Herold, TuTh 2-4, 7 Zellerbach, 3 units.

Theater 166 (section 1) - Special Topics - Russian Drama: Text and Performance: The course is devoted to major works of Russian dramatic literature of the 19 th -20 th centuries and their stage representations. Its dual focus will be on contemporary implications of dramatic texts and on their theatrical life in and through time, in various historical, political, and national frameworks. We will read ten plays central to the Russian literary and dramatic tradition and also associated with the idea of the Russian theater in the West. The course will address their contemporary historical and cultural subtexts, thematic and conceptual properties, and formal idiom. We will then follow stage history of these dramatic texts and discuss most significant interpretations of Russian classics by leading artists of the 20 th century theater and film. The course will include plays by Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Mayakovsky, as well as some of the most recent work of Russian playwrights; and discuss the work of such directors as Konstantin Stanislavsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Aleksandr Tairov, as well as important Western interpretations of Russian drama.  All materials will be collected in a reader. No prerequisites. All readings are in English.

Instructor: Anna Muza, TuTh 2-3:30, 209 Dwinelle, 4 units, CCN 88144.
Also listed as Slavic 140.

Theater 166 (section 2) - Special Topics: Interactive Theater: Acting for Social Change: This course deals with the theory and practice of social justice theater. This is the second semester of a two-part exploration of complex issues around race, class, sexuality, ability, and status. (It is not required to take both semesters, though your education and experience may be enriched by being involved for a full year.) Spring 2008 was the research and development phase (through acting training, play-writing skills, and the process arts) resulting in scripts that tell the story of UCB's campus climate. Fall 2008 is the practicum, taking this scripted material into rehearsal for 8 weeks and then into performance on campus for 4 weeks in an interactive theater workshop and training model. Creating an interactive theater ensemble in service to the greater UCB campus is the ultimate goal for this work. Participants will learn more about theater and its inherent potential for activism, community education, and transformational change work. Auditions for course entry will be held the first week of the semester and CCN's released at that point. (Participants continuing from the Spring semester may speak with the instructor to indicate their intention in continuing and in what capacity by May 12.) This course is unique in that undergraduates, graduates, staff, faculty, and administration are all welcome to become a part of this acting for social change project. 

Instructor: Michael Mansfield, TuTh 3-6, 170 Zellerbach, 3 units.

Theater 166 (section 3) - Special Topics - Video Production for Performance: Though a series of exercise video shoots students learn the fundamentals of video production, including basic optics, camera angles and movement, sound recording, and editing. With an additional emphasis on concept and planning, students prepare for and execute a sustained video project, either the documentation of a staged performance or the generation of a freestanding video program.
Actors will have the opportunity to work in front of a camera; students may enroll in the course as actors for 1 unit. Actors are responsible for preparing scenes outside class for use in regular class-time blocking and shooting exercises (45 hours). Student actors should come to the first session with an audition monologue.
Prerequisites: consent of instructor.

Instructor: Kwame Braun, TuTh 10-12, 7 Zellerbach, 3 units, CCN 88149.


Theater 167 - Technical Theater: Performance Practice: Hours to be arranged. Participation in technical theater practice associated with department theater and dance productions to include technical run crew for live performance in one of: lighting, sound, video, properties, costumes, make-up, scenery, deck, rail.

Instructor: Kate Mattson, 1-3 variable units.


Theater 168 - Technical Theater: Shop Practice: Hours to be arranged. Participation in technical theater practice associated with department theater and dance productions to include workshop activities (fabrication, treatment, and installation) in one or more of: costume, hair, make-up, scenery, properties, lighting, video, and sound for live performance.

Instructor: Kate Mattson, 1-3 variable units.


Theater 169 - Advanced Technical Theater Practice: Hours to be arranged. Participation in advanced technical theater practice associated with department theater and dance production to include lead, head, or coordinator position with technical run crew for live performance in one of: lighting, sound, video, properties, costumes, make-up, scenery, deck, rail or advanced application of workshop activities (fabrication, treatment, and installation) in one or more of: costume, hair, make-up, scenery, properties, lighting, video, and sound for live performance. Intended for a student who has completed introductory level application of theater practice and is training in advanced techniques and applications and/or assuming additional responsibilities in relation to production.

Instructor: Kate Mattson, 1-3 variable units.

Theater 170 - Theatre Laboratory: Non-performing participation in the University Theatre to include: crew assistance in lighting, sound, properties, costumes, make-up, backstage; technical assistance in scene or costume shop.

Instructor: Kate Mattson, 1-3 variable units, P/NP. Course control number will be released to students by instructor once the two have met and discussed laboratory assignment. Visit instructor during office hours.

Theater 171 - Theatre Performance - Practice in acting and/or dance in departmental productions (directed or choreographed by an undergraduate) in Durham Studio or 7 Zellerbach (Black Box). See director or stage manager of production you are cast in for more information. One unit, P/NP.

Theater 172 - Advanced Production Study - Stage Management: This course is a practical introduction to the theory and execution of stage management for the theater. One major production assignment on a departmental production is required. There will be special emphasis on production organization and problem solving in connection with the production assignment dimension of the course.  

Instructor: Kate Mattson, MWF 10-11, 126 Dwinelle Annex, 3-4 variable units, CCN 88171.

Theater 173A - Scenography:  Scenic Design for the Theater: The fundamentals of theatrical set design are explored through projects involving sketches, drafting, and models. Strong visual design begins with textual analysis, research, and collaboration, and culminates in the creation of a lively, and visually engaging, scenic environment. This course combines lectures, discussion and studio work. Although previous studio art training is helpful, all students are welcome. The student provides his/her own materials.

Instructor: Mellie Katakalos, TuTh 10-12, 100 Hearst Gym, 3 units, CCN 88177.

Theater 174A - Scenography: Costume Design for the Theater : This introductory course teaches the fundamentals of costume design for the stage. Through lecture and exercises, students will be given the basic tools needed to design and render costumes. Emphasis is on creating an organic design which comes from the script. Individual aesthetic development is encouraged. Previous art training is helpful, but not a prerequisite--all students are welcome. Students are required to furnish basic art supplies and to attend several evening performances.

Instructor: Staff, TuTh 11-12:30, 8 Zellerbach, 3 units, CCN 88180.

Theater 175A - Scenography: Lighting Design for the Theater: This course will introduce you to the tools, terms, and techniques of stage lighting. Lectures cover explanations of lighting concepts and equipment. Working as part of a production crew will demonstrate those tools, terms, and techniques in their applications on stage. The goal of the course is to equip you with the skills needed to be an active participant in the production process while providing you with a background in the methods and materials of stage lighting as a foundation for the study of stage lighting design.

Instructor: David K. H. Elliott, TuTh 11-12:30, 130 Zellerbach, 4 units, CCN 88183.

Theater 176 - Applied Theatrical Design: Students of lighting design are provided experience, structure, and support in the practical application of design to the stage in departmental productions. Contact instructor for information about participation and course control numbers.

Instructor: David K. H. Elliott, 1-3 variable units.

Theater 179 - Supervised Theatrical Design: Students are trained in the working methods of set or costume design; supervised preparation and implementation of designs in the department's production season, from initial discussions through opening night. Contact instructor for information about participation and course control numbers.

Instructors: Kate Mattson, 1-3 variable units.

Theater 180 - Theatrical Realization of Dance: This class is designed for students who are seriously interested in dance performance. There are two sections of the course: 180.1 involves working with Joe Goode on a new dance theater piece which will be performed in the Berkeley Dance Project in spring 09. The second section 180.2 involves working with Trish Lent from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company learning excerpts of MCDC Repertory. Those cast in 180.2 will also be involved in a performance on November 14th as well as perform in the Berkeley Dance Project in spring 09. It is required that students enroll in 180 in the spring term as well.
Audition is required, date to be announced.

Instructor: Joe Goode, MW 6-9, 2401 Bancroft, .5-3 variable units.

Theater 181 - Theatrical Realization of Dramatic Texts: This course relates dramatic texts to theatrical presentation. The lectures are based on the analysis of the work being presented. Laboratory hours are spent in attendance at rehearsal, coaching sessions, and the performance of the play or concert. The course will be taught by faculty involved in the major productions.

Prerequisites: Audition or consent of instructor.

Course may be repeated for credit.

COURSES OFFERED OUTSIDE OF THE DEPT. OF THEATER, DANCE, AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES WHICH MAY BE OF INTEREST TO THEATER AND DANCE MAJORS, MINORS AND Ph.D STUDENTS IN PERFORMANCE STUDIES:                                          

TBA.