Theater and Dance

Dance

111. Introductory Dance Technique

Gwyneth Jones M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55

Classes in modern dance technique include basic exercises to develop dance skills such as balance and musicality. More challenging movement combinations and longer dance sequences build on these exercises. While focusing on the craft of dancing, students develop an appreciation of their own styles and an understanding of the role of craft in the creative process. During the semester, a historical overview of twentieth-century American dance on video is presented. Attendance at all classes is required. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

112. Introductory Repertory and Performance

Gwyneth Jones M 4:00 - 5:25, W 4:00 - 5:25

Repertory students are required to take Dance 111 concurrently. Repertory classes provide the chance to learn faculty-choreographed works or reconstructions of historical dances. Class meetings are conducted as rehearsals for performances at the end of the semester: the December Studio Show, the annual Spring Performance in Pickard Theater, or Museum Pieces at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in May. Additional rehearsals are scheduled before performances. Attendance at all classes and rehearsals is required. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

145. Performance and Narrative

Roger Bechtel T 1:30 - 3:25, TH 1:30 - 3:25

For millennia, we have organized our fictions, our religions, our histories, and our own lives as narratives. However much the narrative form has been called into question in recent years, it seems we just can't stop telling each other stories. This class will examine the particular nexus between narrative and performance: What is narrative? How does it work? What are its limits and its limitations? How do we communicate narrative in performance? These are just a few of the questions we'll explore through both critical inquiry and the creation of performance pieces based in text, dance, movement, and the visual image.

150. Improvisation

Davis Robinson M 1:30 - 3:25, W 1:30 - 3:25

Improvisation is a fundamental tool used by dancers, musicians, actors, writers, and other artists to explore the language of a medium and to develop new work. An interdisciplinary introduction to some of the primary forms of improvisation used in dance and theater. Content includes theater games, narrative exercises, contact improvisation, and choreographic structures.

211. Intermediate Dance Technique

Paul Sarvis M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55

A continuation of the processes introduced in Dance 111. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

212. Intermediate Repertory and Performance

Paul Sarvis M 4:00 - 5:25, W 4:00 - 5:25

Intermediate repertory students are required to take Dance 211 concurrently. A continuation of the principles and requirement introduced in Dance 112. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

311. Advanced/Intermediate Dance Technique

Gwyneth Jones T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55

A continuation of the processes introduced in Dance 211. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

312. Advanced/Intermediate Repertory and Performance

Gwyneth Jones T 4:00 - 5:25, TH 4:00 - 5:25

Intermediate/advanced repertory students are required to take Dance 311 concurrently. A continuation of the principles and requirement introduced in Dance 212. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

322. Ensemble: Theater and Dance Collaborative Creation

Paul Sarvis T 9:30 - 11:25, TH 9:30 - 11:25

Experienced theater and dance students collaborate to devise an original performance event. The course spans the entire process from conception to research, writing, staging, choreographing, and ultimately performing for the public. With emphasis on experimentation – and a process that includes dance and acting technique – the aim is to both embrace and transcend disciplinary traditions.

Theater

106. Introduction to Drama

William Watterson M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55

Traces the development of dramatic form, character, and style from classical Greece through the Renaissance and Enlightenment to contemporary America and Africa. Explores the evolution of plot design, with special attention to the politics of playing, the shifting strategies of representing human agency, and contemporary relationships between the theater and a variety of forms of mass media. Authors may include Sophocles, Aristophanes, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Dryden, Ibsen, Wilde, Beckett, Mamet, and Churchill.

120. Acting I

Sonja Moser M 9:30 - 11:25, W 9:30 - 11:25

Introduces students to the physical, emotional, and intellectual challenge of the acting process. Voice and movement work, analysis of dramatic texts from an actor’s point of view, and improvisational exercises are used to provide students with a variety of methods for acting truthfully on stage.

120. Acting I

Abigail Killeen T 9:30 - 11:25, TH 9:30 - 11:25

Introduces students to the physical, emotional, and intellectual challenge of the acting process. Voice and movement work, analysis of dramatic texts from an actor’s point of view, and improvisational exercises are used to provide students with a variety of methods for acting truthfully on stage.

145. Performance and Narrative

Roger Bechtel T 1:30 - 3:25, TH 1:30 - 3:25

For millennia, we have organized our fictions, our religions, our histories, and our own lives as narratives. However much the narrative form has been called into question in recent years, it seems we just can't stop telling each other stories. This class will examine the particular nexus between narrative and performance: What is narrative? How does it work? What are its limits and its limitations? How do we communicate narrative in performance? These are just a few of the questions we'll explore through both critical inquiry and the creation of performance pieces based in text, dance, movement, and the visual image.

150. Improvisation

Davis Robinson M 1:30 - 3:25, W 1:30 - 3:25

Improvisation is a fundamental tool used by dancers, musicians, actors, writers, and other artists to explore the language of a medium and to develop new work. An interdisciplinary introduction to some of the primary forms of improvisation used in dance and theater. Content includes theater games, narrative exercises, contact improvisation, and choreographic structures.

195. Production and Performance

Roger Bechtel

Engagement in the presentation of a full-length work for public performance with a faculty director or choreographer. Areas of concentration within the production may include design, including set, light, sound, or costume; rehearsal and performance of roles; service as assistant director or stage manager. In addition to fulfilling specific production responsibilities, students meet weekly to synthesize work. Students gain admission to Dance 195 either through audition (performers) or through advance consultation (designers, stage managers, and assistant directors). Students register for Dance 195 during the add/drop period at the beginning of each semester. Students are required to commit a minimum of six hours a week to rehearsal and production responsibilities over a period of seven to twelve weeks; specific time commitments depend upon the role the student is assuming in the production and the production schedule. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit. May be repeated a maximum of four times for credit, earning a maximum of two credits.

195. Production and Performance

Michael Schiff-Verre

Engagement in the presentation of a full-length work for public performance with a faculty director or choreographer. Areas of concentration within the production may include design, including set, light, sound, or costume; rehearsal and performance of roles; service as assistant director or stage manager. In addition to fulfilling specific production responsibilities, students meet weekly to synthesize work. Students gain admission to Dance 195 either through audition (performers) or through advance consultation (designers, stage managers, and assistant directors). Students register for Dance 195 during the add/drop period at the beginning of each semester. Students are required to commit a minimum of six hours a week to rehearsal and production responsibilities over a period of seven to twelve weeks; specific time commitments depend upon the role the student is assuming in the production and the production schedule. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit. May be repeated a maximum of four times for credit, earning a maximum of two credits.

220. Acting II: Voice and Text

Abigail Killeen M 9:30 - 11:25, W 9:30 - 11:25

An intermediate acting course focused on the link between language, thought, and feeling, with the goal of achieving full-mind-body engagement in the act of communication. Students work with poetry, plays, and other dramatic texts to encourage vocal, physical, and emotional freedom. Breathing exercises attune students to the physiological impulse to speak, while vocal exercises concentrate on developing increased range, strength, and color of expression. Interpretation is explored through close readings of texts. This course, along with Theater 225, Acting II: Physical Theater, is part of a two-semester course series. Theater 220 and 225 may be taken individually or in any order.

223. English Renaissance Drama

Aaron Kitch T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25

Explores the explosion of popular drama in London following the construction of the first permanent theaters in the 1560s. Pays special attention to the forms of drama that audiences liked best—those portraying revenge, marriage, middle-class ascendancy, and adultery. Topics include the cultural space of the theater, the structure of playing companies, and the cultivation of blank verse as a vehicle for theatrical expression. Students will master the styles of different playwrights, examine the topography of the Globe theater, and try out different staging techniques. Authors include Shakespeare, Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Middleton. Note: This course fulfills the pre-1800 literature requirement for English majors.

230. Theater and Theatricality in the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century

Ann Kibbie M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25

An overview of the development of the theater from the re-opening of the playhouses in 1660 to the end of the eighteenth century, with special emphasis on the emergence of new dramatic modes such as Restoration comedy, heroic tragedy, “she-tragedy,” sentimental comedy, and opera. Other topics include the legacy of Puritan anxieties about theatricality; the introduction of actresses on the professional stage; adaptations of Shakespeare on the Restoration and eighteenth-century stage; other sites of public performance, such as the masquerade and the scaffold; and the representation of theatricality in the eighteenth-century novel. Note: This course fulfills the pre-1800 literature requirement for English majors.

322. Ensemble: Theater and Dance Collaborative Creation

Paul Sarvis T 9:30 - 11:25, TH 9:30 - 11:25

Experienced theater and dance students collaborate to devise an original performance event. The course spans the entire process from conception to research, writing, staging, choreographing, and ultimately performing for the public. With emphasis on experimentation – and a process that includes dance and acting technique – the aim is to both embrace and transcend disciplinary traditions.