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Course Descriptions
THE 102: Performance and US
Culture
Goal: To use improvisation and role playing to explore movement,
gesture, and voice. To offer international students a drama experience. Domestic
students may also take the course.
Content: The course focus is on active studio work, including
observation, improvisation, movement, and voice and speech exercises. Students
will also watch short films and perform scenes. Physical movement is part of the
course. THE 102 does not count toward the Theatre major or minor.
Taught: As needed, usually in the summer.
Gen. Ed. Category: Exploring;Thinking and Expressing Creatively
(FA).
Credit: 3 hours.
THE 112: Theatre Practice and
Criticism
Goal: To look critically at plays, performance history, and/or
theatrical practices. To develop skills in the analysis, enactment, and
interpretation of performance events, theatre literature, or theatre criticism.
Content: A particular area of theatre or performance will be
closely studied through reading and active performance. Expertise in acting will
not be required or expected, but short performances will help students analyze
performance events during class discussion. Given the occasional change in
topic, the course is repeatable one time as THE 112 if the topic is distinct.
THE 112 is not a general education course.
Taught: Occasionally.
Credit: 3 hours.
THE 125: Acting I
Goal: To introduce students to the fundamentals of acting,
including relaxation, concentration, communication, collaboration, and
self-confidence, and thereby develop the skills necessary for effective dramatic
expression.
Content: Theatre exercises and games, monologues, improvisation,
and scene study.
Taught: Fall, and occasionally Spring.
Gen. Ed. Category: Exploring; Thinking and Expressing
Creatively (FA).
Credit: 3 hours.
THE130: Yoga and Relaxation for
Actors
Goal: To introduce gentle yoga techniques to release tension, improve vocal and
physical expressiveness, and enhance the creative
spirit.
Content: Students will gain strength and flexibility through stretching,
breathing exercises, guided deep relaxation, and vocalization.
Instruction focuses on each person progressing at her own pace without
competition.
Taught: Occasionally.
Credit: 1 hour.
THE 210: Theatre History and Literature
I
Goal: To explore the early history and literature of the theatre. To develop
analytical, critical, research, and speaking skills.
Content: An examination of the role of the theatre in society from theories of
origins to the Greeks and through the Elizabethan age,
and the French neoclassical theatre. The emphasis is on theatre in its
political, religious, and social contexts. Students read plays,
perform, and present research.
Taught: Alternate years.
Prerequisites: THE 105 or 110 or permission of instructor.
Credit: 3 hours.
THE 212: Theatre History and Literature II
Goal: To explore history and literature of the theatre from the English
Restoration to the present. To develop analytical, critical,
research, and speaking skills.
Content: An examination of aspects of performance from the Restoration to
post-modern practice. Emphasis on the rise of the
director and on realistic and anti-realistic movements. Students read plays,
perform, and present research.
Taught: Alternate years.
Prerequisites: THE 105 or 110 or permission of instructor.
Credit: 3 hours.
THE 225: Acting II
Goal: To apply the principles of the Stanislavsky and Meisner acting
methods and other relevant acting techniques to intermediate scene study and
monologues.
Content: This course begins students' pre-professional acting
training. Students study characterization, communication, pacing, rhythm, and
other skills required for employment within the performing arts and related
fields. Physical activity is required.
Taught: Alternate years.
Prerequisites: THE 125 or permission of instructor.
Credit: 3 hours.
THE 235: Performance and Production
Goal: To introduce students to all phases of acting, design, and technical work.
Content: Participation in and reflection upon the rehearsal/performance/design/ technical process of a Wesleyan College Theatre
production. Content will vary with production assignment.
Taught: Fall, Spring.
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor, to be granted after auditions at the
beginning of the semester.
Credit: 1, 2, or 3 hours per term. Note: Theatre majors must complete a total of
four hours of THE 235.
THE 318: Directing
Goal: To teach advanced students how to direct a one-act play.
Content: Participants will study methods for directing. They will
choose a play which they will then cast, rehearse, and direct.
Taught: Every other spring.
Prerequisites: THE 110, 125, 225, 235, 250. Permission of the
instructor.
Credit: 4 hours.
THE 396, 397: Special Topics in
Theatre
Goal: To develop an in-depth knowledge of a specialized topic
within the theatre arts: a particular playwright, genre, theme, period in
theatre history, or technical discipline.
Content: Varies with topic selected.
Taught: Occasionally
Credit: 3 hours.
THE 430: Senior Integrative
Experience
Goal: Concentration on a major theatre project.
Content: Seminar for Bachelor of Arts candidates in theatre. Emphasis will be on
the development of an interdisciplinary theatre
project of the student’s choosing. This may be a thesis paper or a performance
(for example, a one-woman show, the staging of an
original play, or a community outreach project involving theatre). Students in
the course also take field trips to libraries and
productions, study career options in theatre, and may work on a secondary
project, also of the student’s choosing.
Taught: Annually
Prerequisites: Fulfillment of all course requirements for the theatre major
through junior level.
Credit: 3 hours.
Rev. 08.12