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This course introduces students to the principles and elements of visual composition as they relate to performance design. Students will work experimentally with a range of materials to conceptualize dramatic works in visual terms. Although part of the major program in Theatre and Dance, the course also is intended as an introductory class in the visual arts for non-majors.

This course is an introductory survey of the major historical, social, and aesthetic movements that have shaped the development of theatre and dramatic literature from antiquity to the present. We will discuss how relevant theoretical and historical texts have been constructed within the context of artistic production in various geographies across time. In addition to reading plays, students will analyze significant contributions of historians, theoreticians, artists, and critics, and their significance to both theatre practice and reception.

Students will engage with both the technique and theory behind theatre for social justice performance. Studio work will focus on key elements of improvisation and theatre devising-creating original scenes and monologues. The class will practice exercises from Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, and will read, research, and write about the different ways theatre has been used to give expression to disempowered voices in a society.

This course provides an introduction to the process, art, and craft of choreography (making dances), using improvisation to experientially explore the elements of dance. This course focuses on solo forms and will culminate in an in-class showing. Dance majors are required to repeat course content via T/D-117 for 1 credit. Students will focus on the craft of choreography as it relates to group forms. In addition, emphasis will be placed on the supporting element of accompaniment choices.