Drama Division

Drama Undergraduate Studies

Programs

• •  Drama, BFA

Courses

Drama Undergraduate Studies: Acting

• DRAMA 1014 — Improvisation

  3 credits
  Fall
  Richard Feldman
  
  Through a broad spectrum of improvisatory exercises, this course aims to free students from self-consciousness, fear, and pretense, to enhance their powers of concentration, to encourage expression and interaction, and to strengthen their instincts and imagination, thereby allowing them to live onstage more deeply, freely, and truthfully. Over the course of the semester, students will begin to develop a sense of process, including the ability to let go of planning and live in the moment.
• DRAMA 1024 — Scene Study I

  3 credits
  Spring
  Richard Feldman
  
  In this course, students will apply their skills in script analysis and improvisation to work on assigned scenes. Students will practice reading the script for past, present, and anticipated future circumstances. They will gain an understanding of the event of the scene and how that event is part of the overall arc of the play. Students will practice talking and listening, embodying given circumstances, pursuing wants and needs, living through the events of the scene, and allowing themselves to undergo change. 
• DRAMA 1025 — Masks I

  1 credit
  Spring
  Kathleen McNenny
  
  Neutral mask work is designed to free the student from self-consciousness and to release imaginative impulses that lead to uninhibited physical expression and economy of gesture. By removing reliance on the voice or facial expressions as primary modes of communication, the neutral mask shifts the actor’s focus to the body. This work breaks down inhibitions and serves not only to release the student’s imaginative capacity for transformation but also to prepare the way for equally courageous characterization without a mask.
• DRAMA 1031-41 — Alexander Technique I

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Charlotte Okie
  
  The Alexander Technique is a mind-body method for becoming aware of and changing movement habits. Focus is on the development of awareness of oneself in movement—to recognize and learn how to release excess tension and to change those habits of movement which interfere with the free and centered use of the body. Through a series of experiential exercises, hands-on guidance by the teacher, and selected readings, students will be introduced to basic Alexander concepts, including the principles of awareness, conscious inhibition, and direction.
• DRAMA 1033 — Movement for Actors

  1 credit
  Fall
  Dawn Saito
  
  This course includes vigorous physical training to develop muscle, tone, balance, coordination, flexibility, and agility and to increase physical stamina and focused concentration. Exercises will be employed to deepen listening and responding through the body, strengthen the connection between voice and body, increase awareness of oneself in space and in relationship to other bodies, release unnecessary tension to bring ease and empowerment, and explore physical and vocal transformation.
• DRAMA 1034-44 — Movement I: Getting into Condition

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Darryl Quinton
  
  This conditioning and physical training class is designed to develop in students the endurance, physical agility, and mental discipline necessary for an actor. Emphasis is placed on stretching, strengthening, alignment, flexibility, and physical awareness as well as rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, and movement through space. The class will integrate basic concepts from Alexander Technique, Pilates, Yoga, Isometrics, Plyometrics, and various dance genres.
• DRAMA 1035-45 — Music Studies

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Michelle DiBucci
  
  Music Studies introduces students to a wide spectrum of musical styles and compositional devices with an emphasis on listening to and speaking about music and its connection to all of the arts. The first semester will concentrate on key elements of music including melody, rhythm, harmony, form, texture and timbre. The second semester includes work on contemporary song forms, opera, and the origins of African-American music. Throughout the year, actors will have the opportunity to engage with music students and outside musical guests.
• DRAMA 1037 — Speech I: Foundation

  1 credit
  Fall
  Deborah Hecht
  
  Speech I: Foundation focuses on a wide palette of sounds for use with a range of characters, plays, and film scripts. Focus is on the continuing development of the musculature of the face, mouth, and tongue for flexibility, strength, and precision. Actors will develop a more sensitive ear for sound and variations in sounds as well as a connection to and appreciation of onomatopoeia in language and its direct application to text. Students will reinforce muscular, auditory, and linguistic awareness with written transcription of the vowels and consonants of spoken English using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
• DRAMA 1039 — Voice I: Foundation and Practice

  1 credit
  Fall
  Elizabeth McGuire, Kate Wilson
  
  Voice I: Foundation and Practice focuses on the principles and practice of respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation.  The course will also explore anatomy, physiology, and the physics of tone, as students explore exercises for relaxation, flexibility, capacity, breath control, placement, and the production of sound. Please note: Elizabeth McGuire will teach the course during Block 1, and Kate Wilson will teach the course during Block 2.
• DRAMA 1047 — Speech I: Practice

  1 credit
  Spring
  Dwight Bacquie, Deborah Hecht
  
  Speech I: Practice continues the physical, auditory, and linguistic work of the first semester with greater concentration on practice and mastery.
• DRAMA 1049 — Voice I: Practice and Poetry

  1 credit
  Spring
  Kate Wilson
  
  Voice I: Practice and Poetry continues work on the principles and practice of respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation. Through poetry and prose, actors use sound to reveal imagery, dynamics, and rhetoric.
• DRAMA 2014-24 — Scene Study II

  6 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Rebecca Guy
  
  This course focuses on the discovery and development of imaginative and technical skills which, together with the skills acquired in the first year, will enable the student to discern the inner world of a play and to learn to transform into a living character within it. Students will prepare and rehearse scenes to be presented and explored in class.
• DRAMA 2015-25 — Masks II

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Kathleen McNenny
  
  Larval, animal, and character masks are used to expand students’ capacities to free their instincts, impulses, and imagination. The work demands that the actor fill the mask physically, vocally, emotionally, and psychologically in order to embody the life of the character. Mask work serves not only to release the student’s imaginative capacity for transformation, but to prepare the way for equally courageous characterization without a mask.
• DRAMA 2028 — Physical Comedy

  1 credit
  Fall
  Chris Bayes
  
  The course is designed to help students develop a comedic point of view and overcome the anxiety that comes from a sense of obligation to be funny. Improvisation in a variety of styles is developed with the class as an audience. Emphasis is on the need to approach comedic material with the same process and commitment appropriate to any other acting challenge. The work asks the actor to explore with a curious mind while testing emotional, physical, and imaginative limits.
• DRAMA 2031-41 — Alexander Technique II

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Carolyn Serota
  
  This course is a continuation of the first year’s exploration of the Alexander Technique with increasing emphasis on the application of its self-awareness tools to the actor’s creative process, transformation into character, and performance skills.
• DRAMA 2036-46 — Singing

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Deborah Lapidus, David Gaines
  
  This course is designed to help actors release their voices and find deeper expressivity and truth through singing. The work focuses on building physical and vocal awareness and on elements such as vocal placement, resonance, breath, relaxation, and posture. An emphasis is placed on group singing, madrigals, chorales, and duets as well as individual songs. 
• DRAMA 2037-47 — Speech II: Application and Expansion

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Deborah Hecht
  
  Speech II: Application and Expansion aims to deepen and expand students’ speech technique, including further development of strength, precision, and consistency, particularly as it is called upon when acting poetic English text such as Shakespeare. There is a strong focus on nurturing students’ organic connection to language as well as on developing their instrument for maximum expressiveness. 
• DRAMA 2039-49 — Voice II: Application and Expansion

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Deborah Hecht, Andrew Wade
  
  This course focuses on increased physical awareness and expansion.  Students will engage in exercises for breath capacity, initiation of sound, resonance, and size. Exercises to expand the range of expression are also explored. Support, flexibility, vocal dynamic, and character are challenged through a wide variety of texts.

  Please note: Deborah Hecht will teach in the fall semester, and Andrew Wade will teach the course in the spring semester.

• DRAMA 3014-24 — Scene Study III

  6 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Evan Yionoulis
  
  The purpose of third year scene study is to continue to develop the actor’s ability to identify, personalize, and embody a character’s given circumstances and need, while activating the language of the text in pursuit of the character’s objective. Students will work on challenging texts which require a facility with language and a depth of characterization and transformation. Particular attention will be given to specificity of listening, with the goal of further honing the actor’s ability to work off of a partner with nimbleness and ease.
• DRAMA 3031-41 — Alexander Technique III

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Carolyn Serota
  
  Third-year Alexander Technique combines individual sessions and group classes to allow each actor to deepen their understanding of the principles and processes of the technique and to address personal habitual patterns of mind and body.
• DRAMA 3033 — Makeup Techniques

  1 credit
  Fall
  Sarah Cimino
  
  This hands-on workshop provides actors with practical techniques for the application of stage makeup and includes the assembly of personal makeup kits suited to individual requirements. The class also explores the application of makeup as an act of theatre itself; it creates space for actors to engage with makeup as a tool for the exploration of persona and identity. Makeup for on-camera work and self-taping will also be addressed.
• DRAMA 3036 — Singing for Performance

  1 credit
  Fall
  Deborah Lapidus, David Gaines
  
  This course is a continuation of the work done in the second year of training. A focus is placed on integrating vocal, textual, and musical elements. More complex vocalizing is introduced as well as scene and duet work with an emphasis on focus, imagery, and relationship with audience. Different genres of music and different parts of the vocal range will be explored.
• DRAMA 3038 — Suzuki

  1 credit
  Fall
  Ellen Lauren
  
  Developed by internationally-acclaimed director Tadashi Suzuki, the Suzuki Training Method is a rigorous physical discipline drawn from such diverse influences as ballet, traditional Greek and Japanese theater, and martial arts. This course seeks to heighten the actor’s emotional and physical power and commitment to each moment on stage. Emphasis is placed on the lower body and a vocabulary of footwork, sharpening an actor’s breath control and concentration.
• DRAMA 3039-49 — Voice III: Synthesis and Transformation

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Andrew Wade, Kate Wilson
  
  In the fall, this course focuses on vocal transformation through a seamless synthesis of skills including rhetoric, stamina, and vocal characterization. Students will work individually and in small groups on material including political speeches as well as classical and contemporary texts. In the spring, focus shifts to Shakespearean text in preparation for work in the Drama Theater productions.

  Please note: Kate Wilson will teach the course in the fall semester, and Andrew Wade will teach the course in the spring semester.

• DRAMA 3042 — Character in Motion

  1 credit
  Spring
  Mark Olsen
  
  In this course, students will explore the gradations of physical expression demanded of an actor in stage or film roles. The class aims to root the actor in experiences and situations that activate the process of making physical choices. Students apply the vocabulary developed to increase freedom, simplicity, and ownership.
• DRAMA 3045-46 — Acting on Camera I

  4 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Bob Krakower
  
  The purpose of studying on-camera acting is to take the skills the actors have learned in their training thus far and apply them to the art of visual storytelling for film and television. In addition to learning how to bring to life the given circumstance in a script in an active and discernable way on camera, this course prepares actors to work on set of professional films and television shows. Based on availability, teachers in other disciplines (voice, movement, etc.) will share how their area of expertise applies to on-camera work.
• DRAMA 3047 — Speech III: Accents and Dialects

  1 credit
  Spring
  Elizabeth McGuire
  
  Speech III: Accents and Dialects includes continued work on clarity of diction and on dialects, with an emphasis on their relationship to character, imagination, and embodiment.
• DRAMA 4011 — Actor Presentations

  1 credit
  Fall
  Crystal Dickinson, Claire Karpen
  
  In preparation for an evening of scenes to be presented to industry members in both Los Angeles and New York in the spring, students meet regularly in the fall to select pieces which will best serve to introduce the actors to the profession. Scenes are chosen to showcase each individual student’s artistic strengths, interests, and unique talents. In the second semester, the scenes are rehearsed and prepared for presentation.
• DRAMA 4014 — Scene Study IV

  3 credits
  Fall
  Evan Yionoulis
  
  In fourth-year scene study, actors will be asked to integrate all aspects of their training as their work moves towards more specificity, depth, and ease. Starting with work on scenes from Bertolt Brecht, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Luis Valdez, students will add analysis of the “story of the scene” to their practice, as well as develop their awareness of the political dimension in these writers’ works. Running through the semester will be work on individual Interview Projects in which students will embody and give voice to the verbatim text of a person or persons they have interviewed in preparation for sharing the work with the Drama Division community. 
• DRAMA 4031-41 — Alexander Technique IV

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Carolyn Serota
  
  Alexander Technique in the fourth year focuses on the continuing development of each student as they deepen their self-awareness, self-knowledge, and poise using the Alexander principles and process. Students are encouraged to bring a spirit of spirit of investigation as they further master techniques for achieving readiness in the moment, for clearing out, for dealing with stress and anxiety, for taking a centered presence into the world. Character transformation work continues in relation to the fourth-year performance season.
• DRAMA 4034 — Movement IV

  1 credit
  Fall
  Darryl Quinton
  
  This course, in addition to continuing to build physical agility and mental discipline, fosters enhanced enjoyment of—and freedom with—the body in motion through the introduction of jazz and other dance sequences.
• DRAMA 4036 — Individual Singing Instruction

  0.5 credits
  Fall
  David Gaines
  
  Individual coaching is tailored to specific production needs and the development of audition material.

Drama Undergraduate Studies

• DRAMA H111-2 — Vibrant Legacies in Theater

  6 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Shana Komitee and Guests
  
  Vibrant Legacies in Theater examines many of the world’s most influential plays, playwrights, actors, directors, critics, and theatrical experiments. This course will explore topics such as Western drama’s origins in 5^th century Athens, performance cultures in Asia, modern realism in Russia, the contemporary landscape in the United States and South Africa, and more.
• DRAMA H449 — American Theater Landscape

  2 credits
  Fall
  Elizabeth Whitaker
  
  American Theater Landscape explores the body of work in American theater today as well as trends and practices across the country. Students will discuss key issues in the field and meet inspiring artists and leaders who are influential in the landscape.
• DRAMA S337 — Elements of Producing

  2 credits
  Fall
  Elizabeth Whitaker, Stephanie Ybarra
  
  This course serves to acquaint the actor with the work and responsibilities of the many people involved in theater-making beyond the rehearsal hall and to prepare them for what it might take to produce their own work. Students will examine the function, vision, and day-to-day operations of the various artistic, administrative, and production personnel within a variety of theater models - from larger commercial ventures and non-profit institutions to smaller off and off-off-Broadway models. Students will develop mission statements and seasons for their own prospective theatres, and present their visions to the class. Wherever possible, guest artists in the field will be brought in to talk about their process and work.
• DRAMA 447-8 — Bridge to the Profession

  6 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Visiting Faculty
  
  This series of professional master classes helps fourth-year students gain a deeper understanding of how they might, with the training they have received, seek out and gain opportunities to practice their craft once they graduate. Among the many topics covered are audition techniques for all mediums, the creation of reels and websites, self-taping practices, and contract and union information.

   

Drama Graduate Studies

Programs

• •  Drama, MFA
• •  Playwriting, Artist Diploma

Courses

Drama Graduate Studies: Acting

• DRAMA 6114 — Improvisation

  2 credits
  Fall
  Richard Feldman
  
  Through a broad spectrum of improvisatory exercises, this course aims to free students from self-consciousness, fear, and pretense, to enhance their powers of concentration, to encourage expression and interaction, and to strengthen their instincts and imagination, thereby allowing them to live onstage more deeply, freely, and truthfully. Over the course of the semester, students will begin to develop a sense of process, including the ability to let go of planning and live in the moment.
• DRAMA 6124 — Scene Study I

  2 credits
  Spring
  Richard Feldman
  
  In this course, students will apply their skills in script analysis and improvisation to work on assigned scenes. Students will practice reading the script for past, present, and anticipated future circumstances. They will gain an understanding of the event of the scene and how that event is part of the overall arc of the play. Students will practice talking and listening, embodying given circumstances, pursuing wants and needs, living through the events of the scene, and allowing themselves to undergo change. 
• DRAMA 6125 — Masks I

  1 credit
  Spring
  Kathleen McKenney
  
  Neutral mask work is designed to free the student from self-consciousness and to release imaginative impulses that lead to uninhibited physical expression and economy of gesture. By removing reliance on the voice or facial expressions as primary modes of communication, the neutral mask shifts the actor’s focus to the body. This work breaks down inhibitions and serves not only to release the student’s imaginative capacity for transformation but also to prepare the way for equally courageous characterization without a mask.
• DRAMA 6131-41 — Alexander Technique I

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Charlotte Okie
  
  The Alexander Technique is a mind-body method for becoming aware of and changing movement habits. Focus is on the development of awareness of oneself in movement—to recognize and learn how to release excess tension and to change those habits of movement which interfere with the free and centered use of the body. Through a series of experiential exercises, hands-on guidance by the teacher, and selected readings, students will be introduced to basic Alexander concepts, including the principles of awareness, conscious inhibition, and direction.
• DRAMA 6133 — Movement for Actors

  1 credit
  Fall
  Dawn Saito
  
  This course includes vigorous physical training to develop muscle, tone, balance, coordination, flexibility, and agility and to increase physical stamina and focused concentration. Exercises will be employed to deepen listening and responding through the body, strengthen the connection between voice and body, increase awareness of oneself in space and in relationship to other bodies, release unnecessary tension to bring ease and empowerment, and explore physical and vocal transformation.
• DRAMA 6134-44 — Movement I: Getting into Condition

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Darryl Quinton
  
  This conditioning and physical training class is designed to develop in students the endurance, physical agility, and mental discipline necessary for an actor. Emphasis is placed on stretching, strengthening, alignment, flexibility, and physical awareness as well as rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, and movement through space. The class will integrate basic concepts from Alexander Technique, Pilates, Yoga, Isometrics, Plyometrics, and various dance genres.
• DRAMA 6135-45 — Music Studies

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Michelle DiBucci
  
  Music Studies introduces students to a wide spectrum of musical styles and compositional devices with an emphasis on listening to and speaking about music and its connection to all of the arts. The first semester will concentrate on key elements of music including melody, rhythm, harmony, form, texture and timbre. The second semester includes work on contemporary song forms, opera, and the origins of African-American music. Throughout the year, actors will have the opportunity to engage with music students and outside musical guests.
• DRAMA 6137 — Speech I: Foundation

  1 credit
  Fall
  Deborah Hecht
  
  This course focuses on a wide palette of sounds for use with a range of characters, plays, and film scripts.  Focus is on the continuing development of the musculature of the face, mouth, and tongue for flexibility, strength, and precision.  Actors will develop a more sensitive ear for sound and variations in sounds as well as a connection to and appreciation of onomatopoeia in language and its direct application to text.  Students will reinforce muscular, auditory, and linguistic awareness with written transcription of the vowels and consonants of spoken English using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
• DRAMA 6139 — Voice I: Foundation and Practice

  1 credit
  Fall
  Faculty
  
  Voice I: Foundation and Practice focuses on the principles and practice of respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation. The course will also explore anatomy, physiology, and the physics of tone, as students explore exercises for relaxation, flexibility, capacity, breath control, placement, and the production of sound. 
• DRAMA 6147 — Speech I: Practice

  1 credit
  Spring
  Dwight Bacquie
  
  This course continues the physical, auditory, and linguistic work of the first semester with greater concentration on practice and mastery.
• DRAMA 6149 — Voice I: Practice and Poetry

  1 credit
  Spring
  Kate Wilson
  
  The course continues work on the principles and practice of respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation. Through poetry and prose, actors use sound to reveal imagery, dynamics, and rhetoric.
• DRAMA 6214-24 — Scene Study II

  4 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Rebecca Guy
  
  This course focuses on the discovery and development of imaginative and technical skills which, together with the skills acquired in the first year, will enable the student to discern the inner world of a play and to learn to transform into a living character within it. Students will prepare and rehearse scenes to be presented and explored in class. 
• DRAMA 6215-25 — Masks II

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Kathleen McNenny
  
  Larval, animal, and character masks are used to expand students’ capacities to free their instincts, impulses, and imagination. The work demands that the actor fill the mask physically, vocally, emotionally, and psychologically in order to embody the life of the character. Mask work serves not only to release the student’s imaginative capacity for transformation, but to prepare the way for equally courageous characterization without a mask.
• DRAMA 6228 — Physical Comedy

  1 credit
  Fall
  Chris Bayes
  
  The course is designed to help students develop a comedic point of view and overcome the anxiety that comes from a sense of obligation to be funny. Improvisation in a variety of styles is developed with the class as an audience. Emphasis is on the need to approach comedic material with the same process and commitment appropriate to any other acting challenge. The work asks the actor to explore with a curious mind while testing emotional, physical, and imaginative limits.
• DRAMA 6231-41 — Alexander Technique II

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Carolyn Serota
  
  This course is a continuation of the first year’s exploration of the Alexander Technique with increasing emphasis on the application of its self-awareness tools to the actor’s creative process, transformation into character, and performance skills.
• DRAMA 6236-46 — Singing

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Deborah Lapidus, David Gaines
  
  This course is designed to help actors release their voices and find deeper expressivity and truth through singing. The work focuses on building physical and vocal awareness and on elements such as vocal placement, resonance, breath, relaxation, and posture. An emphasis is placed on group singing, madrigals, chorales, and duets as well as individual songs. 
• DRAMA 6237-47 — Speech II: Application and Expansion

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Deborah Hecht
  
  Speech II: Application and Expansion aims to deepen and expand students’ speech technique, including further development of strength, precision, and consistency, particularly as it is called upon when acting poetic English text such as Shakespeare. There is a strong focus on nurturing students’ organic connection to language as well as on developing their instrument for maximum expressiveness. 
• DRAMA 6239-49 — Voice II: Application and Expansion

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Deborah Hecht, Andrew Wade
  
  This course focuses on increased physical awareness and expansion.  Students will engage in exercises for breath capacity, initiation of sound, resonance, and size. Exercises to expand the range of expression are also explored. Support, flexibility, vocal dynamic, and character are challenged through a wide variety of texts.

  Please note: Deborah Hecht will teach in the fall semester, and Andrew Wade will teach the course in the spring semester.

• DRAMA 6314-24 — Scene Study III

  4 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Evan Yionoulis
  
  The purpose of third year scene study is to continue to develop the actor’s ability to identify, personalize, and embody a character’s given circumstances and need, while activating the language of the text in pursuit of the character’s objective. Students will work on challenging texts which require a facility with language and a depth of characterization and transformation. Particular attention will be given to specificity of listening, with the goal of further honing the actor’s ability to work off of partner with nimbleness and ease.
• DRAMA 6331-41 — Alexander Technique III

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Carolyn Serota
  
  Third-year Alexander Technique combines individual sessions and group classes to allow each actor to deepen their understanding of the principles and processes of the technique and to address personal habitual patterns of mind and body.
• DRAMA 6333 — Makeup Techniques

  1 credit
  Fall
  Sarah Cimino
  
  This hands-on workshop provides actors with practical techniques for the application of stage makeup and includes the assembly of personal makeup kits suited to individual requirements.  The class also explores the application of makeup as an act of theatre itself; it creates space for actors to engage with makeup as a tool for the exploration of persona and identity. Makeup for on-camera work and self-taping will also be addressed.
• DRAMA 6336 — Singing for Performance

  1 credit
  Fall
  Deborah Lapidus, David Gaines
  
  This course is a continuation of the work done in the second year of training. A focus is placed on integrating vocal, textual, and musical elements. More complex vocalizing is introduced as well as scene and duet work with an emphasis on focus, imagery, and relationship with audience. Different genres of music and different parts of the vocal range will be explored.
• DRAMA 6338 — Suzuki

  1 credit
  Fall
  Ellen Lauren
  
  Developed by internationally-acclaimed director Tadashi Suzuki, the Suzuki Training Method is a rigorous physical discipline drawn from such diverse influences as ballet, traditional Greek and Japanese theater, and martial arts. This course seeks to heighten the actor’s emotional and physical power and commitment to each moment on stage. Emphasis is placed on the lower body and a vocabulary of footwork, sharpening an actor’s breath control and concentration.
• DRAMA 6339-49 — Voice III: Synthesis and Transformation

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Andrew Wade, Kate Wilson
  
  In the fall, this course focuses on vocal transformation through a seamless synthesis of skills including rhetoric, stamina, and vocal characterization. Students will work individually and in small groups on material including political speeches as well as classical and contemporary texts. In the spring, focus shifts to Shakespearean text in preparation for work in the Drama Theater productions.

  Please note: Kate Wilson will teach the course in the fall semester, and Andrew Wade will teach the course in the spring semester.

• DRAMA 6342 — Character in Motion

  1 credit
  Spring
  Mark Olsen
  
  In this course, students will explore the gradations of physical expression demanded of an actor in stage or film roles. The class aims to root the actor in experiences and situations that activate the process of making physical choices. Students apply the vocabulary developed to increase freedom, simplicity, and ownership.
• DRAMA 6345-6 — Acting on Camera I

  4 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Bob Krakower
  
  The purpose of studying on-camera acting is to take the skills the actors have learned in their training thus far and apply them to the art of visual storytelling for film and television. In addition to learning how to bring to life the given circumstance in a script in an active and discernable way on camera, this course prepares actors to work on set of professional films and television shows. Based on availability, teachers in other disciplines (voice, movement, etc.) will share how their area of expertise applies to on-camera work.
• DRAMA 6347 — Speech III: Accents and Dialects

  1 credit
  Spring
  Elizabeth McGuire
  
  The course includes continued work on clarity of diction and on dialects, with an emphasis on their relationship to character, imagination, and embodiment.
• DRAMA 6411 — Actor Presentations

  1 credit
  Fall
  Crystal Dickinson, Claire Karpen
  
  In preparation for an evening of scenes to be presented to industry members in both Los Angeles and New York in the spring, students meet regularly in the fall to select pieces which will best serve to introduce the actors to the profession. Scenes are chosen to showcase each individual student’s artistic strengths, interests, and unique talents. In the second semester, the scenes are rehearsed and prepared for presentation.
• DRAMA 6414 — Scene Study IV

  2 credits
  Fall
  Evan Yionoulis
  
  In fourth-year scene study, actors will be asked to integrate all aspects of their training as their work moves towards more specificity, depth, and ease. Starting with work on scenes from Bertolt Brecht, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Luis Valdez, students will add analysis of the “story of the scene” to their practice, as well as develop their awareness of the political dimension in these writer’s works. Running through the semester will be work on individual Interview Projects in which students will embody and give voice to the verbatim text of a person or persons they have interviewed in preparation for sharing the work with the Drama Division community. 
• DRAMA 6431-41 — Alexander Technique IV

  2 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Carolyn Serota
  
  Alexander Technique in the fourth year focuses on the continuing development of each student as they deepen their self-awareness, self-knowledge, and poise using the Alexander principles and process. Students are encouraged to bring a spirit of spirit of investigation as they further master techniques for achieving readiness in the moment, for clearing out, for dealing with stress and anxiety, for taking a centered presence into the world. Character transformation work continues in relation to the fourth-year performance season.
• DRAMA 6434 — Movement IV

  1 credit
  Fall
  Darryl Quinton
  
  This course, in addition to continuing to build physical agility and mental discipline, fosters enhanced enjoyment of—and freedom with—the body in motion through the introduction of jazz and other dance sequences.
• DRAMA 6436 — Individual Singing Instruction

  0.5 credits
  Fall
  David Gaines
  
  Individual coaching is tailored to specific production needs and the development of audition material.

Drama Graduate Studies

• DRAMA H6111-2 — Dramaturgy and Context

  4 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Shana Komitee, Guests
  
  Dramaturgy and Context examines many of the world’s most influential plays, playwrights, actors, directors, critics, and theatrical experiments. Beginning with the plays and theater of William Shakespeare to support exploration in the first-year Discovery Project, this course will explore topics such as Western drama’s origins in 5^th-century Athens, performance modes in ancient Japan and India, 17^th-century European theaters of absolutism, the contemporary landscape in the United States and South Africa, and more.
• DRAMA H649 — American Theater Landscape

  2 credits
  Fall
  Elizabeth Whitaker
  
  American Theater Landscape explores the body of work in American theater today as well as trends and practices across the country. Students will discuss key issues in the field and meet inspiring artists and leaders who are influential in the landscape.
• DRAMA S617 — Film History and Grammar: A Global Perspective

  2 credits
  Fall
  Tarek Bouraque
  
  Through a study of significant films from around the world, this course covers the essential principles of film grammar and the vocabulary used to make meaning in narrative cinema. Following a historical journey from the foundation of cinema with the Lumière Brothers to the adaptation of this form in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America, the films studied will represent each decade since the birth of cinema. Students will reflect on the political and artistic movements that informed each film’s style and message and examine the legacy of the work today. 
• DRAMA S625 — Story

  2 credits
  Fall
  Jessica Blank
  
  This seminar covers basic principles of dramatic structure for theater, film, solo work, and episodic storytelling. Students will gain an understanding of the core texts of Western dramatic structure, including Aristotle, Egri, Freytag, and Campbell, as well as criticisms of these texts, with an eye toward application in their own projects. A focus is placed on elucidating students’ intuitive understandings of story as actors and articulating how these principles can be applied to the creation of original material through character-based story structure.
• DRAMA S626 — Methodologies of Directing

  2 credits
  Spring
  Jenny Lord
  
  This seminar will explore the role of the director in the theater, covering processes from conception through rehearsal. Students will engage in script analysis and interpretation, establishing given circumstances and identifying objectives and actions. Areas discussed will include historical perspective on the role of the director as well as explorations of design, production, collaboration, and casting. Topics will be investigated through readings, discussion, audiovisual resources, student presentations, and guest lectures. 
• DRAMA S637 — Elements of Producing

  2 credits
  Fall
  Elizabeth Whitaker, Stephanie Ybarra
  
  This course serves to acquaint the actor with the work and responsibilities of the many people involved in theater-making beyond the rehearsal hall and to prepare them for what it might take to produce their own work. Students will examine the function, vision, and day-to-day operations of the various artistic, administrative, and production personnel within a variety of theater models from larger commercial ventures and non-profit institutions to smaller off and off-off-Broadway organizations. Students will develop mission statements and seasons for their own prospective theaters and present their visions to the class. Wherever possible, guest artists in the field will be brought in to talk about their process and work.
• DRAMA S638 — Pedagogy

  2 credits
  Spring
  Katherine Koerner
  
  This class provides students with the tools to structure theater-learning experiences in a variety of educational and community settings. Through a combination of hands-on experience and direct instruction, students will learn basic teaching strategies and develop a sense of their personal teaching style. Classwork will include reading assignments, in-class discussion, developing and writing lesson and unit plans, and opportunities to teach in class and in the field.
• DRAMA T618 — Poetry

  1 credit
  Spring
  Elana Bell
  
  The focus of this course is to experience the craft of poetry as a reader, writer, and presenter. Students will be reading the work of others, writing works of their own, receiving feedback, revising, and sharing these works with their peers and community.
• DRAMA 6647-48 — Bridge to the Profession

  6 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Visiting Faculty
  
  This series of professional master classes helps fourth-year students gain a deeper understanding of how they might, with the training they have received, seek out and gain opportunities to practice their craft once they graduate. Among the many topics covered are audition techniques for all mediums, the creation of reels and websites, self-taping practices, and contract and union information.

Drama Performance Projects and the Profession (Combined)

• DRAMA 115-6 — Rehearsal Projects I

  4 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Faculty and Visiting Directors
  
  In the fall, actors collaborate on the Discovery Project, working on a play by Shakespeare. Through close reading of the text and physical improvisation, they discover and embody the story of the play as an ensemble. Next comes Approaching the Play, a six-week course in script and character analysis in which students apply themselves to identifying a play’s theme, structure, and character relationships. By examining the work as a whole, students will be better prepared to approach a specific role and do useful research and homework for rehearsal.

  In the spring, students are cast in two plays and rehearse them under the guidance of faculty and professional directors. These rehearsal projects are laboratory exercises for exploring an actor’s process and are not aimed toward performance results. Although the work is shared with an audience of fellow students and faculty, they are not “produced,” but rather presented in a room with only basic rehearsal clothes, props, and furniture.

• DRAMA 215-6 — Rehearsal Projects II

  4 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Faculty and Visiting Directors
  
  In the fall and spring, rehearsal projects continue as laboratory exercises for developing the actor’s process and as a measure of students’ ability to apply and integrate what they’ve learned in class. Among these projects is the opportunity for students to apply their expanding physical and language skills to a play of Shakespeare and to further their attention to physical circumstances and character development through working on a play of Chekhov.
• DRAMA 315 — Fall Performance Project

  2 credits
  Fall
  Faculty and Visiting Directors
  
  After having worked for the first two years on plays in rehearsal studios with the emphasis on exploration and integrating skills, students in their third year of training move into a black box theater, begin to work with limited elements of production, and learn how process culminates in performance. The latter half of the semester is devoted to student-initiated projects in which students propose and bring to life projects for which they have a particular passion and engage in producing, directing, acting, designing, writing, devising, and technical work.
• DRAMA 316 — Spring Performance Project

  3 credits
  Spring
  Deborah Lapidus, Visiting Directors
  
  The first project of the spring semester is the Cabaret, an evening of songs and musical staging. This project is an opportunity to take what the actor learns in the classroom and to integrate, through the demands of singing, techniques of voice, speech, movement, Alexander Technique, and acting. Later in the spring, as a culmination of their third year of training, students move from the black box studio to the Drama Theater, performing two heightened-language plays (most often Shakespeare).
• DRAMA 415 — Fall Project

  3 credits
  Fall
  Faculty and Visiting Directors
  
  In the fall semester, the Drama Theater Season presents three plays chosen from a diverse canon of classical and contemporary works in full-scale production. Each play is mounted for six performances before an invited audience of the general public and members of the theatrical profession, giving actors a chance to share their work on a wider scale.
• DRAMA 416 — Spring Project I: Fourth Year Rep

  3 credits
  Spring
  Faculty and Visiting Directors
  
  In the Spring Repertory, three productions are performed in rotation. Students utilize all the skills and knowledge acquired during their education in the Drama Division. As they prepare to graduate from the program, actors present an evening of scenes for members of the industry in New York and Los Angeles.
• DRAMA 416B — Spring Project II: Actor Presentations

  1 credit
  Spring
  Evan Yionoulis
  
  In the Spring Repertory, three productions are performed in rotation. Students utilize all the skills and knowledge obtained during their education in the Drama Division. As they prepare to graduate from the program, actors present an evening of scenes for members of the industry in New York and Los Angeles.
• DRAMA 500 — Community Meetings/Play Labs

  0 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Faculty and Guests
  
  Community Meetings offer an opportunity to explore the context of our work as artists and citizens and broaden our understanding of the world. Through Play Labs, students experience new works written by our playwriting fellows and read by our acting students. These gatherings offer students the ability to engage with guest speakers and their peers in enriching discussions of the field, the political and artistic landscape, and/or specific works-in-progress.
• DRAMA 510 — Drama Performances

  0 credits
  Fall and Spring
  Faculty and Visiting Directors
  
  Through participating in projects as actors and as engaged audience members, all students gain a deeper fluency in the breadth of dramatic literature, the application of classroom technique to rehearsal and performance, and the possibilities of the theatrical experience. The Drama Division presents more than two dozen rehearsal and performance projects a year.
• DRAMA 547 — Playwrights Projects

  1 credit
  Fall
  Visiting Directors
  
  The Juilliard Playwrights Festival of workshop productions gives fourth-year actors a further opportunity to develop new work written by Juilliard playwrights and alumni. The Festival, directed by professional directors, advances collaborations and connections that will extend beyond students’ time here in school.
• DRAMA 550 — Practicalities for the Artist

  1 credit
  Fall
  Kathleen McNenny
  
  In this course, students learn practical skills for life as a professional actor, including writing resumes and cover letters, understanding the actor/agent relationship and contracts, getting settled financially, developing a website, and accessing different types of support available to them as artists. Its aim is to give the actor strategies for navigating the business of acting as well as teaching them how to build a sustainable life in the theatre.
• DRAMA 588 — Individual Coachings

  2 credits
  Spring
  Faculty
  
  Actors work in individual sessions with teachers to target challenges that might include dialect, transformation, production demands, and audition material.
• DRAMA 598 — Independent Projects

  2 credits
  Spring
  Faculty
  
  Independent Projects in the fourth year comprise a variety of student-initiated and Division-proposed opportunities for students to prepare and perform material for audiences in the school or community or to engage in various outreach projects.