DRAMA S625 — Story

2 credits
Fall
Jessica Blank

Story 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. After a foundational introduction to the literature, we will focus on elucidating students’ intuitive understandings of story as actors, and articulate how these principles can be applied to the creation of original material through Character-Based Story Structure. Students will examine how Character-Based Story Structure applies to various forms, including feature film, plays, solo plays, short film, and web-based episodic work; gain an understanding of the practicalities of creating and producing independent work in all these mediums; and formulate an idea for a project in one of these mediums. The remainder of the semester will have a workshop/laboratory focus, in which each student develops their idea and moves through a systematic, comprehensive character and story development process, culminating with a finished outline for their project at the end of the semester.