Welcome to Contemporary Theatre
Teacher: Donovan Glover
First Thought, best thought.
Allen Ginsberg
This course focuses on character creation – both the actor’s and the writer’s. Initially, students will explore verbal, emotional, and physical invention – as they work to keep grounded and connected in their work as actors. Mid-year, via various short play scripts, the class will study character creation on the page. Finally, students immerse themselves in the art of playwriting. Through character and plot analysis, writing practice, and play readings, students will develop a basic understanding of this bountiful artistic process. Each student will create, present, revise, and edit at least one short play.
In conjunction with this, is a weekly movement component.
Specifically, students will develop:
· An awareness of gait, posture, and spatial relationship; and what impact their manipulation holds
· Confidence in vocal manipulation with regards to pitch, speed, rise/fall, and stammer
· Familiarity with an eclectic array of theatre literature
· An (inner) eye for characterization on the page
· An ear for dynamic dialogue and “stage vision”
· Deeper consideration of set, costume, lighting, props, sound, and movement; and an understanding of how these components make a work theatrical
· Attention to literacy, detail, and presentation.
Required Texts: “Zoo Story”, by Edward Albee
Formatting by Samual French Publishing
Various plays, including Sure Thing by David Ives; Barefoot in the Park, by Neil Simon, A Private Moment, by Stephen Gregg; Act Without Words, by Samuel Beckett; Attack of the Moral Fuzzies, by Nancy Beverly; Marred Bliss, by Mark O’Donnell & more
Basic Agenda
Fall Semester
Unit One: Characterization in the room & on the page
Unit Two: Active beats & character creation
Unit Three: Rehearsal & Performance
Unit Four: Script reading & analysis
Spring Semester
Unit Five: Building Blocks
Unit Six: Part I & Presentation
Unit Seven: Part II & Revision
Unit Eight: The Final Readings
Assignments are weighted as follows:Class Participation: 50%
Classwork / Homework: 30%
Benchmark Presentations: 20% / This grading scale applies:
90-100 A
80-89 B
70-79 C
60-69 D
0-59 F
Additional Policy
In addition to following the rules and expectations outlined in the Theatre Academy Handbook, the following applies:
1. Assignments must be turned in and/or prepared for on time. Late work results in a 10% deduction per class. After two classes, your work won’t be accepted for credit. Excused absences allow you that many days to turn in work for full credit. Work missed is the student’s responsibility.
2. The foul language policy: Don’t speak it! In the professional world, how you speak very much determines how far you go. It’s high time you become conscious of what tumbles from your mouth. In this classroom there is a strict “no foul language” policy. The first time you are heard emitting a foul work in class, you must handwrite twenty-five synonyms of that word before our next class together. Each subsequent foul word will increase your synonym requirement by twenty-five words.