Theatre Arts students choose 3 electives from a multitude of classes offered by the faculty in specialized areas of study. The elective workshops augment the Core classes and give students a chance to pursue particular areas of interest. Both Core and elective classes give students tremendous opportunity for individual instruction with a teacher-student ratio of approximately 1:10.
Stage Management & Design/Technical Theatre students will be enrolled in stage management and design process classes in lieu of electives.
Sample Listing of Elective Courses
Please note that not all electives are taught every summer. These are a sampling of electives that have been taught in past summers.
Preparing for College Auditions
This class will cover the ins and outs of auditioning from looking at college programs, selecting a monologue or a song, updating your headshot and resume, preparing for the audition, the audition itself, and into the life and work of a college theatre student.
The Real Life of an Actor
What are you actually getting into?! There are so many paths to being a successful artist, but what are they? In this class we will look at the traditional (theater, film, television) and non-traditional (standardized patient, event performers, mock trial) ways actors live their dream. We will discuss goal setting and career strategy.
Viewpoints
Inspired by modern dancer/choreographer Mary Overlie’s six viewpoints, this course focuses on Anne Bogart and Tina Landau’s theatrical nine viewpoints to create ensemble, stage movement, and harness physical impulses of the actor. Explore your instrument in a different way while trusting your instincts and opening your mind to new possibilities.
Self-Producing 101
“Don’t wait for someone to offer you an opportunity — make one for yourself.” Ever heard this before? Wondered what it means? In this elective, you’ll find out! We will walk through all the steps from beginning to end for how to imagine and produce a play on your own. We will cover things like fundraising, design conversations, casting, marketing, audience engagement, and much more. Whether you’ve been dreaming for years of putting on your own projects, or if you just want to know what in the world is a producer — this elective is for you.
Improvisation
The ability to improvise is one of the most important tools an actor can have and not just to cover a dropped line. Spontaneity, character, and status can be built on to tell a compelling story. In this class, we will explore the world of improvisation focusing on actors, not comedians. We will learn to tell a story beginning with “yes, and…”.
Playwriting
This class will be an athletic introduction to launching a new play. Let’s tackle the blank page? We’ll look at a wide range of techniques for finding and developing new ideas as we rigorously generate material.
Theatre for Social Change
What makes theatre a unique vehicle for promoting social change? This class explores how we can use lessons from theatre and theatre exercises in order to facilitate dialogues about difficult social issues. It encourages students to communicate more openly and honestly and practice potential solutions to the issues posed. The goal of the class is for students to connect what they do as theatre makers to real world situations.
Directing 101
What does it mean to direct a play? What does a director actually do? Through creative exercises and compositions, this class investigates the role and function of the director. We will discover how visual storytelling and dynamic staging are tools the director uses to ignite a script and inspire captivating performances. Students will act as both directors and performers with one another.
Shakespeare Without Tears
The power, grace, athleticism, poetry, prose, wit, and conflict that make up the enduring classic texts of Shakespeare can be intimidating. This elective will explore efficient and effective ways of exploring Shakespeare’s text without the tears and fears associated with understanding and performing verse.
Stage Combat
This elective will provide an introductory course on character based violence on stage. By the end of the course, students will acquire a toolbox of various falls, punches, slaps, kicks, and takedowns.
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