32 courses with the subject THEA, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
THEA 225The Poetic Body: Physical Theater for Theater Majors and Non-Majors1.0
Bridges performance theory and movement technique, exploring the mind-body connection. Students develop kinesthetic awareness, spatial precision, and expressive clarity through structured exercises beneficial for both performers and non-performers. Challenging traditional mind-body dualism, coursework teaches transformation of functional movement into artistic expression. Open to all experience levels, it provides tools for character development, storytelling, self-expression, and understanding bodily communication in performance and daily life. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice & Interpretation Core Component: None
THEA 232London Theater Study Group: Campus Prep0.25
This 0.25-credit course is designed to prepare students for the London Theater Study Group experience. The course will meet for a total of ten hours, during the semester before the group is scheduled to commence. Students engage in a series of framework readings, and a live theater performance in order to prime and prepare students for the coursework abroad. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
A survey course that is designed to familiarize students with the areas of theater technology required in mounting a theatrical production, and to give an understanding of how the various areas of stage technology
In this hands-on introductory class, students learn and put into practice the steps of the creative process necessary to articulate their theatrical scenic design vision. Through several theoretical production projects, students examine the intersection of storytelling, visual research, artistic impulse, and script analysis that is the design concept's point of origin. Consideration of the practical concerns of the scenic designer's role as collaborator informs and further develops students' individual design work. Prior design or drawing experience is not necessary to participate fully in this class. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
In this hands-on introductory class, students learn and put into practice the steps of the creative process necessary to articulate their theatrical costume design vision. Through several theoretical production projects, students examine the intersection of storytelling, visual research, artistic impulse, and script analysis that is the design concept's point of origin. Consideration of the practical concerns of the costume designer's role as collaborator informs and further develops students' individual design work. Prior design or drawing experience is not necessary to participate fully in this class. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
An introduction to performance through the creation of a play for young audiences. In this intensive workshop students explore all aspects of theater-making, familiarizing them with the building blocks of theater production. The course culminates in public performance and involves a service-learning component, which may include community-based projects and touring. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
A collaborative, performance-based course focusing on the development or rehearsal of a work for public performance. The workshop may take a variety of forms, from investigating a written text, to the staging of student-written plays, to the devising of an original performance generated by the students in the course. May be taken for credit up to four times. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation or Confronting Collective Challenges Core Component: None
THEA 266Introduction to Theater History: Rituals & Revolutions
A survey of theater history and dramatic literature from ancient practices through the early 19th century. Course readings closely consider texts from the historical global development of drama, while considering
THEA 267Introduction to Theater History: Manifestos & New Medias1.00
A survey of the new theatrical styles to emerge around the world in the 19th and 20th centuries. Course readings closely consider the relationship between a play's literary form and its realization in performance, as well as theater's response to the emergence of film, television, and new media. Crosslisted: ENGL 267 When Offered: Usually in the spring semester Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Recommended: Students intending to major/minor in theater usually take either THEA 266 or THEA 267 by the end of sophomore year. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Students learn about diverse dance practices and their intersections with race, gender, sexuality, class, and nationality. Through engagement with scholarly texts, performances, and some movement practice, students gain an understanding of the sociohistorical and cultural contexts in which dance practices are embedded. Students learn how to analyze dance and movement using formalistic and critical theory frameworks, which they pursue in a culminating independent research project. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Introduces students to a range of approaches to contemporary dance practice and theory. Through exploration of contemporary dance fundamentals, students gain a fuller understanding of their moving bodies and improve their bodily awareness, fluidity, and confidence. While this is primarily a practice-based course, students also study contemporary dance as a global phenomenon alongside critical race theories. Engaging with texts, video recordings, and a live performance, students broaden their awareness of the wide range of contemporary choreography on global stages and familiarize themselves with debates in the field of dance studies. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
A study of the dramatization of African American experiences and perspectives, examined through close readings, viewings, and informed discussion of works by current contemporary black American playwrights, scholars, and drama critics. Crosslisted: ALST 273 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Introduces students to the principles, practices, and processes of playwriting—writing for live performance "upon the stage." In order to develop a working understanding of the elements and devices of playwriting, students engage in regular writing exercises, assignments, and script analysis. Students draft and revise short pieces of dramatic, theatrical writing, including 10-minute plays. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. Credits: variable Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
From ceremonial practice to avant-garde experimentation, dance serves a variety of functions across the African continent and the diaspora. Students will study diverse forms of social and concert dance that have been central to African and African descendent lives through scholarly and embodied approaches. Alongside the study of dance in Africa, retentions and transformations of African dance practices across the diaspora are explored, based on the premise that people of African descent share certain historical and political experiences and relationships to Blackness. Through the study of dance, students will learn how African and Afro-diasporic expressive cultures intersect with broader global phenomena, including colonialism, decolonization, and neocolonialism. Crosslisted: ALST 342 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
An exploration of Asian, African, intercultural, and postcolonial performance traditions, spanning theater, dance, ritual, and everyday life. Course materials include both classic and contemporary play texts along with selected readings in history, anthropology, and performance studies. Crosslisted: ENGL 349 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
THEA 352The Art of Many Hats: Dramaturgy Practicum1
An introduction to the theory and practice of production dramaturgy, offering students the research and analysis tools to use in the collaborative meaning-making processes of theatrical production. As a hands-on practicum, students apply theory and technique to practical assignments using production dramaturgy models in two large production dramaturgy projects throughout the semester – one practical on a campus project and the other a theoretical project to pitch at the end of the semester – while exploring a range of on- campus performances and events as sites of dramaturgical analysis. Students complete the course with experience serving as a dramaturg for an on-campus project, alongside a proposed dramaturgical casebook for a speculative project they can propose in a future setting. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Designed to cultivate the actor's creativity, spontaneity, and collaborative skills through theater, play, and improvisation. Students strive to locate the "quality of play," which, at its essence, is a deep sense of far reaching curiosity. Narrative and corporeal improvisation are explored with a focus on the relationship between the actor's body and imagination. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
An introduction to the art and craft of directing. Theoretical information is coupled with concerted exploratory work. The aim is to create common experience in acquiring the fundamentals of the discipline, identify and
A technique and scene study class aiming to expand students' acting knowledge and abilities by exploring classical and contemporary dramatic texts that require ensemble work and a heightened level of discipline and performative skills. The course culminates with the public presentation of students' work. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
A workshop approach to the craft of writing for the camera. Students read and analyze screenplays, view and discuss short films, and engage in creative writing exercises in order to understand the elements of visual storytelling and the screenwriter's process and craft. A complete, short, narrative screenplay is the final project. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
THEA 359Performance II: Performance for the Stage1.00
A collaborative, advanced performance-based course, which culminates in a University Theater production, directed either by a Colgate faculty member or by an artist in residence. The production is cast through an audition process, which usually occurs at the beginning of the semester. Students may also receive credit through working on the production in a substantial technical or production-related capacity, and registration for the course does not guarantee an acting role. THEA 359 meets for the full semester during scheduled class times, with additional rehearsals and performances on evenings and weekends.
Immerses students in the choreographic process through the development of new works to be performed at the Department of Theater's Spring Dance Concert. Students study the craft of choreography, create and perform their own choreography, and perform in faculty and guest artist works. Aims to develop high-quality works with strong conceptual and formal structures, performed by corporeally intelligent dancers. Students participate in weekly rehearsals outside of class and extensive tech/dress rehearsals leading up to performances. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
Building on playwriting skills and techniques introduced and practiced in THEA 276: Playwriting, students will study and practice the art and craft of writing and revising the one-act play (45-60 minutes in length). The course will be run as a workshop and is intended for students with playwriting experience. Crosslisted: ENGL 376 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. Credits: variable Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: None Core Component: None
The course in the art and craft of theater directing is a continuation of THEA 354, focusing on expanding students' directorial experience and expertise. Through reading, writing, exercises and practical assignments students develop the ability to analyze and interpret dramatic text, communicate and implement a directorial vision. Students perform technical and artistic requirements toward the completion of a theater production. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation Core Component: None
Brings together all senior theater majors and minors in a capstone seminar experience, incorporating elements of both theory and practice. When Offered: Fall semester only Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Theater Majors and Minors Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
THEA 496Special Studies for Honors Candidates in Theater1.00
Creation and presentation of a significant work of playwriting, directing, design, and/or theater or dance performance. With permission of the chair of the Department of Theater, theater majors who wish to pursue an honors project in the spring semester of their senior year may enroll in this course. Honors projects must be proposed in the fall semester of senior year. The project may also take the form of a long-form critical, historical, or theoretical essay. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts Practices: Artistic Practice and Interpretation and The Process of Writing Core Component: None
