This course seeks:

• to introduce you to a new way of thinking about yourself and
• to help you discover how to effectively use your body and voice as instruments for creative and productive communication

• be more adept at using your body as an acting instrument
• have a clearer understanding of the work of the actor
• have presented three performances for an audience
• know the basics of scene analysis

The activities in this course consist of readings and tests, improvisation, theatre games, written responses, performances, and book responses.

• You will be required to perform three times for the class in a Shakespeare sonnet and two well-rehearsed, graded acting scenes. These scene performances will constitute the mid-term and final exams for the course. All three performances will count as 60% of the semester grade.

Other graded assignments include:

• responses to three books assigned for discussion and
• a review of the acting in The Glass Menagerie , all of which will constitute 30% of your grade
• Two tests over material from The Actor at Work and lectures, which count 10%.

Robert Benedetti. The Actor at Work, 10th edition

Peter Brook. The Empty Space.
Robert Edmond Jones. The Dramatic Imagination

Book Responses -

The Benedetti book will be our text. The other books are required reading. After we have a class discussion, you will be expected to respond to each of the books in some form. This form may be as a collage, mobile, painting, poem, essay, play script or some other way you wish to reflect on the ideas of the book. This is not a book report or a survey of the ideas contained therein, but a subjective, intuitive, emotional response to some concept that challenged, enlightened or angered you.

You will prepare a personal artistic/creative autobiography.

The autobiography gives you an opportunity to reflect on the people and events that helped shape your creative self. You should include those family members, friends, teachers, clergy and other important people whose influence has guided you. If there are important events, travel, joys or sorrows that have been significant in your life, incluide them in your autobiography. The format you use is open. You may write, draw, paint, use recording, Power Point or any other form to express yourself.

ALL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES WILL BE KEPT STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

I expect you to be on your honor that each assignment handed in to me for grade or evaluation will your own. If you consulted outside sources I expect you to fully document those sources. I will not tolerate plagiarism in any form.

If you have any disability which will make it difficult for you to carry out the work as I have outlined and/or if you need special accommodations due to a disability appropriate arrangements/accommodations can be arranged.

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