MARYVILLE UNIVERSITY COURSE SYLLABUS
SEMESTER/YEAR:
Spring 2008
COURSE: FPAR 210.01
TITLE: PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP I
PREREQUISITE: NONE
COREQUISITES: NONE CREDITS: 3
MEEING DAYS/TIME:
Tuesday, Thursday 1:40-2:55p
MEETING PLACE:
AUD 1423
INSTRUCTOR: Leah
Schwartz, Ph.D., Professor of English
OFFICE PHONE: 314-529-9409
OFFICE LOCATION: ABAC 3206
VOICEMAIL: 314-529-9201 + 9409# EMAIL:
lschwartz@maryville.edu
WEBSITE:
http://accweb.itr.maryville.edu/schwartz
FAX: 314-529-9965 (College of Arts and Sciences)
OFFICE HOURS 08/sp: TTh 10:45a-1:30p
TEACHER’S CLASS
SCHEDULE 08/sp
TTh 9:25-10:40a ENGL 321/221.01
Shakespeare Reid 2314
TTh 1:40-2:55p FPAR 210.01 Performance Workshop I AUD 1423
Th 3:30-5:30p EDUC 579.01 Parkway South High School
Th 6p ENGL/HUM 360.1M Reid 2300 and other locations 15 Mar-3 May
Fri 9:00-11:45a SPCH 110.03 Oral Communication Reid 3327
CATALOG DESCRIPTION
A course for
people who desire experience for public presentations and/or performances.
Various strategies will be employed including acting, oral interpretation,
mime and improvisation.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
to achieve flexibility, grace, and confidence in voice and body
to perform with poise and effectiveness
to use and to trust creativity and imagination
COURSE CONTENT/TOPICS
acting toward the character’s
goal
acting with the other
overcoming obstacles to achieve the character’s goal
devising strong and versatile tactics
expecting to win
developing a flexible and versatile voice and body
using language and timing to achieve effect
ASSESSMENT
consistent serious work in class exercises and projects
courageous attempts at varied kinds of roles
poise, honesty, and effectiveness in the 2 public performances
response paper on 2 live play productions
TEXT 30
Ten-Minute Plays 4,5,6 Actors.
Dixon, Michael Bigelow, ed. Smith and Kraus, 2001.
ISBN: 1-57525-279-1. Required.
THIS SYLLABUS MAY BE ALTERED BY THE
TEACHER TO MEET STUDENT OR INSTRUCTIONAL NEEDS.
PLAY SCRIPTS IN ADDITION TO THOSE IN TAKE 10
You can find 10-minute
play scripts written by students in FPAR 205.H2
Writing and Performing the 10-Minute Play Spring 2002 and Spring
2007 at
http://accweb.itr.maryville.edu/schwartz/10-minute%20play%20scripts.htm
Ben Dougherty The Forty-First Day 5m 2f
A Gentleman's Game 3m 1f Hunting
3m
You Can't Make an Omelet Without Breaking an Egg 3m 1f
Joyce Gunter Parker Blind Date
2m 3f We All
Scream For Ice Cream 2m 3f
Jennifer Richardson Final
4f Just Coffee 1m 2f
Quick Cash 3m 1f
Natalie Robbins By the Dashboard Lights
2m 2f
Dropout Psychology 1m 2f Young People These Days . . .
1m 1f
Kelly O'Brien Forever Young 3m 2f
Inside the Box 4m 1f
CALENDAR
No class 28 Feb (Faculty Development Day), spring break week 2-8 Mar or
20-21 Mar (Easter break).
15,17,22,24 Jan Improvisation, voice and
body work, acting principles
29 Jan Choose scripts for performance #2
31 Jan, 5,7,12,14 Feb Rehearsal for performance #1 lines
memorized 12 Feb
19 Feb Dress rehearsal University Auditorium
21 Feb Performance #1 University Auditorium
26 Feb Play response #1 (10 substantive comments + ticket + program)
is due; choose monolog #1
11,13,18 Mar Practice and perform monolog #1 and choose scripts for
performance #2
25,27 Mar, 1,3,8,10 Apr Rehearsal for performance #2 lines memorized
8 Apr
15 Apr Dress rehearsal University Auditorium
17 Apr Performance #2 University Auditorium
22,24,29 Apr Practice and perform monologue #2 for the class
1 May Play response #2 (10 substantive comments + ticket +
program) is due
CLASS ATTENDANCE POLICY
Students are expected to attend, completely, all class meetings.
Much of the course work is done in class and in groups—work that can’t be
done effectively with a group member missing.
Students with more
than 3 unauthorized absences will receive a lower course grade than their
work would otherwise merit. (2 instances of tardiness = 1 missed class for
course grade purposes.)
An authorized
absence is defined as a serious personal illness; a family emergency
such as a serious illness or death involving a member of the immediate
family; jury or military duty; and representing the University in athletics,
academic, professional and leadership development pursuits.
Authorized absences must be officially documented.
**STUDENTS WHO MISS MORE THAN 5 CLASSES WILL RECEIVE A COURSE GRADE OF F.**
PLAGIARISM POLICY (ZERO TOLERANCE)
***Any instance of plagiarism will result in a course grade of F.***
All instances of
plagiarism will be reported to the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,
who forwards that information to appropriate University administrators.
COURSE WORK AND PERCENTAGE OF COURSE GRADE
Participation in classes – 30 percent
Criteria
attendance at all classes
participation in all activities
appropriate contribution to class creativity
serious attempts at a variety of performance
modes
2 Monologues – 20 percent (See
Monologue Criteria.)
2 Performances – 30 percent
(See
Rehearsal and Play Performance Criteria.)
Attendance at 2
live play performances and written response – 20 percent
(See Play Attendance
Assignment and Response Criteria and the example lists that follow.)
Monologue Criteria
Deduction for not being
ready to perform on time !
Degree of challenge presented by the material
- Appropriate length
- Character with development
- Scene with variety and depth
Memorization
Technique, stage presence, sustained polish
- Appropriate consideration of the audience
- Appropriate, inventive blocking
- Appropriate variety of voice, intensity
- Mastery of transitions, of opening and ending moments
- Control and flexible use of body
Effectiveness of characterization
- Credible, complex portrayal of character’s overt and covert intent
- Conveying, moment by moment, of tone, emotion
Rehearsal/Play Performance Criteria
Deduction for missing rehearsal!
Memorization by the date appointed
Perfect attendance at rehearsals
Help with the smooth running of the group
Technique, stage presence, sustained polish
- Appropriate consideration of the audience
- Appropriate, inventive blocking
- Appropriate variety of voice, intensity
- Mastery of transitions
- Ensemble playing with the rest of the cast
- Control and flexible use of body
Effectiveness of characterization
- Credible, complex portrayal of character’s overt and covert intent
- Conveying, moment by moment, of tone, emotion
Play Attendance Assignment and Response Criteria Deduction for late
work!
Assignment
- Attend 2 live play performances and write 10 substantive comments about
each performance.
- Hand in ticket stub and program with the written play response.
Response criteria
- Typed; effective grammar, usage, punctuation
- Handed in on time
- Addresses a variety of aspects of the production and the theatre
- Supports observations and opinions with specific examples, discussion
For your 2 play response papers, look at the contrasting sets of
responses.
These are examples of non-substantive comments on a play production.
Don’t write unsubstantiated comments such as these.
The set was good. The costumes were
good. The directing was good.
The theme was interesting. The set used red.
The costumes were pretty.
The theme was pride. I hated the theatre seats.
I liked the jokes.
Here are
examples of substantive comments.
Write responses like these. Show what you saw or heard or
felt, evaluate, give details to support your observations and
evaluations.
- The playwright
Harold Jacobs must have intimate knowledge of a troubled childhood.
Both main characters, Trish and Lily, show evidence in their treatment
of their own broods that they learned cruelty early and are determined
to pass it on. The only optimistic character in the play, Uncle
Henry, counters only feebly the play’s dominant theme: a
dysfunctional family is the best perpetuator of evil yet invented.
- The costumes in
Henry Loses reinforce the play’s theme: that cruelty is
contagious. The cast wore uniformly dull clothing: khakis
for Tom and Winky, with worn and faded
T-shirts or threadbare jackets; dowdy polyester dresses for Trish and
Lily. Only with Uncle Henry did the costumer temper the earth tones
with a splash of color: his green string tie, the old red
Cardinals cap he wore even indoors. And Henry, appropriately, is
also the only character to offer a spot of hope or vitality to his young
nephews.
- What was the
director thinking to have a glass filled with brown liquid sitting near
the edge of an end table during the entire production?? Nobody
drank from it, nobody acknowledged it, nobody
moved it. All the characters passed close to it several times, and
during the fight scenes I was sure it was going to be knocked over.
If a script calls for a gun to appear in Act 1, somebody has to get shot
before the play ends. If a director puts something
attention-getting on stage, it should be used. Otherwise, cut it!!
Don’t waste my worry!!
- Special effects
should be special, and those in the Rep’s production of Stars Above
certainly were. The clouds projected on the backdrop moved
slowly across the stage, a beautiful natural background for the stark
black, white, and gray costumes of the large cast. Appropriately,
as the blue and white morphed into the reds of sunset and the overall
level of light dimmed, the formerly warring families were silhouetted
against a peaceful, gorgeous sky. The quarrel was over; peace was
at hand: the technical support in this production certainly reinforced
the action in the script.
- Black box theatre
should be experimental, adventurous. The student actors in
Faraway Hills weren’t particularly suited for the roles of elderly
brothers (too energetic, make-up lines on their faces rather than
wrinkles), but the director made up for the shortcomings by using
various levels on stage, using lights creatively (stark spotlights for
the monologues); and seating the audience on all four sides of the small
stage to let us feel as if we were in the middle of the carnival on
stage.
- Olivia’s diction
was impeccable. I could distinguish every word. While what she said was
always clear, she was also always true to character. Every word seemed
to be a window to her emotions. I never dreamed any voice could put such
variety and such suffering into a simple “No, no, no.”
- Adam sat on the
sofa upright; he sat sideways; he draped himself over the back and the
seat with his head on the floor. His body was physical manifestation of
his indecision and torment. He was such a whipping snake of thwarted
hope that the audience couldn’t stop laughing—and couldn’t stop hoping
he would come back on stage again and do it some more.
- The lovers’
quarrel in Act 2 was the best scene in the play. They built and built
until I thought they could go no higher, when they would suddenly drop
back and make me believe that was logical—only to adopt an icy intensity
that was even more threatening than their earlier noise. Neither one was
ever alone in the scene. They fed off each other and made me think they
meant it all—and that they were experiencing it for the first time.
LINKS TO ST. LOUIS
THEATRE SITES
URL with links to most St. Louis theatre sites
http://www.kdhx.org/index.php?option=com_kdhxevents&type=kdhx_arts_calendar&Itemid=349#Theater
KDHX listing of
current productions w/ length of their run
Great source of
current information; links to sites of companies with current shows; reviews
Individual theatre sites for professional companies
http://edisontheatre.wustl.edu/
Edison Theatre – lists
the Ovations schedule but not the Wash U. Performing Arts productions
http://www.fabulousfox.com/
Fox Theatre
http://www.repstl.org/
Repertory Theatre of
St. Louis (“The Rep”)
http://www.theblackrep.org/site/
Saint Louis Black Repertory Company; does mostly plays by African-American
authors but also mounts other shows
Smaller
professional companies
http://www.geocities.com/artlofttheatre/
ArtLoft – has links to HotCity Theatre, Washington Avenue Players Project
http://www.blackcattheatre.org/
Black Cat Theatre –
new theatre in Maplewood
http://www.cocastl.org/
COCA site; lists stage
offerings
http://www.hotcitytheatre.org/
Hotcity Theatre –
formerly City Theatre and HotHouse Theatre; in the ArtLoft Theatre 1529
Washington Ave 63103
http://www.hydewaretheatre.com/links.html
Hydeware Theatre;
performs at the Ivory Theatre, 7622 Michigan Ave. 63111
http://www.geocities.com/newlinetheatre/
New Line Theatre;
performs at the Ivory Theatre, 7622 Michigan Ave. 63111
http://www.nptco.org/joom/
NonProphet Theater
Company; performs at the Ivory Theatre, 7622 Michigan Ave. 63111
http://www.stlas.org/
St Louis Actor’s
Studio, performs at the The Gaslight Theater, 360 North Boyle 63108
http://www.spotlighttheatrestlonline.org/
Spotlight Theatre;
performs at various venues
http://www.straydogtheatre.org/
Stray Dog Theatre; performs at Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee 63104
http://www.uppityco.com/
That Uppity Theatre
Company; promotes civic causes, social change, diversity
Educational theatre
sites
http://www.webster.edu/depts/finearts/theatre/
Webster University Conservatory of Theatre
http://www.slu.edu/departments/utheatre/
St. Louis University
Theatre
http://artsci.wustl.edu/~pad/
Washington University
Performing Arts Department
Some St. Louis
theatre phone numbers
Black Cat Theatre 314-315-5129
The Black Rep 314-534-3807
Edison Theatre, Washington University 314-935-6543
Fox Theatre 314-534-1678
HotCity Theatre 314-289-4060; 314-289-4063 (box office)
Hydeware Theatre 314-368-7306
Kirkwood Theatre Guild 314-821-9956
New Line Theatre 314-773-6526
NonProphet Theater Company
314-752-5075.
Repertory Theatre of St.
Louis 314-968-4925
Saint Louis University Theatre 314-977-2998
St Louis Actors’ Studio 314-458-2978
Stray Dog Theatre 314-865-1995
Theatre Guild of Webster Groves 314-962-0876
That Uppity Theatre Company 314-995-4600
Webster University Conservatory Hotline 314-968-7128