Learning Outcomes
for Majors in Theatre and Dance
The Department of Theatre and Dance advances the knowledge of the practice, history, and the contemporary range of the diverse repertoire of drama and choreography in its Dramatic Art major.
Students will gain understanding of both creative power and different kinds of knowledge, interpretation, and communication using voice, body, and gesture, spatial and material visualization and implementation, sociocultural media, and academic exploration, and argumentation.
Assessment is by productions, projects, and essays applicable to the different skills areas in accordance with departmental rubric.
Knowledge
Dramatic Art teaches students practice-based knowledge, as well as historical, theoretical, and critical strategies for integrating practice-based knowledge into the social, cultural, and political discussions of the contemporary world. This includes the experience of creative insight that generates new knowledge, new ways of talking about the ways we know, and what we know that is beyond conventional boundaries and can address issues of diversity and globalization.
Interpretation
Dramatic Art teaches students to interpret a wide variety of texts, from the scripts and scores of drama and choreography to the fundamentals of set, lighting, and costume design and construction, the printed and digitized media of contemporary life, and the academic writings of history, theory, and criticism. This wide range of interpretive skills develops exceptionally detailed comprehension.
Communication
Dramatic Art trains students in communication through informed practices built up over centuries. These practices have a history of strategies and methods for understanding and developing ways for different media (visual, oral, embodied, graphic, and increasingly digital literacies) to impact on society, politics, and community. Students are expected to be able to gain the technical skills, the production strategies, and the evaluative methods for diverse communicative media.
Skills
The skills outcomes in Dramatic Art are inherently interdisciplinary and collective, training students in communication, collaboration, problem-solving, negotiation, time- and material-management, and project completion.
Students will acquire culturally diverse academic and critical skills in the history and theory of Dramatic Art, including some performance practice, as they contribute to the Arts and Humanities. (DRA001, 014, 020, 142, 150, 154, 155, 156an, 156bn, 156cn, 156d, 158, 159, 160a)
Students will acquire skills in creative technical craft, interpretation and research, analysis, application, synthesis, and evaluation of a range of elements (including budgets and stage/production management: DRA026, 126, 180c, 180d) related to the production and reception of Dramatic Art (including courses) in:
-
Acting: recognition of the significance of
psychophysical integration (i.e. breath control, physical
relaxation, imaginative connection, and somatic awareness) in
developing the actor’s instrument; to interpret a diversity of
world views through the embodied enactment of a range of pieces
from the ancient and classical canon to twenty-first-century
performance texts; to evolve transferable skills (e.g.
presentation skills, communication skills, collaboration,
empathy, appreciation of cultural and social diversity, etc.);
to analyze and research an understanding of acting and
aesthetics across cultures and eras; to devise and perform
original dramatic works; to evaluate and assess individual work
and that of one’s peers through reflective journals, peer-group
discussion, and instructor-led feedback. (DRA021a, 120, 121
a/b/c, 122 a/b/c/, 135, 141, 143, 144, 174, 180a)
-
Design: ability to create visual ideas and
carry out research into and interpretation of the media related
to scenic, lighting, and costume design; see work from the page
into reality; work with technical shops; communicate with
actors/ dancers/ directors/ choreographers; and realize
concepts in production. (DRA024, 025, 124a, 124b, 124c, 124d,
124e, 130, 180b, 180e, 180f, 180g)
-
Dance: ability to create and embody texts
(scored, improvised, devised); undertake research into and
interpret and analyze background materials; communicate
creatively with choreographers and other dancers; and work
constructively with designers and other production staff.
(DRA140a, 145, 146a, 146b)
-
Directing: ability to creatively realize the
staging of a text (scripted, scored, devised); undertake
research into and analysis of preparatory materials; synthesize
the various elements of design, performer, production, into a
coherent whole; work to final production at a certain time;
engender and facilitate dialogues needed to make production
happen; understand audience desires, needs, and challenges; and
communicate to the larger public. (DRA127a, 127b, 180c)
- Scriptwriting/Dramaturgy: awareness of dramatic structure and presentation in various historical, cultural, and aesthetic contexts. Ability to recognize formal elements and the relationship between language and form in crafting and evaluating writing for performance. Ability to critically analyze various elements of performance, both written documents and staged, including awareness of the use of space, language, and structure to generate meaning,