Theater and Performance Studies

This is an archived copy of the 2012-13 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalogs.uchicago.edu.

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Contacts

Undergraduate Primary Contact

Chair David Bevington
G-B 510
702.9899
Email

Secondary Contact

Director of Undergraduate Studies Heidi Coleman
LC 226
312.607.7487
Email

Administrative Contact

Program Cordinator/Managing Director Brian LaDuca
LC 219
773.702.9315
Email

Website

http://taps.uchicago.edu

Program of Study

Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) seeks to animate the intersection of theory and practice in the arts. The program is comparative in multiple ways, requiring its students to acquire facility in the practice of two media (e.g., theater, film, video, dance, music, creative writing) while gaining fluency in the critical analysis of those media. To this end, students receive training in both performance practice and analysis, acquiring the fundamental tools for artistic creation while developing a nuanced and sophisticated vocabulary with which to analyze creativity. In this way, the program aims to contest the ready separation of academic theory and artistic practice or, for that matter, theorists and practitioners.

The program is designed to be flexible (to afford students as much latitude as possible in pursuing their particular interests) and exacting (to guarantee the development of comparative practical skills and rigorous analytic capacities). Students should work closely with the Director of Undergraduate Studies and with the preceptor assigned to the program in order to shape an individual course of study that reflects the student's interests while fulfilling the program's interdisciplinary and comparative requirements. The student's faculty adviser on the BA project (see below) will provide additional direction during the senior year.

Students in other fields of study may also complete a minor in TAPS. Information follows the description of the major.

Program Requirements

Students in the TAPS program must meet the following requirements:

Six courses in theory and analysis, encompassing the history, theory, aesthetics, and analysis of theatrical and/or performance practice. These courses in the theory and analysis rubric may be selected from the TAPS course offerings listed below or from related course offerings in the College. Ideally, at least four of these courses will be taken from members of the faculty or resource faculty in TAPS. Course selection is subject to the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Six courses in artistic practice. Of these, no more than four will include the student's primary medium; at least two will include a qualitatively different medium. Many of these courses will be found in the practical course offerings of TAPS listed below, as well as the course offerings in the Committee on Cinema and Media Studies, the Committee on Creative Writing, the Department of Visual Arts, and the Department of Music, among others. Students may need to supplement these course offerings with individually designed "reading" courses. Here, too, the student undertakes course selection in consultation with, and subject to the approval of, the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
One course (TAPS 29800 Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium) devoted to the preparation of the BA project to be taken in the student's fourth year.

BA Project

As the culmination of an undergraduate program combining aesthetic theory and practice, BA projects in Theater and Performance Studies will encompass both performance of an original work (e.g., staged reading, site-specific installation, solo performance, choreography) and analysis (e.g., BA paper).

The first step in the BA process takes the form of a critical paper which serves as the foundation for the final BA paper. Students complete a documentation of the performance including a theoretical component. The length of the critical paper varies (i.e., dance may be fewer pages than a full length play).

BA project proposals are developed by the student in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to the approval of the Chair of Theater and Performance Studies, and supervised by a faculty member. Selecting a BA project adviser from the core and resource faculty in TAPS is encouraged but not required.

A preceptor (typically a lecturer with professional experience) assigned to the program will serve as a supplementary adviser for all BA projects, working with students on the mechanics of writing and providing tutorial assistance.

The problems addressed and encountered in the BA project will be further explored in the TAPS 29800 Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium taken during the student's fourth year. TAPS 29800 Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium extends over two quarters; students receive one course credit and one grade. Deadlines for the BA project, assuming spring graduation date, are as follows: a completed draft of the creative project by the end of Winter Quarter; the final draft by Friday of fifth week in Spring Quarter for honors consideration and by Friday of eighth week in Spring Quarter for graduation.

The Chair of TAPS and the Director of Undergraduate Studies will jointly coordinate the evaluation of BA projects as a final degree requirement, in consultation with the faculty adviser and preceptor assigned to each case, and will report recommendations to the Associate Dean and Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division as to any recommendation concerning honors.

Summary of Requirements

Six theory and analysis courses		600
Six artistic practice courses		600
TAPS 29800	Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium	100
Total Units		1300

Application

Students wishing to enter the program should consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Spring Quarter of their first year or as soon as possible thereafter. Students apply to the program by the beginning of Spring Quarter of their second year or, in extraordinary circumstances, no later than the end of Autumn Quarter of their third year. Participation in the program must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies before declaring the major. TAPS majors will be added to the TAPS listhost.

Grading

All courses in the major must be taken for a quality grade.

Honors

Eligibility for honors requires an overall cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher, a GPA of 3.5 or higher in the courses taken for the Theater and Performance Studies major, and a BA project that is judged by the first and second readers to display exceptional intellectual and creative merit.

Minor Program in Theater and Performance Studies

Students who elect the minor program must meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the minor. Students must obtain written approval for the minor program from the undergraduate adviser and submit it to their College adviser by the deadline on the form obtained from the undergraduate adviser.

The TAPS minor requires a total of six courses plus a public performance of original work (e.g., staged reading, site specific installation, solo performance piece, choreography). At least two of the required courses must be advanced-level TAPS courses (i.e., 20000-level or higher). The remaining required courses must bear a clear and coherent relationship specifically related to the intended creative work component of the TAPS minor. At least one of these courses must encompass critical theory and analysis.

In addition, each student must register for TAPS 29800 Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium to develop his or her critical analysis and resulting creative work. The focus of this course will be on a public performance of the student's TAPS minor project, as described above, to be presented by the fifth week of the quarter in which the student intends to graduate. Each student must also submit a statement of critical methods (a critical analysis accompaniment to the public performance). This statement will be a supplement to the creative work, not a paper equal to it as is required for the major. The participation demanded for the minor will not be as extensive as for the major, and will be calibrated accordingly over the two-quarter period.

Courses in the minor (1) may not be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors and (2) may not be counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for a quality grade, and more than half of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.

Summary of Requirements for the Minor Program

Two 20000-level or higher TAPS courses		200
One critical theory course with specific relevance to the TAPS BA project (e.g., History and Theory of Drama, Visual Theory, Film Theory)		100
Two arts electives (e.g., ARTV, CMST, MUSI, TAPS)		200
TAPS 29800	Theater and Performance Studies BA Colloquium	100
A public performance of the creative component by fifth week of the graduating quarter
Statement of critical methods (a critical analysis accompaniment to the public performance)
Total Units		600

Approved Courses from Outside TAPS

Students may use most courses offered by Cinema and Media Studies, Creative Writing, Music, and Visual Arts to count toward the TAPS major. Students are encouraged to consult with the TAPS administrator or the Director of Undergraduate Studies for clarification as needed. Courses from outside those departments may also be appropriate, but students must receive prior consent from the TAPS administrator.

Courses

TAPS 10100. Drama: Embodiment and Transformation. 100 Units.

Students examine the performance and the aesthetics of two dramatic works in contrasting styles but with unifying themes. The goal of this course is to develop an appreciation and understanding of a variety of techniques and of the processes by which they are theatrically realized. Rather than focus on the dramatic text itself, we concentrate on the piece in performance, including the impact of cultural context on interpretation. To achieve this, students are required to act, direct, and design during the course.

Instructor(s): D. Dir, D. New, P. Pascoe, T. Trent Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Note(s): Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. At least three sections are offered per quarter, with class limited to twenty students. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.

TAPS 10200. Acting Fundamentals. 100 Units.

This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.

Instructor(s): D. New, P. Pascoe, C. Sullivan, T. Trent Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Note(s): Attendance at first class meeting required; prior theater or acting training not required. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.

10300 through 10699. Text and Performance. Experience in dramatic analysis or performance not required. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. Each of these courses meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Workshops in dramatic technique and attendance at performances at Chicago theaters, in addition to class time, are required.

TAPS 10300	Text and Performance	100
TAPS 10600	Staging Desire	100

TAPS 10300. Text and Performance. 100 Units.

Many contemporary plays purposely eschew traditional forms of realistic staging, yet most contemporary theater makers are only trained to execute traditional, realistic scenes. This course is a reading of several plays and essays to learn to look at a play with an adaptable, creative mind. We develop tools that draw from contemporary theorists and non-realistic theorists of the past. The goal is to provide students with a wide theatrical vocabulary with which to approach these contemporary plays with ideas that they may not have witnessed before.

Instructor(s): H. Coleman, D. Levin, L. Kruger Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Note(s): Experience in dramatic analysis or performance not required. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.

TAPS 10600. Staging Desire. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): H. Coleman Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Course offered in alternate years. Experience in dramatic analysis or performance not required. Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.

TAPS 10700. Introduction to Stage Design. 100 Units.

This course explores the application of the visual and aural arts to the varied forms of design for the stage (i.e., scenic, lighting, costume, sound). We pay particular attention to the development of a cogent and well-reasoned analysis of text and an articulate use of the elements of design through a set of guided practical projects.

Instructor(s): STAFF Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Lab fee required. This course is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 26000

TAPS 15000. Beginning Playwrighting. 100 Units.

This course is a writing workshop introducing students to the art of playwriting. The workshop introduces a range of strategies for writing dramatic text, with a special focus on the playwright as collaborator, use of source materials and found text, and the writer’s relationship to practices of staging and styles of performance. Students read several contemporary and classic plays from a range of styles to develop a playwriting vocabulary that includes the concepts of character, dramatic action, voice and mise-en-scene. Students write three complete scenes in contrasting styles over the course of the quarter and engage in active discussion of the writing presented by their colleagues during each workshop session. Writers are required to complete weekly exercises and post responses to the reading list on a class website. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY.

Instructor(s): S. Bockley Terms Offered: Fall

TAPS 15500. Beginning Screenwriting. 100 Units.

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay, including format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, and the vagaries of the three-act structure. Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week.

Instructor(s): J. Petrakis Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter

TAPS 20100. Twentieth-Century American Drama. 100 Units.

Beginning with O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night through the American avant-garde to the most recent production on Broadway, this course focuses on American contemporary playwrights who have made a significant impact with regard to dramatic form in context to specific decade as well as cumulatively through the twentieth century. Textual analysis is consistently oriented towards production possibilities, both historically and hypothetically.

Instructor(s): H. Coleman Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.

TAPS 21600. Acting Workshop. 100 Units.

This advanced acting course will prep you for the professional industry. The classes are based on the Meisner Technique and the Black Box Acting Studio Method. You will work on technique, auditions and learn to consistently bring your full self to the table. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY.

Instructor(s): A. Francis Terms Offered: Winter, Spring

TAPS 22100. Solo Performance. 100 Units.

This goal of this course is to develop solo work and investigate the unique performer-to-audience dynamic of solo performance and its particular challenges and power. This experience offers insight into the collaborative process and develops the ability to evaluate work from an interior and an exterior perspective, through independent as well as group work. Inspired by Oulipian constraint-based exercises, students generate new works through in-class and take-home assignments. Sources include journals, personal research, improvisation, the use of multi-media, and viewpoints. The course culminates in a performance of solo works for UT Day.

Instructor(s): STAFF Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Prior solo work not required.

TAPS 23000. Introduction to Directing. 100 Units.

This course employs a practice in the fundamental theory of play direction and the role of the director in collaboration with the development of textual analysis. By examining five diversely different texts using three different approaches to play analysis (Aristotle, Stanislavski, Ball) students begin developing a method of directing for the stage in support of the written text. In alternating weeks, students implement textual analysis in building an understanding of directorial concept, theme, imagery and staging through rehearsal and in-class presentations of three-minute excerpts from the play analysis the previous week. The culmination is a final five-minute scene combining the tools of direction with a method of analysis devised over the entire course.

Instructor(s): B. LaDuca Terms Offered: Autumn

TAPS 23100. Advanced Directing. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to fundamental skills of directing for the stage, from first contact with the script to final performance. After a preliminary examination of directing theory, the course provides practical experience in script analysis, composition work, blocking, and the rehearsal process. Students are expected to prepare a minimum of three assigned scenes ranging in style (e.g., Williams, Brecht, Shakespeare) with actors outside of class for critique, with final scenes performed publicly during tenth week.

Instructor(s): S. Graney Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): TAPS 23000

TAPS 23500. Aerial and Circus with Actors Gymnasium. 100 Units.

Students gain an introduction to Aerial & Circus Arts, developing a basic skill set while increasing their strength and flexibility. Skills covered in class may include: trapeze, silks, lyra, unicycling, juggling, tightrope, tumbling, acro and Spanish web. While no acrobatic experience is necessary to enroll in this class, it is recommended that participants be in good physical health. Students should wear comfortable clothes to class, being aware that they will be, at times, upside down. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS SESSION IS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY.

Instructor(s): N. Drackett, L. Hirte Terms Offered: Spring

TAPS 24000. Director/Designer Collaboration. 100 Units.

The concept phase of the shared creative process in theater requires clarity of vision and impulse to dream while negotiating the realities of budget and space. With students in the roles of director and designer, this class tackles the preproduction period from initial concept meetings to design presentations for rehearsal. Students develop vocabulary that fully expresses the director's vision and simultaneously provides creative room for the designer.

Instructor(s): H. Coleman Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.

TAPS 24500. Chicago Theater: Budgets and Buildings. 100 Units.

This course examines the current state of Chicago theater, focusing on the relationships between facilities, budgets, and missions. Field trips required to venues including Side Project, Timeline, Raven, Steppenwolf, Theater Building, and Green House.

Instructor(s): H. Coleman Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years

TAPS 25200. Neo-Futurists Performance Workshop. 100 Units.

This course is a hands-on introduction to Neo-Futurism: a method of transforming your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences into creative, task-oriented, audience-participatory, non-illusory, unique theatrical events. Students are encouraged to find their own voice as fully rounded theater artists by writing, directing, and performing their own short performances using their own lives as source material. By pursuing the goal of absolute truth on stage, we focus on an alternative to narrative Realism by embracing such elements as deconstruction, found-text, collage, abstraction, sythesis, and chaos. Classes consist of original group exercises as well as presentations of weekly performance assignments.

Instructor(s): G. Allen Terms Offered: Autumn

TAPS 25400. Beginning Screenwriting. 100 Units.

This course introduces the basic elements of a literate screenplay (e.g., format, exposition, characterization, dialog, voice-over, adaptation, vagaries of the three-act structure). Weekly meetings include a brief lecture period, screenings of scenes from selected films, extended discussion, and assorted readings of class assignments. Because this is primarily a writing class, students write a four- to five-page weekly assignment related to the script topic of the week.

Instructor(s): J. Petrakis Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 27101

TAPS 25500. Advanced Screenwriting. 100 Units.

This course requires students to complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay (at least ninety pages in length), based on an original idea brought to the first or second class. No adaptations or partially completed scripts are allowed. Weekly class sessions include reading of script pages and critique by classmates and instructor.

Instructor(s): J. Petrakis Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): TAPS 27311, and consent of instructor based on eight-page writing sample in screenplay format.
Note(s): Class limited to eight students.
Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 27103

TAPS 26000. Modern Dance. 100 Units.

The revolutionary ideas behind modern dance created perceptual shifts in how dance performance and the body itself were viewed. In this course, students learn physical skills specific to modern dance technique through the perspective of the artists who originated these ideas. Students physically embody the history of modern dance, perceiving how technique and the body became an agent of both aesthetic and cultural transformation. Major artists include Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey, and the Judson Church artists, as well as such contemporary artists as Twyla Tharp and Mark Morris.

Instructor(s): STAFF Terms Offered: Autumn

TAPS 26100. Dance Composition. 100 Units.

When does movement become text? How do bodies combine with time, space, and energy to communicate ideas? In this workshop-formatted course, we explore these questions as we study and create dance. Students develop improvisational skills by exploring the dance principles of space, time, dynamics, and the process of abstraction. Through physical exercises, discussions, and readings, students learn how to initiate and develop movement ideas. Major dance works from many styles (e.g., ballet, modern, avant-garde) are viewed and analyzed, as students develop an understanding of choreographic forms. Students also develop a proficiency in the areas of observation and constructive criticism. The course culminates with a choreographic project.

Instructor(s): STAFF Terms Offered: Winter

TAPS 27100. Scene Painting. 100 Units.

In this art studio-style course, students will study the various methods, means and materials of the painting of theatrical scenery. Basic techniques for such treatments as woodgrain, marble, stone, stencilling and the like will be investigated, as will dimensional techniques for certain treatments. Basic color-mixing and color theory will be explored, other topics that may be covered include group, or collaborative, painting and theatrical self-portraiture. There is a materials fee that is required of all students, and please note that it meets for 3 hours twice a week.

Instructor(s): STAFF Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.

TAPS 27500. Costume Design for the Stage. 100 Units.

This course is a discovery of the history and theories of costume design, as well as an interpretation of character and theme through rendering a fabrication of costumes for the stage. Students develop a visual vocabulary through use of texture, color, and period. After focusing on basic design rules and costume history, we do a series of design projects.

Instructor(s): STAFF Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.

TAPS 27800. Story through Music and Sound. 100 Units.

This course will explore ways in which music and sound can be used to tell and support a story. We will examine how in the simplest moment to the more layered and complex, music and sound are used to create time, place or emotional context. We will analyze the connections of lyric and music, film soundtracks, radio comedy, radio drama and soundscapes for the theatre enabling us to create our own audio productions interacting with visual media, spoken word and live performance. ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS MANDATORY. CONSENT ONLY.

Instructor(s): R. Bodeen, M. Milburn Terms Offered: Spring

TAPS 27900. Shopcraft: Methods and Materials. 100 Units.

Designed as a complementary course to the DOVA sculpture sequence, Shopcraft explores the tools and techniques available to students in the wood shop. Topics covered include shop safety; the properties of woods; the planning and material selection process for sculpture, furniture, and other woodworking applications; the care and use of hand tools; and interpreting and creating scale drawings and conceptual plans. A series of small projects designed to challenge and expand students' design, drafting, and woodworking skills are assigned. In addition, students are invited to incorporate projects from sculpture classes or their individual studio practice into the course.
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Instructor(s): D. Wolf Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, or 10300
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 24550,ARTV 34550

TAPS 28000. Scenic Design. 100 Units.

This course is an exploration of various forms and processes of designing sets for theatrical performance. We pay particular attention to a cohesive reading of a text, contextual and historical exploration, and visual and thematic research, as well as the documentation needed to complete a show (e.g., model, drafting, paint elevations). We also explore, nominally, the history of stage design and look at major trends in modern stage design.

Instructor(s): STAFF Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): TAPS 10700 or consent of instructor required; previous experience in stage design or visual art recommended.
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.

TAPS 28100. Lighting Design for the Stage. 100 Units.

This course places equal emphasis on the theory and practice of modern stage lighting. Students learn the mechanical properties of lighting equipment; how to create, read, and execute a lighting plot; the functions of lighting in a theatrical context; color and design theory; and how to read a text as a lighting designer.

Instructor(s): STAFF Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.

TAPS 28200. Partnering and Presence. 100 Units.

The relationship to ones partners is the single most predictably generative asset we have on stage. How can we use this reliable relationship to create work that is truthful and grounded in the real, so that we can forge experience with audiences rather than asking them to "suspend disbelief." In this class we will explore action and liveness in theater performance and creation. At the very core of the theatrical act is the live interaction between the actor and her/his partners. We will look at improvisation, action art, and 500 Clown technique as ways of finding ourselves present on stage. There will be writing (creative and papers) and reading (you know...books), but this class is mostly a time to acquire knowledge with the body. We will be stretching physically and emotionally each class period. Journaling will be required, as will clothes that allow for free movement with no flashiness or logos. (Burlap sack not required). Performance experience not required. If you're not interested in performance though, why are still reading this? 500 Clown is a Clown-theater company founded in 1999. The core members of which have developed a way of teaching performance which produces visceral and accessible theater. Adrian Danzig is the founding Artistic Director of 500 Clown.

Instructor(s): A. Danzig Terms Offered: Spring

TAPS 28300. Documentary for Radio: Audio Verité 100 Units.

Students in this course focus on creative nonfiction radio storytelling, exploring how to document the world through sound and story. They learn essential radio skills, including how to identify worthwhile stories; write for radio; find a voice as narrator; record interviews and ambient sound; and edit, mix, and produce short, vivid, sound-rich documentaries. This course also contains a strong critical listening component, and active participation is required.

Instructor(s): D. Hall Terms Offered: Winter

TAPS 28400. History and Theory of Drama I. 100 Units.

The course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in drama from the ancient Greeks through the Renaissance: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, classical Sanskrit theater, medieval religious drama, Japanese Noh drama, Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Molière, along with some consideration of dramatic theory by Aristotle, Sir Philip Sidney, Corneille, and others. Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other members of the course. The goal of these scenes is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended.

Instructor(s): D. Bevington, J. Muse Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Preference given to students with third- or fourth-year standing.
Note(s): May be taken in sequence with ENGL 13900/31100 or individually. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 13800,CLAS 31200,CLCV 21200,CMLT 20500,CMLT 30500,ENGL 31000

TAPS 28401. History and Theory of Drama II. 100 Units.

This course is a survey of major trends and theatrical accomplishments in Western drama from the eighteenth century into the twentieth (i.e., Sheridan, Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, Wilde, Shaw, Brecht, Beckett, Pinter, Stoppard, Churchill, Kushner). Attention is also paid to theorists of the drama (e.g., Stanislavsky, Artaud, Grotowski). Students have the option of writing essays or putting on short scenes in cooperation with other members of the course. The goal of these scenes is not to develop acting skill but, rather, to discover what is at work in the scene and to write up that process in a somewhat informal report. End-of-week workshops, in which individual scenes are read aloud dramatically and discussed, are optional but highly recommended.

Instructor(s): D. Bevington, H. Coleman Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing
Note(s): May be taken in sequence with ENGL 13800/31000 or individually. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 13900,CMLT 20600,CMLT 30600,ENGL 31100

TAPS 28405. Shakespeare I: Histories and Comedies. 100 Units.

We will consider several of Shakespeare's major histories and comedies from the 1590s, roughly the first half of his professional career. These will include, among others, Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night.

Instructor(s): B. Cormack Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 16500,FNDL 21403

TAPS 28406. Shakespeare II: Tragedies and Romances. 100 Units.

This course studies the second half of Shakespeare's career, from 1600 to 1611, when the major genres that he worked in were tragedy and "romance" or tragicomedy. Plays read include Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Othello, King Lear (quarto and folio versions), Macbeth, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, Pericles, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.

Instructor(s): R. Strier Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): ENGL 16500 recommended but not required.
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 16600,FNDL 21404

TAPS 28410. Performance Installation I. 100 Units.

This course is designed for students with a background or special interest in any art form to develop “performance installations” by exploring the intersections and boundaries between art forms (i.e., theater, visual art, music, dance, creative writing) and practices that are themselves at the margins of what we think of as art (e.g., martial arts, circus, comic books, new media, graffiti). The work will be collectively created.

Instructor(s): P. Pascoe Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): undefined
Note(s): This course may be repeated.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 24115,ARTV 34115

TAPS 28411. Performance Installation II. 100 Units.

This course continues ARTV 24115, and is designed for students with a background or special interest in any art form to develop “performance installations” by exploring the intersections and boundaries between art forms (i.e., theater, visual art, music, dance, creative writing) and practices that are themselves at the margins of what we think of as art (e.g., martial arts, circus, comic books, new media, graffiti). The work will be collectively created.

Instructor(s): P. Pascoe Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor
Note(s): ARTV 24115 recommended. This course may be repeated.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 24116

TAPS 28414. Writing for Performance. 100 Units.

This course is an exploration of select texts for performance written by performance artists primarily but not entirely operating within the context of art. Via historical context and literary technique, students read, discuss, and analyze texts by various authors spanning the history of performance art: Hugo Ball, John Cage, Richard Foreman, Carolee Schneeman, Joseph Bueys, Karen Finley, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, John Leguizamo, and create and perform their own writing. Field trips and attendance at first class are required.

Instructor(s): W. Pope.L Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, or 10300.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 24301

TAPS 28427. Introduction to Video. 100 Units.

This course introduces video making with digital cameras and nonlinear (digital) editing. Students produce a group of short works, which is contextualized by viewing and discussion of historical and contemporary video works. Video versus film, editing strategies, and appropriation are some of the subjects that are part of an ongoing conversation.

Instructor(s): C. Sullivan Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): ARTV 10100, 10200 or 10300.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 23800,CMST 28900

TAPS 28428. Video. 100 Units.

This is a production course geared towards short experimental works and video within a studio art context.

Instructor(s): C. Sullivan
Prerequisite(s): ARTV 23800 or consent of instructor.

TAPS 28438. Before and After Beckett: Theater and Theory. 100 Units.

Beckett is conventionally typed as the playwright of minimalist scenes of unremitting bleakness but his experiments with theatre and film echo the irreverent play of popular culture (vaudeville on stage and screen eg Chaplin and Keaton) as well as the artistic avant garde (Jarry). This course with juxtapose these early 20th century models with Beckett’s plays on stage and screen and those of his contemporaries (Ionesco, Genet, Duras). Contemporary texts include Vinaver, Minyana, in French, Pinter, Churchill, Kane in English. Theorists include Barthes, Badiou, Bert States, and others. ComLit students will have the opportunity to read French originals.

Instructor(s): L. Kruger Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): PQ: HUM and TAPS course; this course is for juniors and seniors only; not open to first-year College students
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 24408,CMLT 24408

TAPS 28444. Visual Language: On Images. 100 Units.

Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, illusion, analogy, metaphor, time and memory, nature and culture, abstraction, the role of the author, and universal systems can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques.

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Note(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, and 10300 may be taken in sequence or individually. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Previous experience in media-based studio courses not accepted as a substitute for this course.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 10100

TAPS 28445. Visual Language: On Objects. 100 Units.

Through studio work and critical discussions on 3D form, this course is intended to reveal the conventions of sculpture while investigating its modes of production. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, platonic form, analogy, metaphor, verisimilitude, abstraction, nature and culture, and the body politic can be illuminated through these primary investigations. Visits to museums and other fieldwork required, as is participation in studio exercises and group critiques.

TAPS 28448. Introduction to Sculpture. 100 Units.

This course introduces the fundamentals of sculptural practice. Building on the historical, aesthetic, and technical strategies of making and thinking about sculpture, students are directed toward the realization of 3D objects. Assignments are intended to explore materials and process so as to facilitate students' development of an idea to a completed object. Discussions and gallery visits help engender an understanding of sculpture within a societal and historical context. Visits to galleries required.

Instructor(s): G. Oppenheimer Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, or 10300
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 22200,ARTV 32000

TAPS 28449. Sculpture. 100 Units.

This course is a continuation of ARTV 22200 and deepens the student's understanding of the interlocking relations between material, meaning, and culture. As an art form that engages with the same space as the viewer, this class takes up as challenges the eternal sculptural problems of presence, material/cultural value, and embodiment. A specific focus of this class is the relationship between the art object and the cultural environment it is situated in. Context and presentation strategies for art making within and outside of the traditional gallery context are emphasized. Slide presentations, gallery visits, and critical discussion supplement studio work time. Field trips required.

Instructor(s): G. Oppenheimer Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): ARTV 10100, 10200, or 10300 required; ARTV 22200 and/or ARTV 24550 recommended
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 32300,ARTV 22300

TAPS 28451. Introduction to Film Production. 100 Units.

This intensive lab introduces 16mm film production, experimenting with various film stocks and basic lighting designs. The class is organized around a series of production situations with students working in crews. Each crew learns to operate and maintain the 16mm Bolex film camera and tripod, as well as Arri lights, gels, diffusion, and grip equipment. The final project is an in-camera edit.

Instructor(s): J. Hoffman Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 23850,ARTV 33850,CMST 28920,CMST 38920

TAPS 28453. Documentary Video. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the making of independent documentary video. Examples of direct cinema, cinéma vérité, the essay, ethnographic film, the diary and self-reflexive cinema, historical and biographical film, agitprop/activist forms, and guerilla television are screened and discussed. Topics include the ethics and politics of representation and the shifting lines between fact and fiction. Labs explore video preproduction, camera, sound, and editing. Students develop an idea for a documentary video; form crews; and produce, edit, and screen a five-minute documentary.

Instructor(s): J. Hoffman Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Two-hour lab required in addition to class time.
Equivalent Course(s): CMST 28000,ARTV 23901

TAPS 28455. Transmedia Game. 100 Units.

This experimental course explores the emerging game genre of “transmedia” or “alternate reality” gaming. Transmedia games use the real world as their platform while incorporating text, video, audio, social media, websites, and other forms. We will approach new media theory through the history, aesthetics, and design of transmedia games. Course requirements include weekly blog entry responses to theoretical readings; an analytical midterm paper; and collaborative participation in a single narrative-based transmedia game project. No preexisting technical expertise is required but a background in any of the following areas will help: creative writing, literary or media theory, web design, visual art, computer programming, performance, and game design.

Instructor(s): P. Jagoda Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 25953,ARTV 25401,CMST 25953,CMST 35953,CRWR 26003,CRWR 46003,ENGL 32311

TAPS 28457. Theories of Media. 100 Units.

This course explores the concept of media and mediation in very broad terms, looking not only at modern technical media and mass media but also at the very idea of a medium as a means of communication, a set of institutional practices, and a "habitat" in which images proliferate and take on a "life of their own." Readings include classic texts (e.g., Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Cratylus, Aristotle's Poetics) and modern texts (e.g., Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media, Regis Debray's Mediology, Friedrich Kittler's Gramophone, Film, Typewriter). We also look at recent films (e.g., The Matrix, eXistenZ) that project fantasies of a world of total mediation and hyperreality. Course requirements include one "show and tell" presentation that introduces a specific medium.

Instructor(s): W. J .T. Mitchell Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Any 10000-level ARTH or ARTV course, or consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 12800,MAPH 34300

TAPS 28462. The Martial Arts Tradition in Chinese Literature and Film. 100 Units.

The martial-arts novel is probably the most popular genre of fiction for today's Chinese-reading public; through the kung-fu/action film industry this tradition has now been disseminated across the world and become part of global culture. This course examines the evolution of the martial arts code across a wide range of genres and historical periods. Our objects of study include biographies from the early histories, classical tales, novels, opera, and film. Topics include the representation of violence and revenge, the politics of representation, the gendering of power, the affect of changes in technology and media, and the relationship between tradition and modernity, the local and the global.

Instructor(s): J. Zeitlin Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 24300

TAPS 28465. Adaptation: Text and Image. 100 Units.

A course concerned with the marriage of image and text that explores films, illuminated manuscripts, court masques, comic books/graphic novels, children's picture books and present day (perhaps local) theater productions that deal at their core with the balance and dance between story and picture. Examples of work studied would be Chris Marker's La jetée, any of the masques that Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones collaborated on, the comics of Winsor McCay, William Blake's engraved poems and images, as well as more contemporary works, e.g. Superman comics, and music videos. The theatrical collaborations of the instructors themselves ("The Cabinet" and "Cape and Squiggle", both produced by Chicago's Redmoon Theatre in the last year) will be discussed as well.

Instructor(s): Maher, Maugeri Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Submit a 3 page writing sample and a one-paragraph statement of intent. Visual materials are welcome but not required.
Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 25000

TAPS 28470. Molière. 100 Units.

Molière crafted a new form of satirical comedy that revolutionized European theater, though it encountered strong opposition from powerful institutions. We read the plays in the context of the literary and dramatic traditions that Molière reworked (farce, commedia dell'arte, Latin comedy, Spanish Golden Age theater, satiric poetry, the novel), while considering the relationship of laughter to social norms, as well as the performance practices and life of theater in Molière's day.

Instructor(s): L. Norman Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): FREN 21703 or consent of instructor.
Note(s): Classes conducted in French.
Equivalent Course(s): FREN 25000

TAPS 28480. The Worlds of Harlequin: Commedia dell'arte. 100 Units.

This course introduces the Italian art of theatrical improvisation or Commedia dell'arte, a type of theatre featuring masked characters and schematic plots. We look at the influence of Boccacio's Decameron on the formation of stock-characters, the introduction of women into the realm of theatrical professionalism, the art of costume and mask making, and the Italian knack for pantomime and gestural expression. Readings include masterpieces in the tradition of comic theatre such as Machiavelli's The Mandrake and Goldoni's Harlequin Servant of Two Masters, as well as their renditions in film.

Instructor(s): R. Rubini Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Classes conducted in Italian; majors do all work in Italian.
Equivalent Course(s): ITAL 29600

TAPS 28490. Peking Opera. 100 Units.

Peking opera (jingju) is the one nationally prominent form of traditional performing arts in China. This course will introduce concepts and methods that can be applied to the study of Peking opera. Emphasis will be put on understanding artistic elements essential to the living tradition of performance—the visual aspects including stylized stage gesture and movement, sets and costumes, and colors; the music and oral transmission. Topics for discussion include “realism," alienation, time and space, connoisseurship, and film. Students will not only engage with scholarly literature that cuts across different disciplines, but also be introduced to a rich body of sources ranging from gramophone recordings to photographs, opera films, and documentaries. Motivated students will also learn some basics of singing and moves. Field trips to Chinese community Peking opera troupes may be arranged.

Instructor(s): P. Xu Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Mandarin a plus but not a prerequisite.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 20450

TAPS 28492. Introduction to Japanese Theater. 100 Units.

In this course we will explore a variety of Japanese theatrical forms from the fourteenth century to the present, including Noh, Kyogen, Bunraku, Kabuki, Shimpa, Shingeki, Butoh, and Takarazuka. Our emphasis will be on understanding the forms in their historical and performative contexts through close textual analysis as well as performance analysis of video footage, whenever possible. No background assumed or required in Japanese language or theater.

Instructor(s): R. Jackson Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 20401

28500-29699. Advanced Topics in Theater. PQ: Advanced experience in theater and consent of instructor. These courses are designed for students wishing to pursue advanced study in a specific field of theater/performance. Intensive study and reading is expected. Attendance at performances and labs required. Interested students should contact the TAPS office.

TAPS 28500. Advanced Study: Acting. 100 Units.