Other officers of the
University offering courses listed below:
Professor: Julie Peters, Martin Puchner
Associate Professor of Professional Practice: Steven Chaikelson
For a complete list of
faculty on leave see:
http://www.barnard.edu/provost/facleavelist.html
The Barnard College Theatre major, a joint program with the Columbia College major in Drama and Theatre Arts, teaches students to create and interpret drama and theatre in the context of a liberal arts curriculum. Early in the major, students are given a foundation in theatre history and world theatre traditions as well as in performance and production. As students continue to move through the program, they acquire a comprehensive knowledge of dramatic literature, theatre history, and theories of the theatre, which they learn to integrate with their growing expertise in acting, directing, design, and playwriting. Committed to situating theatre within cultural and historical contexts, the program examines different traditions around the world and the ways in which they interact. Course offerings cover diverse traditions and forms of theatre, ranging from Shakespeare, dramatic theory, and commedia dell'arte to stage realism, expressionism, and the avant-garde, in lectures, seminars, acting labs, design studios, and performances at the Minor Latham Playhouse. The major culminates in an individually designed senior project, which approaches theatre performance by means of creative interpretation as well as literary, historical, and theoretical analysis. The senior project results in either a theatre production or a written thesis grounded in historical and scholarly research.
Plays participate in literary traditions, but they, along with other kinds of performances, are also part of social life. Theatre thus emerges as a site of cultural innovation, transmission, and contestation involving a variety of languages including verbal, scenic, musical, and physical. Fostering both creative and analytic thought, the theatre major is valuable not only to undergraduates who aim to pursue advanced degrees or careers in the field but also to those interested in the study of languages, literatures, and the arts. For this reason, students are encouraged to supplement their course work in drama and theatre with courses in other departments such as Anthropology, Architecture, Art History, Classics, Dance, Film, Literature, Music, and Philosophy.
Students intending to major in Theatre should consult with the department chair in their sophomore year or earlier to plan a program. Twelve courses and one senior thesis (in Performance or in History, Theory, Dramaturgy, and Criticism) are required as follows:
Dramatic literature and theatre history
Two courses in Theatre History: THTR V 3150 and 3151
One course in Drama, Theatre, and Theory: THTR V 3166 or ENTA W 3702
One course in Shakespeare
Two courses in Dramatic Literature. One course must be a seminar.
Theatre Practice
One course in World Theatre: THTR V 3000
One course in Theatre Design: THTR V 3133-3136, 3510, or 4001
One course in Acting: THTR V 3004 or 3005
One course in Directing: THTR V 3200 or 3201
Two courses that continue work in one of these areas: design, acting, directing, or playwriting. These choices should be made in consultation with the major adviser. Other courses may be substituted with the chair's permission.
Senior Thesis
THTR V 3997 Senior Thesis: Performance (design, acting, directing, or playwriting)
or THTR V 3998 Senior Thesis: History, Theory, Dramaturgy, Criticism.
Before doing their senior performance thesis, students are required to complete a minor crew assignment, usually in the first two years, and a major crew assignment, usually in the junior year during the Senior Thesis Festival.