Time Schedule:
Shanga Kyle Gerard Parker
DRAMA 259
Seattle Campus
Special work in various aspects of performance technique.
Class description
Performance Practicum--Creation Of An Original Performance Using The Viewpoints Method The seminar--open to both experienced performers and those new to the stage--is designed to oversee and facilitate the creation of an original performance using material the students write alone and create together utilizing the Viewpoints Method (see below). This Discovery Seminar will spend 1.5 weeks on students expressing themselves in the solo context (written and performance), in which we would examine different styles of theatrical performance using various topics about which they write. The next 1.5 weeks would be exploring the use of space, semiotics of spatial relationships, proper use of tempo, (and other topics Viewpoints touches upon). The final week will be spent rehearsing and polishing the final public performance. It is, and has been, my goal as an instructor to give students the tools to be generative artists (not merely interpretive artists). If a student knows how to make something his/herself, s/he never has to wait on someone else to give him/her a job. This class helps students toward that goal. The Viewpoint Method, created and developed by Mary Overlie (Associate Teacher at NYU), Anne Bogart (Theatre Arts Professor at Columbia University), and Tina Landau (Freelance Director and Member of Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago), is an effective technique in making theatrical productions based on ideas and themes. It is accessible to both experienced and inexperienced theatre practitioners.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
