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2021-2022 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Sport Management |
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SPM 361 Leadership and Management in Sport
This course provides students with an applied knowledge of the general concepts of leadership and human resources within a sport management context. Student will develop their abilities to synthesize and integrate human resource management and organizational behavior, particularly from a leadership perspective, with sport management practices.
Prerequisite: SPM 261 , BA260
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SPM 367 International Sport Management
The purposes of this course are to introduce students to global sport management principles and to offer firsthand experience through a study abroad opportunity. Students will travel to Madrid, Spain for six days after the final exam. The tour will include visiting (1) Microsoft Global Sports Innovation Center, (2) Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, (3) Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas (bullring) and (4) Madrid’s historical sites. Students will be attending the sporting events such as (1) Mutua Madrid Open Tennis (La Caja Magica) quarter-final matches and (2) La Liga soccer match Atletico de Madrid vs Sevilla F.C. Sport Management lectures will be given by professors and professionals at Escuela Universitaria Real Madrid-Universidad Europea.
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: SPM 261 or instructor’s permission
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SPM 370 Practicum II
(2 credits)
This is a upper level field experience course that allows students to practice and demonstrate their developing skills and competencies in their chosen career (e.g., college athletics, pro sports). Students undertake a 5-10 week (minimum of 40 hours total). This course provides observation of higher level management operation and participation in day-to-day duties in a selected sport organization. The focus on quality learning experience and partnership with the business community are main components of the practicum program and combine to provide distinct and meaningful educational opportunities for students.
Prerequisite: SPM 261 and SPM 270 . Before registering this course, students must consult with the course instructor to discuss about securing a practicum position
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SPM 380 Sport Budgeting and Finance
This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the budgeting and finance principles used in sport organizations. Focus is placed on financial budget analysis as well as revenue enhancement and expense control for sport organizations. In addition, students are exposed to economic impact analysis, public subsides, broadcast rights, player costs, sponsorship, and sport facilities.
Prerequisite: BA 201 , SPM 261 , junior standing or with instructor’s permission.
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SPM 381 Consumer Behavior in Sport
This course is based on theories developed in psychology and marketing and builds a bridge to sport consumer behavior. A common thread in this course is to provide a better understanding of how individuals make decisions and judgments in spectator sport consumption setting. To this end, various theoretical frameworks and practical implications relevant to sport consumer behavior are examined.
Prerequisite: SPM 261
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SPM 470 Internship
The internship course is considered to be one of the most critical components of the Sport Management Major. Students will undertake a 10-15 week (minimum of 100 hours total), full-time supervised internship. This course is expected to enhance the students’ academic experiences via a required industry analysis, weekly logs and a portfolio, and provide networking opportunities and additional field experience. Before registering this course, students must consult with the course instructor to discuss about securing an internship position.
Prerequisite: SPM 261 , SPM 270 , & SPM 370
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SPM 495 Research Seminar in Sport Management
This course provides an overview of research methods and techniques. The course will emphasize practical issues related to planning, conducting, and interpreting research relevant to sport management. The primary purposes of the course are to provide students with the knowledge to critically evaluate research and understand the fundamental tasks associated with conducting research projects.
Prerequisite: SPM 261 , BA 347 and senior standing.
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Theater Arts |
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TH 101 The Actor’s Instrument
(3 credits)
The focus of the work is on relaxation, alignment, breathing, the development of free resonance flow, and good articulation of vowels and consonants.
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TH 102 Voice and Speech II
(2 credits)
Actors are introduced to the progression of voice exercises in Kristin Linklater’s “Freeing the Natural Voice.” The focus of the class is on developing techniques that foster the connection between the acting impulse and the voice.
Prerequisite: TH 102.
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TH 131 Theater Dares You
This course for non-majors deepens students’ engagement with this communal art form. The perspective from which we set out to survey the theater is that of an audience member. Informed and literate audience members are crucial to theater; without an audience there is no performance. We start by demonstrating why this particular art form is/ has been ubiquitous not only globally today, but down through the annals of time, as well. The students are introduced to the cluster of different artists typically employed when a show is being created: writers, designers, directors, casting, actors, etc. A broad survey of genres and styles of plays is presented. Aside from seeing and thoroughly assessing five to seven LIVE productions during the course of the semester, class projects are designed for students to explore theatrical possibilities for telling their own stories.
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TH 140 Fundamentals of Acting
Students work on basic acting skills such as developing the ability to produce free, imaginative, and purposeful behavior in relation to environments, objects, and other persons; individual silent exercises; and group exercises. This work leads to in-class performances of selected scenes from a variety of American contemporary plays with special focus given to the sensory requirements in the text.
No previous experience is required.
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TH 141 Role Play and Improvisation
In exploring the dimensions of theatrical self-expression, this course employs lecture, discussion and classroom activities to raise issues that stretch self-awareness through dramatic interaction involving imagination and creativity. Through theater games and dramatic situations, students learn a variety of performance skills and find themselves exploring their own creative and artistic possibilities.
No previous experience required.
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TH 150 Acting I: Foundations
Through improvisation and ensemble work, students will develop fundamental acting skills such as imagination, concentration, listening, emotional accessibility, honesty and commitment. Students will develop characters, invest in given circumstances, and invent unscripted stories. In addition, students will become familiar with the history of actor training—from Stanislavski to Bogart. This course is open only to Theater Arts majors and minors.
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TH 159 Applied Voice for Musical Theater
(1 credit)
This course is an intensive study of the voice in the private studio. The teacher works with the student to improve vocal technique, to learn new vocal literature, to enlarge knowledge of diction and develop basic language skills, and to pursue other activities designed to better the voice for the musical theater actor. This course involves a 45 minute private lesson once per week at a time scheduled between the applied instructor and the student, a one-hour studio class once per month and public performances twice a semester in recital/cabaret format.
Prerequisite: Acceptance into the Musical Theater concentration (within the BFA degree in Acting; by audition only) or express permission of the instructor is required.
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TH 165 Method Acting
Long after the impact of Brecht, Artaud, Grotowski, Lecoq and Peter Brook, the art and practice of acting is still turning on the revelations and teachings of Constantine Stanislavsky. If the Stanislavsky “system” or “method” is applied literally, it leads merely to realism, but applied systematically with discrimination it can become the grammar of all styles. While based on the teachings of Stanislavsky, this course includes insights by other famous acting teachers such as Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg, Michael Chekhov and Stella Adler. This is an initial acting course with a focus on the practical and playable aspects of the “system’s” training, providing the actor with a resource to operate completely on his or her own in any and all production situations.
Studio course with lab requirement.
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TH 191 Stage Practicum and Crew I
(0 credits)
This course includes scene construction, rigging, costume construction, drafting and stage lighting. It examines theater architecture and elements of scene, costume and lighting production. All students in the first year of the program are assigned on a rotating basis throughout the year to various crews that build and run the shows in the Theater performing series.
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TH 192 Stage Practicum and Crew II
(0 credits)
This course includes scene construction, rigging, costume construction, drafting and stage lighting. It examines theater architecture and elements of scene, costume and lighting production. All students in the first year of the program are assigned on a rotating basis throughout the year to various crews that build and run the shows in the Theater performing series.
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TH 199 Theater History
This course is a study of the development of the physical theater and concurrent developments in dramatic literature and musical theater. It surveys styles in acting, directing, dramatic criticism and production from historical, analytical and performance perspectives. It requires individual and group projects. Attendance at theater productions is included when possible.
No previous experience required.
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TH 200 Movement Training for Comfort, Power & Grace
(2 credits)
The course gives students a reliable way to feel better in their bodies. The course provides an understanding of how bodies function and gives each student insight into his or her personal habits outside this design that create tension in the body. Students learn to move more freely and gain new understanding of their aches and pains. Students come away with a working knowledge of the musculoskeletal system and how to cultivate true core support and to balance functioning of all muscle groups. We review the newest research in back pain and neuroplasticity, study the respiratory system and breathing patterns, and study how perception contributes to our bodily feeling and use patterns. The class is catered to anyone with an interest in feeling better and moving with increased ease and coordination. Assignments include exercises around public speaking, working at the computer, and lifting challenging objects (including an evening in the weight room). Students gain increased powers of self-observation, impulse control and improved coordination.
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TH 201 Script Analysis
There’s no other way to say it: Reading plays is difficult. To read a play in print is to encounter a work of art in unfinished and incomplete form. Visual artistry, physical presence and live audience dynamics are reduced to flat, static words on a page. In this course, students explore and practice with various techniques for reading and analyzing scripts: techniques designed to help theater artists discover more fully the dynamic potential of theatrical texts as blueprints for live performance. Students work with several techniques for analyzing play texts, explore conventional play genre labels (tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy), and examine the ideas of key theorists in Western theater history (Aristotle, and Brecht), to discover different perspectives from which plays may be read and evaluated critically. Class discussions, online discussions and writing assignments provide opportunities to develop and refine the critical/analytical skills addressed in course readings.
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TH 203 Voice and Speech III
(2 credits)
Actors explore second half of the Linklater voice progression. The focus is on developing each actor’s full vocal range. In addition to the voice exercises, students work on a variety of texts chosen to support their growing acquisition/skills.
Prerequisite: TH 102 .
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TH 204 Voice and Speech IV
(2 credits)
The focus is on speech. Clarity of articulation and effective use of vowels is developed by learning the International Phonetics Alphabet.
Prerequisite: TH 203 .
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TH 205 Music Skills for Actors
(3 credits)
Music Skills for Actors is a course designed to build and refine your musicianship, the ability to hear, perceive, understand, learn, and perform music. Specific focus will be placed on the practical applications of both aural and visual music theory skills commonly seen in the world of musical theatre. Basic and advanced rhythmic exercises, sight-singing, rhythmic, melodic and harmonic dictation, and tonal harmony will all be studied within the confines of musical theatre.
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TH 210 Yoga
(2 credits)
This course introduces study in the Indian exercises of relaxation and energy focusing. No previous experience necessary.
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TH 211 Stage Makeup
(2 credits)
This course seeks to illuminate the actor’s quest for character through a concise, easily understood exploration of the connection between makeup and character, emphasizing the total visual impact of the character on the audience and discussing in depth the contribution of props and costume to the overall effect. The course is intended to help performers. Students bridge the gap between understanding a role and expressing that understanding in tangible form. (Theater Acting majors only.)
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TH 212A Advanced Yoga
(2 credits)
This course is suitable for students who have a basic understanding of yoga and want to deepen their practice through exploration of intermediate yoga postures and techniques that promote mental clarity, relaxation, and total well being. An emphasis will be placed on the chakra system, the subtle energy centers in the body.
Prerequisite: TH 210 or previous yoga experience (approved by instructor).
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TH 220 Special Topics in Stagecraft
(3 credits)
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TH 221 Dance and Choreography
(3 credits)
Movement is inherently dramatic. Explore the wide range of movement that exists within our bodies and the world around us. This is a studio course that explores the elements of dance making and the craft of choreography through the manipulation of time, space and energy. The movement material explored is pedestrian movement and stylized dance. Each student works within his or her own technical skill level to uncover the endless possibilities of movement within the human body and the vast opportunities for communication of the human experience. No previous experience necessary.
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TH 222 Stage Combat I
(3 credits)
Starting with the basics of hand-to-hand combat, or weaponless fighting, the students are introduced to the idea of personal safety, how to be safe and remain safe onstage, including all the fundamental moves every actor needs to get by in this business. Students then study and practice the art of the sword and learn the techniques that keep the actor safe long after training is over. Coursework includes training in unarmed and single sword. No previous experience required.
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TH 223 Stage Combat II
(2 credits)
Picking up from basic stage combat, the student is drilled in the sword and works toward its perfection. An emphasis on fencing with the foil epee and saber becomes part of the student’s regimen to teach better coordination and focus, as well as the practical applications thereof. The latter part of the class is dedicated to the quarterstaff and its use. Students explore the weapon through exercises and choreography. Basic certification with Fight Directors Canada is possible upon completion of training.
Prerequisite: TH 222 .
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TH 224 Stage Combat III
(2 credits)
Rapier and Dagger: The traditional weapons of Shakespeare’s day; picking up from single sword technique, the additional weapon is added to the non-dominant hand, i.e. dagger. The student practices in this double fence style until he or she can use them with facility. Broadsword: The basics of this classic medieval weapon are taught in much the same way as the rapier. Starting with the rudimentary footwork and guards of the weapon, the cut and parries are taught and drilled. The students explore the use of the broadsword through choreography and styles taught. Basic certification with the Society of American Fight Directors is possible upon completion of training.
Prerequisite: TH 223 .
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TH 228 Dance Techniques for Musical Theater
(3 credits)
This beginning level dance technique class focuses on styles and performance elements of dance for musical theater. Through warm-up exercises and movement combinations, both set and improvisational, students will build a foundation of skills needed to dance in musical theater productions. Disciplines explored include jazz, ballet, African, tap, modern dance, partnering, ensemble work, solo work, floor work, hip hop and improvisation. Students will improve stamina, strength, range of movement, and performance commitment, and will acquire a deeper understanding of the challenges of musical theater dance.
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TH 229 Dance Techniques for Musical Theater II
3 Credits
This intermediate level dance technique class focuses on styles and performance elements of dance for musical theater. Through warm-up exercises and movement combinations, both set and improvisational, students will further develop a foundation of skills needed to audition for and dance in musical theater productions. Disciplines explored include jazz, ballet, African, tap, hip hop and modern dance. Class work will focus on partnering, ensemble work, solo work, floor work, and improvisation. Students will improve stamina, strength, range of movement, commitment to performance, and professionalism. Students will cultivate an ability to learn complex movement sequences, and will acquire a deeper understanding of the challenges of musical theater dance. Emphasis will be placed on differentiation of dance styles and strengthening audition skills.
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: TH 228 or permission of instructor through placement exam. Enrollment for students not pursuing the Musical Theater concentration (within the BFA degree in Acting) will be subject to prior approval from the instructor.
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TH 230 Modern Dance
(3 credits)
This is a modern dance technique class focusing on the connection and coordination of the upper and lower body. To this end, emphasis is placed on increasing abdominal strength, thereby gaining freedom and fluidity in the limbs. Warm-ups and exercises increase strength, stretch and stamina. Traveling sequences are geared toward gaining rhythmic accuracy and coordination. Class combinations and exercises increase in length and difficulty throughout the semester.
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TH 231 Intermediate Dance
This is a modern technique class that builds on the foundation in TH 230 Modern Dance . Emphasis is placed on increasing accuracy of articulation and range of movement and moving the body as a cohesive unit. As the body gains strength and flexibility, each student is encouraged to find his or her own stylistic voice and individuality in movement.
Prerequisite: TH 230 /TH 221 or instructor’s permission.
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TH 241 Acting II: Scene Study
This is a scene study class focusing on characterization and motivation. Students rehearse and perform contemporary plays as a means of furthering skills and craft. Both performance and personal journals are maintained on a continuing basis, and outside rehearsals on scenes are expected. The emphasis is on interpretation of the playwright’s intentions and finding actable, interesting choices for the actor. Studio course with lab requirement.
Prerequisite: TH 150 and permission of instructor.
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TH 244 Acting III: Language and Verse
The course begins with helping the student to feel the very heartbeat of the work, the students/actors have to know how to decipher and understand a text that may feel strange on the tongue, and they have to discover the text’s tone and tempo, mine its inner richness, and learn how to speak the text with ease. Lectures cover background with studio work and seminars built around improvised scenes along with scenes and monologues that are to be rehearsed outside the class for performance and critique during class.
Studio course with lab requirement.
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TH 252 American Women Playwrights
This course surveys some of the most influential plays written by American women of the 20th century. The course examines how female writers have participated in, responded to, and helped to shape the prevailing currents of American drama. No previous experience necessary.
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TH 253 African American Drama
This course views the social, political and cultural history of 19th- and 20th-century United States through the lenses provided by a diverse selection of African American playwrights and other theater artists. The plays (which range from one act to full-length, from the tragic to the satirical) address a variety of issues, including slavery and its abolition, civil rights, inter-racial relationships, Black Nationalism, women’s rights, and gay rights. Classes include script, scene and character analyses as well as student-directed and acted readings from selected scripts. The course also explores the educational applications the theater arts can have in related fields.
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TH 254 Introduction to Dramaturgy
(3 credits)
What the heck is a dramaturg? What does a dramaturg do? Why do we need dramaturges in the theater? This course explores the theory and practice of dramaturg as a creative art. Together we examine the responsibilities of a dramaturg in helping to shape a theatrical production and complete practical exercises that will help to build the skills and sensibility needed for real-life dramaturgical work. Members of the class attend and discuss theater productions and work together on dramaturgical research for a Theater Arts program’s production.
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TH 260 Puppet Theater
Starting with a survey of object animation traditions spanning Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States, students develop an understanding of how puppets have and continue to be used as a vibrant medium for communicating sophisticated ideas and the needs of the people they represent. From this historical and cultural foundation, students create their own original works of puppet theater by writing, developing, designing and building an animated short. The focus is primarily on puppet theater geared toward adult audiences utilizing non-narrative storytelling.
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TH 261 Stage Design
This is a two-part program of study: scene design for display, culminating in a scenic model; and stage lighting theory and practice, culminating in a full light plot. The course examines the history of design and its influence on the actor’s art, tools and techniques. It surveys the practical and theoretical elements of lighting instruments, their function and design. It includes theater laboratory and assistance in the actual lighting of a production.
Offered in even years.
Prerequisite: No prerequisites required.
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TH 262 Costume Design
This is a two-part program of study: costume design for display, culminating in a full-costume plot. This examines the history of design and its influence on the actor’s art, tools and techniques. It surveys the practical and historical elements of costume, their function and design. It includes theater laboratory and assistance in the actual costuming of a production.
Offered in even years.
Prerequisite: No prerequisites required.
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TH 263 Stage Construction
(3 credits)
This course includes scene construction, rigging, costume construction, drafting and stage lighting. It examines theater architecture and elements of scene, costume and lighting production.
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TH 264 Stage Management
(3 credits)
This course is divided into pre-production, rehearsal period, tech/running, and maintenance of production segments. The objective is to thoroughly introduce the student to the different venues of theater, from small storefront theater to large regional theaters. Although the emphasis is on management practices for theater venues, there is an element of the practical, day-to-day “nuts and bolts” in the stage management process.
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TH 265 Theater for Young Audiences
This is a course in the multiple aspects and practices of children’s theater in America. The course examines the theatrical conventions and structures of this distinct area of theater. It explores the multiple areas of children’s theater from performance to puppetry. The course includes writing a paper on a children’s theater or practitioner in America. The art of children’s theater is a loss of our present inhibition and a willingness to rediscover the child within. We discuss and explore all areas of performing for children. No previous experience required.
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TH 266 Craftwork Applications
This offering focuses on expanding the student’s skill set to include highly employable, specialized techniques utilized in the entertainment industry, fine arts and theatre. Through project based exercises, students explore leatherwork, thermoplastics, millinery, simple circuits, sculpting, mold making and casting as a means to develop creative expertise, fine craftsmanship and critical thinking skills.
Prerequisite: None.
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TH 267 Lighting Design
This course provides an introduction to the art of lighting design for the theater: from the reading and analysis of a script, through the design process and a completed production. Students will develop a sense of how lighting contributes to the audience’s understanding of a play, learn about the theories and concepts that inform lighting design, work with the various kinds of lighting instruments and other tools at a lighting designer’s disposal, and explore how the learn the qualities of light can be manipulated to shape audience perception of the human form, sculpt theatrical space and serve the needs of a theatrical production. Course work will also help students understand the basic scientific concepts of light and electricity, and master the technical demands of executing lighting designs in the theater.
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TH 293 Acting a Song
Acting a Song is a workshop class aimed at beginning actors or others who have an interest in musical theater and performance. Musical theater is often first point of contact for students of theater, yet high school theater settings often do not allow the time needed to explore the process of performing a song effectively. Using songs from the American Musical Theater cannon the course seeks to reinforce lessons learned in Improv and Scene Study. Each student will memorize and perform two solo songs and one duet. Students will work with a live accompanist in class and will be required to bring to class a recording device that will allow them to record piano parts to the songs they are working on so that rehearsal away from class is possible.
Prerequisite: TH 150 or TH 241 or permission of the instructor.
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TH 299 Global Traditions of Theater and Performance
(3 credits)
This course investigates non-Western theatrical histories, performance practices and dramatic texts from across the globe. We will read and discuss play scripts, watch and analyze performances on video (or live performances, if and when the opportunity arises), and investigate some of the cultural histories, folk traditions, religious ritual practices and other contexts that inform the theatrical lives of these global regions. We will use the study of theater and performance as a means of approaching the cultures of unfamiliar societies, and seek understanding of how these theatrical traditions compare and contrast with our own. Units of study include China, India, South Africa, Nigeria, Caribbean, and South America.
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TH 300 Advanced Theater Practicum
(2 credits)
This course is an in-depth study in performance or production culminating in a performance project. The Theater Arts adviser must approve topic and project.
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TH 301 Neutral Mask
(2 credits)
Neutral mask work is central in actor training because it enables the actor to experience in its most startling form the chemistry of acting. Because the face is hidden, all expression depends on the body—the mask becomes an energizing force leading the actor to depend upon the richness of his or her inner life within a calm and balanced body. The mask then is a tool to help the actor to strengthen his or her inner feelings and power of concentration, develop physical powers of outward expression and diminish self-consciousness.
Studio course with lab requirement.
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TH 303 Business of the Arts
(3 credits)
Students learn how the entertainment industry works and how to get started upon a career.
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TH 305 Voice & Speech V
(2 credits)
Breath work, vocal sounding and physical alignment are focused on poetry.
Prerequisite: TH 204 .
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TH 307 Dialects for the Stage
This course introduces students to the methods of working on and learning a stage dialect. Students learn to analyze dialect speech patterns in terms of musicality, rhythm, resonance, intonation, phoenetic changes of vowels and consonants. We will work with Standard British, Cockney, Irish, American Southern, New York, French and German dialects. Additionally, students will build skills for teaching themselves new dialects, and learn one additional dialect of their own choosing.
Prerequisite: TH 203
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TH 330 Directing
This course is intended as an introduction to directing for the stage. The principles of working with actors and leading a team of designers accompany a series of small assignments leading to a final directing project. The course includes theory and practice in play directing: play selection, playscript interpretation, composition, movement, business management, casting, rehearsal, performance, director/designer and director/actor relationships. Students focus on perception and expression as a means of drawing inner and physical expression from others. The course requires prompt preparation of scripts, direction of scenes and one-act plays, and theater laboratory.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level Theater courses.
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TH 341 Acting in Modern Theater
This is a scene study of modern classic writers, such as, Ibsen, Strinberg, Chekhov, and American writers O’Neill, Miller, Hellman, Wilson, and Vogel.
Studio course with lab requirement.
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TH 343 Commedia del’ Arte
Not regularly scheduled.
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TH 345 Acting in Film and TV
In this course, students learn to deliver performances that are truthful, based on instinct rather than intellect. Participants work with student directors in preparing scenes selected from film, television, theater, or original material to be recorded on videotape for in-class presentation, discussion and critical analysis by the instructor.
Studio course with lab requirement.
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TH 349 Acting IV: Advanced Scene Study
Advanced Scene Study is a workshop class aimed at upper level acting majors or others who have a serious interest in acting. Students in consultation with the instructor and other members of the theater arts faculty will work on scenes that will strengthen identified weaknesses and take advantages of identified strengths to codify and deepen the understanding of the principles of acting. Individualized instruction will be given to each student as they work in class on scenes. Students will be expected to work at least 5 hours a week with partners outside of class. Students will present to the instructor and invited members of the theater arts faculty 4 prepared scenes for evaluation and comment.
Prerequisite: TH 241 or permission of the instructor.
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TH 350 Playwriting
Using the creative approach, the course examines several forms of scriptwriting (e.g., playscript, the screenplay and scripts for audio/visual media), introduces tools of critical analysis through critique of student’s original work, and presents practical aspects of marketing the stage of screenplay. No previous experience required.
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TH 360 Acting V: Audition Techniques
This course is designed to help young actors begin to negotiate the world of the audition. Students hone their audition skills in a supportive atmosphere, through hands-on workshops focusing on various types of auditions: contemporary and classical monologues, commercial voiceovers, dance, and cold-copy commercial. By meeting and auditioning for working artists and casting directors from the professional world, students will gain insight into what awaits them in the real world as theatre artists, and refine the skills that will help them audition more effectively in all contexts.
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TH 361 Seminar: Modern Drama
This course is exploration of the styles and techniques of modern century theater, including selected British, American, and Continental plays by modern dramatists such as, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Shaw, Synge, O’Neill, Pirandello, Brecht, and Pinter.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or above.
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TH 370 Career Internship in Theater Arts
This is a working internship for one semester at a professional theater, television, or radio station.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or above.
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TH 389 Independent Study
In-depth study and research culminates in a substantial paper or performance project.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or above; a minimum GPA of 3.0 and permission of the Department Chair.
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TH 392 Musical Theater Scene Study
Musical Theater Scene Study examines and develops the various elements/techniques used to craft process for the musical theater actor. Specific focus is placed on partnering methods and ensemble collaboration through the active preparation and performance of musical theater scenes.
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: TH 150, TH 241 or TH 293 or permission of the instructor.
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TH 392 Musical Theater Scene Study
Musical Theater Scene Study examines and develops the various elements/techniques used to craft process for the musical theater actor. Specific focus is placed on partnering methods and ensemble collaboration through the active preparation and performance of musical theater scenes.
Prerequisite: TH 150 , TH 241 or TH 293 or permission of the instructor.
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TH 393 Special Studies in Theater Arts
This is an advanced course on special topics such as Solo Performance, Performance: From Ritual to Theater, autobiographical Adaptations: Ethnographic method for playwriting and performance, Spirituality and Theater, Movement Theater and the New Vaudeville, or New Perspectives on Theater Adaptation. The course is designed as a means of addressing the interdisciplinary nature of the art of theater and poses subjects of interest to students and faculty.
Prerequisite: Two Theater courses 200 level or above. Topics may vary; may be repeated for credit.
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TH 490 Advanced Workshop in Theater
This course is individual or small-group projects in acting styles, directing full-length plays, scene and lighting design, theater management, or other theater areas. It may involve directing or designing of a major college production, a formal advanced class, or other approved topics.
Prerequisite: Individualized projects require the approval of the instructor.
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University Seminar |
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US 200 The Science of the Paranormal
Parapsychological phenomena—psychokinesis, after-death communications, pre-birth memories, out-of-body experiences, for example—are documented by cultures all over the world, but are considered pseudoscientific by most mainstream scientists. This course investigates accounts and analyses of parapsychological experiences to try to determine whether the scientific community’s view of the available research is paradigmatic or the result of conclusive evidence. Students will examine pop culture’s enthusiasm for supernatural/preternatural phenomena via first-hand narratives and cultural practices; assess the believability of phenomena via current academic scholarship, popular sources, guest speakers, and in-class experiments; and interpret phenomena through Eastern, Western, indigenous, and secular lenses.
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US 201 A Terrible Beauty: Ireland in the 20th Century
An undergraduate workshop course providing an interdisciplinary approach to the cultural myths and political realities of twentieth-century Ireland portrayed in important works of Irish film and literature. Open to students from all majors, this discussion course focuses on Ireland’s colonial and post-colonial conflicts with England (the UK), including Ireland’s massive, ongoing emigration, the Risings & Easter Rebellion, War of Independence, Civil War, Civil Rights Movement in the North, & The Troubles followed by the fragile 1998 Good Friday Peace Accord. The course probes cultural heritage underlying these ongoing conflicts, recognized in such themes as emigration and the myths of the West (including links to the U.S.); the role of women in Irish culture; and Ireland’s developing global identity created by a long historical relationship (social, political, economic, military, & cultural) joining the peoples of the U.K, the U.S., and Ireland. Songs, fiction, historical & political documents, poetry: All stand as living testimony to the discord and violence experienced by the Irish people whose diaspora & suffering, defiance & death, chart a century of boundary crossings whose paths continue into the 21st century. This course focuses on creative texts—Irish films and literature that students must keep up with for class discussions—supported by extensive background documents from historical, social, political, and journalistic sources.
Prerequisite: EN101
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US 203 Songwriting: A Blend of Poetry and Music
This course will be directed toward students who consider themselves poets and are interested in adding music, and/or musicians looking to write lyrics and investigate poetry, and/or for students that just want to write songs and be a part of a songwriting team. Either way, this interdisciplinary class is designed to teach students to make beautiful, memorable (maybe even sellable) songs. It will give them an understanding of some of the best songs ever written and how/why they became so good. In this class students will be poets, musicians, critics, and scholars.
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US 204 Buddhism and the Beats: Dharma Bums, Zen Lunatics and Crazy Wisdom
The writers and artists who are identified as “beat” collided in San Francisco, New York City, Boulder CO and “on the road” smack in the middle of the twentieth century. In early fifties America, these budding writers were attracted to Buddhism as an alternative to the era’s prevalent social and religious values-epitomized by the likes of religious leader Billy Graham and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. For Beat writers, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Joanne Kyger, Allen Ginsberg and Diane DiPrima, Buddhism was an antidote to what they saw as the spiritual and cultural stagnation of a society corrupted by Cold War politics and rampant consumerism. An overarching goal of this University Seminar will be to make connections between the Buddhist sources and the voices and visions of the Beat generation. Students will read selected works of these writers alongside the Beats’ favorite Buddhists scriptures and texts. Students will engage in close reading, intertextuality, discussions and inquiry-based learning. Through responsive, reflective and creative writing students will explore how the Beats incorporated Buddhist thought and philosophy into their fiction and poetry.
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US 205 Philadelphia Then & Now
This course explores metropolitan Philadelphia’s past and present in order to examine how history shapes the places in which we currently live, work, and play. The course uses a historical lens through which to view a range of contemporary subjects including: wealth and poverty; suburban sprawl; architecture and space; local literature and visual art; watersheds and other environmental resources; urban politics; regional mass media. Students explore aspects of urban Philadelphia as well as of Philadelphia-area suburbs and “vacationlands.” In addition to doing weekly assigned readings, students also take individual and group trips to locations around the region and conduct research designed to provide them a more complex understanding of and deeper relationship to the Philadelphia region.
Note: US205 can count toward the History major and minor.
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US 208 Great Trials in History
This University Seminar explores a dozen famous trials chosen to represent conflicts in different areas of intellectual and cultural/social history including philosophy, religion, science, art, and literature. Subjects include Socrates, Galileo, the Salem Witch Trials, John Brown, Oscar Wilde, the Scopes Monkey Trial, Nuremberg, and Robert Mapplethorpe. Texts include books, films, articles, and websites.
Note: US 208 can count toward the Criminal Justice, History and Philosophy majors and minors.
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US 209 Social Action and Social Change
This University Seminar presents students with an opportunity to learn about and participate in issues related to inequity, social justice, and social action. Using concepts grounded in the social sciences as an analytical framework, the course begins with an examination of the ways in which the development of individual and group identity is structured within social systems and institutions that also exercise power over these individuals. This power is exerted differentially across societal groups leading to inequity and structural violence. Using this framework, members of the class will then read, study, and learn about the ways in which grassroots movements around the world have used social action at the local level to bring about social change. Moving out of the classroom, students and faculty members will explore social change groups in the Philadelphia area and connect electronically with similar groups in other countries.
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US 211 From Hippies to Hipsters: The Legacies of Counter Culture
What exactly is a counterculture? Do they still exist? Didn’t they disappear with the Hippies? How do they benefit society? This seminar will answer these questions (and many more) as students examine how the 1960s counterculture represented a major departure from mainstream ideology – one where the youth began to question the idealized American way of life. Yet, counterculture isn’t just a singular decade. Instead, we’ll explore (through literature, art, film, and discussion) how counterculture extends beyond the 60s and into the contemporary moment where hegemonic resistance and American bohemia is alive, well, and redefining the way all of us live.
Topics such as civil rights, gender, race relations, sexuality, war, drug culture, environmental issues, politics, and more will be on the table. Not only will students think critically in class, but they will also literally extend beyond the boundaries of our classroom as they interact, interview, and experience first-hand the work of an individual whom they deem to be a countercultural agent of change. Ultimately, throughout the course, students will be inspired to reexamine their own weighted identities and enact tangible change in their own society.
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US 214 Evolution: Conflicts from Darwin to Intelligent Design
This course examines the conflicts raised by the theory of evolution, from the reception of Origin of Species in the 1860s, to the Scopes Trial in the 1920s, the legal struggle over scientific creationism in the 1980s, and the appearance of intelligent design in the 2000s. The course surveys evidence from paleontology (the fossil record) and genetics and explores scientific objections and difficulties such as the blending inheritance problem, rudimentary organs problem, the”missing link,” and others. In addition, the course considers the origin of American fundamentalism in connection with the Scopes trial, the rise of Social Darwinism and the spread of eugenic ideas.
Note: US214 can count toward the Philosophy major and minor and the Religion minor.
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US 215 Truth and Beauty: Mathematics in Literature
Throughout history, mathematics has been an inspiration to poets and writers. Math itself is one of the major expressions of the mysteries, beauty, and truth of our universe, and literature about math enhances this expression. Just as science has led to science fiction (and creative non-fiction), so math has led to something analogous. From Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions (Edward A. Abbott) to Adventure of the Final Problem (a Sherlock Holmes adventure by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle) to the stories of Aldous Huxley, Martin Gradner, Ian McEwan, Greg Egar, and others, to the poetry anthology Against Infinity (ed., Jet Foncannon and Marian Robson) to the poetry collection My Dance Is Mathematics (JoAnne Growney) and Crossing the Equal Sign (Marion Cohen), writings involving math have taken their place among humanity’s body of literature. This course explores some of the mathematical writings through the ages, as well as the math that inspired them.
Prerequisite: MA 100 and EN 101
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US 216 Social and Ethical Issues in Sports
There’s a lot more to sports than what takes place on the field or the court. Just read the sports page on any particular day - there are stories of steroid abuse, recruiting violations, academic eligibility, playing hurt, gambling, paying college athletes, diversity and gender issues, violence, hazing, graduation rates of student athletes, youth sports, moral and religious issues, issues related to the Olympics and politics, and the media’s relationship to sports. In this seminar, students will read, view and discuss texts that delve into these and other issues. Learning will occur through course readings, class discussion, lecture and writing assignments. Class trips are planned to Citizens Bank Park, Wachovia Center, Temple University and Comcast SportsNet studios.
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US 220 Education Stories: Films about Schools and What They Teach Us
Films depicting exemplary teachers and principals and their successful students have long provided many Americans their sense of how quality educational environments are created. But how much can one really learn about education from these cinematic treatments? This University Seminar includes screening and discussion of numerous films to probe them for their major themes relating to innovative teaching techniques, genuine concern and respect for students, and students’ responses in the form of high achievement and improved personal behavior. And the University Seminar compares and contrasts these films with the latest scholarly research investigating the factors and influences that correlate with successful schools and students and review and critique key educational and psychological theories of education. Written assignments, participation in classroom discussions, and small groups oral classroom reporting help students to develop written and oral communication skills.
Note: US 220 can count toward the Psychology major and minor.
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US 221 We Inquire We Design
This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of physical science that provides the foundation for understanding of energy and engineering design. Students work in teams to engage in science and engineering design practices of asking questions, developing and using models, planning and conducting investigations, analyzing data, revising models, using mathematics and computational thinking, and engaging in argumentation based on evidence.
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US 222 Everything & Nothing: Visualizing Math, Philosophy & Culture
Everything (the universe, infinity, oneness, completeness) and Nothing (vacuums, emptiness, zero, absence) are usually taken as opposites but are often ironically synonyms for each other. This University Seminar provides an investigation of these concepts in mathematics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature, taking students into intriguing but also possibly scary territory.
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US 223 From Gothic England to American Horror: Alfred Hitchcock’s Film
Although Alfred Hitchcock is noted for witty, clever, and suspenseful movies, this workshop course will focus on the suspense thriller films and their themes connected to spy intrigues, crimes of murder, and searches into bizarre worlds of horror. This University Seminar will approach the director’s British films as reflecting social issues of violence connected to families (especially women’s roles) as expressed in the Gothic genre. Concentrating on Hitchcock’s American movies, the second half of the course will explore the films’ social themes through the genre of Horror. We will explore the rich artistic texture of the course films, analyzing them visual narratives in the genres of Gothic and Horror tales. To this end, the course will review basic elements of film analysis, providing a critical vocabulary allowing students to analyze this visual/verbal cinematic medium; the style focus will be on the way films use space as a visual language of fiction (editing, framing, mise-en-scene, etc.). A discussion class focused on film viewing, discussion, and interpretation.
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US 225 Outcasts, Rebels and Other Normal People
This University Seminar focuses on compelling stories of individual and collective struggles and transformations in the midst of social oppression. Topics explored include identity, conformity, prejudice, rebellion, personal and societal transformation, pluralism, social reform, human rights and freedom. Authors include James Baldwin, Simone de Beauvoir, Frederick Douglass, Mohandas Gandhi, Khaled Hosseini, Martin Luther King Jr., Peter Matthiessen, Arthur Miller, and Walt Whitman.
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US 226 Shakespeare on Stage, Page and Screen in 21st Century
This University Seminar asks the questions: Why do we still read and perform Shakespeare? How can these centuries-old play texts, written in a style of English that we no longer speak, still be meaningful for us today? This course seeks to answer these questions by approaching Shakespeare from three distinct perspectives: Shakespeare in performance, Shakespeare as literature, and Shakespeare on film. Using a combination of methodologies and approaches, this course fosters a fuller appreciation for how Shakespearean texts written for an Early Modern audience might resonate with present-day American cultural sensibilities. Students examine how aspects of performance, cinematic imagination and literary analysis can work together to create urgent and relevant meanings for modern audiences. Particular attention is paid to the study of visual imagery associated with Shakespeare—including the examination of visual evidence from Elizabethan/Jacobean England, and the analysis of how scenic, lighting and costuming choices can communicate meaning in contemporary film and performance contexts. Students also work actively with the play texts in class, “on our feet,” to acquire a physical and kinesthetic sense of how live performance helps condition and contributes toward our understanding of a dramatic text.
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US 228 Science in Visual Arts
Art and Science may seem to be polar opposites, however, they are inseparable disciplines in many ways. They share the same desire to understand and investigate the world by organizing our perception. The main content of this course examines the question “Why we see what we see?” We address this question by looking at visual arts through the lens of science. Understanding how we visually perceive artworks and how our brain processes that information enables both art and science students to not only enrich their knowledge but also gain interdisciplinary perspectives. As a result, students create informed artworks and innovatively approach scientific research.
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US 229 3-Dimentional Programming and Storytelling with Alice
This course is designed to introduce students to computer programming through the use of the “Alice” programming language. “Alice” is a very simple introductory language which students will almost immediately be able to use to create animations.
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US 230 International Computer Ethics
This University Seminar examines the ethical consequences of the expansion of computer usage in our society and internationally. The course aims to give students a solid grounding in ethics in general and the ethical dilemmas that are unique to computer applications.
Note: US 230 can count toward the Computer Science or Computing Technology majors and minors or the Philosophy major and minor. Non-major students who want an introduction to computer programming might consider US 229 3-Dimentional Programming and Storytelling with Alice
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US 233 Copy!-Right? Creativity and Copyright
“Blurred Lines” (2013) infringed on Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up.” Or not. A person’s perspective on copyright and other intellectual property issues (inventions and patents, anyone?) can depend a lot on if they’re using someone else’s work or their work is getting used. This course explores how different ways of thinking about IP both protects and hinders creative expression. Visual and performing creators—formal or informal—will all gain something from taking it. Students create two transformative works of artistic expression as a basis for considering the different issues in actual practice.
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US 234 Representations of the Spanish Civil War
This University Seminar examines perceptions of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and their international implications. Topics discussed include the significance of the war, the political and social background of Spanish events and society, and how the conflict was been by Spanish, American, Canadian, English, and French writers and philosophers. Texts include journalistic perspectives as well as autobiographical accounts and poetic responses. Spanish and international films and documentaries are screened covering topics such as women’s participation in the war and the origins of global responses to the war. This course is a bilingual course and is taught in both Spanish and English. Readings are in both Spanish and English.
Prerequisite: SP 102
Note: US234.1 can count toward the History, International Studies & Spanish majors and minors.
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US 235 Born Digital: Voice of the Net Generation
This University Seminar investigates how digital natives—a term used to describe a generation of youth born after 1982 that has grown up with computers, video games, cell phones and digital music players—process, relate to and create information differently than their predecessors. What kind of world are digital natives creating? In essence, students in this course examine their own behavior and attitudes regarding the use and effects of digital technology tools in their lives and in the lives of their peers. Assignments consist of readings, individual and team-based ethnographic research, creation of online content and field trips in real and virtual space. Students will be expected to contribute to discussions in class and online using such tools as discussion forums, blogs, wikis, YouTube videos and data mashups.
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US 236 Christian, Jewish and Muslim Spain: From Eden to Exile
This course will examine the coexistence of the three principal religions: Christianity (Catholicism), Islam, and Judaism during the middle Ages. Tenets and beliefs of each religion will be examined in detail. Art and architecture reflecting the three religions will be analyzed and will include such national treasures as the synagogues in Toledo, The mosque in Córdoba, The Alhambra in Granada and the cathedrals of Santiago de Compostela and Seville. Topics discussed will include the Spanish Inquisition, The Catholic kings, the reconquest, and medieval life in Europe at that time. The historical time period will cover roughly from 700-1492. Readings will include various poems written by writers of the three religions, El Cid, La Celestina and historical documents of the epoch. Teaching the coexistence of the three religions exposes students to different ideological discourses embodied in cultural fields of the time. The class will also examine the three religions and their role in Spanish society today. This course is a bilingual course and will be taught in both Spanish and English. Readings will be in both Spanish and English.
Prerequisite: EN 101 and SP 202
Note: US 236 can count toward the History, International Studies and Spanish majors and minors
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US 237 The Impacts of Music, Film & Digital Media on Social Movements
This University Seminar will analyze the affect of music, film and digital media on the process of social movements. Social change is the transformation of culture and social organizations over time. Social movements are a type of group action that brings about change in existing cultural and political beliefs, mores and ultimately, laws. This course will focus particular attention on the last half of the 20th century, when the world witnessed unprecedented change in the areas of civil, women’s, and gay rights, as well as an explosion of technology for personal and political expression.
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US 238 Rethinking Children’s Animated Films
This course asks students to look beyond the marketing strategies that position classic children’s films as “innocent”, “magical”, and “fun for the whole family” in order to consider more carefully and objectively what lies beneath large media companies very successful, synergistic product promotion. In particular, the course would focus on the following: the evolution of media industries into an oligopoly where six or seven media conglomerates own most of the media in the US; the justification for media corporations promoting and protecting corporate images and marketing plans for classical animated films in particular; the appropriation and changing of original storylines to serve many purposes and ideas of not only the writers and producers; an exploration of the appeal for children of all ages as audience(s); film analyses to reveal subtexts embedded in the films (e.g. racial stereotypes, gender roles, consumerism); a study of how these subtexts have the power to impact our understanding of self and society; and, a look at the reception of children’s films by critics and consumers both at home and abroad in an increasingly global market. Particular emphasis will be placed on the Disney corporation as well as Dreamworks SKG, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and Hanna-Barbera Productions.
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US 239 Why Poetry Persists
Plato and Aristotle argued that poets come nearer to documenting vital truth than history does. Is this possible? What do poets contribute to society? This is a seminar with a workshop component, designed for students with or without experience in poetry writing, who have a genuine interest in poetry. Students begin as detectives, researching and examining various roles poets have played throughout history. As ethnographers, we attend Philadelphia-area poetry readings to witness these roles in action and personally connect with the artists. We also host an Arcadia Poets Symposium on campus, where published poets among Arcadia’s staff, faculty and student body share and discuss their work. Students choose one of these poets as the focus of a written, journalistic profile. As creative writers, students consider their own roles, crafting poems inspired by poets we read and see perform. Finally, as editors and publishers, we contribute to a web-based Arcadia literary journal focused on exploring the craft and capacity of poetry. This course has a Writing Designation and requires 4 papers as well as a portfolio of revised, polished poems.
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US 241 Invisible Women: An Exploration of Female Entrepreneurship
This course introduces students to the psychological, sociological and economic dimensions of entrepreneurship as they review extant research on female entrepreneurs. Students will develop their understanding of the female entrepreneur’s (psychological) motivations for starting and owning a business, the (sociological) network of relationships she establishes to support and sustain her business and the (economic) resources that her business uses and creates.
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US 242 Place, Space and the Global World: Exploring Immigrants and Identity
In this University seminar, the lens of place is used to explore issues of immigration, migration, and ethnic identity. Immigrants and migrants have arrived, settled, built communities, laid down roots and moved on, with others arriving after them leaving layers of material traces that give significance to the present, document the past, and point to the future. They have left material traces and maintained connections with home villages in previous centuries of immigration as well as in contemporary times. Forms can be aesthetic expressions, hold memories and give meaning to everyday lives, and are symbolic of who we are in an increasingly globalized world. Students learn how different disciplines use place as an interpretive mode to understanding the relationship of ethnicity to place(s), how difference (ethnicity, gender, race) is delineated in space, the politics of public space, issues of memory and place (including transnational connections), and globalization and place. A diverse range of reading assignments, images, video, and four field trips to Philadelphia will augment class discussion. The class visits a Puerto Rican urban garden and casita, a Palestinian mosque and deli, the 9th Street Market, and Chestnut Hill. The students hear first hand from the people who work and live in these places their significance for them and the connections or disconnections of meaning they hold. An interdisciplinary approach is also reflected in the kinds of assignments required of students. In introducing students to the topic of diversity and difference, the concept of worldview and how it varies cross-culturally and over time is discussed. An ethnographic fieldwork project is required in which students must interview at least one person. During the course of the semester, through in- class exercises and take-home assignments, students are guided step-by-step in the methodology of conducting original research.
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US 244 Ear Cleaning: Form, Pattern, Experience
An experimental music course focusing on composition and exploration of sound and space. No previous musical background is required. Students incorporate experiments with shape, form, pattern and experience to perform original compositions for found and low-tech musical instruments.
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US 245 Music & Story Telling
This seminar offers the student the opportunity to study the performing arts, literature and music. The student response to the works read and viewed will be in the form of discussions and written assignments that vary from character analysis to formal research on a particular writer/composer/work. The uniqueness of the course lies in studying the connection between music and storytelling, in ballet, in plays and novels made into film and in Opera and modern dance.
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