Students are introduced to the fundamentals of contemporary acting, as devised by such stage theoreticians as Constantine Stanislavsky, Lee Strasberg, and Sanford Meisner. Instruction focuses on the proper methods for breaking scenes down into component units or "beats," and achieving a measure of authenticity discernible in person or through the camera lens.   Students perform with a rotating roster of partners, emphasizing group learning and mutual support in the pursuit of an individual acting aesthetic. It is intended for any and all levels of experience.

This course offers the advanced students of the theatre arts an opportunity to incorporate the performance, stage management, set design, lighting design, costume design, sound design, and directing disciplines available within the department into one focused and fully-produced project through an immersive investigation of a full-length script. Students will conduct dramaturgical research to contextualize the world of a play, establishing connections among the text, actors, and production elements, and creating a platform for conversation in the Wellesley community. Concurrently, students will implement performance and production techniques, engaging every aspect of the collaborative process of theatre-making.  Actors and stage management will commit to 3+ scheduled rehearsals weekly. Students interested in participating as a designer or stage manager should contact the instructors significantly prior to registration.   Students interested in performance must audition in the first week of each semester - invitations will be issued by the instructors within the add/drop period. The course will culminate with a fully supported public production, to be directed, managed, and advised by Theatre Studies faculty, serving as a capstone of integrated learning in the department. 

This course invites students to take funny women seriously. Through their legacy of work as well as oral histories, we will investigate the evolving challenges and triumphs of women whose comedic voices influenced American expectations over the last century. Elaine May, Joan Rivers, Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Wellesley's own Nora Ephron and more will make us laugh. Forms to be explored include writing, improvisation, stand-up, comic acting on stage and screen, cartooning, plus new media. Creating belly laughs changed the culture on which these women were commenting — ultimately, through deepening our understanding of the purposefulness and craft of comedy, our collective goal will be the creation of several forms of original comedy works. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the Theatre Studies Showcase at the end of the semester.

This course studies the craft and theory of the production arts in the theatre.  We will cover the practice of intent creation and explore how that intent is interpreted - from the designer's process to how that process is implemented by various craftspeople and specialists.

This course will teach basic playwriting skills implemented through in-class exercises and at-home writing assignments. This hands-on, practical approach will require writing one short play each week. Emphasis is on experimentation, innovation, risk taking, and process. A spirit of fun, innovation, and creativity will dominate this workshop format. Each class meeting will incorporate reading student work aloud with commentary from the instructor and the class. Students will listen, critique, and develop the vocabulary to discuss plays, structure, story, and content. Each student will begin to connect her dramatic voice and theatrical passion. Students will ultimately write a one-act play as the capstone experience for this class. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the Theatre Studies Showcase at the end of the semester.

This course explores Japanese literature from the seventh to the nineteenth centuries––including myths, poetry, narrative romances, diaries, essays, military tales, Noh drama, haiku, puppet plays, kabuki, and ghost stories––then traces its modern afterlife to film, television, and manga. Students will develop a critical and historically grounded appreciation of Japan's rich and varied literary tradition by analyzing it in light of such topics as religious practice, aesthetic ideals, dreams, desire, subjectivity, Chinese influence, the supernatural, war, gender, and sexuality.

This course offers the advanced students of the theatre arts an opportunity to incorporate the performance, stage management, set design, lighting design, costume design, sound design, and directing disciplines available within the department into one focused and fully-produced project through an immersive investigation of a full-length script. Students will conduct dramaturgical research to contextualize the world of a play, establishing connections among the text, actors, and production elements, and creating a platform for conversation in the Wellesley community. Concurrently, students will implement performance and production techniques, engaging every aspect of the collaborative process of theatre-making.  Actors and stage management will commit to 3+ scheduled rehearsals weekly. Students interested in participating as a designer or stage manager should contact the instructors significantly prior to registration.   Students interested in performance must audition in the first week of each semester - invitations will be issued by the instructors within the add/drop period. The course will culminate with a fully supported public production, to be directed, managed, and advised by Theatre Studies faculty, serving as a capstone of integrated learning in the department.