This dramatic literature class will take a look at two forms of theatre that maintain their roots in realistic exchanges while allowing us to drift into realms of pure imagination. The semester will be divided into two. First we will explore the European roots of Theatre of the Absurd through the plays of Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco and Harold Pinter. Then we will look at the South American tradition of Magical Realism and how it has inspired contemporary American playwrights such as Tony Kushner and Sarah Ruhl. Students will be expected to write both analytic responses and engage in playwriting exercises as we explore these forms.

Our work in this course will be more or less equally divided between reading plays and writing a one-act. The plays we read, which will include a wide variety of playwrights, will inform our exercise work even as they deepen and extend our sense of drama as a form. We will be paying particular attention to the way character is revealed through dialogue, ways to unfold exposition, segmentation of dramatic action, and how dialogue is shaped by character activity.

The Plays:  GHOST LIGHT (draft will be provided), DETROIT by Lisa D'Amour, LILY PLANTS A GARDEN by Jose Cruz Gonzalez, HABITAT by Judith Thompson, CHINGLISH by David Henry Hwang, and ARCADIA by Tom Stoppard.  All the plays except GHOST LIGHT will be available at the Hampshire College Bookstore.  We will be using the specific editions offered for class readings.

The performances:  You are required to see THREE productions this semester here at Hampshire:  you can pick from Deen's show DRAW THE CIRCLE, Lizzy Dorrell's show THE TOMMORROW PROJECT (in the Red Barn), Jimmy Lovett's play THE GHOST OF DURHAM HALL, and Courtney Price's show THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE.  Tickets can be reserved over the internet.  Talk to Lizzy and Jack about how to make reservations.  See me if you have a serious conflict so we can arrange for you to see something else.

In this workshop, class members will read and respond to the work of contemporary poets, complete weekly writing exercises and drafts of poems, and participate in peer workshops. Each workshop member will complete at least one critical analysis paper and develop a portfolio work that includes both a statement of poetic disposition and a poetry chapbook or broadside. This workshop is designed for Division I students and is suitable for writers who have had at least one college-level writing class in which peer critique was a significant element.

This course will explore methods of teaching art to children in grades K-6. Class meetings will include discussions and exploration of contemporary issues within the field of Art Education. We will focus on theoretical and practical approaches to teaching the visual arts. Students will work in groups and individually to plan lessons for elementary school children and experience hands-on teaching in a local elementary school.

This course is a hands-on, practical approach to directing guided by the belief that "directors learn to direct by directing." Our central focus is on the collaboration between actor and director. The pace will be rapid and the workload significant: weekly, students will either present a piece that they have directed or perform in a work directed by their peers. Rehearsals will take place outside of class. To ground our work, will begin by focusing on text analysis, and on articulating the structure, rhythm, and energy of theatrical language. We will then turn our attention to staging, including composition, movement, and the relationship between a play and its theatrical (or site-specific) space. Throughout, students will explore, take risks, experience the joy and difficulty of collaboration, and challenge each other to make vital work.

What is dramaturgy? In answering this question, students will learn how to evaluate scripts, create and adapt works for the theatre and take a critical look at a variety of different models of post-performances dialogue. Practical dramaturgy allows us to locate the story we are telling on stage not just through the script, but through casting decisions, design components and communication with audiences. Prerequisite: Students should have taken at least one theatre course.

Storytelling is an oral art form whose practice provides a means of preserving and transmitting images, ideas, motivations, and emotions. The practice of oral literature is storytelling. A central, unique aspect of storytelling is its reliance on the audience to develop specific visual imagery and detail to complete and co-create the story. The primary emphasis of this course is in developing storytelling skills through preparation, performance, and evaluation. In this class you will research storytelling traditions and the resurgence of storytelling in America. Participants will engage in exercises and activities to enhance the delivery of telling stories; learn to incorporate various techniques to engage audiences; and develop an awareness of resources, materials, and philosophies of storytelling. This class is designed to help participants build a storytelling repertoire which will express their unique identities as tellers.

This course explores the creation of interdisciplinary theatre through the lens of the jazz aesthetic. We will combine music, movement and non-linear narrative to create short dramatic pieces, and deconstruct the works of such theatre artists as Laurie Carlos, Sharon Bridgforth and Daniel Alexander Jones (all versed in this approach to creating drama). The course seeks to develop a language for collaboration and experimentation between actors, dancers, and musicians, and to mine new directorial tools which mirror the characteristics of classic American jazz - particularly rhythm, syncopation, call-and-response, polyphony and improvisation. Prerequisite: Completion of at least one college level course in acting, directing, design, playwriting, devised theatre, dance or music is required to register for this course.

This class will blend practices of both applied design and social entrepreneurship using human centered design processes. We will research, conceive, design and build testable prototypes and/or systems that have the potential to create economic, social and/or environmental value. We will collaborate with local community partners, observing and listening carefully to what they want and need.Our intention is to set a tone of innovation and creativity, combining techniques of design thinking with an entrepreneurial mindset and the fabrication resources of the Center for Design. This class is not open to first year students.

Students, faculty and alums will collaborate to bring promising design work, which benefits people living in poverty, to a place where it can reach its intended audience on a wider scale. For Spring 2013, we will expand on the work done by previous students in designing and evaluating a portable gynecological exam table for use by health care workers in rural El Salvador. The semester's work will include outreach and market research, refinement of design details as well as research, planning and pre-manufacturing for a first production run. In addition to regular class meetings, there will be an optional companion lab in SolidWorks that will meet 2 evenings a week. We will include students with a cross section of skills and academic interests.

What does it mean to say a writer's work is "lyrical" or "spare," "realistic," "modern" or "mythical"? In this reading and workshop course, we will explore the concepts of 'sensibility' and 'style' as they apply to language and story. We will identify the sentence-level underpinnings of specific tonal effects, considering: syntax, diction, word families, the color and rhythm of language, punctuation, point of view, voice, and imagery. Through close reading of works by a wide range of writers, we will analyze writing styles, link aesthetic effects and intellectual/political commitments to craft choices, and explore relationships between literal content and the way content is delivered. In addition to weekly imitation exercises and analyses of readings, members will submit one long (10-15 page) piece for peer critique, which they will significantly revise.

This course gives students in the final semester of Division II an opportunity to practice the kinds of independent work skills required of students in Division III, including: designing one’s own assignments, evaluating one’s own work, actively revising, and regularly revisiting and refining/adjusting project goals. Each student will work on a project of their own design, producing the equivalent of at least 4 pages of prose each week. A good portion of this work will be shared with and reviewed by the class as a whole, but students will also work in small groups inside and outside of class throughout the semester. While a small selection of shared readings will inform our progress, students will also identify and read the equivalent of 2 books (+-250 pages) appropriate to their own project, and present these and other potential sources in an annotated bibliography. One of these sources may be drawn from the list of “strongly suggested” books listed at the end of the syllabus. below. Each student will give a short presentation about the work of a peer.

To quote artist and critic Catherine Elwes, "video is the default medium of the 21st Century." Today video screens and projections are everywhere from cell phones to the sides of buildings, and video has become one of the most prominent media in museum and gallery exhibitions. In particular, screens and projections are a prominent component of much contemporary sculpture and installation. Throughout this course, we will study not only the history of video as gallery art form, but also some of its most important themes, including: structuralism and the form of the moving image, depictions of the body and space, video as a representation of culture and gender, and digital imaging. Readings will include works by theorists Sergei Eisenstein, Laura Mulvey, Marshall McCluhan and Lev Manovich. We will look at the work of artists Joan Jonas, Martha Rosler, Vito Acconci, Bill Viola, Mariko Mori and Matthew Barney, among others. Mostly importantly, this is a studio critique course. During the semester students will create a number of screen-based and video installation works. Prerequisites: Some experience with basic video production and editing tools (your home camera and iMovie are fine) and at least one studio art course in any medium.