Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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CFA TH 425: Acting: Shakespeare
Prereq: Consent of instructor; Begins with personalization of the text, learning how to speak from one's own life experience. Explores connection between breath and thought/feeling. Then moves on to intellectual and technical demands, treating text more analytically, focusing on comprehension, inflection, dynamics and rhythm. Text will include sonnets, monologues and scenes. 2.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 426: Classical Techniques in Contemporary Acting
Prereq: Consent of instructor; In this course, considerable time will be spent investigating how classical training can enhance the embodiment of contemporary text. We will use acting techniques perhaps more commonly associated with classical work to explore contemporary plays that contain either heightened language or elevated ideas, or both. We may sample historical texts from time to time, as they prove useful in the approach to contemporary material. 2.0 credits. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 427: Theatre Ensemble 4: Thesis Development
Prereq: CFA TH 227 or CFA TH 228 or CFA TH 327; This course serves as the culminating experience for senior Theatre Arts majors. The course involves the process of selecting a thesis project, choosing partners with whom to collaborate, then coming together as an ensemble to determine the process for producing the projects in the spring semester. Topics include developing a company mission, goals and priorities, as well as fundraising and marketing. Part one of a two semester-long course. Required all senior BFA Theatre Arts majors. 3.0 credits. Fall semester. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CFA TH 428: Senior Thesis: Theatre Arts
Prereq: CFA TH 427, plus prior academic experience in directing, choreography, or playwriting depending on the individual focus of a student's thesis project participation. Students form a company to present a festival of plays at the end of the semester. Thesis work can focus on playwriting, producing, directing, dramaturgy, or performance and project collaboration is strongly encouraged. 3.0 credits. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 429: Understanding the Camera
Introductory on-camera acting class providing the actor with fundamental building blocks to transition from theater to cinematic performance seamlessly. Through structured hands-on, learn by doing experience we aim to demystify the medium of television and film. This course deconstructs various on-camera techniques that allow the actor to explore and develop their own unique process. The actor will explore awareness of Self, type, range while learning the technical and design elements required for working in front of the camera relaxed and truthful, developing an intimacy with the camera. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Digital/Multimedia Expression. -
CFA TH 430: Professional Theatre Initiative Lab
PTI Lab introduces students to the many aspects of professional theatre practices as an actor, including but not limited to best practices, next practices, industry norms, agents, managers, unions, auditioning, casting, health, goal setting, financial planning, equity, diversity and inclusion in the field, and community building through ongoing conversations with working artists in the field. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: The Individual in Community. -
CFA TH 431: Movement 4: Thesis Development
Prereq: CFA TH 331; Explorations of physical theatre, choreography, and movement styles for non-verbal requirement of BFA Acting thesis. -
CFA TH 432: Movement 4: Commedia dell'Arte
Prereq: Permission of instructor; Commedia dell'Arte: Introduction to the 16th and 17th century form of Italian street theatre based on improvised scenarios. Actors explore the stock characters of the old men, lovers, servants, and warriors, and learn techniques for mask transformations and physical comedy. 1.0 credit -
CFA TH 437: Alexander Technique 4: The Actor's Consciousness
Prereq: CFA TH 337; In-depth study of Carl Stough's breathing coordination principles. Continue to develop skills to understand what is the actor's consciousness and what is character's consciousness. Private coaching and hands on scene work to attain high-level performance techniques. 1.0 credit. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 438: Alexander Technique 4: Thesis Application
Prereq: CFA TH437 or consent of instructor; Team taught with Judy Braha. Coaching for a scene with an Alexander teacher and an Acting teacher together helps the students to attain high-level performance techniques. 1.0 credit. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 440: Experiencing London Theatre in the Postwar World
This course offers an aesthetic and historical understanding of contemporary London theatre, as well as the interpretation of controversies in postwar British theatre history, plus knowledge of evaluative tools -- including journalistic skills -- for the analysis of current shows. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness. -
CFA TH 441: Undergraduate Directing Colloquium 2
Prereq: CFA TH 341; Projects with undergraduate theatre majors in plays of various lengths. Focus is on preparation for rehearsal and on rehearsal process. 2.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 442: Undergraduate Directing Colloquium 3
Prereq: CFA TH441 or permission of instructor, concurrent registration with CFA DR428; Projects with undergraduate theatre majors in plays of various lengths. Focus is on preparation for rehearsal and on rehearsal process. 2.0 credits -
CFA TH 443: Exp London Thea
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CFA TH 447: Rehearsal & Performance 3
Rehearsal/Performance assignment work for participation in the School of Theatre productions. Faculty assignment is based on faculty advising on a given production, all students should first register for the "X1 " section. After the student has been cast, they will be re-sectioned to the appropriate faculty advisor in charge of grading for that project. Course for SOT population only. Variable credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 448: Rehearsal & Performance 4
Rehearsal/Performance assignment work for participation in the School of Theatre productions. Faculty assignment is based on faculty advising on a given production, all students should first register for the "X1 " section. After the student has been cast, they will be re-sectioned to the appropriate faculty advisor in charge of grading for that project. Course for SOT population only. Variable credits. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 450: Senior Thesis: Acting
Prereq: CFA TH 421; This course serves as the culminating experience for Senior BFA Acting majors. Involves the mounting of Acting thesis projects that been developed during the fall semester, including their rehearsal, production, and performance. Thesis projects must include specific categories of materials and will be presented in collaboration with the rest of their ensemble. Part two of a two semester-long course. Required course for all senior Acting majors. 2.0 credits. Spring semester. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CFA TH 451: D&P Senior Thesis
Prereq: Senior status; Meets as arranged. A major independent project presented to the faculty and student body as the final requirement for the BFA degree. The project is chosen with approval of the advisor and presented on a schedule established by the School of Theatre. The project is given public exhibition or performance. 3.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 452: D&P Senior Thesis
Prereq: Senior status; Meets as arranged. A major independent project presented to the faculty and student body as the final requirement for the BFA degree. The project is chosen with approval of the advisor and presented on a schedule established by the School of Theatre. The project is given public exhibition or performance. 3.0 credits. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 453: Master Class: Undergrad
What is collaboration in its true and meaningful form? How does an individual discover and reveal their own creative impulses and instincts? How does an individual find their voice while contributing to a meaningful and potent collaborative process? In this laboratory course, students explore individual and collaborative ideas and problem solving in the creation of theatre. Students engage in a variety of exercises, with an emphasis on the student's personal discovery of their own unique approach to their work and their collaborative involvement in the larger community of theatre artists. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration.
