School of Theatre
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CFA TH 381: Fabric Dyeing 1
Prereq: CFA TH 182 or consent of instructor; The student learns a variety of crafts associated with fabric painting and dyeing. Subject matter may include fiber reactive dyeing, distressing and silk screening. Check with instructor for current semester content. 1.0 credit. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 382: Fabric Dyeing 2
Prereq: CFA TH182 or consent of instructor; The student learns a variety of crafts associated with fabric painting and dyeing. Subject matter may include fiber reactive dyeing, distressing and silk screening. Check with instructor for current semester content. 1.0 credit. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 383: Lighting Design 3
Prereq: CFA TH 284 or Permission of Instructor. Introduction to lighting design for the stage as a medium for communicating artistic ideas to an audience. Explores the language of light, both verbal and abstract, with a strong emphasis on dramaturgical analysis and how these textual ideas can be interpreted using light. Required Labs will supplement class work with hands-on activities. 3.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 384: Lighting Design 4
Prereq: CFA TH 383 or Permission of Instructor. A continuation of CFA TH 383. Introduction to the process of lighting design for the stage. Explores how to develop lighting ideas, concepts, and visual images from a text, and how to support those ideas to the point of realization. Required Labs will supplement class work with hands-on activities. 3.0 credits. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 387: Sound Design 3
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CFA TH 288; consent of instructor.
For the intermediate sound design student. Projects for both theoretical and realized productions. Practical projects to demonstrate sound design techniques. Readings and projects incorporate genres, ballet, dance, and opera. 3 cr -
CFA TH 388: Sound Design 4
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CFA TH 387; consent of instructor.
Continuation of sound design exploration for the intermediate sound design student. Projects for both theoretical and realized productions. Practical projects to demonstrate sound design techniques. Readings and projects incorporate all theatre genres, ballet, dance, and opera. 3 cr -
CFA TH 390: Systems Design 2
Prereq: CFA TH 389 or consent of instructor; Audio systems, video systems and intercom systems will be examined from input to output in terms of signal flow and interconnection practices and how they are used. Offered in odd numbered AY. 3.0 credits. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 397: Production
Prereq: CFA TH 298; Junior Design & Production BFA candidates; students register for appropriate section based on Production assignment. Meets late afternoons, evenings, and/or weekends. Specific design and shop work in the mounting of student or professional productions. Does not include off-crew design work. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 398: Production
Prereq: CFA TH 397; Junior Design & Production BFA candidates; students register for appropriate section based on Production assignment. Meets late afternoons, evenings, and/or weekends. Specific design and shop work in the mounting of student or professional productions. Does not include off-crew design work. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 399: Stage Management 3: Types & Styles
Prereq: CFA TH 299 or Permission of Instructor. Stage Management 3: Types & Styles examines approaches to leadership, management, communication, critical thinking, and ethics for the stage manager. Through the lens of the artful application of these skills to the different types of live performance the stage manager may encounter, such as new works, musicals, opera, dance, and event work, students will strengthen and hone their personal stage management style. This course requires additional work outside of class time for engagement in practice-based exercises and rehearsal/performance observations. Fall Semester. 3.0 credits. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking. -
CFA TH 401: Classic Theatre through a Contemporary Lens
Explores and applies contemporary theories, ideas, and research to canonical works of theatre. Considers how race, gender, identity, nationality, structure, and politics consort in the making, production, distribution, reception, and legacy of classic works. Students learn to approach theatre as a dramaturg/scholar would: by reading texts and generating writing and projects with a theatrical sensibility, asking rigorous questions of all. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy. -
CFA TH 402: Contemporary Dramatic Literature
Prereq: At least one of the following: CFA TH 101, CFA TH 102, CFA TH 201, CFA TH 202; and/or consent of instructor; This discussion course explores the most current trends in theatre from the United States and United Kingdom, with particular attention paid to the voices of African-American, Asian-American, Disabled, Feminist, Gay, and Lesbian playwrights, as well as to plays that break the standard molds of realism and naturalism. The course pairs close reading and analysis with other dramaturgical methods in order to provide students with intellectual depth and practical skill for the professional theatre. Attendance of selected performances at B.U. and in Boston-at-large is required. 3.0 credits. Spring semester. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: The Individual in Community. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community. -
CFA TH 403: Advanced Playwriting
Prereq: CFA TH 303 or consent of instructor; Students will learn the art of developing an early stage first draft into a production ready final rehearsal draft. Run like an intensive development workshop, this is where the most intensive, and arguably, most satisfying work will begin. Students learn the nuts and bolts of massaging a play: fleshing out characters, streamlining action, refining dialogue and finessing structure. Playwrights will also learn about the expectations and strategies for productive collaborative in-process relationships with actors, directors and dramaturges. This class is required for writers intending to produce original works for BFA Thesis. 3.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 411: Voice & Speech 4: Thesis Development
Prereq: TH 311; Continuation in development of vocal instrument, workshops in special topics and individual coaching in support of actor's performance in productions. 2.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 412: Voice & Speech 4: Thesis Application
Prereq: CFA TH411; Continuation in development vocal instrument, workshops in special topics and individual coaching in support of actor's performance in productions. 2.0 credits. Spring semester. -
CFA TH 419: Music Theatre Performance Lab
Prereq: CFA TH218 or CFA TH317 or consent of the instructor; This course will focus on singing as storytelling, as a powerful means of self-expression brought to the context of a professional audition. The first half of the course will be an exploration of repertoire, and musicality as well as material that the individual is drawn to and best suits their essence. The second half of the course, students will hone audition skills, as well as interpretative and musicianship skill sets. They will work more closely exploring specific points of view and perspective. Students will learn to choose appropriate audition material, preparing music for an accompanist, and mock auditions. Students will leave with a repertoire book of material that has been developed throughout their time in the program. 3.0 credits. Fall Semester -
CFA TH 421: Acting 4: Thesis Development
Prereq: CFA TH 321; Experience in the application of techniques to define and fulfill the actor's work in terms of form and content as required by the play and its performance. 2.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 422: Acting 4: Professional Lifetime Skills
Prereq: CFA TH421; For Senior Acting Majors or by instructor's permission. Focus on synthesizing the actor's training into the practical and artistic tools necessary to work creatively and collaboratively in the profession. Includes deepening and integrating skills in auditions, readings, and rehearsal process, as well as panel discussions on the business of theatre. 3.0 credits. Spring semester. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation. -
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.
