School of Theatre
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CFA TH 417: Extreme Acting: Unarmed Stage Violence
Pre-req: CFA TH 134. - Students will learn techniques to tell stories of unarmed stage violence. They will gain the necessary knowledge to choreograph and act moments of stage fighting while maintaining both safety and a fully embodied commitment. -
CFA TH 418: Extreme Acting: Armed Stage Violence
Pre-Req: TH 417. In this course students will learn the necessary technique and skill to perform armed combat safely by exploring various weapon styles. By building off of skills learned during Extreme Acting: Unarmed, combat students will learn the safety standards for armed combat while integrating it into their acting. This course will start by exploring swordplay and seeing how it translates to other weapons. -
CFA TH 420: Acting 6: On Camera
Prereq: CFA TH 221 Advanced laboratory course that explores the intersection of artistry, technology, and presence in screen performance and provides an immersive training experience in acting for the camera—emphasizing process, authenticity, and self-sufficiency. Students learn to live truthfully within the cinematic frame, balancing impulse and composition, imagination and precision, presence and professionalism. Through weekly lab sessions, actors perform, record, and review their work using professional and DIY digital equipment, gaining real-time awareness of how behavior, rhythm, and framing tell story. Effective Fall 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU Hub areas: 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 433: Senior Showcase 1
Prereq: CFA TH 221. This class prepares the actor for the senior acting showcase of scenes, monologues and songs for the graduating senior BFA acting students and senior BFA Theatre Arts acting students. The live showcase will be attended by members of the industry in New York and Boston, and the digital component of the showcase will be viewed by members of the industry in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. -
CFA TH 434: Senior Showcase 2
Prereq: CFA TH 433 Continuation of CFA TH 433 Showcase 1. This class prepares the actor for the senior acting showcase of scenes, monologues and songs for the graduating senior BFA acting students and senior Theatre Arts acting students. The live showcase will be attended by members of the industry in New York and Boston, and the digital component of the showcase will be viewed by members of the industry in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. -
CFA TH 435: Senior Capstone Project Development
Prereq: CFA TH 136 Students will continue to develop, refine, and finally present in performance their own culminating final project that synthesizes key practices they have acquired during their course of study, with an eye toward what their art means in the wider professional landscape. -
CFA TH 441: Directing Colloquium: Senior Capstone Project Development
Prereq: CFA TH 327 Projects with undergraduate theatre majors in plays of various lengths. Focus is on preparation for rehearsal and on rehearsal process. Recommended for students pursuing directing work in CFA TH 435 Senior Capstone Project Development. -
CFA TH 444: Directing colloquium: Senior Capstone Project
Prereq: CFA TH 441. Projects with undergraduate theatre majors in plays of various lengths. Focus is on preparation for rehearsal and on rehearsal process. Recommended for students pursuing directing work in CFA TH 450 Senior Capstone Project. -
CFA TH 445: Artist Community 5
Artists in Community is a course that follows the student throughout their time at BU SOT and places them with their peers and colleagues for communication, learning, sharing, and giving back. It is the single time when all Performance Students, Faculty and Staff can come together in a room. The four-year progression of this course supports the student journey in finding their creative voice, discovering community, and acknowledging their personal impact on the world. This course progression will engage the student as an artist who has a role to play in responding to and shaping the future of the art form by taking on topics such as local, national, and global issues in theater, emerging practices in the profession at large, and what it means to foster a sustainable and meaningful life in the arts. -
CFA TH 446: Artist Community 6
Artists in Community is a course that follows the student throughout their time at BU SOT and places them with their peers and colleagues for communication, learning, sharing, and giving back. It is the single time when all Performance Students, Faculty and Staff can come together in a room. The four-year progression of this course supports the student journey in finding their creative voice, discovering community, and acknowledging their personal impact on the world. This course progression will engage the student as an artist who has a role to play in responding to and shaping the future of the art form by taking on topics such as local, national, and global issues in theater, emerging practices in the profession at large, and what it means to foster a sustainable and meaningful life in the arts. -
CFA TH 450: Senior Capstone Project
Prereq: CFA TH 136 A significant culminating final project that synthesizes key practices that the student has acquired during their course of study, with an eye toward what their art means in the wider professional landscape. The project is chosen with approval of the faculty mentor and presented in a public exhibition or performance on a schedule established by the School of Theatre. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CFA TH 455: History of Period Styles 3
Prereq: Instructor Consent; A survey covering the history of social, political and cultural movements and the expressions of those movements through architecture, interior decoration, furniture and dress in major civilizations. Work involves research projects and presentations. 2.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 458: History of Dress 2
Intensive survey course covering the history of significant cultural expression in dress from the end of the 18th century to the present. Students examine the evolution of fashion by studying various types of art & literature as well as socio-economic, political, and religious influences. Students will familiarize themselves with the vocabulary, theory, production, silhouettes, and trends in Western dress through effective researching, experiential learning, discussion-based learning, and interactive lectures. Research projects emphasize color, materials, manufacture, theory, and application. 2.0 units. Spring semester. Effective Spring 2025 this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Research and Information Literacy. -
CFA TH 460: History of Period Styles 4
Prereq: CFA TH 455 A continuation of CFA TH 455. A survey covering the history of social, political and cultural movements and the expressions of those movements through architecture, interior decoration, furniture and dress in major civilizations. Work involves research projects and presentations. -
CFA TH 463: Scene Design 5
Prereq: CFA TH 364; Advanced design projects developed in conjunction with other designers and directors; emphasis on complex mechanical solutions. Readings and projects incorporate all theatre genres, ballet, dance and opera. 3.0 credits. Fall semester. -
CFA TH 466: Scene Design 6
Prereq: CFA TH 463 Advanced design projects developed in conjunction with other designers and directors; emphasis on complex mechanical solutions. Readings and projects incorporate all theatre genres, ballet, dance and opera. -
CFA TH 467: Scene Painting 3
Prereq: CFA TH 350 Studio class. Painting specific architectural detail; projects include stain glass, perspective and trompe l'oeil techniques; special finishes for furniture and constructed projects. -
CFA TH 468: Scene Painting 4
Prereq: CFA TH 467 Studio class. Continuation in painting specific architectural detail; projects include stain glass, perspective and trompe l'oeil techniques; special finishes for furniture and constructed projects. -
CFA TH 471: Technical Production 3
Prereq: CFA TH 352 This course is designed to give Technical Directors the engineering knowledge to design safe and efficient scenery. Through real conditions and a text, students will develop a vocabulary and a database of formulas to effectively engineer scenery. Students will discuss concepts typical to engineering, study the variables and formulas used to determine material strengths, typical and atypical loading conditions, and how to engineer scenery used in normal theatrical applications. 3.0 units. Fall Semester. Meets with CFA TH 611. Effective Fall 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in the following BU HUB area: Quantitative Reasoning 1.
