Movement permeates every aspect of life, whether within our bodies, minds, or the world around us. In this studio course open to everyone, we use tools from Laban Movement Analysis to develop ways to dance, improvise, make performance, and fully inhabit our lives. We dive into the roles of dancer, choreographer, audience member, and critic in relation to aesthetic questions, politics, identity, religion, and complex views of the human body. Students can apply our work together to dance in any style as well as to daily experiences like moving into an interview confidently and finding embodied practices for transforming stress.

Students from across fields who are interested in slowing down the art-making process to explore the nature of devising, developing, revising, and performing are invited to join this studio course. We'll make an expansive artist residency together and delve into the often-intermingled roles of creator, performer, designer, and audience member. We'll use embodied tools to generate material and hone collaborative processes. We'll question why and how and in what contexts we create. We'll look at forms like the lecture-performance, the happening, concert dance, and one-person shows. Culminates in student-created performances at the end of term.

Why do people love Broadway musicals? How do audiences engage with musicals and their stars? How have fan practices changed since the 1950s alongside economic and artistic changes in New York and on Broadway? In what ways does "fan of" constitute a social identity? How do fans perform their devotion to a show, to particular performers, and to each other? This class examines the social forms co-created by performers and audiences, both during a performance and in the wider culture. Students will practice research methods including archival research, ethnographic observation, in-depth interviewing, and textual and performance analysis.

In this course we will learn about the history of singing and the workings of the human voice. Through discussion, research, and performance, we will examine existing works from both classical and non-classical traditions and use them as a starting point to create new works using both conventional and extended vocal techniques. We will work both alone and collaboratively, performing and composing music for solo voice as well as ensemble. We will be joined by guests-performers and composers- with insights to share. The course is open to singers, composers, and actors interested in deepening their knowledge of the voice and exploring new ideas.

This course allows students, working at their own experience level, to analyze, rehearse and perform songs from the canon of dramatic musical theater. Using anything from lyrical arias to power ballads, we will approach lyrics and accompanying music as keys to creating character. We will investigate the "want" that drives a song. An accompanist will be in class for warm-ups, rehearsal and presentations. Students will find songs that suit their voices and challenges that they are looking for. Students will explore and present research on the voice, and will perform in a final celebratory showing. No singing experience necessary.

In this course, students will develop and implement a personal philosophy of music ensemble direction. Students will connect practice-based learning with broader theories of art-making, exploring questions about why, how, and with whom people make music. For those who dream of directing a vocal group, conducting an orchestra, music directing a musical, or even inventing a new ensemble, this process-driven course will create an environment for experimentation, risk-taking, and musical and personal growth. A background playing an instrument, singing, conducting, or composing music is required.

Introduction to Theater Making is a working laboratory, which gives students hands-on experience with theatre's fundamental building blocks -- writing, design, acting, directing, and producing. Throughout the semester, students read, watch and discuss five different plays, music theater pieces and ensemble theater works. We will analyze how these plays are constructed and investigate their social and political implications. In-class artistic responses provide hands-on exploration as students work in groups to create and rehearse performances inspired by our course texts.

This course develops skills needed to successfully approach all acting styles and centers the actor as a lead creative artist. We will concentrate on how the voice, body, and imagination can build a performance. The goal is fluency in these tools, stronger stage presence, and collaborative rehearsal skills. Each class is made up of individual and ensemble-based physical and vocal exercises to bolster creative thinking and to ready the body and voice for performance. We will find inspiration in readings and short performance texts. Students will leave the semester with a strong foundation for further acting courses or projects in all genres.

This workshop course rehearses the compositional, producorial, and performance skills necessary to create (and present) an original, self-contained work of solo performance. The course will draw upon foundational methods and techniques of solo performance-making as a practice, as a process, and as a genre of contemporary performance. Over the course of the semester, each class contributor will develop their own original 8-12 minute solo performance piece, even as the class as a cohort works collaboratively to support, workshop, and provide audience for one another, and to co-produce a "Pop Up Performance" mini-festival at semester's end.

Intro to Stage Design is an interactive course where students will explore the world through a design lens to develop visual literacy and investigate how visual cues shape our understanding of the world. This studio course will explore Scenic, Costume, Lighting and Sound design. Students will take on the role of designer across disciplines, developing analytic, research and collaborative skills, and exploring and questioning power structures in the process. This hands-on course will emphasize communication and collaboration within creative and production teams in support of bringing design visions to life.

The new play development process has become a critical aspect of the professional theater landscape, but is often confounding to artists. This is a practical course that will introduce the basic processes of developing new plays for the stage, offering theater makers an understanding of their unique role in the critical moments of a new play's early life. The class is for actors eager to hone the skills of originating a role; for directors eager to explore working with a living writer; and for playwrights eager to gain experience navigating the development process, from table readings to workshops to staged readings.

How do you tell a story about climate change that dynamically engages its audiences without overwhelming or boring them? We will explore this question and others through readings and discussions, and we will make an original work of theater. Employing the methods of investigative theater, the class will create a script or performance text by pursuing a creative inquiry into some aspect of climate change. Each student will do creative research including interviews; collaborate on a script by editing and writing original material; and work with a team to put the show on its feet. Previous theater experience not required.