The W MFA
in Theatre Education

MFA Theatre Education Course Descriptions

Description TH Courses

TH 507 - Creative Dramatics

Credits: 3
A continuation of TH 207: Creative Dramatics. An online course designed to allow students to study and adapt the use of theatrical tools (movement, imagination, improv, acting, directive, writing) as a method of teaching a variety of material to a broad range of ages. The approach of creative drama encourages the teacher to create and adapt exercises that can add an exiting element to learning for their students. The course is helpful to anyone who will be leading groups: teachers, camp counselors, and parents.

TH 516 - Playscript Analysis

Credits: 3
Playscript Analysis is the online study of the theatrical script as the necessary foundation for the three-dimensional theatre experience. The course examines the techniques for deriving from the script information for a performance, which realizes as fully as possible the playwright’s expressive intentions.

TH 517 - Design & Production

Credits: 3
An online course that will familiarize students with the current standards and practices in the field of Theatre Design and Production, particularly Scenery, Costume, Lights and Makeup.

TH 519 - Acting and Directing

Credits: 3
An online seminar exploring the theories and practices of Acting and Directing. Current theories in performing and teaching will be explored and analyzed. Attention will also be focused on preparing High School and College students for auditions at theatre festivals and conventions.

TH 588 - Design & Production II

Credits: 3
Prerequisite: TH 517
A seminar in a two week residence, onsite at the MUW campus, this course is a continuation of TH 517-Design & Production I. Students will apply the skills learned in that course to real, hands-on projects in communication design, sewing, scenery work and lighting.

TH 589 - Acting & Directing II

Credits: 3
Prerequisite: TH 519
A seminar in a two week residence, onsite at the MUW campus, this course is a continuation of TH 519-Acting and Directing. Students will apply the skills learned in that course to real, hands-on projects in Directing, Acting and teaching acting. Attention will also be focused on preparing High School and College students for auditions at theatre festivals and conventions.

TH 598 - Theses I: Production Practicum

Credits: 3
This course is part of a two-part thesis that is the terminal project of the MFA in Theatre Education. It is posited that the student is working as an educator, in either K-12 or at the college level. As part of regular duties, it is certain that the student will be responsible for creating or playing a major creative role in at least one actualized production. This production will serve as the basis of the student’s thesis project. The instructor will consult and advise the student throughout the production and conduct onsite visit to the student’s venue to observe methods and practices. The student will document the process throughout, in preparation for the written thesis, which is covered in the second part, TH 698.

TH 601 - Movement/Voice III

Credits: 3
Movement: Students build on skills acquired in Year One in both Dance, Conditioning, Acrobatics and Aeriel Studies. They investigate further the notion of choreography and dramaturgy of movement.

Voice: This module concentrates on textual performance in physical theatre. As a corollary it further develops students’ warmup protocols so they become independent and prepare themselves for voice work in physical theatre. Our primary tool for the text work will be duologues that demand strong integration of text, action and stage design. After an initial period of collective exploration, students will work on a selected scene under faculty guidance. Students learn to connect the action and the intention of the text through the body.

TH 602 - Movement/Voice IV

Credits: 2
Movement: The fourth and final module of movement revolves around consolidation and maintaining students’ physical level of fitness and capacity to create coherent sequences, integrating their dance, acrobatic and aerial skills.

Voice: Students move towards autonomy in this semester. They maintain their vocal and verbal skills whilst, with faculty guidance, they investigate entry points for creating original text for monologues, duologues and ensemble scene studies.

TH 610 - Special Topics in Theatre Production

Credits: 3
Because this program is designed with the working Educational Theatre professional in mind, it is assumed that the student will participate in up to three realized productions during their course of study. Each theatre production can have its own challenges and unique opportunity for solving a problem, be it onstage or backstage, direction or technical or acting. The student can use one aspect of a show he or she is participating in and focus on it as an area of study. This course can be repeated once for credit for a total of two times (six credit hours).

TH 620 - Theatre Management

Credits: 3
An online course designed to provide an introduction to the economic and managerial aspects of American Theatre, especially as they apply to nonprofit and educational theatre.

TH 621 - Music III

Credits: 1
As well as continuing the musical studies commenced in Year One students investigate popular forms of music and dance including the Tarantella and the Tango, as well as musical forms associated with Commedia.

TH 622 - Music IV

Credits: 1
In this semester Music IV is enfolded into a full-length musical cabaret project.

TH 631 - Aesthetics/History III

Credits: 1
With their supervisor, students will research and define the parameters of their thesis.

TH 632 - Aesthetics/History IV

Credits: 1
Through a series of presentations and theatre performance visits, students will have an overview of the contribution of Germany to twentieth century drama and training, as well as an appreciation of contemporary trends.

TH 634 - Acting III

Credits: 4
This course is an immersion in the world of the Commedia. The actor studies the stock characters including Arlecchino, Pantalone, Capitano, La Strega among others, and their hierarchical relationships. Following a thorough analysis and practice of their movement and character, the actors further develop a masked character through improvisation and scene study.

TH 635 - Acting IV

Credits: 3
Students will apply skills and techniques acquired in years one and two to a devised cabaret production with original music. This production will be performed publicly at a venue in Arezzo.

TH 636 - Acting V

Credits: 3
This is an intensive course on the use of contemporary masks in physical theatre, skills inspired by the training methods of Brecht and contemporary German performance including masked theatre.

TH 637 - Graduate Ensemble

Credits: 5
This project is the synthesis of the Six Modules of study. Depending on the evolution of the group of actors it may be an ensemble piece entirely devised, composed and directed by them or it may be a mixture of solo and small group work. The venue will be a public theatre in Venice followed by a performance in Arezzo.

TH 642 - Graduate Performance Lab I

Credits: 1
Under the supervision of course leaders, the actors refine their methodology for conceiving and developing scene studies and devised pieces into small-scale performance projects.

TH 657 - Theatre History I

Credits: 3
An online course examining in-depth topics related to the history of theatre from the Ancient Greeks or the European renaissance, including the Elizabethan Age. Students will choose plays from the appropriate eras and focus on one aspect that needs to be addressed while performing, such as design, acting and directing.

TH 658 - Theatre History II

Credits: 3
An online course examining in-depth topics related to the history of theatre from the English Restoration to the present day. Students will choose plays from the appropriate era and focus on one aspect that needs to be addressed while performing, such as design, acting and directing.

TH 659 - Musical Theatre

Credits: 3
An online course devoted to the study of the history of Musical Theatre. Musicals are one of the most important pillars of Modern Theatre and are relegated to a secondary role in serious study of the history of Theatre. This will be a multi-media survey of Musical Theatre from its roots in 19th century minstrelsy and operetta to the social themes advocated by contemporary musicals such as Hamilton and dear Evan Hanson.

TH 664 - Costume Design & Construction

Credits: 3
An online study of the history of Costumes, including the study and creation of patterns and historical costume accessories.

TH 672 - Special Topics I

Credits: 2
A series of presentations and seminars present the importance of stage, costume and lighting design when considering the dramaturgy of physical theatre.

TH 673 - Special Topics II

Credits: 1
In this segment students will investigate the nature of site-specific and street theatre, observing how the performance adapts to these spaces. In addition, students review a series of issues concerning the management, the sale and the production of performances. Administrators of high-profile European theatre companies will share their experience with students.

TH 688 - Design & Production III: Special Topics

Credits: 3
Prerequisite: TH 588
A seminar in a two week residence, onsite at the MUW campus, this course is a continuation of TH 588-Design & Production II. Students will focus on areas of Design and Production that they choose. Since this program is geared toward theatre practitioners in K-12 and College Educational theatre, students will be encouraged to pursue topics that relate to upcoming productions they will be participating in during their regular full-time jobs.

TH 689 - Acting & Directing III: Special Topics

Credits: 3
A seminar in a two week residence, onsite at the MUW campus, this course is a continuation of TH 688-Acting & Directing II. Students will focus on areas of Acting & Directing that they choose. Since the program is geared toward theatre practitioners in K-12 and College Educational theatre, students will be encouraged to pursue topics that relate to upcoming productions they will be participating in during their regular full-time jobs.

TH 691 - Personal Field Research

Credits: 0
As part of students’ ongoing personal research, Accademia dell’Arte will facilitate travel within Europe to further students’ studies in an area related to physical theatre. Current partnerships with artists and institutions in France, Sweden, Italy, Germany and Ireland enable the Accademia to offer a selection of venues for study outside Arezzo.

TH 692 - Graduate Performance Lab II

Credits: 3
Directed by core faculty, this lab focuses on research, development and preliminary composition prior to performance projects in module seven.

TH 693 - Graduate Performance Lab III

Credits: 2
This course comprises a series of both solo and ensemble scene studies that will enable the actor to identify and refine both style and content.

TH 698 - Thesis II: Written presentation and Oral Defense

Credits: 3
Prerequisite: TH 598
This course is the second part of two-part thesis that is the terminal project of the MFA in Theatre Education. Having completed the requirements for TH 598, the student will take the written and visual documentation from the realized theatre production and write a narrative with analysis detailing the creative process that will form the written portion of the thesis. The student will then defend the theses before a three-person committee.

TH 699 - Thesis Project

Credits: 1
Based on their practical studies, their journals and on their research and academic projects, students will write a thesis on a specific aspect of Physical Theatre that will include a theoretical elaboration of their final performance piece.

Description EN Courses

EN 518 - Graduate Playwriting Workshop

Credits: 3
A graduate-level study of playwriting, the course will focus on the development of a portfolio of short play scripts and/or a full-length play and involve workshop discussion of student writing, along with collateral reading on the craft of playwriting and recently published plays. May be repeated for credit.

EN 538 - Forms in Drama

Credits: 3
A study of drama, focusing on the development of the form from classical antiquity to the present. Collateral readings about theater by practicing playwrights and scholars or literary theorists will also be included.

EN 546 - Early European Drama

Credits: 3
An examination of drama from the Medieval to the Early Modern period. Readings may include medieval Mystery and Morality plays and plays by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow, Ben Johnson, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Moliere, Congreve, Behn, and others. The emphasis will be on literary scholarship and interpretation.

EN 580 - Modern European Drama

Credits: 3
An examination of European drama, focusing on the early 20th Century from Naturalism and Symbolism to experiments with abstract theater. Playwrights and directors covered may include Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekov, Constantin Stanislavski, Maurice Maeterlinck, August Strindberg, Berthold Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Luigi Pirandello, Jerzy Grotowski, Samuel Becket, and others. The emphasis will be on literary scholarship and interpretation.

EN 581 - Twentieth-Century American Drama

Credits: 3
An examination of American drama in the 20th Century. Playwrights covered may include Susan Glaspell, Alice Gerstenberg, Eugene O’Neill, Lillian Hellman, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Neil Simon, David Mamet, Sam Shepherd, Beth Henley, Terrence McNally, Tina Howe, and others. The emphasis will be on literary scholarship and interpretation.

EN 582 - Southern Drama

Credits: 3
A study of Southern drama, focusing on the themes, tropes, and trends that define “southern drama” and encompass a southern experience. Playwrights covered may include Lilian Hellman, Tennessee William, Horton Foote, Beth Henley, and others. The emphasis will be on literary scholarship, research, and interpretation.