Technical Theatre Curriculum
Welcome to the Harrison Technical Theatre Department!
The Theatre Arts program is designed to develop the talented students to their full potential and encourage professionalism in all levels of theatre work. The curriculum includes theatre performance, with emphasis on acting technique, improvisation, creative playwriting and directing.
The Technical Theatre Department provides opportunities for talented students to develop their artistic and academic abilities to the fullest extent, instilling in each student a working knowledge of the theatre arts and a greater appreciation for all the arts.
A student may choose to focus on either performance or technical theater. Courses are offered in acting, design, stagecraft, theatre history, dramatic theory, directing, and playwriting. Emphasis is placed on the development of self-discipline, group participation, research and writing, and time management skills.
Technical Theatre Department audition requirements can be found here
Each term all theatre students are required to participate in juries. The purpose of the jury is to monitor each student's progress. Jury scores are calculated on a point basis, with probation and warning determined by a score that is an average of the theatre faculty's individual scores. Students are also required to log additional production hours each term outside of the regular school day. Considered part of the jury process, these hours are co-curricular.
If a student does not pass his or her jury, he or she will be placed on either artistic warning or artistic probation for the following term. The student will then have until the next jury to make up the deficiency in their progress.
The Theatre Department Handbook can be accessed here.
The Harrison Theatre Department Curriculum
Year I
Acting I
This course is an introduction for Acting and Technical Theatre majors. There are four units involved: Pantomime, Improvisation, Movement Stories, Commedia del Arte and Sonnets. Each unit contains one performance piece with specific criteria, in-class work with exercises, and the study of acting techniques. In addition, students will learn how to write a formal critique of a performance, a plot summary of a play read and analyzed for class, and cover vocabulary basic to theatre and acting.
Stagecraft I
The purpose of this course is to enable students to develop fundamental skills in stagecraft and apply them through practical experiences. The primary focus of this course will relate proper terminology, recognition and proper usage of common theatrical tools, and most importantly, safety in the theatre.
Year II
Stagecraft II
The purpose of this course is to enable students to develop basic skills in stagecraft and apply them through practical experiences. Students will move beyond the rudimentary functions of technical theatre and will begin to use the tools and equipment of technical theatre to realize conceptual designs.
Design I
The focus of this class is to for Technical Theatre students to be exposed to lighting design techniques. Particular emphasis is placed on computer-assisted lighting software as well as hands-on lighting design..
Year III
Stagecraft III
Utilizing the knowledge gained from previous stagecraft classes, students will serve as Assistant Designers for actual Harrison School for the Arts programs. Students will focus on technical and crew duties for actual performances, as well as learning the elements of computer-aided lighting, sound, and scene design. Students will shadow Senior designers, assisting them with design work and helping to educate underclassmen.
Design II
Students will design a play chosen by the instructor and build a body of research images to work from. After studying fundamentals of style, they will then each create a groundplan, elevations, and a perspective drawing and color rendering of their set. Students will also learn the fundamentals of Costume, Lighting and Sound design complete with lighting and sound plots, costume renderings.
Theatre History
The focus of this class is to comprehend the cultural development of theatre from the End of the Renaissance through the twentieth century. We will also discover how to research theatrical topics. This class will serve you well as you perform, write plays, manage a theatre, publish an article, and even sing.
Year IV
Stagecraft IV
Utilizing the knowledge gained from previous stagecraft classes, students will serve as Designers for actual Harrison School for the Arts programs. Students will focus on technical and crew duties for actual performances, as well as honing their skills with computer-aided lighting, sound, and scene design. Students will mentor Junior assistant designers, while meeting the rigors of their design work and helping to educate underclassmen
Directing
Students learn the fundamentals of directing (researching a play, casting, and staging the performance). Students will produce, act and design the Senior Production; this may be an original work or a published play or musical and may be student or faculty directed.
Comprehensive Theatre IV - Senior Production
The purpose of this course is to enable students to develop and synthesize advanced elements of theatre arts into final production using varied media, techniques, and processes. Students will work as a class to develop an original work or a published play that they will produce, publicize, design, build, and perform for a paying audience.
Supplies
All Students must have a flash drive, a day planner (not electronic)
Freshmen
• A 3-ring binder for Acting 1 and Stagecraft 1. This binder must have class syllabi, grading rubrics, dividers, and pockets for multiple handouts and papers dedicated to only the specified class work. (no math in the acting folder)
• Full length black pants for movement and run crew (solid color sweat pants would work for both) and solid black t-shirt, closed-toe shoes, NO FLIP FLOPS
• Pencil and paper.
• A pair of their own safety goggles for work in the shop that MEET OR EXCEED ANSI STANDARD Z87.1. STUDENTS SHOULD ALWAYS WEAR HEARING PROTECTION WITH A DECIBEL RATING OF 20dB OR HIGHER.
• (We strongly recommend the glasses style as opposed to the science goggles (they are much more comfortable, last longer and are approved for shop use). All goggles should be marked with the students name, placed in the storage drawers in the shop and labeled with that drawer's number.)
• A copy of Seattle Children's Theatre: Six Plays for Young Audiences Vol.2.
All stagecraft classes
• Appropriate clothing. Sneakers or work boots. No dresses or skirts.
• All students are required to have a pair of their own safety goggles for work in the shop that MEET OR EXCEED ANSI STANDARD Z87.1. STUDENTS SHOULD ALWAYS WEAR HEARING PROTECTION WITH A DECIBEL RATING OF 20dB OR HIGHER. We strongly recommend the glasses style as opposed to the science goggles (They are much more comfortable, last longer and are approved for shop use). All goggles should be marked with the students name, placed in the storage drawers in the shop and labeled with that drawer's number.
• $5 shop fee
Stagecraft II - IV
• A mini flashlight (not a key chain)
• An 8 inch crescent wrench
• An architects scale rule
• A sketch pad
• A set of colored pencils, 24 count or more
• A 16' long or longer tape measure
Faculty
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
MFA, Technical Design and Production, Florida State University.
Alumni
Harrison Theatre Department Alumni have attended many prestigious post secondary schools, such as Carnegie Mellon University, Cincinnati Conservatory, Tisch School of the Arts - NYU, Columbia University, Boston Conservatory, Florida State University, Meadows School of the Arts - SMU, and Ithaca College. Alumni have appeared in numerous stage productions in New York and throughout the United States and Canada, as well as national commercials, television shows, film work, national tours of Ragtime, The Lion King and Rent, and the Broadway production of Rent.
|
