Courses in the FIG:
UGST 109 FIG Seminar
XXXXX | XXXXX | 16465 | 1 Credit
Theatre artists take the notion of “play” very seriously! We rehearse, draft, sketch, research, pattern, plot, and push the boundaries of embodied expression through the various mediums that make up this highly collaborative art form. Our FIG seminar will build on the effort of play as integral to meaningful work in progress – for theatre artists and others. While studying the critical layers of theatre in TA 271 and art as a human value in PPPM 250, we will approach assignments, projects, presentations, and other first term challenges with seriously playful intentions in this seminar. Group choice will shape a collective goal for a final “Play in Your Day” event or experience.
TA 271 Introduction to Theater Arts
Tuesday/Thursday | 14:00-15:50 | 15328 | 4 Credits
For years, critics have predicted the death of Broadway and the demise of live performance in the face of media and technology. Since at least the time of classical Greece, however, theatre has been one of the most effective means through which a society can debate issues of mutual concern, define or modify key values, and explore the potential of the human experience, and it continues to fulfill that role today. One aspect of this course explores the role of theatre in our culture through consideration of a variety of dramatic texts of the modern theatre. A written text, however, is not a play. Theatre requires an integration of several individual arts including literature, design, music, movement, and acting to create a live performance. None of these works alone; it is the combination of all of them that creates the artwork that is presented to an audience. An understanding of the possible choices to be made by each of these artists and the techniques required to manifest those choices on the stage form a second line of inquiry. By reading and discussing plays, experimenting with aspects of design, observing performances, and writing reviews, each participant can formulate an individual awareness and appreciation of theatre arts in the world today.
PPPM 250 Arts & Human Values
Tuesday/Thursday | 12:00-13:20 | 14663 | 4 Credits
+Dis | Friday | 12:00-12:50 | 14666
This course will address fundamental, theoretical, and practical questions that result from a view of art as a powerful social and cultural force. Participants, by addressing these questions, will examine their and others' aesthetic values as a means of understanding art and advancing multicultural and cross-cultural understanding. Emphasis will be placed upon individual interpretation and experience in local, national and international settings. Participants in this course will: 1. Consider the arts within cultural, historical, and philosophical contexts. 2. Examine political, geographical, and economic influences that shape the ways that we perceive and define the arts. 3. Investigate the influence of the arts on shaping human values, and of human values in shaping the context, form, and practice of the various arts forms. 4. Examine definitions of art and aesthetics in order to understand the historical and social underpinnings of the relative value placed on various forms of art making. 5. Explore institutional structures advancing the arts and culture in society. In each section, students have opportunities to participate in aesthetic critique as well as in arts creation. Students are encouraged to bring their own perspective and experience to the examination of different art forms. Classes place a high value on participation, as individuals and within groups.
