Arts Workshops
His Advice to the Players: Shakespeare in Performance
K40.1019 4 CR TR 2:00-3:15 Kristin Horton
“Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines.” – Hamlet, (III.ii) Taking our cue from Shakespeare himself, this course will introduce students to methods of approaching the text from an actor’s perspective. We will investigate several interpretive techniques that help the performer make the connections between the text, mind, and body. Special focus will be given to the development of a strong vocal instrument and bold interpretive choices that embrace the muscularity of the language. We will explore the structure of the language and how the structure helps the performer make sense of the complexities within the text as well as specific choices related to character and action. The course will also feature a screening component where we examine the range of interpretation of the plays as demonstrated in the work of actors and directors by viewing contrasting versions of the same scene from video and film. Students will work on speeches and scenes from the canon and present their work in class. Students will also keep a journal and attend performances of a Shakespearean play in New York City.
Character Acting
K40.1020 4 CR M 6:20-9:00 Judith Sloan
Character portrayals in theatre and film allow the audience to see the world through the eyes of both the familiar and the unfamiliar. This workshop will focus on the craft and technique of character acting for performance using a variety of acting and improvisational theatre exercises to hone and polish full-bodied, multi-dimensional character portrayals. Voice and movement techniques help ground and center the body so actors can find the physical gestures needed to transform themselves to perform characters as well as to find the ways to develop character voices. The connection between body and voice is explored in the experiential practice in this workshop as well as specific training in comedic timing. Readings of plays and monologues with a focus on characters including a range of monologues and writing by documentary theatre artists, playwrights and solo performers include Jean Giraudoux, Anna Deveare Smith, Eric Bogosian, Eve Ensler, Moises Kaufman, and Dale Orlander-Smith. Research projects look at several twentieth-century characters—performers, humorists, writers and monologists—including but not limited to Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ruth Gordon, Danitra Vance, Lily Taylor, Lord Buckley, Eddie Izzard, Richard Pryor, Judy Holiday, Quentin Crisp, Lily Tomlin. Previous study in one or more of the following is helpful: acting, movement theatre, improvisation, comedy or voice. Loose comfortable clothing is a must.
Stage Direction for the Twenty-first Century
K40.1032 4 CR W 2:00-4:45 Kristin Horton
With the advent of emerging technologies and a new population of generative artists entering the field, the artistic landscape of the American theater is rapidly changing. What are the implications concerning the role of the director? This course examines the origin of the director and how the craft has evolved since the last century. We will begin with several hands-on components that explore the fundamentals of directing including text analysis, the development and presentation of a production concept, rehearsals with actors, and the art of public presentation. We will then investigate various methods for collaborating and generating new work with artists from various disciplines. Students will attend and critique productions in New York City, develop and present production concepts, direct scenes from plays, and keep a journal responding to readings and videos.
Native American Traditions and Arts: Coyote’s Vision Quest
K40.1052 4 CR F 9:30-12:15 Franc Menusan
Native Americans have been villainized and romanticized, studied and collected for five hundred years, yet they appear as mysterious and elusive to the modern world as they did to Christopher Columbus. Who are these people who have been the original inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere for over forty thousand years and yet continue to be the most misrepresented and misunderstood Americans? We will compare and contrast the perceptions of Native and Non-Native people and study the effects that they had on one another through sharing our own cultural experiences through our music, art, poetry, and humor. We will learn about the intricate tapestry of American history and culture that we take for granted and perhaps in the process learn more about who we are. Readings include Indian Givers, Jack Weatherford; Custer Died for Your Sins, Vine Deloria, Jr.; Genocide of the Mind, Marilo Moore, ed.; Sacred Objects and Sacred Places, Andrew Gulliford and Last Standing Woman, La Duke.
Equal Exchange: Arts-Based Collaborations with Immigrant Youth
K40.1070 4 CR M 3:30-6:10, W 4:55-6:10 Bowers
Course meets Mondays on-site in Brooklyn; students interested in this course should not schedule anything after 2:30 on Mondays. First 2 Monday classes are training and orientation sessions and will be held at NYU; all Wednesday classes will be held at NYU.
This course looks at the intersection of art, culture and identity by bringing together NYU students and immigrant high school students to collaborate on the creation of original, inter-disciplinary performance work. Students will work on-site at the Brooklyn International High School (BIHS) which has a student body from 43 different countries. The course will focus on the development of arts-based techniques using movement, creative writing, oral history, music, and theatre to create an open dialogue in a multi-cultural setting. NYU students will learn how to transmute this dialogue into theatrical forms as we work toward final performance. Wednesday classes will be spent discussing readings and planning our work with students at BIHS. We will think and talk about how culture and identity are both influencing and influenced by the matrix of social forces operating in society. Readings will focus on the role of artists in mediating community interactions, community arts pra ctices and the use of the arts for social change. Readings may include Games for Actors and Non-Actors (Boal), Local Acts (Cohen-Cruz), essays on the Community Arts Network and We Are All Suspects Now, (Nguyen). Prior experience and interest in the performing arts, media and/or writing is helpful. Students who wish to take this course but do not have prior experience in the above should contact the instructor before registering.
Body Wisdom: Experiential Anatomy for Performers
K40.1107 SCI, 4 CR T 6:20-9:00 Robin Powell
Performing artists have a special need to understand the body’s full capacity. Kinesthesic awareness of our muscles and joints allows us to move with more control, confidence, and safety. This course will integrate factual, visual information with kinesthetic experience of the body to gain understanding of form and function both internally and externally. Anatomy and physiology will be studied using text, touch, movement, and focused attention, as well as drawing and writing. The role of the mind and emotions in the stress response, nutritional support, and the function of breathing will be included. Kapit and Elson’s The Anatomy Coloring Book and Olsen’s Body Stories are required reading with selections from Kendall and Kendall’s Muscles: Testing and Function and Todd’s The Thinking Body.
The Art of Play
K40.1110 4 CR R 9:30-12:15 Maria Hodermarska
We know that for children play is more than just fun; it is the work through which they develop. But what about when adults play? Plato wrote, “Life must be lived as play.” Through play we find our freedom, spontaneity, and our aesthetic. What is there in human beings which enables us to play? Why is play considered an innate capacity of people from the beginning of recorded history? What qualifies as play? When does play become art? In this course, everyone plays and in doing so examines the historic and contemporary uses of play as a universal impulse of humans, across generations and time. Play’s capacity to mitigate the grosser aspects of life will be considered. We will examine play as it is reflected through theories of child development, dramatic improvisation, fine art, politics, technology, the symbolism of fairy tales, the historic and contemporary, uses of puppets, masks, performance, and ritual across all cultures. Students will examine the necessity of play in their own child and adult lives—the creative spirit, the adventurer, and empathic connection with humanity, and laughter, too. Books may include: Nachmanovitch’s Free Play, Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment, Huizinga’s Homo Ludens, Jung’s Man and His Symbols, Nietzche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
The Art of Choreography
K40.1209 4 CR R 3:30-6:10 Kathryn Posin
It was the great modern dance choreographer Martha Graham who said, "We are all born with genius. It’s just that most people just lose it in the first five minutes." This class attempts to help the student get back his or her original choreographic ability. We will study the basic elements of dance—time, space and energy—and, each week, explore a different aspect of the choreographic process. The students, through improvisations, problem solving and short movement studies, will discover their movement vocabulary. Each dancemaker will find their own philosophy of dance and their own individual choreographic voice while being introduced to some of the major twentieth century choreographers and their work. By nature we are all dancers, with or without years of training. Choreographic process, whether one wishes to be a choreographer or not, is a superb model for thinking, assembling and creating. These skills are transferable to other modes of artistic creation and other fields. Readings will include: What is Dance? Readings in Theory and Criticism by Roger Copeland and Marshall Cohen (ed.), The Art of Making Dances by Doris Humphrey, Modern Dance Forms by Louis Horst, The Intimate Act of Choreography by Blom and Chaplin, Space Harmony by Rudolph Laban, Black Dance by Lynn Fauley Emery, The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp.
Creating a Performance from the Ground Up: An Interarts Production Workshop
K40.1225 4 CR W 11:00-1:45 Leslie Satin
In this workshop, students will work together on making a performance, from conception through production. We will take an original piece through all its stages and elements—such as planning, writing, composing, designing, choreographing, rehearsing—in a process that will culminate in public performance(s) at the end of the term. The members of the workshop will do some initial readings to ground them in the historical and contemporary practices of interarts performance and performance art and in some of the theoretical as well as practical approaches to this work. Then, guided by the understanding of performance-making as a kind of research-in-motion, they will plunge into the work itself, guided by their ideas, skills, desires, and willingness to work with familiar and unfamiliar art forms, collaborate with new colleagues, and generally reconsider the possibilities of performance for both practitioners and viewers. Students at all levels of arts experience and with considerable reserves of energy and enthusiasm for working on a group project are welcome to participate. Readings will include Lawrence Halprin’s The RSVP Cycles; selections from In the Spirit of Fluxus (edited by Armstrong and Rothfuss), Deborah Jowitt’s Time and the Dancing Image and Sally Banes’s Greenwich Village.
Rudiments of Contemporary Musicianship
K40.1305 4 CR W 6:20-9:00 John Castellano
Course meets at Drummer’s Collective, 541 Sixth Ave.
This course is designed to help the student develop a better understanding of music by presenting the opportunity to experience music “as a musician.” Students learn basic music theory, develop rudimentary musicianship skills, and compose and rehearse student compositions. The goal is for each student to be able to compose and perform original music. The workshop meets in a professional music rehearsal studio where students have access to a wide variety of musical instruments. [$35 fee]
Songwriting
K40.1325 4 CR T 3:30-6:10 Bill Rayner
Course meets at Drummer’s Collective, 541 Sixth Ave.
Song is the oldest musical form established in all eras and cultures. Ancient Greek and African musicians used song for recreation, to preserve communal memory and to link the visible world with the invisible. Music making was rooted in mythology, legends and folklore and was associated with gods, ancestors and heroes. The musician, through his/her technique, had to be able to combine sounds and images through the use of voice, gesture, dance, and instruments to form a musical reminiscence. In this workshop, songwriting will be explored as both a musical and cultural practice. Each student will develop songwriting techniques through the study of historical, cultural and musical aspects of songwriting. [$35 fee]
Drawing and Painting
K40.1405 4 CR F 9:30-12:15 Bert Katz
This workshop is designed to provide both beginning and advanced students with studio experience in drawing and paining. A variety of media will be used, including acrylic paint. The problem of visual conversion will be addressed as will the distinction between “what is seen and what is known” (Picasso). In addition, by way of critiques, discussions and gallery visits, the student will explore the problem of visual “form” and aesthetic judgment. Selected works produced during the semester will be shown in the Gallatin arts studio on the 4th floor of 715 Broadway.
Rites of Passage into Contemporary Art Practice
K40.1420 4 CR R 3:30-6:10 Barnaby Ruhe
Modern art has been a balancing act between control and letting go. This course focuses on the psychological interface between the two, the “liminal” zone. We will survey modern artists’ techniques for tapping the sources of creativity, including Dada collagists’ free-associations; Surrealists’ automatic writing, doodles, and “cadavres exquises”; and Abstract Expressionists’ embrace of chaos as a resource. We will engage in very simple exercises: doodling, speed drawing, painting an abstract mural as a group, keeping a liminal journal, collaging, and exploring ritualistic techniques. We will follow up each exercise with discussions, take a trip to MoMA, and conclude the course with an essay, reexamining modern art in light of the inner journey each of us has taken during the course. Readings include writings by Arnold van Gennep, R.D. Laing, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Victor Turner, Mircea Eliade, James Elkins, and Frida Kohlo.
The Monument: From Concept to Creation
K40.1470 4 CR M 9:30-12:15 Greg Wyatt
Students should not schedule any classes immediately before or after this class to allow ample time to visit parks, monuments, and museums in New York city, as well as travel to Greenpoint, Brooklyn to see the art of bronze casting at the Modern Art Foundry. Students are expected to pay for their own travel costs and some admission fees.
This workshop focuses on the nature of creativity for public space and the “model to monument” design and bronze casting. We will explore the process by which a concept becomes a three dimensional model and consequently a public monument. We will also investigate how ideas or concepts in history have influenced individual artists in making public monuments. Some examples of this type of didactic art we will explore are: Perikles’ Athenian building program after the Persian wars, Michelangelo’s David, the Columbia University “Alma Mater, “ the Chrysler building, the Peace Fountain next to St. John the Divine, the Woolworth building, Ghandi’s bronze on Union Square, and other sculptures and architectural sights in New York City. This semester we will concentrate a major portion of the workshop on Shakespearean “model to monument” works, and develop visual exercises based on Shakespeare’s poetic imagery. Students will be required to develop their own original concepts into a two or three dimensional project, focusing on visual arts such as painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, mural making, readings, performance and keeping an art journal. In the studio students will experience and learn the necessary training for the creation of a three dimensional sculptural expression work of art, necessary after the conversion of some of their ideas into a drawings and maquettes. Readings may include Plato’s Timaeus, Benvenuto Cellini’s Autobiography, Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale, Cezanne’s Letters, Interview with Rodin with French Journalist, Delacroix’s Journal, as well as Goethe and Leonardo on painting.
Writing for the Ear: Broadcast News as Storytelling
K40.1525 4 CR MW 6:20-7:35 Emily Hoffman
Listen to the news on the radio or watch it on TV and it will become apparent that the most engaging reports—like the best told stories—are those that insist you use your imagination. In this course, we will study the difference between writing for the ear and writing for the eye by comparing broadcast and print reports of the same news events in a variety of media. We’ll also consider how news, in spite of the ideal of objectivity, is inevitably a product of a “Rashomon” effect: where the same story is told differently, depending upon the relationship of the storyteller to the event. We will explore the nexus of truth and news by studying the evolution of a news story—from event to source to air. Students will research, write and record their own radio news reports and the class will discuss the effectiveness of the storytelling and compare the relative objectivity of the reports. Possible texts include Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa,The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, How to Watch TV News by Neil Postman and Steve Powers, and Naked in Baghdad by NPR reporter Ann Garrels.
Playwriting
K40.1565 4 CR T 6:20-9:00 Myla Churchill
This writer’s workshop explores the symbiotic nature of playwriting. Through a series of exercises, we will discover how environment and experience influence identity, how plot is built on desire and need, and why perception and cultural context dictate the form or structure of a play. By examining classical paradigms and their influence on modern theatre, we can determine how to use or break these rules to find our own voices. And as we mine our souls and surroundings for the seeds of creation, we will write a one-act play. Some readings include Fornes, Parks, Fugard, Bogosian and Chekov.
Writing for Television I
K40.1571 4 CR M 3:30-6:10 Imani Douglas
This workshop will explore the process of turning an idea into a teleplay. Prior to delving into the world of television, we will also take a peek into writing for stage and film. The differences and similarities of these mediums will be investigated, via such works as Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, successful in all forms—stage, film, and TV sitcom. Structure, function and form will be examined via the reading of scripts and viewing of films and classic TV. Students will spend ten weeks of the semester creating, developing, and writing a sitcom episode of a popular television series. Students will learn first-hand what it takes to complete a writing assignment from pitch, to beat sheet, outline, first draft, rewrite, to table draft, under the direct supervision and guidance of an executive producer. In this way, students will learn the business of the TV writer and what it takes to be successful in “the room” of a Hollywood TV show. Readings may include How to Write a Movie in 21 Days by Viki King and Laughs, Luck and Lucy! by Jess Oppenheimer and Gregg Oppenheimer.
Architectural Design and Drawing
K40.1621 4 CR W 6:20-9:00 Donna Goodman
Gropius once described architecture as a combination of “form, function, and delight.” In this workshop, students are introduced to the experience of designing buildings. The first project is an exploration of the design process. Students create sketchbooks of diagrams and drawings, analyzing issues of form, function, technology, site, and environment. Drafting techniques are also presented through preparation of plans, sections, elevations, and renderings. In the second project, students design a residential loft. They begin with a program and a basic design concept. Planning theories, such as function, circulation, massing, and spatial organization are discussed. Visual concepts, such as symmetry, axis, and proportion are also introduced. Methods for developing designs through models, perspectives, and isometric drawings are also presented. Prior drafting experience is helpful, but not required.
Digital New Media
K40.1635 4 CR R 3:30-6:10 Cynthia Allen
This workshop seeks to bring students from varying backgrounds together to engage in evaluating and developing digital new media for the Internet and other new media art installations. The Web makes possible a powerful new kind of student-centered, constructivist learning by collecting at a single site a phenomenal array of learning and creative resources which can be explored with simple point-and-click skills: photos, text, animation, audio and film materials. Emerging new media technologies allow cross-development and implementation to the Web. Each student brings to the class a set of experiences and skills, such as research, writing, design, film, music, photography, computer gaming, performance, illustration, computer literacy, software knowledge or Internet experience. Through lectures, including a survey of digital new media currently on the Internet, group discussions, field trips and workshops focusing on their personal skills, students will develop individual projects. The workshop will deconstruct innovative Web sites, computer and video games, film, using digital new media, as well as discuss concepts, content strategies, and frameworks that bridge theory and practice. Class projects, readings, writings, and Blog journal keeping are essential components of this course. Students are encouraged to supply their own media.
Creating a Magazine: From Inspiration to Prototype
K40.1652 4 CR MW 2:00-3:15 Lise Friedman
A crazy-quilt of high and low culture, magazines are one of our most potent forms of cultural commerce—a striking mix of content and form, covering everything from politics, fashion, and celebrity to performing and visual arts, technology, crafts, and the environment. No matter what the topic, design has become an increasingly crucial editorial element. It sets one publication apart from the next, and at its best unifies the content and instantly telegraphs to the reader where it figures in the media landscape. In this workshop we will explore this ever-changing world. We will discuss notions of good vs. bad design, engaging vs. dull content. And, through the development of in-class publications, will put into practice the many aspects that contribute to a magazine's creation, from initial concept to the realization of a prototype. Directed readings (including "Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Progressive Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century"), fieldtrips, and visits from magazine professionals will contribute to our discussion.
Writing for Stage and Screen
K80.2570 4 CR T 6:20-9:00 Selma Thompson
Graduate course open to advanced undergraduates (juniors and seniors) with permission of the instructor (st35@nyu.edu).
This workshop is for writers ready and willing to make the time commitment necessary to produce a well-structured outline and at least the first act of a script (although students will be supported/encouraged to write a complete first draft, if possible.) We will hone our craft through writing exercises, and through screenings of film scenes which illustrate aspects of dramatic writing. The majority of our time will be spent presenting work and giving/receiving feedback (the ability to engage in collaborative discussion, and offer useful commentary, is an essential professional skill). Additionally, we will read/analyze recently produced screenplays to understand structure and how to make the story exciting “on the page”. Although we will examine fundamentals of drama (dialogue, subtext, motivation, etc.) primarily through film study, playwrights are welcome to enroll in the workshop and consult with the instructor about supplementing the reading with plays that may inspire their work more directly. Students should come to the class with some scriptwriting experience and/or a background in acting or film.