Dublin, Ireland: The Arts in Dublin

Program dates: June 29 - August 7, 2009

Priority application deadline: March 6, 2009 (rolling admission on a space available basis after this deadline)

Total credits: 8 points for undergraduate or graduate students

Program Director: Annie Stanton, Director of Administration, Tisch Special Programs

The Arts in Dublin offers students the opportunity to live in this vibrant European capital. Students select either the acting or photography program. Each program consists of two courses for a total of 8 points. In addition to courses that focus on contemporary Ireland and its culture, a number of field trips and cultural and social activities are integral to the program. Possible day trips include visits to museums and historic sites in the region, with theatre outings, poetry readings, traditional music performances, and film screenings in the evenings.

Courses

Acting Contemporary Irish Playwrights
H31.0483 (Undergraduates) 4 points
H37.2483 (Graduates) 4 points
Staff
Prerequisites: Acting I or permission of department.

Contemporary Irish playwrights are renowned the world over. Brian Friel, Frank McGuinness, Martin McDonagh, Samuel Beckett, Marina Carr, Conal McPherson-the list goes on and on. Under the tutelage of one of Ireland's leading professional theatre directors, students explore the specific acting challenges these great writers set. Particular focus is given to the techniques required to turn words and stories into exciting physical characters and to the role of the individual actor's imagination in feeding this process. Through work on voice, movement, physical character, scene study, and storytelling, students explore the vital importance of language, movement, and voice in creating dynamic theatre.

Contemporary Irish Drama
H31.0603 (Undergraduates) 4 points
H37.2603 (Graduates) 4 points
Staff
Prerequisites: Acting I or permission of department.

This course examines the works of contemporary Irish playwrights from Brian Friel to the younger generation, such as Sebastian Barry, Marina Carr, and Martin McDonagh. The course provides an introduction to Irish theatre with the opportunity to sample the Dublin theatre scene in its richness and variety. Classes provide historical background, contextual information, and structured discussion of the performances. The course includes theatre trips to traditional and nontraditional venues, exploring the range of drama available in Dublin and surrounding areas.

Note: This course carries a ticket fee.

Cinema in Contemporary Ireland
H36.0508 (Undergraduates) 4 points
H36.2508 (Graduates) 4 points
Staff

This course provides a perspective on the history of Irish cinema and the contemporary experience and focuses on films produced since the 1980s. It examines the evolution of Ireland on film and the development of cinematic forms, styles, and genres by incorporating lectures on familiar topics, including history, gender, and political representation. It explores if and how such themes can be understood in the context of the present (with due reflection on how they have been treated in the past). It analyzes the work of new and emerging directors and writers such as Gerry Stembridge, Conor McPherson, Kirstin Sheridan, and Damien O'Donnell, alongside better known names in the development of modern Irish cinema, including Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan, Pat O'Connor, and Pat Murphy.

Puppetry Performance: Ireland Workshop
H31.0015 (Undergraduates) 8 points
H31.2015 (Graduates) 8 points
Instructor: Edery
Prerequisites: Two semesters of primary studio experience of the equivalent

Students in this course will train in puppet manipulation, acting with puppets, voicing multiple characters, and staging puppetry as well as study puppet culture and the world history of puppetry. Ireland serves as the perfect stage for puppetry due to the fantasy element of the culture (fairies, leprechauns, demons, ghosts), and students will be expected to imbibe that element in and outside of class in order to build their imaginations for the limitlessness of puppetry (children flying, old people running, arms coming off, animals speaking). Taught by internationally recognized puppeteers, this intensive will give students the close attention, rigorous training, and impressive landscape to imbue their experience of imagination building and object sensitivity with puppetry, guiding them to the heart of universe creation. Many styles of puppetry will be covered and a final performance open to the public will give students the opportunity to see the results of their training. Students will be expected to keep a journal and self assess their growth as puppeteers in three main areas. Puppetry and performance storytelling will train the student in the making and expression of meaning through the language of motion. Students will be expected to train very vigorously in the exercises which open the performer's body to the puppet, to study very intensely the philosophies which open a puppeteer's mind to spontaneous and imaginative performance, and to use Ireland as the canvas whereupon they can come to be one with their environment and thus one with the nature of the form.

Excursions

One weekend excursion is a trip to Galway and the Aran Islands.

Housing

Tisch School of the Arts operates an academic center and offers apartment-style housing in the Temple Bar neighborhood, Dublin's artistic and intellectual meeting ground in the heart of the city. Each apartment, or flat, accommodates three to four students and is equipped with a furnished kitchen.

Costs

Undergraduate tuition: $7,760 (8 points) plus registration fees
Housing: TBA
Program activities fee: $591 (includes a housing security deposit of $240)

Program contact

Mariangela Lardaro
Assistant Director
Office of Special Programs
212-998-1500
mm178@nyu.edu

How to apply

Acceptance to the program is by audition/interview only. All students applying to this program must contact Scott Loane in the Department of Drama. See above for contact information.