Instructor: Emma Griffin
Through the medium of directing. students will explore two main questions concerned with creativity and theater:• How do you turn an abstract idea (tied to a specific text) into a theatrical event?
• What are the components of a compelling theatrical event?
Each student will be asked to select a text with which they have a strong emotional relationship. By focusing on some basic tools of directing (theme, story, character, activity, space), the class will generate their own unique work based on that text; these individual projects will develop throughout the semester. Through the presentation and discussion of these scenes, the class will focus on both the practical questions of directing (what do you do as a director; what are your tools?), and the more abstract question of what is needed to make a dynamic theatrical event. As well as focusing on what directors do, we will also focus on what the audience sees and the import of that relationship in any director's work.
