DRAM 392 - Intensive Topics

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

This intensive course is designed to accommodate small groups of students (roughly 6-8), working in a mentored relationship with a faculty member on a topic related to an aspect of performance or performance theory. Not to be confused with the senior projects or with preparation for a performance, this course provides students the opportunity for study in a specific area in drama. Topics might include, but are not limited to, professional considerations in acting, such as the audition process and finding an agent, a deep dive into the professional actor’s creative process; stage management, archival research, directing styles or the history of directing, the historic costume collection, etc.

Topic for 2024/25a: In this intensive, students join Professor Culp in collaboration with Professor Nabanjan Maitra and his students from Bard, in an exploration of Sanskrit drama as texts written for performance. Students undertake close readings and analysis of a single Sanskrit play in translation. Under the guidance of Professors Maitra and Culp, students engage with the source language to understand how it has been translated, and to undertake a textual adaptation of their own. The semester culminates in a devised theatrical staging of their textual adaptation. Amanda Culp.

Prerequisite(s): Senior standing and permission of the department.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: INT