Course Number: 321

Semester Hours: 3

Frequency of Offering: 1/year; one section of 3-8 students

Course Title: Play Directing

Study and application of processes affecting play selection, casting and rehearsals. Prerequisites: University Studies Basic Skills Math course; also THAD 210,THAD 231, THAD 307 (or 309), and THAD 310. Open to declared Theatre or Teaching majors and minors only. Concurrent registration in THAD 090 required unless excused by the Department. Offered yearly. Grade only.

This is an existing course that has previously been approved by A2C2.

Department Contact Person: David Bratt dbratt@winona.edu

This course is submitted to satisfy the requirements of the Critical Analysis Flag.

Students in this course will

The University Studies Program specifies that Critical Analysis Flag courses must include requirements and learning activities that promote students' abilities to

a. recognize and evaluate appropriate evidence to advance a claim.

b. apply critical analytical skills in making decisions or in advancing a theoretical position.

c. evaluate alternative arguments, decision strategies, or theories within a systematic framework.

Spring 2000-2001

David Bratt

PAC 206 X5241 e-mail: dbratt@winona.edu

Office: MTWHF 10-11; or by appointment (sign up on office door)

OBJECTIVES: Students in the course will

(a) review the elements of play analysis;

(b) use these analytical procedures in order to achieve a concept or vision for a production of a play;

(c) express that vision in clear and acceptable written form;

(d) become familiar with the tools of a director: composition, picturization, movement, rhythm, and pantomimic dramatization (also known as "business");

(e) perceive the variety of uses to which these tools may be put;

(f) be able to use these tools to realize their concept or vision for the production;

(g) be able to maintain that vision under the practical pressures of auditions and rehearsal schedules;

(h) become familiar with various contemporary critical and theoretical approaches to theatre and drama

(i) hone their writing skills by writing a series of essays about these theories

CRITICAL THINKING FLAG: This course satisfies the Critical Thinking Flag requirement in the WSU University Studies program. It does so by including course requirements and learning activities aimed at promoting your ability to:

(a) recognize and evaluate appropriate evidence to advance a claim;

(b) apply critical analytical skills in making decisions or in advancing a theoretical position; and

(c) evaluate alternative arguments, decision strategies, or theories within a systematic framework.

Those assignments and activities that are designed to achieve these objectives are marked in the syllabus with "A," "B," or "C."

TEXTS: Required:

Catron, The Director's Vision

Keesey, Contexts for Criticism (3rd ed.)

Horner, Webb, Miller Harbrace College Handbook (13^th or later ed.)

or Kirkland, Dilworth, Concise English Handbook (4^th or later ed.)

Recommended:

Alberts, Rehearsal Management for Directors

Bratt, Analyzing and Synthesizing Playscripts for Production

Grote, Script Analysis

Possein and Hanson, Self-Defense: A Student Guide to Writing Position Papers

You must also be very familiar with Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which is probably in your Theatre History/Dramatic Lit anthology.

ASSIGNMENTS: This is an extremely demanding course. It should be a higher priority for your time and energy than nearly anything else you might be thinking about doing this semester–certainly a higher priority than possible involvement in Studio Season productions. Assignments will include:

textbook and script readings,

lab hours (5 hours of work on Main Season shows)

in-class exercises,

journal entries;

attendance at WSU’s Main Season theatre production

production critique of the Guthrie’s production of Virginia Woolf or some other professional show,

about nine short critical reading papers (called ‘reports’) (A, B, C),

two complete scene analyses (A, B, C),

scene productions, and

exam.

Plan on devoting a minimum of 8 hours per week outside of class time to work on assignments in this course.

Exam on directing textbook and lectures 10%,

scene productions 30%,

scene analyses 30% (A, B, C),

written ‘report’ papers 20% (A, B, C)

production critique 10%.

Thus the scenes you direct affect more than half your final grade, in the form of their direction and your written analyses of them.

I reserve the right to significantly change your final grade (i.e., by at least 20%) by taking into account such factors as attendance, the quality of your in-class exercises, journal entries, fulfillment of ‘lab’ hours, and your participation in the discussion of assignments. I regard all the work as essential; accordingly, any work not submitted will result in an F for the course.

ATTENDANCE: I will take attendance daily. You are allowed three free skips for illnesses and other unavoidable problems. ANY additional absences will affect your grade in the course. You are required to attend at least 2/3 of the scene presentations for both Scene I and Scene II, regardless of when they are scheduled. Part-time jobs or other commitments will not excuse you from this requirement.

SCENE PRODUCTION: You are to direct and present two scenes for the class, instructor, and invited guests. In addition, you are to arrange for the instructor to attend at least one rehearsal of each of your scenes. Make these arrangements at least one week in advance.

Scene I requirements:

The scene will be 8-12 minutes in length. It must either be chosen from the play list below or must be approved by the instructor by the date indicated on the syllabus. In either case, it must adhere to the following requirements:

1. 8-12 minutes in length, excerpted from a full-length play. To time the script, read it out loud twice, once fairly slowly and again fairly quickly; then average the time of the two readings.

2. Climactic in nature, i.e., one in which a major character discovers something which will alter his or her future plans. Include in your scene the moment of discovery, the character's readjustment, and the start of his or her new course of action.

3. Not arbitrarily ended by the author in such a way that it does not include all the moments described in #2. Practically speaking, this means that the play should probably be divided into two to five acts, not many brief scenes or episodes with a curtain or blackout between them.

4. Three or four characters, at least three of whom are together onstage for at least half the scene. Remember that the more characters there are, the more trouble you'll have casting. Also remember that more women will audition than men.

5. Modern serious realism--not Expressionism, Symbolism, Absurdism, etc., and not comedy or farce. It should not have been written prior to 1850.

6. The setting should probably be an interior.

7. Don't edit the scene. That is, don’t cut lines within the scene (you may of course begin after the beginning of the scene or end before its ending).

8. Use proscenium staging.

9. Be prepared to use very limited sets, props, and costumes and no make-up or lights. Think of this as the final rehearsal before all the tech stuff arrives.

APPROVED LIST for Scene I (read a few scenes to determine whether the play might interest you; if it doesn't, read another):

William Inge (Picnic, Come Back Little Sheeba, Dark at the Top of the Stairs)

Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy)

Lillian Hellman (Toys in the Attic, Children's Hour, Little Foxes)

Sidney Howard (They Knew What They Wanted)

Paul Zindel (And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little)

Lorraine Hansberry (Raisin in the Sun)

Frank Gilroy (The Subject Was Roses)

Also OK but difficult for college actors and directors are:

Edward Albee (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf)

Michael Cristofer (Shadow Box)

T.S. Eliot (Cocktail Party)

SCENE ANALYSES (A, B, C): You are to submit complete written analyses of the scenes you have chosen to direct. These two scene analyses are major assignments and should be taken very seriously indeed. They represent a significant amount of work.

Each analysis is to include the five sections below.

In the instructions, "SA" stands for the Script Analysis textbook used in the THAD 119-Playscript Analysis course. My lectures on analysis are based on this book. "Bratt" stands for the instructor’s sccript analysis textbook.

WRITTEN REPORTS (A, B, C): These nine papers are described as ‘reports’ on the schedule pages in the syllabus. There are two kinds of ‘reports,’ described below as ‘a’ and ‘b.’ You are to write no more than six of the ‘a’ reports and no fewer than three of the ‘b’ reports. All are to be typed, double-spaced, maximum 1" margins, maximum 12-point font).

a. 1-2 pages. These are true ‘report’ papers: in them you identify the basic distinguishing characteristics of the critical or theoretical approach described in the essay. Your ‘a’ report is summarizing the contents of the essay, using paraphrase, not an unending series of direct quotations.

b. 2-3 pages. These are critiques (or, in the terms of Possein and Hanson, ‘position papers’), not mere reports. In them you are to oppose one specific claim made in the essay. Your ‘b’ critique should present arguments, supported by evidence, which criticize either the accuracy of the claim or its usefulness for people interested in the production of theatre.

Thus, the ‘a’ reports are like news stories or book reports: they accurately and ‘objectively’ describe facts: ‘this is what the essay says.’ The ‘b’ critiques, on the other hand, are critical essays: they challenge the accuracy or pertinence of one aspect of the essay.

PRODUCTION CRITIQUE: After seeing a full-length, live, professional theatrical production, submit a critique of that production, dealing with each of the elements below. You may divide your critique into six parts without trying to write an introduction or conclusion to the paper as a whole and without linking parts. In other words, this assignment does not require you to write a "unified" essay.

Double spaced, 1" margins, 12-point font. See the ‘Note’ on the schedule page of this syllabus regarding the due date for the Production Critique.

In each of the six parts of the critique, you should (a) give detailed examples; (b) explain why you regard the examples as successful or unsuccessful; and (c) in the case of unsuccessful examples, describe what the director might have done to be more successful.

Elements:

1. Groundplan (in a multiset show, pick one setting)

a. identify the acting areas (using the definition given in class)

b. discuss their usefulness and ways in which the ground plan might have been improved

2. Composition: discuss the successful or unsuccessful use of the elements of composition you have learned about in class by giving a detailed analysis of at least two specific scenes.

3. Picturization: discuss at least two successful or unsuccessful moments.

4. Movement: discuss at least two successful or unsuccessful uses of a series of movements.

5. Rhythm: discuss at least two successful or unsuccessful uses of rhythm to build to a climax or to retreat after a climax.

6. Business: discuss at least two pieces of business or pantomime which were particularly effective or ineffective.

EXAM: take-home essay and in-class. The latter will consist of short essay and objective questions and will take about 45-60 minutes to complete.