Course Descriptions: THEATRE ARTS

DRAM 101 HISTORY OF THEATRE

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for ENGL 110; Prerequisite(s): None. Description: Discover theatre throughout the ages: Ancient Greek, Medieval, Renaissance, 17th century Court Theatre, 19th, 20th, 21st centuries. Read & analyze plays, study theatre architecture & stage design, learn about major historical figures, trends, and developments of the theatre, as well as theatre’s dynamic role in both historic and contemporary society. Transfer: CSU: C1, UC. (IGETC: 3A)

DRAM 140 INTRODUCTION TO THE THEATRE (CAN DRAM 18)

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for ENGL 110; Prerequisite(s): None. Description: Discover the world of theatre - its process, people, performances, audiences, and its dynamic relationship with society. Engage in creative and research projects in acting, playwrighting, directing, and design. Experience theatre’s diversity, from edgy dramas to splashy Broadway musicals. Read plays, see film adaptations of stage scripts, examine dramatic criticism. Transfer: CSU: C1, UC. (IGETC: 3A)

DRAM 142 GREAT PLAYS: CLASSICAL AND RENAISSANCE (Also LIT. 142)

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Prerequisite(s): ENGL 100. Description: Study of the greatest plays and playwrights from classical Greece through the Elizabethan era in England. Principles underlying dramatic literature in each period are related to dominant social, intellectual and artistic forces, measuring the student’s own beliefs and values against those of characters of other times and places. Play attendance may be required. Transfer: CSU: C1, C2, UC. (IGETC: 3B)

DRAM 143 GREAT PLAYS: MODERN ERA (Also LIT. 143)

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Prerequisite(s): ENGL 100. Description: Study of the great plays and playwrights from the 17th century to the present. Principles underlying dramatic literature in each period are related to dominant social, intellectual and artistic forces, measuring the student’s own beliefs and values against those of characters of other times and places. Play attendance may be required. Transfer: CSU: C1, C2, UC. (IGETC: 3B)

DRAM 150 SCRIPT ANALYSIS

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for ENGL 110; Prerequisite(s): None. Description: An introduction to the reading and analysis of scripts, and the different ways in which critics, directors, actors, and designers approach them. Read classic and contemporary plays, discover the creative mechanisms behind effective drama, and explore realistic and non-realistic work. Research playwrights and their process. Interpret, explore, and analyze some of the most influential and exciting work in theatre history. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 151 INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE I (Also LIT. 151)

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Prerequisite(s): ENGL 100. Description: Study of representative plays of Shakespeare. A chronological sequence of plays, from each of the phases of Shakespeare’s creativity, is covered. Some discussion of Shakespeare’s life and times and some discussion of his poetry are included, although the plays are the main focus of the course. Transfer: CSU: C2, UC. (IGETC: 3B)

DRAM 152 INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE II (Also LIT. 152)

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Prerequisite(s): ENGL 100. Description: Study of selected plays of Shakespeare. Some discussion of Shakespeare’s life and time and some discussion of his poetry are included, although his plays are the main focus of the course. Plays covered are different than those in Drama 151 and are not selected on a chronological basis. Transfer: CSU: C2, UC. (IGETC: 3B)

DRAM 160 LATIN AMERICAN THEATRE

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for ENGL 110; Prerequisite(s): None. Description: Discover the rich history of Latino Theatre in the United States. Explore the Spanish and indigenous roots of Latin American theatre. Learn about El Teatro Campesino’s powerful role in organizing the farm workers of the 1960’s. Read and analyze plays written by contemporary Latino, Cuban, and Puerto Rican playwrights, and study the relationship between those plays and the societies from which they emerge. Transfer: CSU: C1, UC. (IGETC: 3A)

DRAM 200 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ACTING (CAN DRAM 8)

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): None. Description: Develop performance skills through emotional and sense memory techniques; physical exercises designed to increase body awareness, authentic expression, and control; and vocal exercises focusing on articulation, projection, and creative expression. Acquire confidence, range, and subtlety through improvisation, monologue, and scene work. Gain insight and inspiration through text-based critical analysis. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 201 ADVANCED ACTING I

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): DRAM 200. Description: Continue developing performance skills through methods and techniques explored in DRAM 200. Take on longer and more challenging monologues and scenes, including non-realistic and classical texts, and ten-minute plays. Deepen emotional authenticity and refine creative expression. Develop more thorough text-based critical analysis. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 202 ADVANCED ACTING II

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): DRAM 200. Description: Continue developing performance skills through methods and techniques explored in DRAM 201. Take on longer and more challenging monologues and scenes, including non-realistic and classical texts, and ten-minute plays. Deepen emotional authenticity and refine creative expression. Develop more thorough text-based critical analysis. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 203 ADVANCED ACTING III

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): DRAM 200. Description: Continue developing advanced performance skills through methods and techniques explored in DRAM 202. Take on longer and more challenging monologues and scenes, including non-realistic and classical texts, and ten-minute plays. Deepen emotional authenticity and refine creative expression. Develop more thorough text-based critical analysis. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 208, 209, 210, 211 ACTING PRACTICUM I, II, III, IV (ACTING LABORATORIES)

Units (Grade Option) 2; Class Hours: Minimum of 96 lab hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): None. Corequisite(s): Concurrent enrollment in DRAM 200, 201, 202, or 203. Description: Supervised rehearsals of improvisations, pantomimes, oral readings and short scenes. Forms and styles of acting. Exercises in the use of mind, emotions, voice, and body in acting. Acting scenes for drama classes and others. Emphasis upon coaching by the instructor and the students preparing of scenes for performance. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 212 STAGE VOICE

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): None. Description: Develop vocal performance skills through exercises in breathing, articulation, diaphragm support, resonance, pitch, rhythm, and expressiveness. Learn to communicate with precision and confidence. Acquire vocal range, strength, and subtlety. Integrate voice, breath, and text. Explore character voices and dialect. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 221 STAGE MOVEMENT

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 48 lecture hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): None. Description: Become a more compelling performer through exploring the body in motion. Engage in exercises designed to increase flexibility, control, precision, fluidity, and balance, as well as spontaneity and expressiveness. Perform physical improvisation, choreographed routines, scenes without language, and stage combat choreography. Develop characters with distinct physicality. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 233 PLAY PRODUCTION LAB

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 40 lecture/24 lab/32 by arrangement lab hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): Enrollment by Audition. Description: Produce a student-driven public performance: students write, direct, design, build, manage, and market a smaller production, developing it from its inception to the final curtain call. Each student takes on a variety of responsibilities, learning about not just the creative, but also the logistical and technical aspects of production. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 300 PLAY REHEARSAL/PERFORMANCE

Units (Grade Option) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 144 lab hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): Enrollment by Audition. Description: Perform in a departmental production. Develop your skills as an actor, and as a member of an ensemble that pools its talents, energies, and resources together in a collective effort to build, develop, market, and manage the complex and demanding challenge that is a live theatrical production. May be repeated for credit up to three times. Transfer: CSU, UC.

DRAM 305 TECHNICAL PRODUCTION

Units (Letter grade) 3; Class Hours: Minimum of 144 lab hours/semester; Recommended: Eligibility for READ 836, and ENGL 836 or ESL 400; Prerequisite(s): None. Description: Introduces students to play production techniques, procedures, and crafts. Topics include set design and construction, lighting design and implementation, building props, shop procedures, stage management, light and sound board programming and operation, and backstage operations. Student assignments support the DRAM 300 and DRAM 233 productions. May be repeated for credit up to three times. Transfer: CSU, UC.

Updated: 6/11/09