Departmental Requirements and Courses of Instruction

Acting (M.F.A. and Certificate)
The Acting department admits talented and committed individuals who possess an active intelligence, a strong imagination, and a physical and vocal instrument capable of development, and prepares them for work as professional actors. The program combines in-depth classroom training with extensive production work. At the conclusion of their training, individuals will be prepared to work on a wide range of material and in a variety of venues.

The first year is a highly disciplined period of training. The first production opportunity comes at the end of the first term with the presentation of collaboratively created projects adapted from source material assigned by the faculty (Drama 50a). At the beginning of the second term, there is a first-year project designed to exercise the skills being developed in class, directed by a visiting professional director. After the first-year project, students in good standing enter the casting pool for school productions. The year begins with a concentration on realism, and by the end of the second term, actors are intro-duced to Shakespeare and text work. Students who have demonstrated and developed their talent during the year will be invited by the faculty to return for a second year of training.

Second-year work expands the focus on verse drama, with continued emphasis on understanding and performing the works of Shakespeare. Students strengthen their skills and attain a higher level of ensemble work through their classes and through increasing production assignments. At the end of the second year, the work shifts to other verse texts. The third year is spent exploring the varied material of contemporary theater.

School production opportunities include work in a diverse season of directors’ thesis productions, verse plays, and new plays by student playwrights. All casting is assigned by the chair of the Acting department (pending approval by the dean) based on the developmental needs of each student and on the needs of the project as articulated by its director. Actors should take note of the casting policy as further stated under Living at the School of Drama, under departmental assignments. During the school year, acting in projects outside the School is discouraged, and permission to do so is rarely given.

The Yale Repertory Theatre serves as an advanced training center for the department. All acting students work at the Rep as understudies, observing and working alongside professional actors and directors. Many have the opportunity to appear in roles during the season, depending upon their appropriateness to the parts available. Through work with the professional theater, those students who are not members of Actors’ Equity will attain membership upon graduation.

The Yale Cabaret provides an additional, although strictly extracurricular, outlet for the exploration of a wide range of material: serious, absurdist, improvisational, and musical.

Plan of Study: Acting

Alexander Technique
Offered in all three years (DRAM 143b, 243a/b, 343a/b) through class work and private tutorials, this work develops the actor’s kinesthetic awareness, fosters balance and alignment, and, through breath work, promotes the connection between voice and body. Jessica Wolf.

Voice
The first year of voice training (DRAM 113a/b) is based on the work of Kristin Linklater and her mentor, Iris Warren. The work is structured as a progression of exercises/experiences which explore basic principles of physical, vocal, emotional, and imaginative freedom and promote the development of vocal clarity, power, stamina, range, and sensitivity to impulse. Andrea Haring, Walton Wilson.

The second year (DRAM 213a/b) integrates the classic Linklater progression with the approach to vocal production developed by Catherine Fitzmaurice. Walton Wilson.

The third year (DRAM 313a/b) consists of the advanced practice of both these techniques and the study of relevant special topics. Walton Wilson, Grace Zandarski.

Movement
The goal of the School’s movement training (DRAM 133a/b, 233a/b, 333a/b) is to develop actors with strong, centered bodies and to awaken their physical expressiveness through class exercises and the solo and collaborative creation of movement pieces for performance. Wesley Fata.

Speech
Speech training (DRAM 123a/b, 223a/b, 323a/b) seeks to broaden the actor’s range of vocal and imaginative expression and to deepen the actor's sensory relationship to language. The exploration of phonetics encourages exibility, specificity, and variety. The approach is actively rooted in the whole body; for example, the International Phonetic Alphabet is acquired in conjunction with physical work so that the sounds become kinesthetically linked to the body, rather than to just the articulating surfaces of the mouth. Dialects are explored as a transformational acting tool in connection with dramatic texts. Beth McGuire, Pamela Prather.

Games (DRAM 153a or b), Physical Comedy (DRAM 253a/b), Mask
These courses encourage the actor’s imagination, thread impulse through the voice and body, promote spontaneity, and prepare the actor to make bold choices in production. Christopher Bayes, Frank Deal, and faculty.

Stage Combat
Unarmed combat (DRAM 403a/b, Combat I) in the first year and swordplay (DRAM 405a/b, Combat II) in the second prepare the actor to execute stage violence effectively and safely. Skills of concentration, partner-awareness, and impulse-response are also fostered in this work. Rick Sordelet.

Singing
Through group classes and private tutorials in the second (DRAM 413a/b, Singing I) and third year (DRAM 423a/b, Singing II), this work develops actors’ singing voices, gives them experience in acting sung material, and contributes to the overall development of their vocal instruments. Each year culminates in a performance of songs for the Drama School community Vicki Shaghoian.

Scene Study
First Year
Scene study in the first year (DRAM 103a/b) concentrates on the realistic works of Chekhov, Ibsen, and others. Through rigorous attention to the text, students learn to identify and personalize a character’s driving need (objective) and to engage themselves (voice, body, mind, and spirit) in its active pursuit, informed by character-specific listening. At the end of the year, actors are introduced to Shakespeare and text work. Evan Yionoulis.

Second Year
Second-year work (DRAM 203a/b) expands the focus on verse drama, with continued emphasis on understanding and performing the works of Shakespeare. Classroom proj-ects include a solo piece based on a character from Shakespeare and a collaboratively created hour-long adaptation of one of his plays. Peter Francis James.

Third Year
Scene study (DRAM 303a/b) begins with the study of Brecht and different approaches to action. Students tackle contemporary and twentieth-century material to discover how technique is adapted to the requirements of varying texts. Evan Yionoulis.

Acting for Camera
In this workshop (DRAM 433a), third-year students become comfortable in front of the camera, learning how to transfer the work they do to the medium of film. The course begins with audition technique and culminates in the shooting of a film script. Mark Wheeler.

Audition and Scene Presentation Preparation
Through practice auditions of varied material and visits from industry professionals (working actors, agents, casting agents, and directors), third-year actors acquire the information and skills they need to make the transition into the professional world.

In their final term, students choose and rehearse scenes which are presented to agents, casting agents, and producers in New York and Los Angeles. Connie Grappo, Evan Yionoulis.

In addition to courses offered in their department, actors take Drama 6a/b (Survey of Theater and Drama), Drama 50a (The Collaborative Process), and Drama 47a/b (Playwrights’ Workshop). See descriptions under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, Directing, and Playwriting, respectively.

Students are required to attend all classes in their curriculum.

Directing (M.F.A. and Certificate)
The Directing program admits a few talented individuals each year who have demonstrated the potential to be professional directors. These students should have a solid background in the literature and theory of drama, and practical experience. They are chosen to bring to the School a wide range of sensibility. They leave with a variety of preferences for different kinds of text—languages as diverse as those of nonlinear prose, Elizabethan verse, and the gestures of performance art. Each director, each vision, is different and unique.

What they share, however, are some crucial qualities: a sense of responsibility for the vision and the political stance it implies; an appreciation for the traditions and achievements to which they are heirs; some well-honed critical skills; deep respect for the artists with whom they work; a desire to serve the work; an appetite for the hard questions; a high regard for language; and an awareness of process and the way in which it affects product.

Because mastery of the director’s art requires a deep understanding of all the expressive modes that together embody theater—the linguistic and the gestural, the visual and the aural—the Directing program’s curriculum integrates core courses of two key collaborative disciplines into its programming: acting and design. Directors are required to participate in the core acting courses in their first and second years. They are required to take core courses in lighting, set, costume, music, and sound design and to participate in the Playwrights’ Workshop in their second and third years. In addition, directors are required to take Dramaturgy’s three-course cycle in drama history and theory, and a variety of courses in other disciplines as designated by the faculty.

Throughout the three years, directors practice their craft in diverse forums, ranging from scene work to full productions in various performance spaces. First-year directors serve as assistant directors on School productions, participate as directors in the First-Year Collaborative Project, and direct at least one new play written by a playwriting student. In the second year, directors serve as assistant directors on School or Repertory Theatre productions and direct one verse project and at least one new play. Third-year directors may serve as assistant directors on Repertory Theatre productions and are required to direct one new play and a full production as their thesis. In each academic year, all directors are encouraged to direct at least one production in the Yale Cabaret. Additional projects may be assigned to directors in all three years, including new works and Yale Cabaret productions and, on occasion, casting in School and Repertory Theatre productions.

Plan of Study: Directing

Required Sequence

Year	Course	Subject
I	Drama 50a	The Collaborative Process
	Drama 103a/b	Acting I
	Drama 110a/b	First-Year Directing
	Drama 111a/b	American Theater Practice
	Drama 191b	Managing the Production Process
	Drama 316a/b	Dramaturgy Cycle: Theater History
	Drama 330a/b	Directing Practicum
II	Drama 47b	Playwrights’ Workshop
	Drama 102a/b	Scene Design
	Drama 115a/b	Costume Design: Background and Practice
	Drama 120a/b	Second-Year Directing
	Drama 124a/b	Introduction to Lighting Design
	Drama 148a/b	Music and Sound for the Theater
	Drama 203a	Acting II
	Drama 316a/b	Dramaturgy Cycle: Theater History
	Drama 330a/b	Directing Practicum
III	Drama 47a/b	Playwrights’ Workshop
	Drama 130a/b	Third-Year Directing
	Drama 140a/b	The Director’s Thesis
	Drama 261a/b	Management Seminar
	Drama 316a/b	Dramaturgy Cycle: Theater History
	Drama 330a/b	Directing Practicum

Course requirements may alter, depending on the needs of a particular class or of an individual.

Courses of Instruction

[DRAM 26a/b, Dramatic Structure and Play Analysis. See description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 47a/b, Playwrights’ Workshop. See description under Playwriting.

DRAM 50a, The Collaborative Process. A laboratory workshop in collective creation designed for first-term actors, dramaturgs, and directors who are divided into four discrete ensembles. Drawing from a single narrative source work selected by faculty—a literary text, historical event, painting, or musical composition—each group, over the term, develops and rehearses an assigned portion of this selected work. A final showing of the four ensemble creations (in narrative sequence) is presented to the full school late in the term. The goals of the project include non-hierarchical collaboration, the exercising of the techniques of the student’s chosen field of pursuit, collective imagining and execution, and a sharing of individual theatrical talents. David Chambers, Catherine Sheehy, Evan Yionoulis.

DRAM 102a/b, Scene Design. See description under Design.

DRAM 103a/b, Acting I. See description under Acting.

DRAM 110 a/b, First-Year Directing. In the first term the conflict between psychological realism and intentional theatricalism, as embodied in the masterworks of Stanislavski and Meyerhold, is used as a premise to examine practical aspects of the director’s art: text analysis and interpretation, performance idioms, and scenic composition. The second term focuses on the director’s role in new play development and concludes with introductory approaches to Shakespearean text and the selection of the student’s second-year Verse Project. David Chambers.

DRAM 111a/b, American Theater Practice. See description under Theater Management.

DRAM 115a/b, Costume Design: Background and Practice. See description under Design.

DRAM 120a/b, Second-Year Directing. A seminar for second-year directors to examine the artistic and technical demands of verse drama. Emphasis is placed on the role of verse in determining action and shaping character. Plays by major verse dramatists, especially Shakespeare and Moliere, are used to investigate the relation of script requirements to production style and acting processes. Karin Coonrod, Daniel Fish, Douglas Hughes.

DRAM 124a/b, Introduction to Lighting Design. See description under Design.

DRAM 130a/b, Third-Year Directing. A seminar for third-year directors. Emphasis is placed on the further development of interpretive skill through close reading and research, and stylistic orchestration of one’s reading of a play in production. Plays and landmark productions from the twentieth-century avant-garde are the course texts. Students’ own production strategies for these works are presented and critiqued in weekly sessions. Liz Diamond.

DRAM 140a/b, The Director’s Thesis. The primary project of the third year in directing is the thesis, a full production of a major work of classical or contemporary dramatic literature, or a new or original work, to be chosen in consultation with the program chair. The written component of the thesis is a production casebook documenting the student’s preparation, rehearsal, and postproduction evaluation of the thesis production. Consultation hours with the adviser to be arranged throughout the year. Adviser arranged in consultation with the program chair.

DRAM 148a/b, Music and Sound for the Theater. See description under Sound Design.

DRAM 191b, Managing the Production Process. See description under Theater Management.

DRAM 203a, Acting II. See description under Acting.

DRAM 261a/b, Management Seminar. See description under Theater Management.

[DRAM 306a/b, Issues in Theory: From Drama to Performance. See description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 316a/b, Theater History. 9ee description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.

DRAM 330a/b, Directing Practicum. As the core course of the Directing program, the Practicum is designed to develop the student director’s artistic and practical ability to assume the complex of responsibilities required of the professional director. Over three years, the Practicum explores (1) text analysis and production preparation, (2) composition on the stage, and (3) the director as leader of the collaborative effort. Work in Practicum includes problem sets, open rehearsals, exercises in composition, critiques of School and Rep productions, and workshops with visiting artists. David Chambers, Liz Diamond.

DRAM 630b, Introduction to Theatrical Composition. How do directors and actors work to discover and embody the form and content—the poetic life—of a text on stage? This course is a practical introduction to creating and telling stories in three (and four) dimensions. This course is open only to School of Drama students not enrolled in the Acting and Directing programs. Liz Diamond.

Design (M.F.A. and Certificate)
The purpose of the Design department is to develop theater artists who are masterful designers in set, costume, lighting, and sound for the theater. The department encourages students to discover their own process of formulating design ideas, to develop a discriminating standard for their own endeavors, and above all to prepare for a creative and meaningful professional life in the broad range of theater activities.

In the belief that theater is a collaborative art, it is hoped that through their Yale experience design students discover a true sense of joy in working with other people, especially directors, and realize the excitement of evolving a production through the process of collaboration.

Finally, the department endeavors to create an atmosphere conducive to creative experimentation, tempered by unafraid criticism and disciplined study.

Theater is an act of transformation, and for designers it is the transformation of words into visual and musical imagery. Set, costume, and, to a certain extent, lighting designers must have the capacity for visual expression, with its foundation set firmly in the ability to draw and sketch clearly and expressively. Drawing is not merely a technique for presentation; it is the language that reveals one’s thoughts, and thus creates a dialogue among the director, the designers, and their colleagues. Through drawing, one observes and records one’s world. Drawing informs and clarifies one’s vision and is an integral part of the formulation of a design. Drawing should be as natural to the visual designer as speaking; therefore, to keep their drawing skills honed, all set, costume, and lighting design students are required to take a weekly life drawing class offered by the department.

Students are admitted to the program on the basis of their artistic abilities as shown in their portfolios, as well as their commitment to the theater and their ability to articulate their ideas verbally.

The student’s training is accomplished through a combination of classroom work and production experience. It is understood that, with certain exceptions, students of visual design will study scenic, costume, and lighting design in all three years. The culmination of this training is the Master Class in Design, taken by all visual design students in the third year, in which a number of unified projects and a thesis are presented to the combined faculty in the course of two terms.

It is recognized that some students are stronger in some areas than they are in others and allowance is made for this fact in production assignments. For the first year, and to a limited extent in the second year, students are assigned to assist a designer without regard to such strengths. When assignments are made as principal designer of one aspect of a production, chiey in the second and third years, such an assignment usually reects the student’s strengths and career expectations.

A limited number of students, interested principally in lighting design, are admitted to the Design program. Such students, upon application, must demonstrate a fairly strong ability to make visual presentations—though perhaps not with the proficiency of students concentrating on set or costume.

Sound design students who are admitted into the Design program are also required to take introductory visual design classes in an attempt to develop a common body of knowledge within the entire design team, and to provide opportunities for all designers to develop collaborative communication and presentation skills.

Plan of Study: Design

Required sequence

Year	Course	Subject
I	Drama 89a	Costume Construction (costume designers only)
	Drama 112a/b	Scene Design: Background and Practice
	Drama 114a/b	Stagecraft for Designers
	Drama 115a/b	Costume Design: Background and Practice
	Drama 122a/b	Design Drafting
	Drama 124a/b	Introduction to Lighting Design (nonlighting designers)
	Drama 125a/b	History of Costume and Costume Construction
	Drama 134a/b	Advanced Problems in Stage Lighting (lighting designers only)
	Drama 158a	Introduction to Sound Design (lighting designers only)
	Drama 162a/b	Design Studio
	Drama 189a	Costume Production
	Drama 289b	Patternmaking (costume designers only)
	Assignments as Assistant Designer
II	Drama 6a/b	Survey of Theater and Drama
	Drama 132a/b	Advanced Problems in Scene Design
	Drama 134a/b	Advanced Problems in Stage Lighting (except lighting designers)
	Drama 135a/b	Advanced Problems in Costume Design (set and costume designers only)
	Drama 152a/b	Scene Painting
	Drama 158a	Introduction to Sound Design (set and costume designers only)
	Drama 162a/b	Design Studio
	Drama 164a/b	Professional Stage Lighting Design (lighting designers only)
	Drama 258a/b	Advanced Problems in Sound Design (lighting designers only)
	Design assignments for School of Drama productions
	Note: The student may, with faculty approval, elect not to take one of the following: Drama 132a/b, 134a/b, or 135a/b."
III	Drama 142a/b	Master Class in Design
	Drama 145a/b	Master Class in Design
	Drama 154a/b	Master Class in Design
	Drama 162a/b	Design Studio
	Drama 174a/b	Advanced Professional Stage Lighting Design (lighting designers only)
	One two-term elective
	Design assignments for School of Drama productions; possible design projects for the Yale Repertory Theatre
	Thesis Project	A comprehensive design project incorporating scenery, costumes, and lighting for a production

Courses of Instruction

DRAM 6a/b, Survey of Theater and Drama. See description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.

DRAM 89a, Costume Construction. See description under Technical Design and Production. Required for costume designers; elective for all others, with permission of instructor.

DRAM 102a/b, Scene Design. An introduction for all nondesign students to the aesthetics and the process of scenic design through critique and discussion of weekly projects. Emphasis is given to the examination of the text and the action of the play, the formulation of design ideas, the visual expression of the ideas, and especially the collaboration with directors and all other designers. Three hours a week. Ming Cho Lee, Michael Yeargan.

DRAM 112a/b, Scene Design: Background and Practice. An introductory course for all designers in conjunction with 102a/b. Ming Cho Lee, Michael Yeargan.

DRAM 114a/b, Stagecraft for Designers. An introductory course for all first-year designers in stagecraft and production techniques. Michael Yeargan.

DRAM 115a/b, Costume Design: Background and Practice. A review of the history of civil costume and a study of the technique and practice of theatrical costume design leading to the preparation of designs for productions and the carrying out of the designs in actual costumes for the stage. Criticism of weekly sketch problems. Two hours a week. Jane Greenwood.

DRAM 122a/b, Design Drafting. A course for designers in the techniques of preparing a scene design for production in a shop. Drafting techniques, sheet layout, conventions, and symbols are stressed. Two hours a week. Ming Cho Lee, Michael Yeargan.

DRAM 124a/b, Introduction to Lighting Design. An introduction for all nonlighting design students to the aesthetics and the process of lighting design through weekly critique and discussion of theoretical and practical assignments. Emphasis is given to the examination of the action of the play in relation to lighting, the formulation of design ideas, the place of lighting in the overall production, and collaboration with directors, set, costume, and sound designers. Stephen Strawbridge.

DRAM 125a/b, History of Costume and Costume Construction. A history of costume taught through the costume techniques of the period. The course includes lectures and practical work. Permission of the instructor required. Jane Greenwood.

DRAM 132a/b, Advanced Problems in Scene Design. Criticism of design problems for plays, musicals, ballet, and opera. This course continues the work started in Drama 112, carrying it a step further and focusing on design realization. Prerequisite: Drama 112a/b. Two hours a week. Ming Cho Lee.

DRAM 134a/b, Advanced Problems in Stage Lighting. A course intended to help the student develop a sense of, and a facility with, light as an element in a production. Projects are prepared consistent with best professional practice. Prerequisites: Drama 124a/b and permission of the instructor. Four hours a week. Jennifer Tipton.

DRAM 135a/b, Advanced Problems in Costume Design. Detailed practical experience in the preparation of costumes for the stage, including sketches for projected designs and plans for their execution. Prerequisites: Drama 115a/b and Drama 125a/b. Two hours a week. Jess Goldstein.

DRAM 142a/b, 145a/b, 154a/b, Master Class in Design. Class required for third-year students for the presentation and criticism of all the visual elements that comprise a complete production. Each student presents several complete projects. One or two of these projects may be designs for a production on the main stage or Repertory Theatre. Each student must complete a final thesis that includes sketches or models of scenes, sketches of costumes, lighting design, designer’s drafting, etc. Four hours a week. Faculty.

DRAM 152a/b, Scene Painting. A studio class in painting techniques. Problems in textures, materials, styles, to prepare students to execute their own and other designs. Three hours a week. Ru-Jun Wang.

DRAM 158a, Introduction to Sound Design. Required for first-year lighting and second-year costume and set designers. See description under Sound Design.

DRAM 158b/268b, Recording Arts. See description under Sound Design.

DRAM 162a/b, Design Studio. A course in figure drawing for design students. The course is taken as training by students in every year. Three hours a week. Ru-Jun Wang.

DRAM 164a/b, Professional Stage Lighting Design. A course to prepare students for the demanding artistic and practical situations to be faced in the professional theater. Large-scale and somewhat complex production problems, such as multiset plays, musical comedies, operas, ballets, and repertory situations may be addressed by students for presentation and critique. Prerequisite: Drama 134a/b and permission of the instructor. Two hours a week. Jennifer Tipton.

DRAM 174a/b, Advanced Professional Stage Lighting Design. An independent study course concurrent with Drama 164a/b. Hours to be arranged with the instructor. Jennifer Tipton.

DRAM 189a, Costume Production. See description under Technical Design and Production.

DRAM 258a/b, Advanced Problems in Sound Design. See description under Sound Design.

DRAM 289b, Patternmaking. See description under Technical Design and Production.

DRAM 630b, Introduction to Theatrical Composition. See description under Directing.

Sound Design (M.F.A. and Certificate)
The Sound Design concentration offered under the Design department is dedicated to training students in the theory and practice of professional theatrical sound design. The course work covers the aesthetics of design and composition, script interpretation, critical listening, professional collaboration, sound and music technology, aural imaging, acoustics, digital audio production, advanced sound delivery systems, and production organization combined with practical assignments.

Plan of Study: Sound Design

Required sequence

Year	Course	Subject
I	Drama 6a/b	Survey of Theater and Drama
	Drama 112a	Scene Design: Background and Practice*
	Drama 119b	Electricity
	Drama 124a	Introduction to Lighting Design*
	Drama 138a/b	Production Sound Design Technology
	Drama 158a	Introduction to Sound Design
	Drama 158b/268b	Recording Arts
	Drama 198b	Sound Design Production Organization Sound Seminar
	Two terms of elective courses in music
	Three production assignments assisting sound designers
*Drama 112a/115a/124a are required courses; Drama 112b/115b/124b are electives.
II	Drama 115a	Costume Design: Background and Practice*
	Drama 148a/b	Music and Sound for the Theater
	Drama 158b/268b	Recording Arts
	Drama 258a/b	Advanced Problems in Sound Design Sound Seminar
	Two terms of elective courses in music
	Two terms of general electives
	Three production assignments: sound designs (if prepared)
III	Drama 358a/b	Sound Design Thesis Review
	Drama 368a/b	Master Class in Sound Design
		Sound Seminar
		Full production thesis
	One term of elective course in music
	Two terms of general electives
	Three production assignments: sound designs

Elective sequence
The elective sequence is determined in consultation with a department adviser. Students should complete five terms of music classes and six terms of general electives. Nonmusic electives may include Drama 141b, Law and the Arts; Drama 319a, Electronics; Drama 339a, Architectural Acoustics; Drama 366b, Modern American Drama; Drama 369b, Stage Rigging Techniques; Drama 630b, Introduction to Theatrical Composition. The design adviser must approve any exemptions from the elective sequence.

Courses of Instruction

DRAM 6a/b, Survey of Theater and Drama. See description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.

DRAM 112a/b, Scene Design: Background and Practice. See description under Design.

DRAM 115a/b, Costume Design: Background and Practice. See description under Design.

DRAM 119b, Electricity. See description under Technical Design and Production.

DRAM 124a/b, Introduction to Lighting Design. See description under Design.

DRAM 138a/b, Production Sound Design Technology. This intensive yearlong course covers the fundamentals of sound and music technology for studio production and professional sound delivery systems. The course consists of lectures and practical assignments. Students learn the physical aspects of sound, stereophonic imaging, elements of psychoacoustics, microphone theory and application, loudspeaker theory and application, audio control systems, delay-based effects processors, and professional production studio technique and practice. The course progresses to cover music production, digital audio workstations, MIDI, digital sampling, playback automation, advanced digital signal processing, equalization techniques, time delay theory and practice, surround-sound techniques, aural imaging, audio sound reinforcement theory and practice, power amplifiers, loads, circuiting, and radio frequency (RF) microphone theory and practice. Required for all sound designers. The class meets for four hours a week plus practicals and additional modules of study. Faculty.

DRAM 141b, Law and the Arts. See description under Theater Management.

DRAM 148a/b, Music and Sound for the Theater. This workshop provides a laboratory for conceiving and realizing music and sound for the theater. A primary objective is the development of a strong and dynamic relationship between the director, sound designer, and/or composer. Through a series of projects based on scripts and themes, participants explore the vast potential of designed sound while building an aural vocabulary and a critical ear. One and a half hours a week. David Budries.

DRAM 158a, Introduction to Sound Design. Using scripts, current production assignments, research projects, and practical examples, students develop an understanding about how sound and music can be used effectively as a tool to enhance meaning in a play. Students analyze scripts, develop critical listening skills, and learn the fundamentals of sound delivery systems as well as terms used to describe the perception and pres-entation of sound and music in a theatrical setting. This course is required for first-year lighting and sound designers and stage managers as well as second-year costume and set designers. Two hours a week. David Budries.

DRAM 158b/268b, Recording Arts. In this course students learn basic recording practice for remote and studio sessions. Topics include: digital recording systems, stereophonic microphone techniques, music recording, sound effect recording, cueing and monitoring systems, audio control systems, and mixing practice. This class is limited to eight participants. Permission of the instructor is required for non-majors. Two hours a week. David Budries.

DRAM 198a, Sound Design Production Organization. This course prepares students to execute all the necessary production paperwork including cue sheets, schematic block diagrams, hook-up schedules, rack drawings, shop orders, budgets, RF assignments, RF schedules, and production archives. Other topics include production responsibilities and preparation for technical rehearsals. Two hours a week. David Budries.

DRAM 258a/b, Advanced Problems in Sound Design. This course provides a deeper exploration of sound as a design element, focusing on design realization, developing aural imagination and advanced digital tools. Students are assigned creative exercises, scene analysis, and practical problems that will be presented and critiqued during class time. The objective is to develop creative solutions to a variety of artistic and practical problems, become experienced in problems, and gain experience and confidence in the discussion of design concepts and aesthetics in front of a group. Required for all sound designers. Two hours a week. Matthew Suttor.

DRAM 319a, Electronics. See description under Technical Design and Production.

DRAM 339a, Architectural Acoustics. See description under Technical Design and Production.

DRAM 358a/b, Sound Design Thesis. This time is devoted to development and execution of the third-year thesis project. Students discuss their proposals and current thesis work in great detail. All drawings and written and aural examples are discussed and critiqued. One and one-half hours a week. David Budries.

DRAM 366b, Modern American Drama. See description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.

DRAM 368a/b, Master Class in Sound Design. This class is dedicated to review and critique of production (non-thesis) designs and assigned plays for second- and third-year students. Additional design work is selected by the students or assigned by the instructor. All elements of design work are discussed and critiqued. Practical production problems are presented for discussion. Two hours a week. David Budries.

DRAM 369b, Stage Rigging Techniques. See description under Technical Design and Production.

DRAM 468a/b, Independent Study in Sound Design. The student who desires to pursue a specialized course of study in the area of Sound Design may elect an independent study. A proposal might focus on a guided research project, artistic exploration, or advanced audio technology. Proposals must be submitted and department approval must be obtained prior to enrollment for credit. Subsequent to enrollment, the student must meet with the project adviser to plan an appropriate course of action and discuss assessment. Credit is awarded by the department based on the project adviser’s recommendation in consultation with any other assigned advisers/tutors. Progress meetings to be scheduled regularly. David Budries.

Sound Seminar. These regular meetings are required for all sound designers. The seminar sessions feature guest artists (designers, composers, directors, engineers, and consultants), visits to various productions, and practical modules on a variety of topics. Meeting times are flexible. David Budries.

Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism (M.F.A. and D.F.A.)
Students in this program receive intensive training to prepare for careers in three areas: to work in theaters as dramaturgs and in related positions; to work in theater publishing as critics and editors as well as in other capacities; to teach theater as practitioners, critics, and scholars.

At the core of the training are seminars in literature, theory and criticism, and history offered by the department’s faculty. These may be supplemented by courses taught elsewhere in the University if approved by students’ advisers. The aim is to impart a comprehensive knowledge of theater and dramatic literature—a knowledge necessary to the dramaturg, the writer and editor, and the teacher. Regarding the latter, every effort is made to give qualified students teaching experience within the University.

Of particular importance in the program are the criticism workshops, which are taught by various members of the faculty and which students must take in each of their six terms. These courses are designed to improve skills in thinking and writing, and are essential in the evaluation of students’ progress from term to term.

Historically, the Yale School of Drama has been a pioneer in this country in introducing and establishing the dramaturg as an essential presence in the creation of theater and as a key member of a theater’s staff. Under the supervision of the resident dramaturg of Yale Repertory Theatre, students are assigned to work on many varied productions, including those of new scripts by Drama School playwrights, workshops and full productions by Drama School directors, and professional presentations of classical and contemporary works by YRT itself. Among the areas in which students participate are text preparation and oversight; translation and adaptation; preproduction and rehearsal work on issues of design, direction, and performance; contextual research; program and study guide notes and preparation; conducting audience discussions; and related work in conjunction with the marketing and media departments. Students also assist in Yale Repertory Theatre’s literary office with script evaluation and communication with writers and agents. Thus students are trained both as institutional dramaturgs, collaborating on the formulation of artistic policy and its communication and implementation, and as production dramaturgs, operating within the rehearsal process.

In recognition of the fact that in recent years dramaturgs have not only assumed the leadership of theaters under such titles as artistic and producing director but have also founded theaters themselves, students have the opportunity to take courses offered by the Theater Management department. By encouraging this interchange, the School of Drama¡hopes to remain at the forefront in helping new organizational models to be discovered and explored, through which the art of theater will continue toourish.

In addition to their training in production dramaturgy, students have opportunities to develop as writers, editors, and translators through their work with Theater magazine, published three times annually by the Yale School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theatre and Duke University.

Theater has been publishing new writing by and about contemporary theater artists since 1969. The magazine’s perspectives are different from those of any other American publication: at once practical, creative, and scholarly. Issues include new plays, translations, and adaptations; lively critical debates about policy, politics, and productions; interviews with writers, directors, and other artists; reports from around the world; and book and performance reviews. Theater appeals to practitioners, academics, scholars, and everyone interested in contemporary theater practice and thought.

Requirements for the M.F.A. and D.F.A. degrees are discussed more fully in the following pages.

Quality Standards
The minimum quality requirement for the M.F.A. degree in Dramaturgy is a grade average of High Pass in all required courses and electives counting toward the degree. In order to maintain a High Pass average, a Pass in any course in which a High Pass or above is possible must be offset with an Honors in another course. Students who receive an Incomplete in any course are automatically placed on probation until the work is completed.

Plan of Study: Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism

Required sequence

Year	Course	Subject
I	Drama 47a/b	Playwrights’ Workshop
	Drama 50a	The Collaborative Process
	Drama 106a	Theater Magazine Workshop
	Drama 136a	Shakespeare’s Dramaturgy
	Drama 166a/b	Criticism Workshop
	Drama 316a/b	Theater History
	Drama 346a/b	Literary Office Practicum
	Drama 396a/b	Dramaturgy Practicum
	At least two elective courses after consultation with adviser
	At least two production dramaturgy assignments
II	Drama 47b	Playwrights’ Workshop
	Drama 166a/b	Criticism Workshop
	Drama 246a/b	Translation and Adaptation
	Drama 316a/b	Theater History
	Drama 346a/b	Literary Office Practicum
	Drama 396a/b	Dramaturgy Practicum
	At least three elective courses after consultation with adviser
	At least two production dramaturgy assignments
III	Drama 47a	Playwrights’ Workshop
	Drama 166a/b	Criticism Workshop
	Drama 316a/b	Theater History
	Drama 336a/b	Comprehensive Examinations
	Drama 346a/b	Literary Office Practicum
	Drama 396a/b	Dramaturgy Practicum
	At least two elective courses after consultation with adviser
	At least one production dramaturgy assignment

Additional Requirements for the Degree

Reading list and basic knowledge of the field
Upon acceptance to the program, students receive a departmental reading list of dramatic literature, criticism, theory, and history, which is intended to be used throughout their course of study as a basis for preparation for their comprehensive examinations, and beyond as a guide and standard for their work in the field.

Dramaturgical assignments
Each student serves as a dramaturg on two or more productions per year either at the Yale Repertory Theatre or in the School of Drama and assists the resident dramaturg in script evaluation and related tasks. During the fall term of their first year, students are assigned to a project in The Collaborative Process (Drama 50a). In the second term, students may be assigned to a collaborative workshop project and may also work on other plays under the supervision of the resident dramaturg. In the second year, students may be assigned to a verse project (see Directing department, Second-Year Directing, Drama 120a/b). In the second and third years, students may undertake a project at the Yale Repertory Theatre or a third-year director’s thesis production (see Directing department, The Director’s Thesis, Drama 140a/b).

Students may work on School of Drama productions and Yale Repertory Theatre productions subject to availability of projects and departmental requirements.

The Yale Cabaret
Dramaturgy students are encouraged to work in all capacities at the Yale Cabaret, but this participation is understood to be in addition to and in no way a substitution for required departmental work. In order to participate in the Cabaret in any capacity, including as a member of the ongoing production staff, all dramaturgy students must fill out Cabaret Permission Forms, which are obtained from the department chair or the students’ advisers. These forms must be signed by a student’s adviser and submitted to the chair of the department no later than one month prior to the premier of the specific Cabaret production in question or three months prior to joining the ongoing staff. Failure to do so obliges a student immediately to withdraw from the production or the staff. No student with an Incomplete grade in any course, and no second- or third-year student on probation may participate in the Cabaret in any capacity.

Yale Repertory Theatre Literary Office
Each student is required to read at least eight scripts for the Yale Repertory Theatre during each year and to submit written evaluations of these scripts to the resident dramaturg. This work is done under the supervision of the literary associate, who is an advanced student in the program.

Theater magazine requirement
During their first year, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism students are required to work as editorial assistants on Theater, the international scholarly and critical journal co-published by the School of Drama and Duke University Press. Students in their first year must also take the Theater Magazine Workshop (Drama 106a), taught by the editor, which introduces them to major aspects of publishing such a journal. In the second and third years, qualified students may have additional opportunities to work on the magazine’s staff in a variety of editing, publishing, and marketing positions. Along with essays, reviews, and translations by leading scholars and professional critics, Theater has frequently published outstanding work by Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism students, who are encouraged to propose and submit writing and editorial projects for possible publication.

Language requirement
The language requirement is satisfied during the second year by the translation of a play submitted and accepted in Translation and Adaptation (Drama 246a/b). Students who wish to pursue a special emphasis in translation may take this course again in their third year with the approval of their advisers and the course instructor.

Library orientation
Upon entering the program, each student is required to take orientation seminars introducing him or her to the Yale University Library and its various facilities and resources.

Comprehensive examination requirement
The comprehensives are a set of final written and oral qualifying examinations in which third-year students demonstrate their ability to bring critical depth and dramaturgical perspective to broad areas of the field. In these examinations, the student takes responsibility for mastery of three subjects of his or her own choosing. Often these are subjects that have not been covered in course work.

The comprehensive process includes three written examinations, in each of which the student writes essay-length answers to two questions in a chosen area of study. These written examinations are followed by a single oral defense at the end of the spring term. Areas of study should not overlap and may include major historical periods such as Greek, Jacobean, French seventeenth century, modern, contemporary; important dramatists or other figures such as Aristotle, Artaud, Euripides, Shakespeare, Shaw; basic dramatic genres such as tragedy, comedy, melodrama; significant theoretically or critically defined movements such as romanticism or symbolism. Other broad areas also may be devised in consultation with faculty advisers. At least one, but not all, of the topics should be chosen from the modern or contemporary area (approximately 1880 to the present).

Final grades for the comprehensive examinations are Honors, High Pass, Pass, or Fail. Following each written examination, students will be given a Pass/Fail evaluation by their faculty advisers. If the faculty concludes that the student has not done passing work, he or she will be informed of the areas of deficiency in answering the comprehensive questions. In such a case the oral examination becomes an opportunity for the student to redress the deficiencies. A student who fails one or more comprehensives and/or the oral will be allowed to retake the failed examination(s) once more during the following year. A student failing the second time will not be awarded a degree.

Second-year students must adhere to the following schedule: February 10, 2003: deadline for submission of comprehensive examination topics. Second-year students should meet with their advisers and other members of the faculty to choose three comprehensive topics. These topics must be submitted in memorandum form to all non-visiting members of the departmental faculty for approval. March 3, 2003: deadline for submission of a full comprehensive proposal, including bibliography, for faculty approval. April 14, 2003: deadline for submission of final revised comprehensive proposal and bibliography.

Third-year students must adhere to the following schedule: September 16, 2002: deadline for third-year students to meet with their advisers to review and update comprehensive study procedures and propose a fall examination schedule. Students must take one examination during the fall term but may choose to take two, according to the schedule below. October 21, 2002: first fall deadline for taking a comprehensive examination. November 25, 2002: final fall deadline for taking a comprehensive examination. February 17, 2003: first spring deadline for taking a comprehensive examination. April 7, 2003: final deadline for having completed all three written comprehensive examinations. May 2, 2003: final deadline for having completed the oral examination.

Requirements for the Doctor of Fine Arts in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism
Upon completion of the Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism program requirements for an M.F.A. degree and graduation from the School of Drama, a student is eligible to register as a Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A.) candidate. There are no additional course requirements, although students may audit courses as described below.

To qualify for the D.F.A. degree, the student must first submit a proposal for a written dissertation no later than the first day of classes in the spring term of his or her first registration year. Upon acceptance of the proposal by the D.F.A. Committee, the student will be expected to complete the dissertation within two years, working in close consultation with an assigned adviser, and also with a second reader who need not be a member of the department. In exceptional circumstances an extension of no more than one year may be granted to candidates who submit a written request. Throughout these procedures and consultations, the candidate must not assume that the conferral of a D.F.A. degree is an entitlement. Upon the committee’s final approval of the dissertation, one bound copy must be delivered to the chair of the Department of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism six weeks prior to the date on which the student expects to graduate. A copy of the dissertation guidelines is available through the department.

The D.F.A. candidate may elect to register as a full-time student in residence to pursue work on the dissertation. The tuition fee for this status is $1,000 per year in residence and entitles the candidate to use libraries and related facilities, to audit courses related to his or her research, to health plan coverage, and to eligibility for tickets to School and Repertory Theatre productions. In the first year of candidacy, the student may apply to the associate dean for a fellowship to cover tuition.

Courses of Instruction

DRAM 6a/b, Survey of Theater and Drama. A lecture course examining major figures and works, intellectual, social, and cultural contexts, dramatic movements, and theatrical developments from the Greeks to the present. During the 2002–2003 year, Drama 6a/b is combined with Drama 316a/b, Theater History. Joseph Roach.

[DRAM 26a/b, Dramatic Structure and Play Analysis. Central to this course are close analytical readings of plays from the ancient period to the present. Basic aspects of dramatic construction are examined, along with concepts such as tragedy, comedy, melodrama, farce, satire, tragicomedy, and romance. The continually changing relationship between individuals and groups as reected in dramaturgy is an important focus, as are the inuences of religion, philosophy, science, and the other arts. Not offered in 2002-2003.]

DRAM 47a/b, Playwrights’ Workshop. Required for all Dramaturgy students. See description under Playwriting.

DRAM 50a, The Collaborative Process. See description under Directing.

[DRAM 96a/b, Principles of Dramaturgy. A course that focuses on the historical emergence and evolution of the dramaturg, as well as the principles governing the profession and their practical application. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 106a, Theater Magazine Workshop. This course combines an overview of critical and scholarly publishing with a workshop focusing on editing Theater magazine, involving the planning of future issues and the completion of editorial assignments. Required for all first-year Dramaturgy students. Erika Munk.

DRAM 116a, British Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy. After the social and political drudgery of Cromwell when the monarchy was restored with Charles II, the theater in England enjoyed a renaissance of license and vigor. After the Restoration, the government once again sought to constrain the ribaldry of the comic spirit and the lifestyle of the stage. In this period the English added the comedy of manners, the sentimental comedy, and—that sapling of the American musical—the ballad opera to the comic canon. The only thing more vigorous than the theater was the talk of theater; journals and coffeehouses were founded on such vital chat. This course surveys the formal innovations of the period through the work of the age’s major authors from the Duke of Buckingham through Gay and Fielding to Sheridan. Contextual readings bolster investigations of the Stage Licensing Act of 1727 and the coffeehouse phenomenon. Catherine Sheehy.

DRAM 116b, Ibsen, Strindberg, and the Invention of Modern Drama. This course explores representative plays of Ibsen and Strindberg with close examination of their poetic structures. Special attention is given to the parallels and rivalries between the two theatrical innovators as well as to the range of genres they attempted: romantic epic, history play, realistic and naturalistic drama, symbolist mystery play, expressionist station drama. The reading will also include philosophical texts of the period, and selected criticism showing the changing views on the two playwrights over the course of the past century. Elinor Fuchs.

[DRAM 126a, Dramatic Literature Seminar: George Bernard Shaw. A selective, detailed study of Shaw’s plays, with sidelong glances at his prefaces and other writings, such as drama and music criticism, letters, and essays. Discussion also includes some of the major artistic-intellectual inuences on Shaw (e.g., Shelley, Dickens, Marx, Mozart, Wagner, Fabian Socialism) and Shaw’s inuences on others. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 126b, Tragicomedy. Tragicomedy has been characterized as the quintessential form of modern drama, but its origins extend back to the beginnings of our theater. As a genre, it provides an invaluable perspective from which to discuss many different kinds of work, including some of the most complex, provocative, and resonant. To study it also means to investigate other important concepts such as the romance, the pastoral, satire and satyr play, the grotesque, the problem play—and, of course, tragedy and comedy. Playwrights who might be considered come from every period and include Euripides, Plautus, Shakespeare, Guarini, Beaumont and Fletcher, Molière, Marivaux, Kleist, Musset, Büchner, Wedekind, Chekhov, Schnitzler, Witkiewicz, Lorca, O’Casey, Horvath, Ghelderode, Gombrowicz, Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter, Kroetz, and Müller. James Leverett.

DRAM 136a, Shakespeare’s Dramaturgy. This course provides an approach to analyzing Shakespeare’s plays for production. It applies our contemporary knowledge gained from working with living writers to classical texts. Both specifics in Shakespeare’s dramaturgy and issues in classical texts in general are examined. The primacy of textual analysis over secondary reading is emphasized, including study of sources (quartos, the Folio, etc.), structure, and language (verse, rhetoric, grammar). A focus is placed on a detailed study of the texts of Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, and the relation of their stage histories to oftenawed critical writing about them. This course is required for all first-year Dramaturgy students and an elective for all others. Robert Blacker.

[DRAM 136b, Dramatic Literature Seminar: Beckett. A detailed study of Beckett’s plays and prose, including Beckett the critic on poets, painters, music, Proust, and performance. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 146b, Performance Criticism. Good prose meets variable performance: the quest for standards and vocabulary in the criticism of English language performance. A seminar exploring the critical writings of nineteenth-century critics from Hazlitt to Shaw, and twentieth-century critics from Beerbohm to Bentley and beyond. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 156a, American Classic Comedy Between the Wars. The classics of American comic canon are true reections of the national character—a volatile compound of twice-shy wariness and wide-eyed credulity. The continual fine-tuning of that character is one of the chief dramaturgical strategies of comic writers in the period. And the mother tongue is the sharpest tool they have in their kit. The American vernacular was undergoing an unprecedented transformation: the jazzy argot of the journalist, the snappy pitch of the Madison Avenue ad man, the idiosyncratic patois of the assimilating immigrant, and the gaudy patter of the bootlegger infused the language. When the soaring national confidence after victory in the Great War and a booming Jazz Age economy buckled with the freefall of the Great Depression, another color was added. The best comedy written for the stage and (after 1927) for the screen during the period exploits this holiday time of the American tongue. The course focuses on the primacy of language in the work of these American men and women of letters who wrote so well out of the sides of their mouth. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 156b, Shakespeare’s Tragic Modes. An intensive study of seven tragedies, their performance history and criticism, along with major critical theories. The plays are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 166a/b, Criticism Workshop. A workshop in critical writing in which the student’s work is analyzed and discussed by the class and the instructor. The class is divided into sections. In the fall term of their first year, students take a workshop in reading and writing about dramatic texts. Elinor Fuchs, Erika Munk, Marc Robinson, and Gordon Rogoff.

[DRAM 176a, Satire: From Aristophanes to Absolutely Fabulous. This course examines the genre so efficiently defined by George S. Kaufman. “Satire,” he said, “is what closes on Saturday night.” The satirist is part artist, part social critic, unable to stem the tide of outrage welling in his pen (or word processor). Beginning with Aristophanes, the course wends its way through the works of Swift, Fielding, Hecht, Perlman, MacLeish, Monty Python, Bulgakov, and Jennifer Saunders. Although the primary emphasis is, perforce, on dramatic literature, the course also avails itself of other prose forms and video. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 186a, German Drama. This course covers what has been called the “German Moment” in world theater, that is, the period approximately encompassed by the life of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). It includes work by Lessing, Lenz, Goethe, Schiller, Tieck, Kleist, Grillparzer, Hebbel, and Büchner, and explores such concepts as classicism (including Weimar classicism), romanticism, and the Sturm und Drang. Theater production practice, acting, historical and philosophical context, and the other arts are also part of the discussion. James Leverett.

[DRAM 186b, Theater about Theater: The Theatricalist Play from Shakespeare to Postmodernism. “Theatricalist” is a term describing plays that self-consciously use the means of theater in their dramatic construction. This type of play, along with its near relative, the Dream Play, traces its origin more to Plato than to Aristotle, and poses an alternative to the tradition of theater as representation. The seminar traces the Theatrum Mundi tradition in Western theater from Kyd and Shakespeare to Calderón and the German Romantics. Half the course is devoted to the twentieth century, taking up such themes as theatricalism and revolution, gender, race, and the Holocaust. Among modern-period ¤laywrights we read plays of Evreinov, Pirandello, Adrienne Kennedy, Peter Barnes, Heiner Müller, Griselda Gambaro, and Suzan-Lori Parks. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 196a, Brecht and After. Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, how can we best understand theater’s most important writer of and about political performance? A close exploration of Brecht’s plays in their historical and aesthetic context from Weimar to 1956, with attention to poetry and music as well as epic theory. Readings include Brecht’s critics from Walter Benjamin to Fredric Jameson; the course ends with an overview of leftist dramaturgy since Brecht’s death, including the work of Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, Augusto Boal, and various activist theaters. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 206a/b, Tutorial Study. A second- or third-year dramaturg may elect to undertake tutorial independent study by submitting, in consultation with his or her proposed tutor, a request stipulating course title, course description, reading list or syllabus, schedule of meetings with the tutor, and method of grading the tutorial. Approval must be granted by the student’s adviser and by the department. Forms for application are available from the registrar of the School of Drama. Faculty.

[DRAM 216a, Three Seasons: The Literature of the Rep and School. This class looks at the plays of the current Yale Rep season, third-year director’s theses, and verse projects. While only the Rep consciously creates a “season,” this class examines how these three groups of plays interact as well as how they operate distinctly, in order to come to an understanding of the dynamics of a season or cycle. Individual texts are examined from such different aspects as their place in their authors’ body of work and in the dramatic canon; their historical and critical contexts; the dramaturgical strategies their authors employ, and the implications for production or performance of those strategies; text preparation, production history, and other issues associated with the preproduction process. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 216b, Falstaff, Shylock, Bottom, and Others. A study of Shakespeare’s comic modes and characters, ranging through histories, problem plays, romances, tragedies, and even some comedies. Falstaff, however, will cast his shadow—and glow—over the entire proceedings. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 226a/b, Shakespearean Comedy and Drama. An intensive seminar that explores selected plays by Shakespeare and major critical theories and background material on Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 236a, Opera as Drama. A study of lyric drama and its vocabulary, with central emphasis on plays transformed into musical settings. Among the playwrights turned by librettists and composers into operatic sources are Euripides, Sophocles, Beaumarchais, Shakespeare, Schiller, Sardou, Maeterlinck, and Büchner; composers are Gluck, Cherubini, Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Strauss, Debussy, Alban Berg, Benjamin Britten, and Aribert Reimann. Production choices from the eighteenth century to Robert Wilson are also examined, along with a study of operatic components from the aria and ensemble to the chorus and orchestra. Musical proficiency not required. Gordon Rogoff.

DRAM 246a/b, Translation and Adaptation. This seminar explores the process of adapting and/or translating a play augmented by practical assignments, culminating in the translation of a foreign play. Required for second-year dramaturgs, and may be repeated as an elective in the third year with the permission of the student’s adviser and the course instructor. James Magruder.

[DRAM 276a, Greek Drama. This course focuses primarily on Greek tragedy, considering the most important plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as two comedies by Aristophanes. In addition to studying the plays, we read some modern critical essays. The emphasis is on locating the dramas in terms of their cultural context including mythic and epic background, Athenian history, and dramatic conventions. The course work consists of participation in discussion, several short (two-page) papers, and one slightly longergpaper (five to ten pages) and a class presentation at the end of the term. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 276b, Euripides and Aristophanes. Euripides and Aristophanes are often depicted as a study in contrasts, both ethically and aesthetically. In this view the tragedian represents the new and the unorthodox, while the comic poet promotes traditional values. Even in ancient times, however, it was recognized that the two writers had a great deal in common, so much so, in fact, that another comic poet, Kratinos, coined the verb “euripidaristophanize” to describe their shared poetic practice. This course examines the plays of Euripides and Aristophanes in tandem, concentrating on features such as parody, self-referentiality, and meta-theatricality. The readings consist of the plays in translation and selected modern critical essays. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 286a, The First Avant-Garde, 1880–1918. This course explores the roots of European theatrical modernism in such movements as naturalism, symbolism, expressionism, and futurism. Among the writers whose texts are read are Hauptmann, Ibsen (the symbolist), Chekhov (the symbolist), Strindberg (the symbolist and expressionist), Wilde, Yeats, Maeterlinck, Jarry, Wedekind, and Kraus. Innovations in direction, design, and theory are also investigated, as well as the general social, political, and philosophical background of the period. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 286b, The Second Avant-Garde, 1918–1939. This course is a sequel to Drama 286a but one is not required to take the other. Writers whose works are explored include Brecht, Toller, Bulgakov, Horvath, Pirandello, Artaud, Ghelderode, and Witkiewicz. As with the previous course, contemporary direction, design, and theory are examined along with the larger background of the period. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 296b, The Third Avant-Garde, 1940–1969. This course is the third in the avant-garde sequence, but Drama 286a and 286b are not prerequisites. In this course, there are three geographic areas of focus: Mediterranean (Sartre, Camus, Ionesco, Genet, Arrabal, et al.); Germanic (Dürrenmatt, Frisch, Handke, Weiss, Müller, et al.); Eastern European (Mrozek, Gombrowicz, Rozewicz, Havel, et al.). Attention is paid to the political, social, and philosophical background of the period, developments in the other arts, and the work of significant theater directors. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 306a, Issues in Theory: From Drama to Performance. This course follows the contentious 2,400-year discussion with Aristotle that constitutes the core of Western dramatic theory. In addition to Aristotle, we read others who concerned themselves with the form and function of drama: Horace, the French classicists, enlightenment theorists, the romantics, Hegel, Nietzsche, and modern anti-Aristotelians—all with constant reference to artistic practice. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 306b, Issues in Theory: From Drama to Performance. In a stunning reversal of priorities, theorists of the dramatic text gave way in the twentieth century to theorists of theater and performance from Stanislavski to Artaud and Brecht, Grotowski, Brook, and Foreman. We read some classic non-Western theorists of performance, and a range of postmodern theorists of identity and culture—again, all with constant reference to artistic practice. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 316a, Theater History. A seminar on the revival of ancient drama in the courts and academies of early modern Italy, the owering of vernacular comedy in popular culture, the emergence of public theaters in England and Spain, the transnational mise en scène of the baroque, and neoclassicism from Paris to Weimar. Joseph Roach.

DRAM 316b, Theater History. A seminar on the romantic revival of medieval forms, the Gothic, and Orientalism; developments in theatrical architecture and technology, romantic and realistic acting, popular entertainments and spectacles; theater in American memory, from minstrelsy to modernism. Joseph Roach.

[DRAM 326a, British Postwar Drama: 1945 to the Present. An intensive seminar that explores the works written by selected American and British playwrights from the end of World War II to the present. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 336a/b, Comprehensive Examinations. Students submit comprehensive proposals to their advisers and other designated faculty members who help them to focus their areas of concentration and prepare bibliographies. In this way, the faculty oversees the course of study for the comprehensives. This tutorial is an essential part of the procedure leading to an M.F.A. degree. James Leverett and faculty.

DRAM 346a/b, Literary Office Practicum. Among the most important responsibilities of an institutional dramaturg is the evaluation of new writing. The dramaturg’s ability to analyze and assess the potential of unproduced work is crucial to a theater’s vitality. In the Literary Office Practicum students in all three years read work submitted for the Yale Repertory Theatre and write reader’s reports articulating the scripts’ strengths and weaknesses. These reader’s reports provide the basis for the Literary Office’s communication with playwrights. This course, led by the resident dramaturg, is Pass/Fail. Catherine Sheehy.

[DRAM 356a, Melodrama. “Melodrama is not a special and marginal kind of drama, let alone an eccentric or decadent one; it is drama in its elemental form; it is the quintessence of drama.” This statement by Eric Bentley provides the cornerstone for this course. The approach is threefold: melodrama as a ubiquitous dramatic impulse from the earliest times (Euripides, medieval theater, Shakespeare and his contemporaries); melodrama as an expression of society—a basic element of popular art (essential steps in the democratization of theater in Europe and the United States include the official beginnings of melodrama in the eighteenth century, its owering in the nineteenth, and its role in the birth of cinema); melodrama as a form explored and exploited by theater innovators in this century (politically radicalized by Brecht and others; radically formalized by the surrealists and Richard Foreman, among others). Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 366a, Contemporary American Drama. A seminar on American drama from 1960 to the present. Among the playwrights to be considered are Albee, Shepard, Kennedy, Baraka, Fornes, Mamet, Kushner, Shawn, and Parks. Marc Robinson.

[DRAM 366b, Modern American Drama. A seminar on American drama from World War I to 1960. Among the playwrights to be considered are O’Neill, Stein, Cummings, Odets, Wilder, Hughes, Williams, Bowles, and Miller. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 376b, The American Avant-Garde. Topics include the Living Theater, Happenings, Cunningham/Cage, Open Theater, Judson Dance Theater, Grand Union, Bread and Puppet Theater, Performance Group, Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Meredith Monk, Robert Wilson, Mabou Mines, and the Wooster Group. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

[DRAM 386b, American Drama to 1914. Topics include the European inheritance, theater and nation-building, melodrama and the rise of realism, popular and nonliterary forms. Readings in Tyler, Dunlap, Aiken, Boucicault, Daly, Herne, Mitchell, Moody, Fitch, and Crothers, among others. Not offered in 2002–2003].

DRAM 396a/b, Dramaturgy Practicum. This course consists of discussion among the departmental faculty and students about just-completed and current assigned dramaturgical projects. The purpose is an exchange of practical and philosophical thoughts and information about issues, problems, and procedures encountered in the field. It meets monthly at a time and place designated before each session. The course is offered only for Pass/Fail, and is required of all Dramaturgy students. James Leverett, Catherine Sheehy.

DRAM 496b, Performing beyond the Human: Ecology, Animality, Theater. This course explores intersections between theater practice, performance theory, and the emerging fields of animal studies and ecocriticism. How has performance, and specifically theater, reected, affirmed, contested, oragrantly ignored the growing cultural awareness of threats to the environment? What accounts has it furnished of the reasons for these threats? What models has it proposed for encountering, understanding, and responding to these threats? Among the topics to be explored in relation to modern and contemporary theater practice are: eco-catastrophe and eco-apocalypse, animality and the construction of the human, zoo culture, and post-humanism. A fundamental inquiry of the course concerns the intersection of ecocritique and theatrical semiosis: can performance, by virtue of its unique ontology and phenomenology, offer new and unique approaches to the ecological crisis before us? Readings for the course are selected from theorists like George Sessions, Carolyn Merchant, Kate Sopher, Jean Baudrillard, and Gilles Deleuze, and artists like Ibsen, Chekhov, Beckett, Churchill, O’Neill, Shepard, Rosenthal, and Breuer. Una Chaudhuri.

DRAM 630b, Introduction to Theatrical Composition. See description under Directing.

Students may elect to take appropriate graduate courses in other schools and departments at Yale, subject to permission of the instructor, scheduling limitations, and the approval of the faculty adviser.

Playwriting (M.F.A. and Certificate)
The Playwriting program is eager to locate gifted writers and to identify and strengthen the power of their unique artistic voices through a concentrated three-year program. Toward this end, playwriting students are introduced to a wide variety of artistic sources that include classical and contemporary plays, novels, short stories, poetry, essays, visual art, music, and film. Through this exposure, students discover alternate creative strategies that can lead them to new forms of theatrical expression.

Innovative dramaturgy techniques are discussed, offering a wide spectrum of approaches for the creation and development of dramatic action, characters, and language, both spoken and gestural. The playwrights also are encouraged to question and shape their work through a series of writing exercises, readings, workshops, internships, and full productions in collaboration with student directors, actors, dramaturgs, and designers. An integral part of students’ training and growth as artists is also the observing and offering of constructive commentary on the development of other students’ scripts.

Play scripts are presented in classes within the Playwriting program. Drafts of scripts are read in the Playwrights’ Laboratory (Drama 17a/b); student scripts are also given readings with student actors, directors, and dramaturgs in the Playwrights’ Workshop (Drama 47a/b); on further revision and the approval of the chair of the program, the plays are given workshop productions in the student’s first and second years and a thesis production in the student’s third year. Other potential venues for the student’s plays are the Cabaret and the Yale Repertory Theatre, and the Yale Playwrights at New Dramatists Playreading Festival.

The second- and third-year playwrights participate in a unique exchange program, Yale Playwrights at New Dramatists. The Yale Playwriting program and New Dramatists expose the playwriting students to a professional theater environment that serves as an artistic home, theater research and development center, and writer’s colony for our national theater community. The program is an extension of the student’s professional Yale training and course work and offers each a monthly playwriting workshop with selected New Dramatists playwrights and attendance at monthly readings at New Dramatists in the second year, the establishment of a professional relationship with a New Dramatists playwriting mentor, and a professional reading in the third year at New Dramatists in New York City. The third-year students have their plays read as part of the Yale Playwrights at New Dramatists Playreading Festival, which features readings before an invited audience of prominent artistic directors, dramaturgs, agents, and New Dramatists playwright members. After the readings, the playwrights continue to have a series of follow-up meetings with their mentors. These meetings concentrate on an evaluation of the readings and future development of the plays. Finally, the mentors and Yale faculty offer the playwrights critical guidance, helping them to identify and develop short- and long-range goals as they begin to focus their energies as emerging professional writers.

The Master of Fine Arts degree, or a Certificate in Drama, is awarded for a body of work which is ready for professional production and for significant progress in the development of playwriting skills.

All those enrolled in the School of Drama are required to maintain full-time residency unless specific authorization is given for off-campus work. To playwrights this means that no commissions, contracts, or non-School workshops or productions are permitted during the academic year unless authorized in writing by the department chair and the dean.

Plan of Study: Playwriting

Required sequence

Year	Course	Subject
I	Drama 7a/b	Playwriting I
	Drama 17a/b	Playwrights’ Laboratory I: Textual Analysis
	Drama 47a/b	Playwrights’ Workshop
	Drama 57a/b	Playwriting Tutorial
	Drama 67a/b	Playwrights’ Laboratory II: Generative Writing Exercises
	Drama 77a/b	Professional Seminars
	Drama 102a	Scene Design
	Drama 316a/b	Theater History
	One elective in another discipline second term
II	Drama 17a/b	Playwrights’ Laboratory I: Textual Analysis
	Drama 27a/b	Playwriting II
	Drama 47a/b	Playwrights’ Workshop
	Drama 57a/b	Playwriting Tutorial
	Drama 67a/b	Playwrights’ Laboratory II: Generative Writing Exercises
	Drama 77a/b	Professional Seminars
	Drama 117a/b	Yale Playwrights at New Dramatists Workshops
	Drama 246a/b	Translation and Adaptation
	Drama 316a/b	Theater History
	Two electives in another discipline
III	Drama 17a/b	Playwrights’ Laboratory I: Textual Analysis
	Drama 37a	Playwriting III: Screenwriting
	Drama 37b	Playwriting III: The Playwright Prepares
	Drama 47a/b	Playwrights’ Workshop
	Drama 57a/b	Playwriting Tutorial
	Drama 67a/b	Playwrights’ Laboratory II: Generative Writing Exercises
	Drama 77a/b	Professional Seminars
	Drama 127a/b	Yale Playwrights at New Dramatists Playreading Festival
	Drama 217a/b	The Playwright’s Thesis
	Drama 316a/b	Theater History
	One elective in another discipline

Courses of Instruction

DRAM 7a/b, Playwriting I. A required seminar for first-year playwrights: techniques of playwriting are discussed, offering diverse approaches for the creation and shaping of dramatic action, structure, characters, and language. The writing of a short play (due at the end of the first term) and the completion of a first draft of a full-length script (due at the end of the second term) are required. Mark Bly, Karen Hartman, Ruth Margraff.

DRAM 17a/b, Playwrights’ Laboratory I: Textual Analysis. A required seminar for all playwrights for the presentation and rigorous analysis of the students’ first drafts of their stagework and screenplays. The class also reads and discusses new plays as well as articles and interviews on contemporary playwriting. Visiting playwrights and dramaturgs share their insights on writing and the American theater. Mark Bly.

[DRAM 26a/b, Dramatic Structure and Play Analysis. Required for all students. See descriptions under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 27a/b, Playwriting II. A required seminar for second-year playwrights. Classical and contemporary plays, novels, short stories, poetry, essays, visual art, and film are encountered and discussed, provoking alternative creative strategies for theatrical expression. The students bring in writing on a weekly basis to read and discuss. The writing of a full-length play is required (due at the end of the second term). Robert Blacker, Nilo Cruz.

DRAM 37a, Playwriting III: Screenwriting. The playwrights discuss screenwriting techniques, read and compare various drafts of selected screenplays, view selected films, and create a screenplay for submission to a studio or producer. Required for third-year playwrights. Eric Overmyer.

DRAM 37b, Playwriting III: The Playwright Prepares. This seminar focuses on preparing the third-year playwrights for submitting their plays to theaters, film and television studios, contests, and agents. Letters to agents, studios, and theaters are created; submission plays are selected and developed; and discussions on appropriate theatrical, film, and television venues are conducted with each student. Visiting agents, dramaturgs, screenwriters, directors, designers, managing directors, film and television producers all share their knowledge and interest in developing new work. Contemporary theater issues are also discussed, particularly those related to the role of the playwright in our society. Required for third-year playwrights. Mark Bly and guests.

DRAM 47a/b, Playwrights’ Workshop. The weekly rehearsal, presentation and detailed discussion of a draft of a play through a reading with directing, acting, playwriting, and dramaturgy students participating in the event. The plays developed in this class are subsequently produced in the Collaborative Workshop Project New Play Series and the Third-Year Thesis Production, and frequently at the Yale Playwrights at New Dramatists Playreading Festival. Required for all playwriting students. Mark Bly.

DRAM 57a/b, Playwriting Tutorial. A required weekly individual meeting for discussion of writing progress, playwriting goals, and recommended reading that could en-hance and deepen the student’s growth as a writer. Robert Blacker, Mark Bly, Constance Congdon, Nilo Cruz, Karen Hartman, Ruth Margraff, Eric Overmyer.

DRAM 67a/b, Playwrights’ Laboratory II: Generative Writing Exercises. A required seminar for all playwrights. Weekly the students generate writing in response to playwriting exercises created by the instructor. These exercises will be read and discussed in the course along with other dramatic writing brought into the class by the students. Contemporary plays are read and insights on writing and the American theater are shared. Constance Congdon.

DRAM 77a/b, Professional Seminars. Practicing playwrights offer special workshops, exercises, and introduce the students to various dramatic writing techniques and theatrical forms. These visiting playwrights also offer the students advice for submitting plays to theaters, agents, and new play development organizations. Kia Corthron, Nilo Cruz, Len Jenkin, Matthew MacGuire, Tim Blake Nelson, Diana Son, and other visiting playwrights.

DRAM 102a, Scene Design. Required for first-year playwrights. See description under Design.

DRAM 117a/b, Yale Playwrights at New Dramatists Workshops. Required for second-year playwrights. The students attend monthly workshops throughout the year conducted by current New Dramatists playwrights. In preparation for each workshop, the students read the workshop playwright’s plays and germane interviews or articles about the playwright. After each workshop, the students also attend that evening a public reading of a new play by another New Dramatists playwright who is in residence. Mark Bly, Melissa Kievman, Todd London, and selected New Dramatists playwrights.

DRAM 127a/b, Yale Playwrights at New Dramatists Playreading Festival. Required for third-year playwrights. In the student’s third year, a professional reading is presented at New Dramatists before an invited audience of artistic directors, dramaturgs, and agents. The student is trained by Yale and New Dramatists staff in all aspects of a professional reading: selection and editing of a script; working with a casting director; discussion of the play with the director and the playwriting mentor in preparation for the reading; and the actual rehearsal process. Following the reading, the student meets with his/her Yale adviser and the New Dramatists playwriting mentor to evaluate the reading and future development of the script. The Yale adviser and mentors also offer the playwrights critical guidance, helping them to identify and develop short- and long-range goals as they begin to focus their energies as emerging professional writers. Mark Bly, Melissa Kievman, Todd London, selected New Dramatists Playwrights, and Resident Directors.

DRAM 137a/b, Independent Study. The playwriting student who wishes to pursue a special course of study on a guided research project or an artistic project not covered by existing formal courses may elect to take an independent study course. Subsequent to enrollment, the playwriting student must meet with the project adviser to plan an appropriate course of action. Proposals must be submitted and department approval by the chair must be obtained prior to enrollment for credit. The student meets regularly with the project adviser to discuss progress and to seek tutorial advice. Credit for the course is awarded by the Playwriting department based on the project adviser’s recommendation and the departmental review of a final report on the project. Weekly progress meetings are scheduled. Mark Bly and faculty.

DRAM 217a/b, The Playwright’s Thesis. The main project of the third-year playwright is the creation of a full-length play, which is approved for a thesis production by the department chair. Under the supervision of the department chair, the playwright works closely with the director, designers, and dramaturg on the creation of a stage production. The student also writes an extended essay and creates a production casebook documenting the student’s writing process, prerehearsal and design phase, and rehearsal and postproduction evaluation of the thesis project. The department chair and student arrange consultation times for an ongoing discussion throughout the year focusing on the project’s evolution. Mark Bly.

DRAM 246a/b, Translation and Adaptation. A required course for second-year playwrights. See description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.

[DRAM 306a/b, Issues in Theory: From Drama to Performance. Required for first- and second-year playwrights. See description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism. Not offered in 2002–2003.]

DRAM 316a/b, Theater History. Required for all playwrights. See description under Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.

DRAM 630b, Introduction to Theatrical Composition. A preferred elective for playwrights. See description under Directing.

Technical Design and Production (M.F.A. and Certificate)
Contemporary theater design and production practices are profoundly inuenced by the technology and economics of our age. The diverse aesthetics and the increasingly complex electronic and mechanical components now being used in the performing arts point up the need for professionals who can understand and apply these technologies to the achievement of artistic goals. The department seeks well-educated and highly motivated students who will best be able to use the resources of the School of Drama, the Repertory Theatre, and Yale University to expand their professional abilities and deepen their professional interests in theater and the performing arts.

This interdisciplinary program provides academic and practical training for professionals who can perform with excellence in producing organizations, consulting firms, manufacturing companies, and universities. The exceptional placement record of graduat’s who have trained in the unique situation offered by the School of Drama/Repertory Theatre emphasizes the career value of the graduate program.

Each student is expected to complete a sequence of required courses that stress the knowledge of physical and social sciences needed to apply technology effectively to the performing arts. Concurrent with the required sequence, each student enrolls in an elective sequence of courses leading to a concentration in Technical Direction, Production Management, Stage Machinery Design and Automation, or Theater Planning and Consulting. Degree candidates also prepare a research thesis in their chosen area of concentration.

American theater is no longer a centralized commercial structure. Technical managers must command a wide range of skills, knowledge, and diversity, requiring extensive training in the many disciplines that now comprise theater technology. The department has a faculty and staff of thirty. Special seminars and guest lectures by noted professionals are also conducted on a regular basis. The courses offered within the department cover a wide range of topics, including production management, lighting and sound technology, electronics, mechanical design, structural design, acoustics, theater planning, computer applications, show control, AutoCAD, and technical writing. Students are encouraged to supplement their curriculum by selecting courses from other departments of the School of Drama as well as other schools or departments of Yale University including Architecture, Engineering, and Management.

Students are expected to develop effective application of their studies through production assignments at the School of Drama and the Repertory Theatre. School assignments allow initial experimentation and development. Assignments with the Repertory Theatre and its production staff serve to integrate proficiency in a professional environment.

Plan of Study: Technical Design and Production

Required sequence

Year	Course	Subject
I	Drama 6a/b	Survey of Theater and Drama
	Drama 109a/b	Structural Design for the Stage
	Drama 119b	Electricity
	Drama 139b	Introduction to Sound Engineering and Design
	Drama 149a	Production Planning
	Drama 159a	Theater Safety
	Drama 169a	Shop Technology
	Drama 179b	Computer Applications for the Technical Manager
	Drama 199a	Production Drafting
	Two terms of elective sequence courses
	Three production assignments
II	Drama 209a	Physics of Stage Machinery
	Drama 249b	Technical Management
	Drama 269b	Technical Design
	Drama 299a	Technical Writing and Research
	Seven terms of elective sequence courses
	Three production assignments
III	Drama 349a	Production Management: Organization  and Administration
	Drama 399a/b	Technical Design and Production Thesis
	Five terms of elective sequence courses