Program Overview

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Theatre Arts (TA)

Course Fees

Some courses may carry fees beyond the standard tuition costs to cover additional support or materials. Program-, subject- and course-specific fee information can be found on the Office of the Bursar website.

Courses

TA 207. Enjoyment of Theatre - AH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer Description: An exploration of theatre, from its origins to the present, as a means of communicating ideas. In addition to watching performances or reading plays, students will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of theatrical techniques through creative exercises.

TA 224. Introduction to Acting as Communication - OC3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer Description: This course is an introduction to theatre and performance as communication. Students will develop a general performance awareness and practice effective approaches to public speaking; they will also demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving by exploring the link between self and partner/audience. Other theatrical communication skills, including ensemble-building and active listening, will be enhanced through acting exercises and creative material development.

TA 240. Stagecraft3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring Description: An introduction to aspects of technical theatre, including theatre facilities, scenic production, and production planning. Production work is required.

TA 241. Advanced Stagecraft3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Description: Continuing studies in technical theatre including: scenic production, stage properties, costume construction, stage lighting and sound mechanics, and production & stage management. Production work required.

TA 243. Design Aesthetics - AH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Description: This course is designed for students interested in further study into the principles, fundamentals, techniques and process of design.

TA 245. Costume Construction3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only Description: This course will focus on gaining basic hands-on costume construction skills. Students will keep a binder for the entire body of work during semester to collect all notes, measurement charts, paper patterns used for construction of each project, and photos to record their final work.

TA 322. Acting the Black Experience - AH, D13 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Description: Fundamental approaches to performance developed through improvisation, call and response, rhythm and movement styles that are drawn from the black experience in America.

TA 326. Cultural Diversity in Performance - D1, AH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring Description: Performance and discussion of selected public and private texts written by American minority writers. Course explores what it means to be part of a culturally diverse society.

TA 327. Acting Fundamentals: The Craft of Imagination3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Prerequisite(s): TA 224. Description: This course is focused on the practical application of the art and craft of acting, with emphasis on the body, voice, and actor's imagination. The course provides the beginning student with basic techniques and vocabulary through exercises, monologue, and scene work.

TA 328. The Art of Acting: Comedy3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Even Years Prerequisite(s): TA 224, TA 327. Description: This course is designed to build upon the basic psychophysical techniques explored in The Actor's Craft, The Actor's Voice and Movement for Actors. As such, it will expand on the internal to external process explored by Constantin Stanislavski and external to internal process explored by Michael Chekhov and the idea of Mask in Comedy (the clown), while incorporating work based upon the discoveries of Jacques LeCoq and touching upon the archetypes of Commedia Dell Arte. It is a highly physical course.

TA 330. Directing3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only Prerequisite(s): TA 321 or equivalent, and permission of instructor. Description: Fundamental techniques of theatre directing, including script analysis and rehearsal methods.

TA 336. 2D & 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD): Vectorworks & AutoCAD3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Odd Years Prerequisite(s): TA 240. Description: This course is designed for the student interested in learning the skills of Computer Aided Drafting in 2D and 3D. This course is a hands-on course with drafting projects to develop your skills in multiple software platforms and through digital, printed, and VR output. The successful student will learn to articulate and present their drafting effectively to the class and accept critiques to further develop skills throughout the course.

TA 337. Scenic Painting Techniques3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Even Years Prerequisite(s): TA 240. Description: Scenic Painting is a course where students learn the basic tools and techniques used in theatre, cinema and theme park production. Focus is on faux finish and trompe loeil.

TA 338. Entertainment Lighting Technologies3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Even Years Prerequisite(s): TA 240. Description: This course is designed for the student interested in further study into lighting technology and head electrician jobs in theatre and entertainment settings. It will introduce the student to tools and techniques used by these positions in both the educational and professional settings. The successful student will learn how to plan, operate equipment and organize crews in lighting, programming and technology arenas.

TA 340. Introduction to Scene Design3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only Prerequisite(s): TA 240 or faculty consent. Description: Techniques of scene design, including drafting, rendering, working drawings and set models.

TA 342. Sound Design3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Odd Years Prerequisite(s): TA 243. Description: Sound Design is a combination lecture and practicum in which students will learn the necessary skills to become beginning sound designers in the entertainment industry.

TA 345. Introduction to Costume Design3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Description: A survey of clothing styles as they relate to the design of costumes for the stage.

TA 346. Stage Make-up3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Description: Basic techniques of design and execution of makeup for the stage.

TA 347. Properties Design and Construction3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Odd Years Prerequisite(s): TA 240, TA 243. Description: This course is designed for students who are interested in further study into props construction/design. Prop Artisans are expected to problem solve, learn, and utilize a wide variety of specialized skills in order to create a fully realized stage prop. This is a hands-on course that will touch on several artisan skills that Prop Artisans keep in their back pockets. We will be developing our skills through weekly build projects that are focused on specific skill sets.

TA 349. Introduction to Lighting Design3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Odd Years Description: Intensive study of modern stage lighting with emphasis on equipment and basic electricity. Production requirement.

TA 350. Theatre Production Practicum1 Unit

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring Description: Application of technical theatre practices in Mainstage productions of UofL Theatre Arts.

TA 351. Theatre Performance Practicum1 Unit

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring Description: Application of theatrical performance techniques in mainstage productions of UofL Theatre Arts.

TA 352. Special Topics in Theatre1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only Description: Study of specific areas of theatre arts as announced in Schedule of Courses.

TA 353. Assistant Design Project1 Unit

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring Description: Application of technical theatre design practices in mainstage productions of UofL Theatre Arts.

TA 354. Theatre Design Project2 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring Description: Application of technical theatre design practices in mainstage productions of UofL Theatre Arts.

TA 357. Introduction to Hip-Hop Theatre - WR, AH, D13 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Summer Description: Exploration of contemporary hip-hop theatre and forerunners of hip-hop culture and art--including its relationship to African-American, American multicultural postmodern styles--through discussion, reading and performance exercises.

TA 360. Theatre History & Script Analysis I: Classical-Medieval - WR3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Prerequisite(s): ENGL 102 or ENGL 105 or equivalent. Description: The development of theatre and drama from ancient Greece to the age of Shakespeare.

TA 361. Theatre History & Script Analysis II: Renaissance-Romantic - WR3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only Prerequisite(s): TA 360 or TA 362. Description: The development of theatre and drama from the Italian Renaissance to the rise of Realism.

TA 362. Theatre History & Script Analysis III: Modern & Contemporary - WR3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Prerequisite(s): ENGL 102, ENGL 105 or equivalent. Description: The third of a three-course sequence that offers a formal introduction to theatre history and dramatic literature and instills various methods of script analysis. This course will examine the development of Western drama, dramatic and aesthetic conventions, and theatrical practices from the modern to the postmodern period. Concentrating on theatre's intellectual, social, political, and artistic foundations, this course is designed to engage with dramatic literature and theory, dramaturgical methods, and theatrical practices from their historical, theatrical, social, and cultural contexts.

TA 363. African-American Women in Theatre - AH, WR, D13 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Description: This course will explore the theatrical representation of African-American women through the lens of African-American playwrights, designers and theoreticians. Course content will focus on the works of African-American women playwrights, designers and theoreticians and encourage critical discourse on the material covered. Assignments and activities will include script analyses, discussion board posts, research papers, and quizzes. Assignments are designed to strengthen critical thinking skills, encourage perspective broadening dialogue and research, and enhance your understanding of the experience of the African diaspora. (Humanities)

TA 365. Theatre of the African World - D2, AH3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Description: This course is a cross-cultural examination of theatre and performance modes of select cultural and ethnic groups within Africa and the African Diaspora. The material will focus on performance and dramatic scripts by artists from West and South Africa, East Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. We will investigate the distinctions in the manifestations of "theatre," "drama," and "performance" in Africa and the African Diaspora by means of lectures, play readings, written responses, in-depth discussions, video screenings, student projects, and presentations. (Humanities)

TA 366. History of the African-American Theatre - WR, AH, D13 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Description: This course will introduce students to the historical, political, and cultural milieu experienced by African Americans and their impact on theatrical expression in theatre and performance.

TA 367. Black Dramatic Literature - AH, D13 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Description: The primary goal of this course is to accomplish in-depth analyses of selected plays by black dramatists.

TA 376. Introduction to Playwriting3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Even Years Prerequisite(s): ENGL 102 or ENGL 105. Description: This is a practicum and writing-intensive course for undergraduate students interested in playwriting. This course will introduce students to various dramatic forms, styles of plays, and playwriting methods. Students will receive instruction in how to write plays using Aristotelian and non-Aristotelian playwriting methods. They will apply these methods to develop a ten-minute play and then a twenty-minute expansion of that play. The course will culminate in the submission of a one-act play developed through a series of playwriting assignments and the previously submitted two shorter plays.

TA 380. Introduction to Voice & Movement3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Odd Years Description: This course is an introduction to voice and movement for the stage and performance.

TA 391. Acting for the Camera3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Odd Years Prerequisite(s): TA 224, TA 327. Description: In Acting for the Camera, students will explore the fundamentals of on-camera acting and learn the techniques of various genres of camera performance, including commercial, television, and film. They will explore an appreciation of on-camera performance and will build on their knowledge of performance, self, and audience.

TA 423. Directing the Black Experience3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Prerequisite(s): TA 330 and permission of instructor. Description: Fundamentals of staging plays by dramatists of African descent from an Afrocentric perspective.

TA 430. Costume Craft3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Description: Hands-on training in techniques for constructing costumes, millinery and costume accessories.

TA 433. Fundamentals of Stage & Production Management3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring Description: Fundamental understanding of theatrical management structure & hierarchy. Defining the roles of Production Manager and Stage Manager in the production process. Practical application within the production process.

TA 440. Digital Design3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Even Years Description: Digital Design - immersive class in the digital tools of design: Photography, Photoshop, After Effects, QLab and Projection, 3D Drafting (Vectorworks and Sketchup) and 3D Printing.

TA 450. Theatre Apprenticeship3-6 Units

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer Prerequisite(s): Approval of department and selection by a theatre company. Description: Apprenticeship in professional or nonprofessional theatre.

TA 451. Cooperative Internship in Theatre Arts1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer Prerequisite(s): Completion of at least 30 hours and GPA of at least 3.0. Description: An individually-arranged course for applying theatre or speech skills to work experience.

TA 455. Independent Study1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade point average of 3.0 overall; minimum grade point average of 3.5 in the department, and at least 18 semester hours credit in the department.

TA 460. Black Diasporic Conversations Seminar1 Unit

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail Term Typically Offered: Spring Only Description: This course will survey the work of African-American artists from the nineteenth century to present. Lectures will discuss the mapping of global blackness in contemporary black performance. We will consider the ways in which artists and scholars have worked to illuminate and complicate performances of blackness by artists of the African diasporic performing arts.

TA 481. Voice for the Actor3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Prerequisite(s): Permission of Instructor. Description: This is a course in voice for the actor. The focus will be on the connection between body, breath, and voice, including an understanding of the basic principles of the Alexander Technique, an understanding of body, breath, and vocal anatomy/articulators, and exploration on the pedagogy of voice.

TA 484. Voice 3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Even Years Prerequisite(s): Permission of Instructor. Description: This is a course in the international Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), Dialects and Accents for the stage.

TA 491. Performance Concepts3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only Prerequisite(s): Permission of Instructor. Description: The student will become familiar with advanced study of the Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, and Michael Chekhov acting techniques.

TA 492. Individuality in Character Building3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Spring Only Prerequisite(s): Permission of Instructor. Description: The purpose of the course is to enable the students to begin to explore fundamental techniques in exploring how the imaginative process aids in developing character from the outside in.

TA 520. Acting Workshop3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Departmental consent. Description: Practical problems in the art of acting approached in a laboratory setting.

TA 526. Tools for a Global Theatre3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Description: Cultural issues, perspectives, and approaches to theatre in various parts of the world will be addressed using both classical and contemporary texts.

TA 530. Directing Workshop3 Units

Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor. Description: Practical problems in the art of directing approached in a laboratory setting.

TA 532. Advanced Directing the Black Experience3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Description: Advanced techniques for staging plays from an African-centered perspective.

TA 533. Advanced Stage Management3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Description: Techniques of production management during audition, rehearsal, and performance. Practical project required.

TA 540. Problems in Technical Theatre3 Units

Prerequisite(s): TA 241. Description: Topics vary by semester, but may include: a) Welding, b) Sound Design, c) Technical Direction, and/or d) Special Topics.

TA 541. Topics: Scene Design3 Units

Prerequisite(s): TA 340. Description: Topics vary by semester, but may include: a) Scene Design, b) Advanced Scene Design, c) Design for the Camera, d) Design for Lyric Theatre, and/or e) Special Topics.

TA 543. Scenographic Techniques3 Units

Prerequisite(s): TA 340. Description: Topics vary by semester, but may include: a) CAD for Stage Design, b) Sketching and Rendering - Scenery, c) Scene Painting, and/or d) Special Topics.

TA 545. Topics: Costume Design3 Units

Prerequisite(s): TA 345 or Permission of the Instructor. Description: Topics vary by semester, but may include: a) Advanced Costume Design, b) Costume History, c) Costume Construction, d) Sewing Techniques, e) Sketching and Rendering - Costumes, and/or f) Special Topics.

TA 546. Portfolio Design1 Unit

Term Typically Offered: Spring Odd Years Description: The course is designed for the student interested in developing a portfolio for a career in the arts. As part of this course, you will create a theatrical resume, a digital or physical portfolio, and a website to display work, resume, and contact information.

TA 547. Advanced Black Aesthetic on Stage3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Description: Exploration of scenic, costume, lighting, and sound design from an Afrocentric perspective.

TA 549. Topics: Lighting Design3 Units

Prerequisite(s): TA 349. Description: Topics vary by semester, but may include: a) Lighting Design, b) Advanced Lighting Design, and/or c) Special Topics

TA 550. Culminating Undergraduate Experience Practicum - CUE3 Units

Prerequisite(s): 90 credit hours. Description: The Theatre Arts CUE course is an independent project that demonstrates the student's ability to conceptualize, analyze, communicate and direct, design, perform, manage or otherwise take a leadership role in a work for the stage.

TA 555. Special Topics in Theatre1-3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Description: Advanced study of specific areas of theatre arts.

TA 557. Advanced Hip-Hop Theatre3 Units

Description: Advanced exploration of hip-hop theatre and forerunners of hip-hop culture and art--including its relationship to African-American, American multicultural and postmodern styes--through discussion, reading, research and performance exercises.

TA 560. Directed Study in Theatre History3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Description: Survey of theatre history and literature, supplemented with directed reading of secondary sources.

TA 562. Advanced Black Dramatic Literature3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Description: An examination of the drama of selected African-descended writers whose work stands out as exceptional in the realm of dramatic literature. The material will be explored by means of lectures, play readings, written responses, in-depth discussion, videos, student projects and presentations.

TA 563. Advanced African-American Women in Theatre3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Description: Examines the full range of African-American women working in theatre including playwrights, performers, designers, theorists, academics,and directors.Includes examination of plays by women of African descent.

TA 565. Advanced Theatre of the African World3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of Instructor. Description: Cross-cultural examination of the drama of the African-descended playwrights in the African Diaspora.

TA 566. Advanced History of African-American Theatre3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Description: Survey of African-American Theatre from 1820 to the present, its relationship to sociopolitical issues in America and its relationship to mainstream American theatre.

TA 571. Playscript Interpretation - WR3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Description: Advanced techniques of play analysis, emphasizing the theatre artist's response to text.

TA 576. Shakespearean Adaptation - WR3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Prerequisite(s): Engl 102 or Engl 105 Our exploration of Shakespearean plays and adaptations will include the dramaturgical study of the texts and their contexts, and the dramaturgical practice of adaptation.

TA 577. Women in American Theatre and Drama - WC3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered Description: The lack of gender parity in American theatre was in the spotlight in the Spring of 2017, when Paula Vogel and Lynn Nottage, two veteran, Pulitzer-Prize winning playwrights, finally received Broadway debuts. The title of Michael Paulson's New York Times piece on this momentous event in American theatre history asks a crucial question pursued by this course: "Two Female Playwrights Arrive on Broadway. What Took So Long?" Paulson points out a glaring discrepancy between the gender demographics of Broadway spectators and the gender identities of the authors produced on Broadway. Roughly 67% of Broadway audiences are female; yet, Vogel's Indecent and Nottage's Sweat were the only new plays by women in a Broadway season that included eight new plays by men. Paulson also notes that the presence of two new plays by women in the Broadway season signals that some strides have been made since the Broadway season, which featured no new plays by women.