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Handbook Appendices Forms Theatre Scholarships For Theatre Majors, Minors, and Intendeds University Theatre Handbook Table of Contents Theatre Home

C.2  Choosing Your Courses

What with a large Foundations and General Education requirement added to a sizable Major and Minor, the degree in Theatre calls for you to be highly deliberative in your choice of classes.  Perhaps the precepts of this section will be of use to you before you see your advisor.

Nothing can teach you about theatre better than devouring and digesting theatre!  You should make it your goal to see a minimum of three or four off campus productions per quarter.  That’s only one every-other week.  Nine to a dozen professional shows a year, plus the five to seven SPU productions, viewed carefully and thoughtfully analyzed, will go far toward replacing any number of formal courses.  Few cities in the nation can offer you the number or variety of productions as you will find playing almost any week in this city.  Whether creating in fancy theatre complexes or storefront “found” spaces, the vitality of the Seattle theatre community cannot be restrained.

C.2.a  About your Theatre courses. 

Generally speaking, you will be best served by the Theatre curriculum if you will follow the progression suggested by our numbering of courses; there is a logical learning pattern established by the ordering.

Pay attention, as well, to the pre-requisite and co-requisite restrictions; these suggest that some learning is incremental, that it must be built on what was learned before.  The material of the course is of a more advanced level or, though thematically linked, distinctive enough in learning style to warrant separation.

We do urge you to begin your course work with the venerable triumvirate of:

  • TRE 1340       Acting I: Fundamentals                               (5 credits)
  • TRE 1720       Stagecraft                                                      (5 credits)

            and its co-requisite of TRE 1931 Production Practicum (2 credits)

  • TRE 1810       Playscript Analysis                                      (3 credits)

These courses are requirements of your degree, and form the foundation on which most of the rest of our curriculum builds.  You are best served if these foundations are in place be­fore you move on, but, of course, it’s your choice.

Be mindful that several of our courses—principally upper-division ones—are offered on an alternate year pattern.  This is the case so that the department can fulfill its obligations to the general education pattern of the university, one of the demands of our mission.

What follows is a reorganization of the catalog copy to show you more clearly the manner in which the curriculum covers the traditional elements of undergraduate theatre study.  It also indicates for you the standing alternate-year patterns for some of our courses.  You need to refer to the current undergraduate catalog for course descriptions and enrollment restrictions.

Department of Theatre Course Offerings

(Effective with 2009-2010 Undergraduate Catalog)  

The courses marked with an asterisk (*) have been approved by the university as satisfying general education requirements.  They may be used by you to simultaneously satisfy your major or minor requirements and those of general education.

APPLIED THEATRE STUDIES

*TRE 1930       Performance Practicum (2)                                          
Quarterly

                                    (Prerequisite: Audition and casting)

*TRE 1931       Production Practicum (2)                                                
Quarterly

*TRE 3930       Performance Practicum (2)
Quarterly

                                    (Prerequisite: Audition and casting)

*TRE 3931       Production Practicum (2)
Quarterly

You may enroll in the upper division versions of these practica when you have reached junior class standing (90 or more earned credits).

THEATRE APPRECIATION

*TRE 1110         The Theatre Experience (5)
Yearly

DRAMATIC LITERATURE

TRE 1810         Playscript Analysis (3)  (Entry Level Course)
Yearly

*TRE 2420         Theatre & Drama:  Tragedy (5)
Yearly

*TRE 2421         Theatre & Drama:  Comedy (5)
Yearly

ACTING

*TRE 1310         The Actor’s Art (5)
Yearly

*TRE 1340         Acting I: Fundamentals (5) (Entry Level Course)
Yearly

TRE 2320         Stage Movement (2) 
 
Alternate years

TRE 2340         Acting II: Creating the Character (5)
Alternate years

                                    (Prerequisite: TRE 1310 or permission)

TRE 2350         Theatre Voice
Alternate years

TRE 3321         Elements of Mime (2)
Alternate years

TRE 3340         Acting III: Acting Styles (5)
Alternate years

 

DESIGN AND TECHNICAL THEATRE

TRE 1720         Stagecraft (5)        (Entry Level Course)
Yearly

      (Co-requisite: TRE 1931/3931)

TRE 2733         Scene Painting (3)
Alternate years

TRE 2740         Lighting and Sound (3)
Alternate years

                                    (Prerequisite: TRE 1720)

TRE 3720         Stage Make-Up (3)
Alternate years

TRE 3733         Scene Design & Technical Drawing (5)
Yearly

                                    (Prerequisite: TRE 1720)

TRE 3750         Costume & Period Styles (5)
Alternate years

  

DIRECTING

TRE 3710         Play Directing (5)
Yearly

                                    (Prerequisite: TRE 1810 or permission)

PLAYWRITING

TRE 4760         Playwriting (5)
Alternate years

                                   (Prerequisite: TRE 1810 or permission)

FILM STUDIES

*TRE 3780         The Art of the Film (5)
Yearly

THEATRE HISTORY

TRE 4911        History of the Theatre I (5)
Alternate Years

TRE 4913         History of the Theatre II (5)
Alternate Years

CREATIVE DRAMATICS/THEATRE EDUCATION

*TRE 3800         Theatre Education
            Yearly

            TRE 4770         Creative Dramatics (3)
            Alternate years

SPECIAL TOPICS

TRE 2950/4950 Special Topics in Theatre (2-5)
Yearly

INDIVIDUAL STUDY

TRE 4900         Independent Study in Theatre (1-5)   

By special contract

TRE 4943         Theatre Internship (3-5)                                                     

 By special contract

TRE 4961         Special Projects in Theatre (1-3)                                        

 By special contract

Next Section: C2b: Recommended non-Theatre Courses

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