Week 1

a. Role-playing (borrowed from psychodrama techniques) will be used by class participants to get to know each other in new ways while also finding the limits of their abilities to characterize each other.  The class will end with a group sound improvisation followed by a discussion of the experience.  Every effort will be made by the instructor to help create a comfortable and non-judgemental environment for the students.

b. Students will bring in examples of their artwork and discuss their thoughts about their work and ideas about performance with the class.

Homework: Begin reading Theatre and Its Double by Artaud.

Week II

a. The class will have a seminar on Theatre and Its Double.  The class will perform a psychodrama which works through the fantasies of others while gently finding obstacles to group performance.  The class will end by discussing what one is willing to show or not.

Homework: Read excerpts from Silence by John Cage.

b. The class will have a seminar on the readings from Silence.  That will be followed by a continuation of the discussion of the issues arising from the previous day’s psychodrama.  The class will end with a group sound improvisation.

Week III

a. The class will have a seminar on further readings from Silence.  That will be followed by listening experiments and exercises from Sonic Meditations by Pauline Oliveros.

Homework:  Read excerpts from Sharing the Dance by Novak.

b. The class will begin with a sound/movement improvisation. and end with a seminar on text and experience.

Homework: Read excerpts from Essays on Blurring Art and Life by Kaprow.

Week IV

a. The class will begin with a seminar on Essays on Blurring Art and Life by Kaprow.  Afterwards the class will construct a group installation and end with a discussion of the final project.

Homework: Begin thinking about a final project.

b. The class will perform a sound/movement improvisation with the installation.

Week V

a. Video, film and/or demonstration by instructor and/or others.

Homework: Bring in your artwork.  Perform a short piece that shows how you see the work or you fantasy about the work.

b. The class will review and discuss the assigned performances.

Homework: (Due the second half of Week VI) Write one page of words that, from Artaud, are “incantations” calling forth images rather than being merely descriptive.

Week VI

a. Video, film and/or demonstration by instructor and/or others.

b. Review and discussion of class projects.

Homework: (Due the second half of Week VII) Create a work of art that crosses into another medium (i.e. sound/sculpture).

Week VII

a. Video, film and/or demonstration by instructor and/or others.

b. Review and discussion of class projects.

Homework: (Due second half of Week VIII) Create a “works-in-progress” performance that will give the class an idea about your final project.

Week VIII

a. Video, film and/or demonstration by instructor and/or others.

b. Review and discussion of class projects.

Homework: Proposals for final project are due the second half of Week X.  Due next week - Create a performance which utilizes ideas from your art and also involves at least on other person.  Projects may be collaborative to the extent that each student may receive a grade for the same project.  Also projects may involve others in merely supportive roles.  In this case students may receive extra credit depending on their level of participation.  Some performances and installations may be on-going with broadened limits of time and space.

Week IX

a. Rehearsals/installations with some coaching by instructor.

b. Rehearsals/installations with some coaching by instructor.

Week X

a. Presentations and discussions of class projects.

b. Presentations and discussions of class projects.

Homework: Work on independent projects which take on more risks that the final projects.  This assignment is intended to cause experimentation which will provide useful information or experiences that can be integrated into the final project.

Week XI

a. Rehearsals/installations with some coaching by instructor.

b. Rehearsals/installations with some coaching by instructor.

Week XII

a. Presentations and discussions of independent projects.

b. Presentations and discussions of independent projects.

Homework: (Due first half of Week XIV) Write a paper on a performance artist whose work influences you the most.

Weeks XIII - XVI

This whole month will be spent working on final projects and their presentations.  Students will be responsible for finding sights and/or funding for their projects when applicable.  The final project must be accompanied by both a written contextual essay and a final evaluation.
 
 
 
 

Attendance Policy:  More than two unexcused absences will affect your grade as follows:

3 or 4 = minus 1 letter grade (i.e. B to C)
5 or 6 = minus 2 letter grades (i.e. B to D)
7 or more = F

Grades will be based on the following assignments:

Oral participation in seminars and critiques   15%
3 individual performance assignments    20%
1 collaborative project      10%
1 independent project      10%
1 final project       20%
Written assignment “incantations”      5%
Proposal for final project        5%
Paper about influential artist       5%
Contextual piece about final project              2.5%
Final evaluation of final project               2.5%
Journal           5%

Grades will be based on the following criteria:

Oral Participation: 15% of grade - Quality of input.
 Has the student read and understood the material?  How much energy and
 attention does the student use for trying to understand other students’ work?

Performance Assignments: 60% of grade - Rigor, time, thought and effort devoted to
 project.

 Clarity - Did the project communicate the intent of the performer effectively?
 Integration - Were the media integrated in such a way that each medium
  strengthens the ideas being presented?
 Aesthetics - Does the piece communicate on other levels than the ideas being
  presented?  How much subtlety and sophistication is apparent?
 Creativity - What new ground was explored by the student?

Written Assignments: 25% of grade

 Clarity - Was the student clear in presenting his/her ideas?
 Thoroughness - Was the material sufficiently addressed by the student’s
  writing?
 Creativity - How much self-exploration occurred as a result from this writing?