Theater and Performance Studies

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2015-16 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

About the Program

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Within the Theater and Performance Studies Department we understand performance to be a mode of critical inquiry and research, a means of creative expression and a vehicle for public engagement. The theater events that take place within the department are the means by which students engage with theater performance on the physical, intellectual, and aesthetic levels. It is our hope that you will not only grow as performers but also as artists, thinkers, makers, viewers, and participants in the whole of the artistic event.

The practical focus of the major is to create theater of all kinds using all its artforms. Whether new to theater, or seasoned with years of training and skill, all students receive an education that engages them fully. Your focus may be on acting, directing, stage management, technical theater, playwriting, or some combination of these. Equally important to us is the study of theater and dance performance theory, history, culture and literature, thereby balancing the practical with the theoretical. Students engage in technical theater and production courses in sound, set, costume, lighting and visual design, as well as a myriad of performance opportunities.

The theater training and academic courses offered by our department are geared toward the student who is interested in learning about theater and performance from multiple perspectives. As either a major or minor in Theater and Performance Studies, you will study with nationally and internationally known faculty, respected for their scholarly research and for their creative work. Our graduates have gone on to professional careers in all theatrical fields and graduate schools all over the world. Our alumni include professional actors on stage and screen, arts journalists, stunt actors, directors, producers, playwrights, and more.

Further departmental opportunities include student-directed theater performances and projects, honors projects, internships in local Bay Area theaters, teaching courses in the department, and invitations to a myriad of diverse and exciting lectures and performances. Students also have access to world renowned visiting guest artists through our close relationship with Cal Performances and extensive network in the field.

Declaring the Major

For further information regarding the prerequisites required before declaring the major, please see the Major Requirements tab on this page.

Honors Program

Majors in Theater and Performance Studies with an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.3 in the University may, with the approval of the department, apply for admission to the honors program. Students should apply through the undergraduate academic adviser no later than the 13th week of the spring semester of their junior year. If students wish to have their honors project culminate in a stage production, they should apply by February of the spring semester of the junior year. Students accepted into the honors program will take: THEATER H195A, an intensive, critical study of problems of dramatic literature, performance studies, acting, playwriting, directing, dance, choreography, or design; and THEATER H195B, where they will expand their work from H195A into either a stage production or a written thesis.

Minor Program

The Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies offers a minor in Theater and Performance Studies. For for further information regarding the minor requirements, please see the Minor Requirements tab on this page.

Students should confirm their intention to minor after enrolling in one course in the department. Transfer students can determine transferability of coursework into the minor by bringing unofficial transcripts and course descriptions to Michael Mansfield, the undergraduate academic adviser. A course equivalent to THEATER 10 transfers from other institutions into the minor. It is rare that another course from a junior college will transfer into the minor because equivalent coursework is seldom found. Since the minor will be from the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, it is likely students will do most of their minor coursework at UC Berkeley.

Other Major and Minor Offered by TDPS

Dance and Performance Studies  (Major and Minor)

Visit Department Website

Major Requirements

In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements, listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the below requirements specific to their major program.

General Guidelines

  1. All courses taken to fulfill the major requirements below must be taken for graded credit, other than courses listed which are offered on a Pass/No Pass basis only. Other exceptions to this requirement are noted as applicable.
  2. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs, with the exception of minors offered outside of the College of Letters & Science.
  3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 must be maintained in both upper and lower division courses used to fulfill the major requirements.

For information regarding residence requirements and unit requirements, please see the College Requirements tab.

Lower Division Prerequisites

Students may declare the major after passing two of the following four lower division courses. One of the courses must be a theater course (THEATER 10 or THEATER 60), and one of the courses must be a performance studies course (THEATER 25AC, THEATER 26, or THEATER 52AC).

THEATER 10Fundamentals of Acting I (students may omit this requirement by auditioning into a more advanced acting technique level on the first day of class)3
THEATER 60Introduction to Technical Theater and Production (this course also requires craft shop or run crew hours)3-4
THEATER 26Introduction to Performance Studies4
THEATER 25ACThe Drama of American Cultures: An Introduction to Our Theater4
or THEATER 52AC Dance in American Cultures

Upper Division Required Courses

Select one of the following:1-2
Technical Theater
Select one of the following:
Technical Theater: Performance Practice (take this course if THEATER 60 included a craft shop)
Technical Theater: Shop Practice (take this course if THEATER 60 included run crew)
Design
Select one of the following production or design courses:
Stage Management
Scenography: Scenic Design for the Theatre 1
Scenography: Scenic Design for the Theatre 1
Scenography: Costume Design for the Theatre 1
Scenography: Costume Design for the Theatre
Scenography: Lighting Design for Performance 1
Scenography: Advanced Lighting Design for Performance 1
Sound Design for Performance
Video Production for Performance
Performance Studies
Select three courses, from three different areas:
Performance Theory
Performance Theory
Performance Culture
Performance and Culture
THEATER 122
Course Not Available
Performance History
Performance and History
Theater History
Theater History
Performance Literature
International Performance and Literature: Irish Theater: Origins and the Contemporary Scene
Performance Literatures
Electives
Most majors need three or more electives to complete the upper division units for the major (24 units minimum). Students are encouraged to create a focus for additional elective courses in acting technique, dramatic writing, design, stage management, directing, performance studies, stage performance, or some combination of these areas taken in the department. Independent studies, teaching a DeCal course, honors projects, internships, 196 projects, and Education Abroad Programs count as part of the elective coursework. However, taking DeCal courses does not count toward your major.
1

 If possible, begin the course sequences numbered 173, 174, or 175 in the fall semester, since they are designed for part A to be completed before part B. Please note that only one semester is required.

Transferring Units

A maximum of 8 units of equivalent upper division coursework transfer into the major from the Education Abroad Program (EAP) or other 4-year colleges as electives upon departmental approval. All L&S-approved units from other colleges transfer into the student's degree but rarely into the major. Transfer students should bring a copy of previous transcripts/course descriptions to undergraduate academic adviser Michael Mansfield for evaluation.

Minor Requirements

Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. These programs have set requirements and are noted officially on the transcript in the memoranda section, but they are not noted on diplomas.

General Guidelines

  1. All courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements below must be taken for graded credit.
  2. A minimum of three of the upper division courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be completed at UC Berkeley.
  3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for courses used to fulfill the minor requirements.
  4. Courses used to fulfill the minor requirements may be applied toward the Seven-Course Breadth requirement for Letters & Science students.
  5. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
  6. All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which the student plans to graduate. Students who cannot finish all courses required for the minor by that time should see a College of Letters & Science adviser.
  7. All minor requirements must be completed within the unit ceiling. (For further information regarding the unit ceiling, please see the College Requirements tab.)

Requirements

Lower Division (One Course)
Select one of the following:3-4
Fundamentals of Acting I 1
The Drama of American Cultures: An Introduction to Our Theater
Dance in American Cultures
Introduction to Performance Studies
Introduction to Technical Theater and Production
Upper Division (Five Courses)
Select one upper division Performance Studies course:
International Performance and Literature: Irish Theater: Origins and the Contemporary Scene
Performance Theory
Performance and Culture
THEATER 122
Course Not Available
Performance and History
Performance Literatures
Theater History
Theater History
Select four or more electives to build a focus (see the department's website for examples)
1

THEATER 10 may be replaced by THEATER 109 if you audition in at that level. Also, there is no assurance that you can progress from THEATER 10 to THEATER 110A except by audition. A minor may need to take THEATER 109 as well before advancing to THEATER 110A. If you audition into THEATER 110A in your first semester, that course may also replace the lower division requirement.

 

College Requirements

Undergraduate students in the College of Letters & Science must fulfill the following requirements in addition to those required by their major program.

For detailed lists of courses that fulfill college requirements, please see the College of Letters & Sciences  page in this Guide.

Entry Level Writing

All students who will enter the University of California as freshmen must demonstrate their command of the English language by fulfilling the Entry Level Writing requirement. Fulfillment of this requirement is also a prerequisite to enrollment in all reading and composition courses at UC Berkeley. 

American History and American Institutions

The American History and Institutions requirements are based on the principle that a US resident graduated from an American university should have an understanding of the history and governmental institutions of the United States.

American Cultures

American Cultures is the one requirement that all undergraduate students at Cal need to take and pass in order to graduate. The requirement offers an exciting intellectual environment centered on the study of race, ethnicity and culture of the United States. AC courses offer students opportunities to be part of research-led, highly accomplished teaching environments, grappling with the complexity of American Culture.

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning requirement is designed to ensure that students graduate with basic understanding and competency in math, statistics, or computer science. The requirement may be satisfied by exam or by taking an approved course.

Foreign Language

The Foreign Language requirement may be satisfied by demonstrating proficiency in reading comprehension, writing, and conversation in a foreign language equivalent to the second semester college level, either by passing an exam or by completing approved course work.

Reading and Composition

In order to provide a solid foundation in reading, writing and critical thinking the College requires two semesters of lower division work in composition. Students must complete a first-level reading and composition course by the end of their second semester and a second-level course by the end of their fourth semester.

Breadth Requirements

The undergraduate breadth requirements provide Berkeley students with a rich and varied educational experience outside of their major program. As the foundation of a liberal arts education, breadth courses give students a view into the intellectual life of the University while introducing them to a multitude of perspectives and approaches to research and scholarship. Engaging students in new disciplines and with peers from other majors, the breadth experience strengthens interdisciplinary connections and context that prepares Berkeley graduates to understand and solve the complex issues of their day.

Unit Requirements

  • 120 total units, including at least 60 L&S units

  • Of the 120 units, 36 must be upper division units

  • Of the 36 upper division units, 6 must be taken in courses offered outside your major department

Residence Requirements

For units to be considered in "residence," you must be registered in courses on the Berkeley campus as a student in the College of Letters & Science. Most students automatically fulfill the residence requirement by attending classes here for four years. In general, there is no need to be concerned about this requirement, unless you go abroad for a semester or year or want to take courses at another institution or through University Extension during your senior year. In these cases, you should make an appointment to see an adviser to determine how you can meet the Senior Residence Requirement.

Note: Courses taken through UC Extension do not count toward residence.

Senior Residence Requirement

After you become a senior (with 90 semester units earned toward your BA degree), you must complete at least 24 of the remaining 30 units in residence in at least two semesters. To count as residence, a semester must consist of at least 6 passed units. Intercampus Visitor, EAP, and UC Berkeley-Washington Program (UCDC) units are excluded.

You may use a Berkeley summer session to satisfy one semester of the Senior Residence requirement, provided that you successfully complete 6 units of course work in the Summer Session and that you have been enrolled previously in the college.

Modified Senior Residence Requirement

Participants in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) or the UC Berkeley Washington Program (UCDC) may meet a Modified Senior Residence requirement by completing 24 (excluding EAP) of their final 60 semester units in residence. At least 12 of these 24 units must be completed after you have completed 90 units.

Upper Division Residence Requirement

You must complete in residence a minimum of 18 units of upper division courses (excluding EAP units), 12 of which must satisfy the requirements for your major.

Student Learning Goals

Mission

The Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies teaches performance as a mode of critical inquiry, creative expression, and public engagement. Through performance training and research, the program creates liberal arts graduates with expanded analytical, technical, and imaginative capacities. As a public institution, the department makes diversity and inclusion a key part of its teaching, art making, and public programming.

Undergraduate majors and minors are well prepared for the future, both as artists and engaged citizens of the world. At a time when scholars and practitioners across a variety of fields call for more cross-disciplinary intellectual collaboration and project-based learning in higher education, the department takes pride in its daily commitment to collaboration and to the kind of rigorously critical, team-based projects it develops with students, staff, and faculty both in the classroom and in the production season.

Learning Goals for the Major

  1. Ability to synthesize a well-organized argument from textual or other evidence and to express it in formal written form.
  2. Proficiency in research methods (i.e., utilization of public and private archives, libraries, electronic databases, oral histories or textual and performance analysis).
  3. Collaborative skills.
  4. Foundational stagecraft and production skills and knowledge (design, craft and technology, stage management, new media).
  5. Literacy in foundational dramatic texts and fundamental concepts of performance theory.
  6. Basic history of Euro-American theater practice including issues of race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism in the performing arts.
  7. Basic acting technique.

Skills

Through upper division course work, electives, and capstone experiences students should also possess advanced training in at least one of the following:

  1. Directing
  2. Playwriting
  3. Acting
  4. Design
  5. History/Theory/Literature
  6. Stage Management
  7. New Media

Courses

Theater and Performance Studies

THEATER R1A Performance: Writing and Research 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Reading and composition in connection with the study of dramatic literature. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.

THEATER R1B Performance: Writing and Research 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Reading and composition in connection with the study of dramatic literature. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.

THEATER 5 Public Speaking and Presentation Skills 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2016
Students will learn to present themselves and material clearly, confidently, and persuasively, using age-old arts of oral communication. They will learn techniques for overcoming stage fright, developing clear enunciation, finding and using their natural, unaffected vocal register, varying tone and intonation to hold audience interest, controlling pacing, moving with assurance and purpose, using appropriate gestures, and eye contact as well as exploring methods to change behaviors that bar effective communication and structure speeches to maximize persuasiveness.

THEATER 10 Fundamentals of Acting I 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2017
Fundamentals of Acting I (THEATER 10) is the entry level course for the acting sequence and focuses on releasing and cultivating the actor’s inherent creativity. Through exercises, improvisation, scenes, and monologues, the actor begins to develop basic techniques designed to stimulate the imagination, develop vocal and physical ability, increase awareness of self and others, introduce effective ways to analyze texts, think critically about the craft of acting, and enhance self-confidence and communication skills. This class is the essential beginning of the actor’s studies, which will ultimately allow her or him to effectively engage and explore work from a rich diversity of genres, styles, and backgrounds.

THEATER 20U London: Theater Capital 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Course provides a critical introduction to both London and its theatre for first year undergraduate students. The course, which is part of a university study abroad program, examines the production of current theatre and performance in the city with an emphasis on staged performance backed up by selected critical and creative texts. Alongside these artistic acts students will be introduced to ways in which the city of London itself is a landscape of continuous performances, ceremonies and events with institutions such as the Royal Courts of Justice, the Lord Mayor’s Show, and the Houses of Parliament, all worthy of close attention for the way they operate through means of performance.

THEATER 24 Freshman Seminar 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
The Berkeley Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Berkeley Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester.

THEATER 25AC The Drama of American Cultures: An Introduction to Our Theater 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
This course provides an introduction to theater through the study of values and issues fundamental to cultural identity, the comparison of selected cultural groups and their relationship to American society as a whole, and the study of drama as an instrument for understanding and expressing cultural identity. Theater of specific cultural groups to be included will be determined by the availability of live theater productions offered on campus and in the Bay Area.

THEATER 26 Introduction to Performance Studies 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
This course introduces the critical terms and practices of the contemporary study of performance. Several key terms and important genres of artistic and social performance will be engaged; the course will draw critical and disciplinary methods from anthropology and ethnography, from the theory of dance and theater, from literary and cultural theory. Critical and theoretical concepts will be used to analyze a wide range of live and recorded performances, as well as performance texts.

THEATER 39 Freshman/Sophomore Seminar 1.5 - 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester.

THEATER 40 Introduction to Modern Dance Technique 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Introduction to modern dance from a Western concert dance perspective. Study of foundational concepts of movement such as: principles of alignment, locomotion, dance terminology, and musicality.

THEATER 52AC Dance in American Cultures 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2016
Dance as a meaning-making expressive form. Develop the tools necessary for looking at dance, analyzing it, writing about it, and understanding its place in larger social, cultural, political structures. We will look at a variety of U.S. American dance genres, understanding them through their historical and cultural contexts, to explore how issues of race, gender, sexuality and class affect the practice and the reception of different dance forms, and how dance might help shape representations of these identities. Ethnic groups that the course studies include African, Asian, and European Americans, indigenous peoples of the U.S., and Chicanos/Latinos. Accessible to students with no dance experience. Not a studio-based class.

THEATER 60 Introduction to Technical Theater and Production 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
A practical introduction to the terminology, theories, approaches, and techniques of technical theater and production. The course will cover theatrical terminology, stage equipment and architecture, production personnel and processes, and design departments, including scenery, properties, costumes, lighting, sound, and video. The course has a laboratory component. Based on student preference and availability, assignments for work on departmental productions will be made to one of two types of lab: department shops on a regular weekly schedule throughout the semester, or as run crew for a production fulfilling all required hours including evening and weekend calls.

THEATER 84 Sophomore Seminar 1 or 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2013, Fall 2012
Sophomore seminars are small interactive courses offered by faculty members in departments all across the campus. Sophomore seminars offer opportunity for close, regular intellectual contact between faculty members and students in the crucial second year. The topics vary from department to department and semester to semester. Enrollment limited to 15 sophomores.

THEATER 98 Directed Group Study 0.5 - 5 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Group study of a topic not included in the regular department curriculum. Topics may be initiated by students.

THEATER 99 Independent Study 1 - 5 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Study of a topic not included in the regular department curriculum.

THEATER 100 Collaborative Innovation 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016
This is a project-based class in collaborative innovation where students experience group creativity and team-based design by using techniques from across the disciplines of business, theatre, design, and art practice. They will leverage problem framing and solving techniques derived from critical thinking, systems thinking, and creative problem solving (popularly known today as design thinking). The course is grounded in a brief weekly lecture that sets out the theoretical, historical, and cultural contexts for particular innovation practices, but the majority of the class involves hands-on studio-based learning guided by an interdisciplinary team of teachers leading small group collaborative projects.


THEATER C107 Plays of Ibsen 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2013, Fall 2012, Spring 2011
Reading and discussion of Ibsen's major plays. Readings and discussion in English.

THEATER C108 Strindberg 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2012, Spring 2009
Reading and discussion of Strindberg's major works; emphasis on his dramas and their significance. Readings and discussion in English.

THEATER 109 Fundamentals of Acting II 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Fundamentals of Acting II (THEATER 109) continues working with and expands upon basic concepts introduced in Fundamentals of Acting I (THEATER 10). Through exercises, improvisation, scenes, and monologues, the actor works toward the goal of increasing range, depth, and flexibility; students work on more complex texts which require in-depth research and stronger imagination to inhabit.

THEATER 110A Intermediate Acting: Scene Study and Style 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
While continuing the work begun in Fundamentals of Acting I and II (THEATER 10 and 109), Scene Study and Style focuses on the actor’s relationship with multiple genres and forms of drama; increased focus is given to the specific demands and responsibilities of performing with heightened language and the complexities of characterization and style; emphasis is also given to achieving an understanding of dramatic action, developing technical proficiency and clarity, attaining emotional availability, and cultivating an enriched relationship with text. Through exercises, improvisation, scenes, and monologues, the actor learns how to transform intuitive creativity into performative excellence.

THEATER 110B Intermediate Acting: Shakespeare 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
While continuing work begun in THEATER 10 & 109, Interm. Acting: Shakespeare (110B) examines the actor’s process through the specific lense of Shakespeare, exploring the unique challenges and rewards of his work; increased focus is given to the demands and responsibilities of performing the heightened language of Shakespeare’s verse and prose, and the complexities of his characterization and style; emphasis is also given to achieving an understanding of dramatic action, developing technical proficiency and clarity, attaining emotional availability, and cultivating an enriched relationship with text. Through exercises, improvisation, scenes, and monologues, the actor learns how to transform intuitive creativity into performative excellence.

THEATER 111 Advanced Acting Studio 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Advanced Acting Studio (THEATER 111) finishes the acting technique progression that begins with Fundamentals of Acting I (THEATER 10). Through scene-work, monologues, and exercises, the actor stretches and strengthens acting techniques, voice, movement, and speech; particular attention is given to character development and style; students also develop classical and contemporary audition material.

THEATER 112 VOICE AND SPEECH 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Voice and Speech works to strengthen, support, and develop the natural voice through practice on basic relaxation techniques, breath, resonance, articulation, and presence. The course explores the voice through a variety of texts and uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA-narrow transcription) to enhance range, clarity of speech, and to prepare students for beginning work in dialect.

THEATER 113A International Performance and Literature: Irish Theater: Origins and the Contemporary Scene 6 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2015 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2013 First 6 Week Session
This course will explore what is involved in the performer's art through class participation, writing, discussion, and final exam. It includes lectures on classical and contemporary theater, acting training, literature study, and attendance at many professional theater performances. Enrollment is open to all applicants without audition, and the performance aspects of the class will be responsive to the skill level of the students who enroll.

THEATER 114 Performance Workshop 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2017
Workshop involving performers in collaborative development of new performance; topics include cross-disciplinary arts, solo performance, language, and movement.

THEATER 118AC Performance, Television, and Social Media 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2016 8 Week Session
This course examines the intersections of performance and media--specifically the media forms of television and social media in the U.S.--with a focus on how various types of difference (race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic class) are enacted, articulated, represented, and played on TV and social media platforms.

THEATER 119 Performance Theory 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
An examination of a theoretical topic or perspective on performance, with specific attention to the interface between theoretical endeavor and dramatic, nondramatic, and nontheatrical modes of performance; may involve visiting artists. Topics vary from semester to semester.

THEATER 121 Performance and Culture 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
An examination of performance as an aspect of cultural production, ranging from everyday-life enactment to more formal or aesthetic activities associated with "artistic" production; may involve visiting artists. Specific attention to the methods of ethnography, cultural studies, and intercultural performance analysis. Topics vary from semester to semester.

THEATER 125 Performance and History 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
An examination of the historical conditions of performance, either given in a historical period or comparatively, with specific attention to the relationship between methods of historical studies and performance; may involve visiting artists. Topics vary from semester to semester.

THEATER 125D Performance and History 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016
An examination of the historical conditions of performance, either given in a historical period or comparatively, with specific attention to the relationship between methods of historical studies and performance; may involve visiting artists. Topics vary from semester to semester.

THEATER 126 Performance Literatures 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
An examination of the formal, ideological, and cultural dynamics of drama, with specific attention to the relationship between methods of literary studies and performance; may involve visiting artists. Topics vary from semester to semester.

THEATER 139A Fundamentals of Playwriting 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
A practical course for beginning playwrights. Through lecture, exercises, in class readings and group discussion, the class will explore the practical craft elements of playwriting along with the function of personal voice in one’s work. Students will write one short and one longer form play during the semester.

THEATER 139B Playwriting 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This course will focus on the writing of a full-length theatrical work. A more critical analysis of the playwriting process with particular emphasis on how a playwright’s aesthetic and intellectual point of view inform the work. Instructor approval is a requirement for the course.

THEATER 140 Pedagogy for Movement Based Classes - Undergraduate Level 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015
Introduces students to foundational principles necessary to teach practice-based courses that involve movement, dance, and/or physical activity and expression. Designed for undergraduate students interested in pursuing teaching. Students should be prepared to engage in practical exercises as well as the study pedagogical theories and methods.

THEATER 141 Intermediate Modern Dance Technique 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Development of body articulation and control utilizing modern dance concepts of time, space, and dynamics.

THEATER 142 Advanced Modern Dance Technique 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Refinement of movement techniques as well as qualitative analysis and demonstration of movement with regard to rhythm, dynamics, and style.

THEATER 143 Practicum for Advanced Modern Dancers 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Practical application of previously studied theory and techniques of modern dance with an emphasis on development of individual movement style.

THEATER 144 Sources of Movement 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Beginning application of dance technique as a means of communication in the theatre. Use of basic technical fundamentals as a means of extending natural movement in rhythm, energy, and space with emphasis on style and qualitative analysis.

THEATER 146A Choreography: Solo/Duet Showcase 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Analysis of theories of form and structure and their practical application in relation to content.

THEATER 146B Choreography: Compositional Study 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Analysis of theories of form and structure and their practical application in relation to content.

THEATER 147A Beginning Ballet Technique 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014
This course is designed for contemporary/modern dancers interested in learning ballet vocabulary, technique, and alignment principles in order to support their contemporary/modern training. The course is intended to be taken in conjunction with one of the modern/contemporary dance technique courses offered by TDPS (40, 141, or 142). Beginning level. Audition first day of class.

THEATER 147B Intermediate Ballet Technique 2 Units

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course is designed for contemporary/modern dancers interested in expanding their ballet vocabulary, improving ballet technique, and learning new approaches to taking ballet class. The course is intended to be taken in conjunction with one of the modern/contemporary dance technique courses offered by TDPS (40, 141, or 142) and requires that students have intermediate (or above) proficiency with ballet technique. Audition first day of class.

THEATER 148 Movement Improvisation 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2005
This course is an introduction to the foundational principles of movement improvisation. Through guided movement exercises and experiences, readings, discussions, observations, and journaling students will broaden their ability to move expressively and in the moment. They will learn skills that explore concepts of time, space, energy, shape and dynamics. The course will develop students’ choreographic tools and performance abilities, and it will challenge students to take creative risks. The readings will allow for critical and historical understandings of dance improvisation and how improvisation has impacted choreographic trends.

THEATER 151A Theater History 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
A chronological survey of world theater to 1800, this course begins with an investigation of "performance behavior"--the human impulse to organize complex games, rituals, and other display activities. It explores the mythological and historical origins of theater in various cultures as well as the derivation of the first dramatic scripts. A heavy emphasis is placed on the analysis of the "promptbooks" and visual sources of early European and Asian theaters for a practical understanding of their scenic and acting styles.

THEATER 151B Theater History 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Fall 2013, Spring 2008
A chronological survey of Western theater from 1800 to the present, this course begins with the dismantling of Neoclassical thought in the European theater and the rise of avant-garde and popular forms. Rapidly changing social conditions, cultural tastes, and technological advances in the 19th and 20th centuries are studied in tandem with the development of theatrical productions and movements, playmaking, and acting styles.

THEATER 162 Fundamentals of Stage Directing 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Beginning study of principles of stage composition, blocking, and analysis of dramatic texts for the director.

THEATER 163 Stage Directing 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Study of principles and practice of stage directing.

THEATER 166 Special Topics: Theater Arts 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Topics vary from semester to semester and have included The Power of Music and Poetry in the Theater; Modern Drama and Theater, 1940 to the Present; Theaters, Tricksters, and Cultural Exchange; Art as Social Action; and The Invisible World (Process Seminar).

THEATER 167 Technical Theater: Performance Practice 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Participation in technical theater practice associated with department theater and dance productions to include technical run crew for live performance in one of: lighting, sound, video, properties, costumes, make-up, scenery, deck, and rail.

THEATER 168 Technical Theater: Shop Practice 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Participation in technical theater practice associated with department theater and dance productions to include workshop activities (fabrication, treatment, and installation) in one or more of: costumes, hair, make-up, scenery, properties, lighting, video, and sound for live performance.

THEATER 169 Advanced Technical Theater Practice 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Participation in advanced technical theater practice associated with department theater and dance productions to include lead, head, or coordinator position with technical run crew for live performance in one of: lighting, sound, video, properties, costumes, make-up, scenery, deck, rail, or advanced application of workshop activities (fabrication, treatment, and installation) in one or more of: costumes, hair, make-up, scenery, properties, lighting, video, and sound for live performance. Intended for a student who has completed introductory level application of theater practice and is training in advanced techniques and applications and/or assuming additional responsibilities in relation to production.

THEATER 171 Theater Performance 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Practice in acting and/or dance in Dramatic Art productions.

THEATER 172 Stage Management 2 - 6 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Study of production techniques and procedures related to production management, stage management, and theater administration.

THEATER 173 Scenography: Scenic Design for Performance 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017
This introductory course teaches some fundamentals of scenic design. Design for live performance will be approached as an integration of all the performative tools – text, visuals, sound, space, kinetics, etc – with particular focus in this class on the overall scenographic environment. Through personal development and group explorations students will be given basic conceptual and art-making tools allowing them to evolve, communicate and realize scenic and environmental solutions. Previous art training is helpful but not essential. The student must provide most art supplies. The final evaluation will include a presentation in lieu of an exam.

THEATER 173A Scenography: Scenic Design for the Theatre 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
This introductory course teaches some fundamentals of scenic design. Design for live performance will be approached as an integration of all the performative tools – text, visuals, sound, space, kinetics, etc – with particular focus in this class on the overall scenographic environment. Through personal development and group explorations students will be given basic conceptual and art-making tools allowing them to evolve, communicate and realize scenic and environmental solutions. Previous art training is helpful but not essential. The student must provide most art supplies.

THEATER 173B Scenography: Scenic Design for the Theatre 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
The fundamentals of performance design are explored through visual statements, simple technical drafting and model-making. Design for performance engages with text analysis, cultural research and thoughtful creativity and collaboration. The course will proceed through a variety of project foci as diverse as personal statement and classical text. Although previous studio art experience is helpful, all students are welcome. The student provides the majority of their project materials and is also responsible for contributing some funds for provided classroom project materials and tools.

THEATER 174 Scenography: Costume Design for Performance 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017
This studio class explores some fundamental approaches and techniques for designing costume. Performance design will be approached as a product of all the performative tools and contexts – text, visuals, sound, space, kinetics, etc – with particular focus for this class on the scenographic role of the performer. Through personal expression and collaborative investigation students will be given some basic tools allowing them to conceptualize, communicate and realize costumes. Previous art training is helpful but not essential. The student must provide most art supplies. The final evaluation will include a presentation in lieu of an exam.

THEATER 174A Scenography: Costume Design for the Theatre 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
This studio class explores some fundamental approaches and techniques for designing costume. Performance design will be approached as a product of all the performative tools and contexts – text, visuals, sound, space, kinetics, etc – with particular focus for this class on the scenographic role of the performer. Through personal expression and collaborative investigation students will be given some basic tools allowing them to conceptualize, communicate and realize costumes. Previous art training is helpful but not essential. The student must provide most art supplies.

THEATER 174B Scenography: Costume Design for the Theatre 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This course continues teaching some fundamentals of costume design. Students will develop techniques that allow them to conceptualize, communicate and realize costumes successfully. Design will be approached as an integration of all the performative tools – text, visuals, sound, etc – with particular focus on the scenographic role of the performer. Students will design for movement and character; investigate the scenographic potential of costume in text and performance; research and design a portfolio of costumes for a classic play or opera. Students who have completed THEATER 174A, Introduction to Costume Design, will be given preference for enrollment but those new to costume design are welcome space permitting.

THEATER 175A Scenography: Lighting Design for Performance 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
THEATER 175A will introduce you to the tools, terms, and techniques of stage lighting through lectures and practical application. Working as part of a production crew (an additional 45 hours outside of class) will demonstrate the practice of stage lighting. Class lectures and workshops augment the production experience. They will cover descriptions, explanations, and demonstrations of lighting concepts and equipment, and the initial elements of design.

THEATER 175B Scenography: Advanced Lighting Design for Performance 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This is the second of two classes in stage lighting design and execution. In THEATER 175B you will study the design and execution of stage lighting from the visualization of the initial concept through the realization of that concept on stage. The course is divided into four segments. Review the foundational information about stage lighting. Develop a Production Proposal, for ROMEO & JULIET, analyze the material and present a proposal for a production of R&J. Design a repertory light plot by drafting the plot with VectorWorks Spotlight, a CAD program for stage lighting.
Finally, in the Lighting Project, you will work with the BDP light plot in the Playhouse, creating light cues for music of your choice.

THEATER 176 Applied Theatrical Design 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Students of technical theater design (possible specializations: lighting, set, costume, sound, video) are provided experience, structure, and support in the practical application of design to the stage in departmental productions. Interaction and team approach of the designers will be promoted from the earliest stages of conceptualization through the opening night and the run of the production(s).

THEATER 177 Sound Design for Performance 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
In this course, undergraduate students will learn to construct sound cues and soundtracks for theater performances and videos using industry standard software, and will learn fundamental principles of incorporating video and sound into stage productions. Students will be exposed to the writings and works of prominent sound theorists, designers, and engineers and multimedia performance artists. The most successful students may be invited to participate in UC Berkeley theater productions as sound designers.

THEATER 178 Video Production for Performance 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Video Production for Performance is a workshop class in which students will explore a broad range of video applications to performance. Through a series of exercise video shoots students learn the fundamentals of video production, including basic optics, camera angles and movement, sound recording, and editing. With an additional emphasis on concept and planning, students prepare for and execute a sustained video project—a detailed documentation of a staged performance, the development of a video component for a production, a documentary study of aspects of performance, or the generation of a freestanding video program. There is a lab fee of $60 for use of equipment and editing lab.

THEATER 179 Supervised Theatrical Design 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Students are trained in the working methods of set or costume design; supervised preparation and implementation of designs in the department's production season, from initial discussions through opening night.

THEATER 180 Theatrical Realization of Dance 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This course relates choreography to theatrical presentation. Laboratory hours are spent in attendance at rehearsal, coaching sessions, and the performance of the dance concert. The course is taught by faculty choreographing the major dance production in the departmental season.

THEATER 181 Theatrical Realization of Dramatic Texts 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
This course relates dramatic texts or choreography to theatrical presentation. The lectures are based on the analysis of the work being presented. Laboratory hours are spent in attendance at rehearsal, coaching sessions, and the performance of the play or concert. The course will be taught by faculty involved in the major productions.

THEATER C183A Performance: An African American Perspective 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2003
Introduction to the Research-to Performance Method, African American aesthetics and dramatic performance techniques. Course will survey wide range of writings on performance and investigate applications through exercises and improvisations. Students will also assist in information gathering for works in progress.

THEATER C183B Research-to-Performance Laboratory 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2007
Development of scholarly material for theatrical presentation and enhancement of dramatic performance techniques through discussions, improvisations and readings of work conceived by the class and/or writers in other African American Studies courses. All source material will be based on the research of scholars in the field of African American Studies.

THEATER C183C Black Theatre Workshop 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2011, Spring 2004
Study and production of a play by an African American writer. The play will be studied within its social and historical context. Students will be introduced to the various aspects of theatre production.

THEATER H195A Honors Course 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Independent study and conferences with faculty sponsor leading to preparation of a major research paper on a single aspect of theater, dance, or performance studies. May include a performance component.

THEATER H195B Honors Course 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Development of subject studied in H195A, either as a bachelor's thesis or a laboratory project in acting, directing, playwriting, design, or dance.

THEATER 196 University Theater Workshop 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Individual directorial projects for advanced undergraduates. Research, tryout, callbacks, and rehearsals which result in performing for the public will average 20 hours per week.

THEATER 197 Field Studies in Technical Theater 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Supervised experience, in connection with theatrical production in field of: scenic construction; costume construction and conservation; theatrical lighting; stage management; publicity; theatre management; production management.

THEATER 198 Directed Group Study for Undergraduates 0.5 - 5 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Supervised group study of special topics, subject to approval by the chair.

THEATER 199 Supervised Independent Study and Research 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 10 Week Session, Spring 2017
Reading and conference with an instructor in an area not corresponding with any regular course.

Faculty

Faculty

Brandi Wilkins Catanese, Associate Professor. African American drama and theater.
Faculty Profile

Catherine M. Cole, Professor. African studies, human rights, gender studies.
Faculty Profile

Abigail De Kosnik, Associate Professor. Performance and technology, new media.
Faculty Profile

Peter Glazer, Associate Professor. Stage directing, 20th-century drama, adaptation.
Faculty Profile

Joe Goode, Professor. Dance, choreography.
Faculty Profile

Philip Kan Gotanda, Professor. Playwriting, Asian American Theater, Contemporary American Drama.
Faculty Profile

Mark Griffith, Professor. Classical Greek drama.
Faculty Profile

Shannon Jackson, Professor. Performance theory, 20th-century drama.
Faculty Profile

Sansan Kwan​, Associate Professor. Dance studies, performance studies, Asian American studies.
Faculty Profile

Angela Marino, Assistant Professor. Theatre and performance studies, Latin American and US Chicana/Latino performance, festivals and carnival, political cultures.
Faculty Profile

Alan Read, Professor. UC Berkeley Global Edge Program.
Faculty Profile

Shannon Steen, Associate Professor. American Studies, race theory, performance studies.
Faculty Profile

Elizabeth Wymore, Assistant Professor. Modern dance technique, choreography.
Faculty Profile

Lecturers

Sima Belmar, Lecturer.
Faculty Profile

Kwame Braun, Lecturer. Filmmaking.
Faculty Profile

Jack Carpenter, Lecturer. Lighting design.
Faculty Profile

Lura Dolas, Lecturer. Acting.
Faculty Profile

Katie Faulkner, Lecturer.
Faculty Profile

Srijani Ghosh, Lecturer. Dance, choreography.
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James Graham, Lecturer. 
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Samuel Haley-Hill, Lecturer. Acting, public speaking.
Faculty Profile

Margo Hall, Lecturer. Acting, directing.
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Christopher Herold, Lecturer. Acting and directing.
Faculty Profile

Jenefer Johnson, Lecturer. Dance history.
Faculty Profile

Laxmi Kumaran, Lecturer. Stage management.
Faculty Profile

Domenique Lozano, Lecturer. Intermediate Acting.
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Mo Miner, Lecturer.
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Lisa Anne Porter, Lecturer. Acting, public speaking.
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Sean San José, Lecturer.
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Annie Smart, Lecturer. Set, costume design.
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Michelle Summmers, Lecturer. Dance.
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Amara Tabor-Smith, Lecturer. Dance.
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Maura Tang, Lecturer. Acting.
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Emeritus 

Martin Berman, Senior Lecturer Emeritus. 
Faculty Profile

Robert W. Goldsby, Professor Emeritus. 
Faculty Profile

Mel Gordon, Professor Emeritus. Stanislavsky, directing, acting.
Faculty Profile

Carol Murota, Senior Lecturer Emerita.
Faculty Profile

Dunbar Ogden III, Professor Emeritus.
Faculty Profile

Deborah Sussel, Senior Lecturer Emerita. 
Faculty Profile

John Warren Travis, Professor Emeritus. 
Faculty Profile

Margaret B. Wilkerson, Professor Emerita.
Faculty Profile

Marni Thomas Wood, Professor Emerita. 
Faculty Profile

*Professor of the Graduate School +Recipient of Distinguished Teaching Award

Contact Information

Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies

D-33 Hearst Field Annex

Phone: 510-664-9012

Fax: 510-643-9956

tdps@berkeley.edu

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Catherine Cole, PhD

128 Dwinelle Hall

colecat@berkeley.edu

Department Vice-Chair

Lisa Wymore, PhD

231 Dwinelle Annex

lisawymore@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Academic Adviser

Michael Mansfield, MFA, DMin

D-33 Hearst Field Annex

Phone: 510-643-4050

mikemans@berkeley.edu

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