Course Descriptions

REN 500 Shakespeare (3 s.h.)
This is a course designed to make all holders of the degree fully conversant with the fundamentals of Shakespeare, including the major themes and narratives of his plays and poems, the basics of prosody, early English staging, the main issues of textual transmission, and the facts surrounding the life of the author.

REN 501 Research Methods (2 s.h.)
This course introduces students to basic methods of research into early English drama, particularly in service of the MLitt degree thesis. Students also learn conventions of academic writing as needed. Assignments derive in part from components of the research paper required for REN 500.

REN 510 Shakespeare and Textual Culture (3 s.h.)
This course introduces students to basic terms and methods of critical bibliography with an emphasis on contemporary theories of textual studies. Students focus on the composition, transmission, printing, and editing of early modern dramatic scripts.

REN 520 Tudor-Stuart History (3 s.h.)
This course explores the politics, religions, and cultural developments in England from 1460 to 1660. The course focuses on the dynastic turmoil of the late fifteenth century, the Reformation and its impact, the concept of personal monarchy, the lives and courts of Elizabeth I and James I, and the English Civil War.

REN 530 The Language of Performance (3 s.h.)
This course examines the language tools that Shakespeare and his fellow playwrights used to convey meaning to an audience. Students study the mechanics of scanning verse before exploring in detail the ways in which these playwrights used verse forms and rhetoric to guide actors in performance. Students also learn to read both explicit and implicit stage directions in the text.

REN 531 Performance of the Language (3 s.h.)
Students will explore how semantic and linguistic structure informs performance and how, in turn, performance enlivens language. This course furthers the examination of textual devices such as scansion, rhetoric, and rhyme by integrating them with vocal, physical, and emotional components of performance. Special attention is given to the theatrical importance of actor/audience interaction.

REN 540 Early English Drama and Theatre History (3 s.h.)
This course stresses the institutional and commercial auspices of early English drama—its place, its space, and its occasions—against the backdrop of major developments in theatre history.

REN 550 Social History of Early Modern England (3 s.h.)
This course takes a topical approach to exploring significant aspects of daily life in England between 1460 and
1660. Topics include the structures of power and authority, family life, the roles of women and men, urban and rural life, popular religion, and ritual.

REN 551 Classroom Staging (3 s.h.)
This course focuses on ways to teach dramatic literature, particularly Shakespeare, through performance in class. Students learn how to turn a classroom into a laboratory for the exploration of a play. The course offers future teachers both theoretical and practical knowledge of how students learn through their own performance and that of others.

REN 553 Directing I (3 s.h.)
Students learn to develop a vision for a play that is solidly based in the text and on the playing conventions of the Blackfriars stage. Readings and discussions cover known directors of Shakespeare and their views on being “true” to the text, including cutting and period issues. The course also covers practical considerations of casting, blocking, scheduling and running rehearsals, and features conversations with visiting artists including actors, directors, and scholars. The final project includes a paper and a directed scene on the Blackfriars stage.

REN 554 Shakespeare’s Theatre (3 s.h.)
This course provides an in-depth look at the architecture and theatrical conventions of Shakespeare’s theatre. Among the subjects covered are architecture and design of theatre spaces, organization of acting companies, acting conventions, composition and configurations of audiences, and pacing and presentation of plays.

REN 555 Voice (3 s.h.)
This course builds on warm-up, breathing, resonance, articulation and text work to give actors vocal range,
endurance, and melody. Text work includes poetry, improvisation, group exploration of language, and the performance of monologues.

REN 556 The Body in Performance (3 s.h.)
This course critically examines and physically explores principles of movement such as time, space, balance,
grace, and harmony. Students learn the importance of these principles as they relate to human expression and theatrical performance. The course focuses on self expression, range of motion, group dynamics, and character transformation. Special attention is paid to the significance of body language in the early modern period and the application of movement principles to early modern dramatic texts.

REN 557 Shakespeare’s Contemporaries (3 s.h.)
This course examines the work of playwrights in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Concentrating on the
textual ambience in which these playwrights wrote, the course will provide students with a greater understanding of the issues of influence, intertextuality, and notions of “originality” in the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

REN 590 Directed Inquiry for the MLitt Degree (1–6 s.h.)
Independent inquiry directed by a faculty member on a topic relevant to the MLitt student’s program and/or thesis. A directed inquiry is strongly recommended for all students in the summer or semester prior to the MLitt thesis project.

REN 601 Shakespeare and Music (3 s.h.)
Students learn, through listening and score reading, songs and music associated with the original performances of Shakespeare’s plays as well as those from later periods. Emphasis is on learning about musical resources. Students also learn about musical instruments of the 16th century and appropriate modern substitutions and extend their study of Renaissance music and musical reading skills by playing the recorder. No prior musical knowledge is required, but a review of basic skills — treble clef note names and rhythm — before class begins would be helpful.

REN 602 Early English Art and Architecture (3 s.h.)
This course offers a chronological, stylistic analysis of art, architecture, book illumination, visual culture, and connoisseurship in England from its medieval beginnings until the death of Shakespeare. Students explore the sources for the art – both that made in England and that imported from the continent for an English market. The unique qualities of art in England will be emphasized. As time moves forward, the course goes into more depth, focusing especially on the art and architecture that Shakespeare and his contemporaries would have known.

REN 603 Studio (3 s.h.)
In this course, a company of student actors, directors, teachers, and dramaturges work together to devise an original performance piece based on, inspired by, or using an extant early modern text.

REN 620 Audience Studies (3 s.h.)
This course explores the relationship between audiences and performance. The course looks in unique depth at the psychology of audiences, at an audience’s needs and expectations, at the ways in which dramatists include (or exclude) an audience, and at the uses (and abuses) of a visible audience. Using the resources of the Blackfriars stage and performances, prospective directors will get practical experience in the care and handling of audiences.

REN 630 Visual Design on the Early Modern Stage (3 s.h.)
This course challenges students to examine and explore — in the absence of sets — visually exciting stage action and pictures through the use of movement, blocking, props, and costumes. Special attention is given to the stage pictures that Shakespeare and his contemporaries wrote into the plays. Students consider the importance of visual variety and discover the dramatic potential in a range of staging devices such as crowd scenes and balcony scenes.

REN 640 Combat (3 s.h.)
Students focus on performing stage combat that is both safe and dramatically effective. The course offers a physical vocabulary in one or more techniques such as unarmed, single sword, rapier & dagger, broadsword, quarterstaff, or knife. At the discretion of the instructor, students can qualify for Skills Proficiency Testing with the Society of American Fight Directors on the last day of class.

REN 650 Directing II (3 s.h.)
Further explores the art of directing with emphasis on the early modern stage, culminating in practical experience before an audience.

REN 660 Acting for the Early Modern Stage (3 s.h.)
This course continues the work normally covered in an acting class, but stresses acting for the Shakespearean stage. Students experiment with a range of acting techniques from the most traditional to the most contemporary, but always with a view to the architecture and audience environment of Shakespeare’s theatre. This course includes scene work culminating in practical experience before an audience.

REN 665 Careers in the Professional Theatre (3 s.h.)
A course focusing on the organization and working conditions of the professional theatre and practical skills for those seeking careers in teaching or the professional theatre: auditioning and interviewing techniques, unions, resume writing, and other skills required to apply for professional work

REN 670 Dramaturgy(3 s.h.)
A graduate seminar for MLitt/MFA students on Production and Institutional Dramaturgy. Topics include: instruction in text preparation, pre-production and rehearsal work related to issues of design, direction, and performance; script evaluation, translation and adaptation; the formulation of artistic policy; program and study notes; and plans for audience discussion and certain outreach activities.

REN 675 Early Modern Costume (3 s.h.)
Students research contemporary records, museum pieces, and portraiture; learn play analysis from the costumer’s point of view; do costume dramaturgy reports; design costumes for at least three characters from an early modern play; and learn and practice early modern construction techniques. Students also work closely with actors in the annual MFA acting production.

REN 680 Gender and Performance: Theory and Practice (3 s.h.)
Students in this course will study theories of gender as performance as well as theories of gender in performance to develop critical tools for better understanding social construction of gender in the context of the theater. Critical work by Judith Butler, Sue-Ellen Case, Marco DeMarinis, Marjorie Garber, Zygmunt Hübner, and Anne Ubersfeld, among others, will form the basis for the course. English Renaissance cross-dressing of boy actors to play women’s roles will serve as one point of departure for performance analysis and discussion, but the course will also consider other theatrical traditions and practices, including the contemporary theater. This course may prove particularly helpful to those students who want to develop their background in critical theory before continuing their studies in a doctoral program in literature or theater.

REN 682 Playwriting (3 s.h.)
This course combines an historical focus on the playwriting culture of early modern England with practical experience creating plays within the period’s theatrical conventions. The course stresses collaboration in both its historical and practical emphases.

REN 686 Clown (3 s.h.)
This course teaches students the fundamentals of physical comedy and mime. Students learn the traditions of
clowning from all periods, with emphasis on the techniques that today’s clowns share with those from Shakespeare’s period. Included in the course is work on costume, dance, make-up, and props.

REN 687 Internship (1–6 s.h.)
An internship can be an elective for the MLitt and is a requirement for the MFA, all concentrations. A number of internships are regularly available at the American Shakespeare Center, with priority given to students completing the MFA requirement. Students may seek internships with other organizations. Credit varies, with approximately 50 hours of work equivalent to 1 s.h. of credit.

REN 690 Directed Inquiry for the MFA Degree (1–3 s.h.)
Independent inquiry directed by a faculty member on a topic relevant to the student’s program and/or thesis.

REN 700 Thesis Project for the MLitt (3 s.h.)
The MLitt thesis is an individually designed project with written and practical components.

REN 710 Advanced Acting for the Early Modern Stage (3 s.h.)
This course aims to further develop the actor’s verbal, physical, and imaginative storytelling skills. Using a variety of texts drawn from the Renaissance canon, actors will discover ways to deepen their connection to a character’s physical and spoken acts, as well as develop a better understanding of their relationship to a visible audience. Incorporating some of the techniques based on teachings of Stanislavski and Laban, the course explores a wide range of approaches to classical texts.

REN 720 Directing III (3 s.h.)
This course aims to help directors develop their abilities as creative artists and passionate storytellers. Choosing a series of scenes to rehearse inside and outside of class time, and using a cast of student actors, directors employ text analysis, develop actor coaching techniques, and explore other approaches to performance. Group discussions address the “process” as well as the “product.”

REN 800 Thesis Project for the MFA (3–6 s.h.)

Acting concentration (6 s.h.)
MFA degree candidates rehearse and perform a full-length early modern play that is generally presented in March, in consecutive weeks (Sun-Mon. and Mon.-Tues.). The focus of the written thesis is the documentation of the acting process and product.
Directing concentration (6 s.h.)
MFA degree candidates cast, rehearse, and direct actors for a 90-minute production that is generally presented twice during program thesis festivals and is sometimes toured to other venues. The focus of the written thesis is the documentation of the directing process and product.
Dramaturgy concentration (3 s.h.)
MFA degree candidates, in consultation with their project supervisor, prepare and produce a thesis consisting of three (3) significant pieces of dramaturgical research for use in professional and/or academic theatre.

See the Academic Catalog (PDF) for more details.