University of Maryland  

Course Syllabus

Discussion Section Syllabi

Table of Contents:

COURSE DESCRIPTION
REQUIRED TEXTS
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
EXTRA CREDIT
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES
UNIVERSITY POLICIES

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES :
This course teaches students how to become knowledgeable audience members and appreciate the meanings that theatre can hold in a given cultural context. Among other topics, students will learn:

• How to read and see plays effectively
• How to write critically about performance
• The jobs of different types of theatre professionals
• An overview of theatre history
• The role that theatre plays in contemporary culture
• The ways theatre addresses issues of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and class
• Theatre's relevance to widespread audiences

The readings for this course will introduce students to the dramatic canon, provide students with fundamental knowledge of dramatic principles and theatrical styles, and address a range of contemporary social issues. This course is intended as an introduction to theatre and does not require prior theatrical experience.

 REQUIRED TEXTS FOR PURCHASE:
Theatre: The Lively Art , Edwin Wilson and Alvin Goldfarb, Fifth Edition.
The Glass Menagerie, Oedipus, Macbeth, A Doll's House,Raisin in the Sun, How I Learned to Drive

All readings will be on reserve at the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

REQUIRED VIDEO VIEWINGS ON RESERVE AT HORNBAKE LIBRARY:
Into the Woods and Rent

REQUIRED PLAY ATTENDANCE :
You are required to see 2 plays during the semester:
The Green Bird and The Colored Museum, Department of Theatre Productions, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/2007/:

• Purchase tickets for The Green Bird between February 15 and February 22
• Purchase tickets for The Colored Museum between April 5 and April 12

You are required to see these shows. If you do not purchase your tickets during the windows listed above, the shows may sell out. That will not be accepted as an excuse for not seeing the show, so get tickets early.

LAB FEE:
Tickets for the 2 productions you are required to see will cost under $20.

Return to Top

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance: Regular attendance is expected in both lecture and discussion sections. Students are allowed 2 unexcused absences. For every absence over the 2 unexcused absences, the attendance/participation grade will be lowered 25 points (i.e., if you have 5 unexcused absences you will lose 75 points from your attendance/ participation grade). Attendance will be taken weekly in discussion. Periodically, attendance in lecture will be spot checked, sometimes by a pop quiz at the beginning of lecture (students must be on time to have their attendance counted). Excused absences for both lecture and discussion include religious holidays, a death in the family, or medical emergencies (a note from a physician indicating that the student was unable to attend class must be submitted). Please note that the student medical documentation form saying you were seen at the campus Health Center does not count as a note from a physician.

Participation: Students should come to class prepared to offer thoughtful comments and questions about the material. The participation grade will be determined by your discussion leader, based on your performance in both lecture and discussion. Please remember that attendance does not constitute participation.

Quizzes : Throughout the semester you will have 11 quizzes. Nine quizzes will be given in discussion section and 2 will be unannounced quizzes given in lecture. Quizzes will cover assigned readings as well as material from lecture and discussions. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped. Quizzes cannot be made up, except in the case of an excused absence (see above), but if you miss a quiz because of an absence you may count it as your dropped quiz.

Exams: You will have a midterm exam and a non-cumulative final exam. Exams may include true/false, multiple-choice, matching, diagrams, short answer, and essay.

Disability Support Services: Students with documentation from Disability Support Services stating that they require special accommodations for exams must let their discussion section leaders know by the third week of the semester so that appropriate accommodations can be made. Forms for special accommodations for the exams must be turned in no later than one week before the scheduled exam.

Make Up Exams: In accordance with University Guidelines, make-up exams will be provided only if extraordinary circumstances prevent class attendance on the scheduled exam date. Students must present a signed note on professional letterhead from a medical professional, legal professional, or dean to Dr. Rothman in the class immediately following the missed exam. Dr. Rothman must then approve the excuse to allow the student to take the make up exam. (Please note that the student medical documentation form saying you were seen at the campus Health Center does not count as a note from a physician and will not be accepted.) The make up for the midterm will be held at 7:00 A.M on the Friday after the scheduled exam in a place to be announced.

Play Review: Students will attend productions of The Green Bird and The Colored Museum at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. For each performance they will write a 2-3 page review and attach their ticket stub to the review. Please note that you must stay for the whole production. Students who leave before the end of the production and write reviews as though they stayed may be subject to an academic dishonesty inquiry.

Performance Project: Each student will assume a role (actor, director, or designer) in a group. The group will choose a play from a list provided by your discussion leader and develop a concept. Then, using techniques of theatre professionals addressed in class, the group will put together a 8-10 minute memorized performance of a scene from the play. In addition to the performance, each student will be asked to answer questions pertinent to their role in the production process. To prepare for this project, students will turn in an annotated bibliography, a statement of production concept (that their group will also present to the class in a short oral presentation), and a 3-4 page research paper in which they describe how their research informed their choices in production. The grade will be based on both group and individual contributions.

Return to Top

EXTRA CREDIT: You can earn a maximum of 50 extra credit points through any combination of the options listed below. Extra credit will be added to the total cumulative grade. You can turn in the extra credit any time in the semester, but all extra credit is due by May 9.

Play review : You can earn up to 25 points of extra credit by attending a university or professional theatre production (no high school or community theatre) and writing a 2 page review of the production. Be sure to get prior approval for the play from your discussion leader and to include a program and ticket stub with your review. We recommend The Distance from Here, a Department of Theatre production at CSPAC. (The show runs from 2/15 through 2/24, and student tickets are $8)

Play analysis : You can earn up to 25 points by reading a play in your anthology (it cannot be one already assigned for the course or the play you choose for your performance project) and writing a 2 page response paper that considers how the play fits in with the topics we have addressed in class.

Practical experience: There are several other possible options for extra credit, including acting in Department of Theatre directing scenes (25 pts.), ushering (10 pts.), performing in an Off Center show (50 pts.), or working in the Department of Theatre’s shop or crew (50 pts.). More information about these options is available on the course web page. Please note that these are options you will need to pursue early in the semester. Also, please note that if you break a commitment to any of the options listed above, the maximum amount of extra credit points allocated for the options will be deducted from your final grade.

Shakespeare in Washington: This spring there will be a number of events in DC and Maryland to celebrate the works of Shakespeare. Information about these events is available at http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/festivals/06-07/shakespeare/. You can earn up to 50 extra credit points by seeing Synetic Theatre Company’s production of Macbeth OR the Perseverance Theatre Company’s production of Macbeth at the National Museum of the American Indian (both listed on the web page) and writing a 3 page response of the production you saw. You can earn up to 25 extra credit points for ANY performance or lecture listed on that Shakespeare in Washington web page. Explore the web page and note that there are a number of free lectures on the University of Maryland campus.

Extra credit points may also be distributed at the discretion of the professor or discussion leaders for extraordinary contributions to class.

We are open to other extra credit options; if you have any ideas, please check with your section leader.

GRADING :
Your grade, based on a 1000 point scale, will be determined as follows:

• Midterm Exam 150 pts.
• Final Exam 150 pts.
• Play Reviews 300 pts. (150 each)
• Performance Project 200 pts.
• Quizzes 100 pts. (10 each)
• Participation and Attendance 100 pts.

Return to Top

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS :
All assignments must be typewritten in 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced with 1 inch margins, and free of errors. You will be graded on both the content of your ideas and the clarity and accuracy of your writing, so we strongly suggest you visit the Writing Center on campus (405-3785 or http://www.english.umd.edu/programs/WritingCenterWebsite/) before turning in your papers. You will not be allowed to rewrite assignments for higher grades, but we will look at drafts submitted a reasonable amount of time before the assignment is due.

• Citations: All information used in your papers must be fully and accurately cited and failure to cite your sources correctly may result in disciplinary action by the university. For citation guidelines, please refer to A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi (these both use MLA style), A Manual for Writers by Kate Turabian or The Chicago Manual of Style (these both use Chicago style). If you have concerns about your understanding of proper citations, please see your discussion leader or me or visit the Writing Center.

Late Papers: Papers must be turned in at the beginning of the discussion class when they are due. For every hour between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. that a paper is late, we will deduct 5% of the paper grade. Unless you make other arrangements, papers are due to your discussion leader in hard copy only. If you turn a paper in to your discussion leader’s mailbox in 2810 Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, please have office personnel time/date stamp it. Otherwise, your discussion leader will consider the time he or she picks it up the time you turned it in.

Challenges: If you wish to challenge a grade you must present the graded assignment and 1 paragraph explaining why the grade should be changed (including any supporting evidence) to your discussion leader no later than one weekafter the grade is received. After one week, appeals will not be considered. Please note that if you ask for a re-grade, in our reconsideration your grade may go up, but it may also go down.

CLASSROOM DECORUM:

• Attendance to lecture and discussion is mandatory. You are expected to arrive on time and remain until the class is dismissed. In the event you do arrive late, please sit in the back rows to avoid disturbing your fellow students.
• Avoid eating -- food and drink are not permitted in the lecture hall.
• Avoid reading the newspaper or books for other classes, sleeping, conversations, and anything that might be disruptive to the lecture or your classmates.
• Turn off cell phones, beepers, pagers, PDAs, text messaging systems, etc. before coming to class.
• If you plan to use a laptop to take notes, it is not to be used for any purposes not related to the lecture (i.e. surfing the web, checking email).
• Do read all materials before coming to class. Ask questions in lecture and discussion .
• Do let us get to know you. Despite what you may think about large lecture classes, you are not anonymous.

 POLITE APPLAUSE, AN [ABBREVIATED] GUIDE TO THEATER-GOING ETIQUETTE BY PAUL RUDNICK

• Unwrap all hard candies well before curtain, so that the distracting rustle of this activity will not occur during the performance. For some reason, the crackle of cellophane will rivet an audience more than Sir Ian McKellen in Richard III, or Kathleen Turner in the raw. The only thing more disruptive than unsheathing a lozenge is coughing, because one cough in the orchestra section inspires another in the mezzanine, and so on, until the theater becomes a ward.
• There are only three reasons for ever carrying a cell phone into the theater. One: You're awaiting an organ donation. And make that a major organ, not merely a lung or a leg. Two: Your wife is about to give birth to your first child (subsequent children are old news). Three: You're a world leader who could be called upon in a nuclear emergency (and even then, your phone must be set on vibrate). As for everyone else, you are just not important enough for anyone to call you at the theater, even during the11th year of The Phantom of the Opera. It is permissible, however, for performers onstage in Phantom to receive calls.
• If your companion is hard of hearing, do not explain the onstage action by shouting a running commentary, such as, “Now King Lear is hugging her! Go figure!”
• If the person in the seat next to you begins to snore audibly, nudge him awake. Then whisper, “You missed the nudity.”
• When a latecomer finally appears and, as is always the case, forces an entire row of decent, punctual people to stand up so that she can stumble to her seat, murmur to that criminal: “Everyone hates you. Not just the people in this theater. Everyone.”
• You are entitled to the use of only one armrest. The other one belongs to the large, smelly, chatty stranger sitting next to you, the individual with the soggy umbrella, the bursting shopping bags, the dripping burrito, and the swine flu.
• Do not leap out of your seat and race up the aisle skipping the curtain call in a calculated attempt to get first dibs on your car or taxi. What if, at the Pearly Gates, you discover that God is an actor?

A standing ovation is not automatically mandated by a show's massive budget, or by the entire cast lining up and grinning maniacally while they raise their arms. Rise and cheer only if you are truly moved to do so, or if you love ABBA that much.

Return to Top

UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE POLICY : The University's policy “Assignments and Attendance on Dates of Religious Observance” provides that students should not be penalized because of observances of their religious beliefs; students shall be given an opportunity, whenever feasible, to make up within a reasonable time any academic assignment that is missed because of individual participation in religious observances. Students are responsible for obtaining material missed during their absences. Furthermore, students have the responsibility to inform the instructor of any intended absences for religious observances in advance. The student should provide written notification to the professor within the first two weeks of the semester. The notification must identify the religious holiday(s)and the date(s). The student should avoid the use of email or mailbox delivery of the notification to avoid problems. For more information: http://www.president.umd.edu/policies/iii510a.html

ACCOMMODATING INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE DISABILITIES: The University is committed to making reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities that have been documented by Disability Support Services (0126 Shoemaker Hall, 314-7682). A disability should be verified and discussed with Disability Support Services before the student contacts the professor or TA. If you wish to discuss academic accommodations for this class, please contact the professor or TA no later than the end of the schedule adjustment period. For more information: http://www.counseling.umd.edu/DSS/

SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY: The University is committed to maintaining an academic work environment free of sexual harassment for all faculty, staff and students. Sexual harassment diminishes individual dignity and impedes equal educational and employment opportunities. Sexual harassment will not be tolerated at the University; it is a violation of law and University policy. Individuals who engage in sexual harassment will be subject to disciplinary action. Please be advised that the University has procedures in place to report sexual harassment and correct it when it occurs. Students who have questions about sexual harassment or the University policy and procedures may call the Office of Judicial Programs (2118 Mitchell Building, 314-8204). To read the entire Policy see “Appendix B: Campus Policy and Procedures on Sexual Harassment” in the Undergraduate Catalogue (http://www.umd.edu/catalog/0405/chapter10.pdf). For more information: http://www.president.umd.edu/legal/policies/sh.html

HONOR CODE: The University has a nationally recognized Honor Code, administered by the Student Honor Council. The Student Honor Council proposed and the University Senate approved an Honor Pledge. The University of Maryland Honor Pledge reads: “I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment/examination.” Unless you are specifically advised to the contrary, the Pledge statement should be handwritten and signed on the front cover of all exams, papers, projects, or other academic assignments submitted for evaluation in this course. Students who fail to write and sign the Pledge will be asked to confer with the instructor. Please recognize that all students are subject to the requirements of the University's Code of Academic Integrity whether or not they write and sign the Honor Pledge. For more information: www.umd.edu/honorpledge and http://www.shc.umd.edu/code.html

Return to Top