Introduction to Directing and Devising Theatre

Course

Helen Paris

An introductory theatre workshop class that explores a range of theatre exercises and techniques in order to create, perform, devise, compose and direct theatre. Students will work with texts by playwrights such as Beckett, Pinter and Churchill. Students will also draw from non-performance texts such as poems or short stories as well as writing their own original performance texts and scores. Students will work collaboratively in small ‘companies’ learning how to problem solve and deal with creative challenges as they create original works. As part of the course students will choose to explore the creative methodologies of key theatre practitioners such as Augusto Boal, Jerzy Grotowski, Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, Joan Littlewood, Robert Lepage, Anne Bogart, Pina Bausch, The Wooster Group, Complicite, Forced Entertainment and Punch Drunk.

Student Evaluations

”I learned so much about generating original work, working with the body, with the past, working with objects, composition, drawing from different kinds of source material and about working with different ensembles. I am emerging from this class with a whole new set of ways of thinking about creating performance, and a host of things I am so excited about continuing to work on and try out.”

”There is nothing like the experience of making things, of pushing yourself to make things even when you doubt that you are capable of it — you are. It was so wonderful to grow as a maker in this class and watch all my peers around me do the same.’
‘A very well balanced class that broke down directing/devising in a very nuanced/fun way.”

”It’s an incredibly empowering class. For theatre and non-theatre students, this class is a whole lot of fun and gives you the tools and freedom to express yourself and your ideas in a whole new way. It unlocks a lot of doors.”