THEA 2910 Special Topics: GPTC

1.5 - 0.0 - 1.5

Course Description

This course focuses on the first step in producing a play: the play reading. Students attend 15 hours of readings and critique sessions of new plays at the Great Plains Theatre Conference's PlayLabs. Students examine the dramaturgical elements of the plays (structure, world of the play, language, characters, plots, and themes), the production components outlined in the stage directions (casting, staging, tech/set design), and the discussion of the works by panelists and audience members. They keep a journal of their observations and responses to PlayLabs and submit a short paper that synthesizes their discoveries about the types of plays being written and the challenges playwrights face in refining and, ultimately, seeing their work produced on stage.