associate degree in occupational studies
theatre performance
program features
The Business
Navigating the Business of Acting: Professional Theatrical Industry members teach you the business of acting providing opportunities to grow your network while in school.
Always Creating
Constant rehearsals and performance opportunities in a variety of theatre experiences (classics, contemporary, new devised work, immersive theater).
Professionals
From day one: work with professional directors, designers and actors, growing your network while in school. Engage in professional practices from the moment you walk in the door.
Holistic Training
Strong focus on physical and vocal training to support transformative and sustainable performance.
The Theatre Performance Program is a two-year Associate in Occupational Studies program designed to guide the student in the acquisition of sound acting skills and the development of those skills into effective performances for the theatre. This Program prepares the student for the demands of both the performance and business realities of an acting career. In the first year, students will build a solid foundation through classes in acting, voice, movement and improvisation. The second year expands these skills to advanced acting styles, as well as the study of theatre history and literary analysis. In this second year, students will bring all their skills together in a variety of performance opportunities, including both devised work and traditional plays. Throughout their training, starting in their first term, students learn the business realities of a theatrical career. The goal of the Theatre Performance Program is to develop actors with a honed stage craft who are ready to undertake a professional career.
curriculum
In a seminar with the librarian, learn to locate and identify high quality research materials. Work with the on-line tutorials on the NYCDA and New York Public Libraries. The class covers copyright, evaluating print and online sources and advanced internet searching, as well as in-depth instructions on Boolean searching techniques and controlled vocabularies used to search NYCDA and NYPL catalogs.
This is a required, non-credit course
Explore basic vocal technique for the actor, including breath work, relaxation techniques, resonance, pitch, tempo and volume, with the goal of increasing the ability to fully express the truth of the text and the emotional integrity of the character and situation, while striving for vocal variety and expressiveness.
3.0 Credits
Perform with spontaneity and freedom through improvisational technique using body, gestures, and emotions. Use improvisation as an art form, as well as for auditioning and executing other performance disciplines. Make use of the tools of listening; being in the moment; committing to choices in working with fellow actors; use of status; and making active choices with emotional and physical connections.
2.0 Credits
Learn the acting technique of Sanford Meisner in order to achieve spontaneous reactions and authentic behavior in acting. Begin with basic listening skills, repetition exercises and an exploration of independent activities. Advance to an exploration of scene work with a specific emphasis on relationships, activity and preparation that includes working off each other and expressing moments fully. Explore emotional preparation, imaginary circumstances and point of view.
4.0 Credits
Explore a series of rigorous exercises developed to allow an understanding of physical awareness and impulses in a nonjudgmental and non-product oriented atmosphere. Physically complement the work being done in voice and acting classes using a variety of movement methodologies. Learn popular dance styles most likely to occur during the course of an acting career, such as the foxtrot and the waltz, while exploring aspects of relationship and behavior in simple scenes.
3.0 Credits
Through exercises based on the work of such people as Stanislavski and Hagen, explore the facets of the craft that allow an actor to immerse himself and take ownership of the given circumstances of the script in a truthful way. Learn tools of the imagination such as endowment, emotional memory, sense memory, object work and creating a moment before. Put these skills to practical use working on simple A/B scenes.
3.0 Credits
Students are introduced to technical theatre terminology, the physical layout of a performance space and its surroundings. The types of professional theatre, including but not limited to, Regional Theater, National and Regional Tours, Off-Broadway, and Broadway are discussed. Ethics and business models are reviewed. Students learn the roles of the manager, agent and casting director and are introduced to the function of the various actors’ unions.
1.0 Credit
Continue vocal flexibility work introduced in Voice and Speech I, beginning with microphone technique and cold reading skills. Explore Shakespearean texts to develop heightened language skills, full breath support and dynamic energy. Use the intensity of Shakespeare’s plays to diagnose and correct any vocal problems that may arise during heightened emotionality. Make use of the opportunities in Shakespeare’s plays where the text requires moments of simplicity, relaxation and minimalism with a precision of body, face and gesture work to complement the language.
3.0 Credits
Prerequisite: THE122
Apply, through heightened awareness, the principles of emotional preparation to specific text work. Develop the skills of exploring the text; preparation techniques; personal invention; focus on believable behavior in order to achieve spontaneity; and honesty in sharing. Learn how to maintain the integrity of the text; interpret the material and act moments as they are written; memorize and interpret speeches; and perform a fully interpreted score.
4.0 Credits
Prerequisite: THE127
Build on fundamental relaxation, physical stillness, energy, focus and dance techniques learned in Movement for Actors I. The student integrates body and mind with exercises using observation and imagination. Become more self-aware about the body’s relationship to space and how we respond to physical, vocal and emotional stimuli.
3.0 Credits
Prerequisite: THE129
Further develop the skills learned in Actors Lab I and apply them to text in scenes from plays. Learn how to explore the given circumstances written by a playwright and use the learned acting craft to bring the characters to life in a truthful manner. Work on preceding circumstances, relationship, environment, obstacles, intentions and actions.
3.0 Credits
Prerequisite: THE141
The focus of this eight-week class is to learn safe and dramatically effective unarmed stage combat techniques. Fundamental safety skills are stressed, as well as techniques common to conflict situations from all periods in history.
.5 Credits
This course focuses on the craft of makeup design and application of makeup design concepts. The student learns how to research and use practical application of stage make-up during this seven-week specialty class.
.5 Credits
Performance Year prepares you for the professional world of theatre, including: theatre history, monologues, cold reads and advanced acting styles, and a focus on the business of the business. Master classes taught by visiting industry professionals, and a main stage production finalize the two year program.
Advancement into the Performance Year is based on teacher evaluations, academic standing, and final performances reviewed by the Academic Committee.
Explore Meisner and Stanislavski techniques into the exercises of Bobby Lewis and Uta Hagen. Progress through a series of traditional acting exercises while also acting in monologues and scenes from theatre texts of the 19th and 20th centuries. Discuss fundamental acting theory
6.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent.
Deepen the exploration of vocal tools from Voice and Speech I and II, maintaining the goal of improved vocal clarity, expressiveness, and embodied speaking. Achieve vocal goals through vocal warm-ups, articulation exercises, breath power exercises, as well as through performances encouraging exploration of the voice as an emotional and characterization tool. Explore vocal skills necessary for all major areas of theatre history, which support scene work in Acting I and II.
3.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent, THE132
Build on the foundation laid in Movement for Actors I and II with continued exploration of physical awareness, expressiveness, flexibility and impulses. Continue experiential exercises for heightened awareness of the body as an acting instrument, with an added emphasis on stylized movement and behavioral work. Build on toning and strengthening warm-ups for alignment, grace and grounding.
3.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent, THE139
Read plays and gather dramaturgical research while exploring the world that produced the play. Form independent thought and opinions based on analysis. Learn the basics of dramaturgical research and information collection while working on the technical aspects necessary for the performance of theatrical texts beginning with the Greek and Roman theatre and continue on through the early 19th century. Apply knowledge to the performance of a studio production by exploring the time period being studied.
2.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent.
This course is divided into two parts: first, actors learn how to approach the monologue audition, including how to select appropriate and effective pieces. They develop two monologues—one dramatic and one comedic—appropriate for successful auditioning. Overused and poorly-suited monologues for auditions are identified, and the student ends the course with monologues that are unique to their talents and type. Second, actors refine their acting audition skills through exploring a variety of materials commonly used at auditions, specifically sides. Work on this kind of material is designed to aid students when auditioning for plays, agency offices, theatre seasons, summer stock auditions, One-On-One, Actor’s Connection, etc. Actors are empowered to make smart, strong, informed acting choices in an audition, callback or industry meeting.
1.0 Credit
Prerequisites: Successful completion of the Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent
A challenging, insightful and fast-paced course which bridges students from the academic world to the entertainment industry: how to live in New York, how to deal with the stresses of the industry, and most importantly, how to remain grateful for every moment. Each week a new topic is researched, presented on, and discussed. Outside research and reading required. Guest artists are brought in to present to the group, often in the form of a Q&A.
2.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of the Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent
Increase comprehension of scene structure and acting requirements as established by the text. Gain an understanding of the shifting acting requirements for scripts from the beginning of Greek/Roman theatre through to modern drama of the 19th century. Increase awareness of a character’s intentions, motivations, and activities to fulfill the demands of the script, and of how to specifically achieve these in a scene. Increase focus and comfort on stage. Develop the ability to imaginatively create a character and relate to partners.
6.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent, THE300
In the first few sessions, a Character Workshop helps the actor create characters who are large, eccentric and truthful. The actor then continues working on verbal and physical storytelling, group collaboration, and spontaneous behavior in given circumstances through workshops in Mask and Commedia work, and Vocal and Physical Improvisation.
2.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent, THE300
Continue the work explored in Voice and Speech III. In this advanced voice class, achieve the goal of vocal clarity and expressiveness through vocal warm-up exercises, articulation drills, and breath support exercises. Explore the use of the voice as an acting tool in performance. Develop the vocal skills necessary for all areas of theatre history, which support the scene work in Acting I and II. Learn two dialects commonly used in contemporary theatre.
3.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent, THE301
Continue the work of Movement for Actors III. Explore physical awareness, expressiveness, flexibility and impulses, and experiential exercises for heightened awareness of the body as an acting instrument, with additional emphasis on period movement and basic theatrical dance styles. Build on toning and strengthening warm-ups for alignment, grace and grounding.
3.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent, THE302
Use the performance of one-act plays to work on multiple-character ensemble scenes, create and maintain characters over the course of a full script, and understand the full character arc, through line of action, multiple conflicts, climax and denouement of a script. Gain focus and stamina in performance. Learn the fundamentals of stage direction, such as composition, picturization, imagery, tempo, movement and technical requirements to develop appreciation and understanding of the director’s job and to reinforce a healthy actor-director relationship.
2.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent.
Continue the work begun in Theatre History/Literary Analysis I. Read classic plays and explore their relationship to other art forms of the time as well as their context in world history. Explore theatrical texts from the 19th and 20th centuries.
2.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Theatre Performance Program’s Platform Year or equivalent, THE304